Taiwan has the Chung-yang Shan mountain range on about 2/3 of the island. West of the central mountain range is some rolling hills. There is a large lake called Sun Moon Lake. There are also the small islands of Quemoy, Matsu and Wuchiu.

The main island of the archipelago is Taiwan Island, which comprises about 98% of the current jurisdiction of the Republic of China; the other 2% consists of the smaller islands of the archipelago - Orchid Island and the Penghu islands, along with the tiny islets - Green Island and Hsiao Liuchiu. The archipelago is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait, which ranges from 220 km at its widest point to 130 km at its narrowest point.[1] Taiwan is bounded by the Bashi Channel in the south, the East China Sea in the north, and the Pacific Ocean in the east.[2]

The islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuchiu, etc. across the Taiwan Strait, and Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea, are also administered by the Republic of China. These islands are however not part of the Taiwanese archipelago. Taiwan's area is 35,980 km² (13,892 mi²) of which 32,260 km² is land and 3,720 km² is territorial water claims, making it slightly smaller than the combined area of Maryland and Delaware, or slightly bigger than territory of Belgium. It is 394 km (244 miles) long and 144 km (89 miles) wide. It has a coastline of 1,566.3 km. The ROC claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles (370 km) and a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles (22 km).