Cross-Strait relations
APEC currently has 21 members. However, the criterion for membership is that the member is a separate "economy", rather than a state. As a result, APEC uses the term "member economies" rather than "member countries" to refer to its members. One result of this criterion is that membership of the forum includes Taiwan (officially the Republic of China, participating under the name "Chinese Taipei") alongside People's Republic of China (see Cross-Strait relations), as well as Hong Kong, which entered APEC as a British colony but it is now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. APEC also includes three official observers: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.