As the Chinese Civil War ended the communist party took control of Mainland China and founded the Peoples Republic of China on October   The Kuomintang and the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan    Though fighting including the invasion of several coastal islands by the Communists with both successes and failures the bombing of Shanghai and other coastal cities by the Republic of China Air Force as well as a guerilla campaign waged by remaining Kuomintang forces in southwest China would continue for the next several years by the time of the Korean War the lines of control were sharply drawn the Communistled Peoples Republic of China government in Beijing controlled most of mainland China while the Kuomintangled Republic of China government now in Taipei controlled the island of Taiwan some surrounding islands and a number of islands off the coast of Fujian This stalemate was enforced with the assistance of the United States government which after the start of the Korean War changed from a policy of abandoning Chiang Kaisheks Kuomintang regime to the Communists to protecting Taiwan against an invasion from the mainland in the First Taiwan Strait Crisis   Until the s both governments contended to be the sole legitimate government of China With the fighting largely over the major battleground became the diplomatic Before the s few foreign governments recognised the Peoples Republic of China The first governments to recognise it as the government of China were Soviet bloc countries members of the nonaligned movement and the United Kingdom  The catalyst to change came in  when the United Nations General Assembly expelled representatives of the Chiang Kaishek by refusing to recognise their accreditations as representatives of China Recognition for the Peoples Republic of China soon followed from most other governments including the United States The Republic of China continued to complete with the Peoples Republic of China to be recognised as the legitimate government of China   Since the s however a rising movement of for formal recognition of Taiwanese independence has made the political status of Taiwan the dominant issue replacing the debate about the legitimate government of China One significant opinion in Taiwan is that the Republic of China and the Peoples Republic of China are both sovereign thus forming two Chinas or one China one Taiwan The current administration of Republic of China President Chen Shuibian subscribes to this theory and accordingly has largely abandoned the campaign for the Republic of China to be recognised as the sole legitimate government of China Instead it is campaigning for the Republic of China to join the United Nations as representative of its effective territory  Taiwan and nearby islands  only