The Taiwan-China connection
Subtitle: democracy and development across the Taiwan Straits
By: Tse-Kang Leng.
Series: Transitions--Asia and Asian America
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Boulder, Colo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Taiwan -- Economic policy -- 1975-; Taiwan -- Politics and government -- 1988-2000; Taiwan -- Foreign economic relations -- China; China -- Foreign economic relations -- Taiwan
Description: Exploring the transitional role of the state in Taiwan's economic development, this book focuses especially on the impact of trade with mainland China. Tse-Kang Leng argues that the basic structure of political forces within Taiwan and its pattern of external economic relations have been transformed in the 1990s, with cross-Straits trade playing a key part.

Although politically embarrassing to the government, this trade provides an economic opportunity that is irresistibly attractive to business interests.

Thus, cross-Straits trade and investment have served as a fulcrum by which societal interests have moved an unwilling state. Going beyond the "strong state" paradigm, the author's analysis of current cross-Straits economic policies reveals a sharp contrast between Taiwan's authoritarian past and its current era of democratization.

Weighing the crucial forces at work in Taiwan - democratization, state-society interaction, and economic interdependence with mainland China - Leng provides a thorough analysis of Taiwan's political and economic development in the 1990s and beyond.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-146) and index.