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Fairbanks
City (pop., 1996 est.: 33,000), E central Alaska, situated at the junction of the Tanana and Chena rivers. Founded in 1902 after a gold strike, it was named for Charles W. Fairbanks. As the N terminus of the Alaska Highway and the railroad, it is the main supply center for the N Alaskan oil business (see Trans-Alaska Pipeline). Located nearby are Ft. Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, and the Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks (1917). It is the site of the annual 800-mi (1,290-km) Yukon Marathon boat race and the N. Amer. Championship Sled Dog Races.


Taiwan
Island, off SE China. Both the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China) claim jurisdiction over it. Area: 13,969 sq mi (36,179 sq km), incl. its outlying islands. Population (1997 est.): 21,616,000. Capital: Taipei. Han Chinese are 98% of the population. Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese, Fukien, and Hakka dialects also spoken. Religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism; small minority, Christianity. Currency: new Taiwan dollar. Lying 100 mi (160 km) off the Chinese mainland, it is composed mainly of mountains and hills, with densely populated coastal plains in the west. It has one of the highest population densities in the world. It is a leading industrial power of the Pacific Rim, with an economy based on manufacturing industries, international trade, and services. Leading exports include electronic equipment, garments, and textiles. Agricultural exports include frozen pork, sugar, canned mushrooms, bananas, and tea. It is a major producer of Chinese-language motion pictures. It is a republic with one legislative branch; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the premier. Known to the Chinese as early as the 7th cent., it was widely settled by them early in the 17th cent. In 1646 the Dutch seized control of the island, only to be ousted in 1661 by a large influx of Chinese Ming-dynasty refugees. It fell to the Manchus in 1683 and was not open to Europeans again until 1858. In 1895 it was ceded to Japan following the Sino-Japanese War. A Japanese military center in World War II, it was frequently bombed by U.S. planes. After Japan's defeat, it was returned to China, which was then governed by the Nationalists. When the Communists took over mainland China in 1949, the Nationalist government (see Guomindang) fled to Taiwan and made it their seat of government, with Gen. Chiang Kai-shek as president. In 1954 he and the U.S. signed a mutual defense treaty, and Taiwan received U.S. support for almost three decades, developing its economy in spectacular fashion. It was recognized by many non-Communist countries as the representative of all China until 1971, when it was replaced in the U.N. by the People's Republic of China. Martial law was lifted in Taiwan in 1987, and travel restrictions with mainland China in 1988. In 1989 opposition parties were legalized. The 1990s saw an ...

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