Taiwan is not officially a state despite the de facto independence the island has enjoyed for more than sixty years, its self-proclaimed sovereignty, and the steady introduction of all the attributes of democracy. As a result, the issue of nation is a particularly sensitive one that is dependent on a number of factors, including the weight of history, relations with mainland China, and the now completed process of democratization. Moreover, the territorial integrity of Taiwan remains dependent on relations with the United States, which still is the unavoidable arbiter of relations across the straits. Yet, as democracy requires, it is most often at the domestic level that the nation is the subject of debate, pitting a desire to make a definitive break with China against the wish not to establish a too clearly demarcated distance from Beijing. In this context, all elections in Taiwan, the most recent ones being the legislative election of January 2008 and the presidential election of March 2008, are intimately linked to the sensitive issue of Taipei?s sovereignty in relation to Beijing. The issue of nation is thus a sensitive one both in relation to mainland China and in its direct effects on Taiwanese society.