The act was drafted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Prior to its existence, on 10 May 1948, the National Assembly adopted the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion in the midst of the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. In 1949, the Communists overthrown the Nationalist Government from mainland China, and proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China while the government retreated to Taiwan.