Taiwan and China’s Substantive Examination of Patent Applications
(Source: Jason Meredith | CC BY 2.0)  
 
 
Taiwan Practices:
According to Article 38.1 of Taiwan Patent Act, the applicant or any person may consider filing a request for substantive examination for invention application within THREE years after the filing date of the application. The filing date is the actual filing date with Taiwan IPO, but not the earliest priority date.

China Practices:
According to Article 35 of China Patent Act, the applicant may consider filing a request for substantive examination for invention application within THREE years after the filing date of the application. The filing date is the earliest priority date if any.
The differences between Taiwan and China regarding request for substantive examination make the foreign applicant have different due date for the requests.