History of Taiwan - Case Study Example

Introduction Taiwan is an island with large coastal ranges where different economic activities take place. Over the period of time, Taiwan has shown a tremendous progress on economic fronts. However this economic progress is not a result of any easy going phenomenon. Taiwan, after the World War II was a poverty stricken region with mostly devastated infrastructure and amenities. (Government Information Office, 2004). Its recovery from Japan at the end of 1945 virtually ensured that Taiwan’s physical infrastructure including its roads, railways completely destroyed by the war. The destruction of the physical infrastructure also resulted into the drastic and sharp reduction in the productivity of the economy with production of essential commodities was virtually dropped sharply and to fulfill the domestic consumption requirements was difficult task too and resulted in huge inflations taking place in the economy. However despite all these hardships starting just after the Post war era, Taiwan continued its flight to the economic prosperity and stability and subsequent periods after the end of World War II witnesses a new Taiwan. Its progress was once labeled as miraculous due to its sharp rise on the economic fronts of the world. This increase in the economic independence largely depend upon the gradual changes being made in the policies adapted by the subsequent governments of Taiwan which virtually ensured that Taiwan make progress from just being an agro-based country to a country with one of the most strongest industrial bases in the world. The economic progress of Taiwan therefore is a phased phenomenon where there was gradual shift from being the agro-based country to more industrialized country. How did it Taiwan achieved such great economic freedom and prosperity is an issue of debate which this work will look to explore within the context of economic as well as political history of Taiwan. Political History of Taiwan In order to study the Political history of Taiwan, we need to divide the political history of Taiwan into three periods. These three periods are: 1) Era before World War II 2) Japanese Rule 3) Period after World War II Political History of Taiwan before World War II It is suggested that the first human settling in the region of Taiwan dates back to thousands of years however a more recent historical account suggest that the Han Chinese began to settle in the region since 1200s. It is also believed that Taiwan has not remained a very attractive place for the attackers and other alien settlers mainly due to the hostile nature of the aborigines of Taiwan and lack of economic resources. The first European settlement in the region of Taiwan began during 1544 when Portuguese ship sailed to the island. In 1624, Dutch established their first commercial based in Taiwan and formally made Taiwan their own colony and began to import workers from other countries as labors. Thus the modern economic history of Taiwan probably starts from here. Dutch were finally defeated by the troops from Fiji and were forced out of the country. However after the exit of Dutch, Chinese dynasty was established in the region which was finally forced out by the Japanese. Japanese Rule Until the end of World War II, Taiwan remained under the control of Japan. The Japanese government started to transform Taiwan into an industrial base and the infrastructure was developed during the occupation of Japan in the region. Besides developing the technical and industrial base of the country, Japanese also focused on increasing the agriculture output of the country and the productivity of rice and sugar cane was greatly improved. It is also believed that during World War II, Taiwan served as a prisoner camp for the Japan. Besides that, there were efforts taken on the part of Japanese to formally integrate Taiwan as the part of the Japanese however it remained unsuccessful. In 1945, during World War II, Japanese forces surrendered to the Chinese forces hence a new era has begun for Taiwan. However it must be noted that the new entry of China into the region was not greeted with so much cheerfulness as the many believed that Chinese will be just another force to exploit the region. It was a fact that the Japanese era in the region was largely of economic prosperity and progress and as described above that the development of infrastructure in Taiwan begun during the political period of Japan in the region therefore many believed that Japanese were better masters than the Chinese. The Chinese era beginning after the World War II however not political stable as there were not only civil wars as the people readily did not accepted China. Alien rule seemed to have become the islanders’ tragic destiny. With such frequent changes of political regime, Taiwan’s political, economic, and cultural histories also became discontinuous, and the attainment of more advanced levels of development was difficult as each regime imposed its culture and systems on the island. This resulted in a confusion regarding national identity and the stagnation of local culture. From another angle, however, it can be argued that it was this historical background that enabled Taiwan to absorb diverse and advanced cultures, and thus progress rapidly. When each alien regime withdrew from the island, its culture remained and became a source of Taiwan’s heritage, enriching the local culture. Taiwan today is a combination of aboriginal, Chinese, Japanese and Western cultures, and can be regarded as a small but exquisite piece of art. Modern History of Taiwan The political history of Taiwan after the World War II remained largely controversial. During October 1971, United Nations endorsed the legitimate rights of Chinese people on the region. This was accepted by almost all the countries of the world including United States of America. (Qimao, 1987). The modern Political history of Taiwan suggests however that it brought forward great economic progress and prosperity in the Region. Accession of Taiwan to China remained the core issue in this phase of the Chinese history and politically it is believed that Taiwan is still not a stable country. There is a very growing sense of having a separate and distinct identity for the Taiwan and it was because of this reason that during 2007, Taiwan passed a resolution in order to establish their own distinct identity Which historically is not of Chinese origin. The first stage of economic development within Taiwan started during the period of 1952 through 1980. During this era, the government policies resulted in the shift from the agro-based economy to the more industrialized economy with reliance less reliance on the agriculture as the main economic variable for economic growth. The second era started from 1981 and lasted till 1999. This period witnessed great external and internal pressures on the Taiwan’s economy which has resulted in the slow down of the Taiwan’s economy mainly due to political instability at the regional as well as international level. However despite this political disturbance, Taiwan continued on the path of economic success. Taiwan began its real economic development after Hong Kong but before the South Korea mainly due to the rising wage rates in Japan. Though the demographics of the country are not considered as favorable due to unfavorable resource endowment and population density however despite that Taiwan has been able to achieve consistent economic growth of more than 6% per year. It was largely due to its economic soundness that Taiwan, in its modern political history, has survived the East Asian currency crises mainly due to its large base of foreign exchange reserves and low external debt. (Lau, 2002). References Government Information Office. (2004). The Story of Taiwan - Economy. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from www.taiwan.com.au: http://www.taiwan.com.au/Polieco/History/ROC/report04.html Lau, L. J. (2002, Oct 4). Taiwan As a Model for economic development. Retrieved March 13, 2008, from www.stanford.edu: http://www.stanford.edu/~ljlau/Presentations/Presentations/021004.PDF. Qimao, C. (1987). The Taiwan Issue and Sino-U.S. Relations: A PRC View. Asian Survey , 27 (11), 1161-1175. Read More