The relationship between the island of Taiwan and the states of South-East Asia during the 20th century has enjoyed only a limited temporal autonomy. Autonomy was denied during much of the first half of the century because of Japan's colonial rule over the island and because the countries of South-East Asia, with the exception of Thailand, were subject to Western colonialism. It was only with Japan's defeat in the Pacific War and the onset of decolonization, and also with the end of the civil war on the mainland of China that relations between Taiwan as a discrete expression in political geography and independent South-East Asian states began to assume a kind of autonomy.