"Taiwan is a self-governed sovereignty by most accounts"
Sincere question, even though this sounds rhetorical: can you provide a piece of data which suggests Taiwan is not self-governed?
Sincere question, even though this sounds rhetorical: can you provide a piece of data which suggests Taiwan is not self-governed?
> The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.
Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States[1]
By this definition it seems there's no meaningful difference between a geographic sub-government as part of a larger whole, and a nation-state in an of itself.