The Taiwan-China Connection

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.

Tse-Kang Leng is associate research fellow and chief of the Cooperation and Exchange Section of the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University, Taipei.