Korea and Taiwan: Tigers Rising - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 377

claimed to be the true government of the Republic of
China (ROC) in exile. In that same year, Mao Zedong re-
named China the People' s Republic of China (PRC). Both
Mao and Chiang claimed to head the government of “one
China,” of which Taiwan is a province.
In Taiwan, Mandarin was declared the official lan-
guage by the KMT government. However, Taiwanese is
widely spoken in informal settings, and current demand
has resulted in the production of Taiwanese language
media.
The United States was entrenched in the Cold War
against communism and consequently supported Chi-
ang Kai-shek and the KMT . However, this support met
with world realities in 1971 when the ROC lost its seat
at the United Nations in favor of the PRC. The seating of
the PRC in the world body quickly eroded Taiwan' s sta-
tus as the sole representative of China. In 1972, U.S.
President Nixon signed the Shanghai Communiqué by
which the United States acknowledged the PRC view
that “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait
maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part
of China.” It gave no credence to the Taiwanese desire
for self-determination.
In 1978, President Carter established formal diplo-
matic relations with the PRC and reiterated the Shanghai
Communiqué. The United States also severed formal re-
lations with Taiwan, although economic and cultural of-
fices maintain informal ties. The United States wants the
issue resolved peacefully . The PRC says that the issue of
reunification is an internal affair.
Regional considerations are also critical. If the PRC
controlled both flanks of the Taiwan Strait, it would have
a chokehold on the main sea lanes to South Korea and
Japan.
As PRC-international relations increased, Taiwan
became represented only as “Taipei” in international or-
ganizations. Taiwan has no official embassies abroad but
allows its trade offices to handle similar functions. In the
1990s, the island began promoting itself as “China
Taipei.”
Both Taiwan and the mainland cling to their notions
of one China. The PRC hopes that the examples of Hong
Kong and Macau and their “one country , two systems”
policy will stimulate the ROC to formally rejoin the PRC.
But many Taiwanese, aware of conditions on the main-
land, have little interest in this goal.
The number of islanders who consider themselves
“Taiwanese” only (not “Chinese”) was 44 percent in
2007, or more than double the 20 percent recorded in
1994, and up from 37 percent in 2000. There is also talk

of changing the name PRC to simply “China.” The belief
that all China should be united seems to be becoming in-
creasingly amorphous.
While the China-Taiwan problem remains unre-
solved, tensions have eased since Taiwan' s President Ma
Ying-jeo declared a “diplomatic truce” shortly after he
took office in 2008. Using a conciliatory approach, he de-
clared that while Taiwan will not move toward political
unification with China, neither will it declare independ-
ence. This stand is in line with the views of 75 to 80 per-
cent of Taiwanese who want to preserve the status quo.
On the mainland, President Hu Jin-tao has also backed
away from an aggressive stance and seems satisfied to in-
crease economic and cultural integration.
The tenuous political situation has not precluded
ongoing and intensifying economic relationships be-
tween China and Taiwan. In fact, big dragon China is of
significant economic consequence to little tiger Taiwan.

RISE OF THE TIGER
Taiwan' s achievements as an economic tiger are under-
pinned by its excellent educational system, in-place in-
frastructure, and American connections. Initially , KMT
land reform gave land to tenant farmers and labor-intensive
industries employed thousands. The state confined
itself to key sectors such as finance and energy , leaving
most industrial opportunities to private entrepreneurs.
Farmers now focus on specialty crops such as mush-
rooms and aquaculture products such as eels. While agri-
culture is very efficient, the country must import
increasing amounts of food. Industry has moved steadily
up the value-added ladder from apparel, to footwear, to
electronics.
Like Japan, Taiwan must import most of its raw
materials to produce finished exports. Consequently ,
most of the industries are located on the alluvial plain
along the west coast where the major ports are located
and where raw materials are unloaded. This industrial
corridor is anchored by Taipei and its port of Chilung
in the north and the port of Kaohsiung in the south. A
high-speed rail line between the two cities is under
construction.
Taiwan has long met the criteria of a kotadesasi (dis-
cussed in Chapter 4) through its economic transforma-
tion and evolving spatial structure. Growth of population
in the four metropolitan regions of Taipei, Taichung,
Tainan, and Kaohsiung and the construction of a
north-south freeway from Taipei to Kaohsiung have cre-
ated a metropolitan corridor similar to that between