Taiwan, a self-ruled island east of mainland China,
If only there were a name for an independent self ruled populace on a body of land. It would make it so easier than writing “The United States, a self-ruled chunk of land north of mainland Mexico”.
Why even put such a mealy mouthed statement in CNN? If you’re not going to call Taiwan a country you could’ve just said “Taiwan”. People who don’t know where Taiwan is don’t care where Taiwan is.