Taiwan Reinforces Independent Status

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Risking the fury of China, Taiwan approved a major government overhaul that will boost the island’s de facto independent status.

The National Assembly approved constitutional changes late Friday that will expand presidential power and virtually eliminate the provincial government, an extra layer of government retained since 1949. The Nationalists, who fled here after losing a civil war to the Communists on the mainland, originally retained the provincial government to back its claim to be the legitimate government of all of China.

China, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province, had warned against the move, which it sees as another step toward abandoning the doctrine of reunification.