Democratization of Taiwan

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Democratization of Taiwan

Taiwan is an island country which is located off the southeast coast of China

between the Taiwan Strait and the Philippine Sea. It has a land area of about 32,000

square kilometers, and claims another 3,700 square kilometers of sea around it, giving it

close to a total of 36,000 square kilometers for itself. The land of Taiwan consists mainly

of mountainous terrain in the east while the west has flat plains which can be compared to

the middle central part of the United States. The country has a population of about 22

million people in which 9.7 million of those people are part of the labor force. Some of

the groups that make up this population include native Taiwanese (which includes Hakka,

the originals of the land), mainland Chinese, and aborigines. Taiwan is one of the major

economic powers of East Asia. Taiwan is a truly capitalistic economy in an area where

“communism” has played a major role in the world over the last 50 years. The GDP has

been growing at a rate of about 8 percent per year over the last few years. Services make

up more than half of Taiwan’s GDP, while industry and agriculture combine to make up

the for the rest of the GDP. Manufacturing is mainly in electronics and machinery, which

are among Taiwan’s major exports. (CIA World Factbook, 2000)

Although Taiwan has been a major economic success, its political situation is still

more remarkable. Within the last 50 years, sweeping changes have embraced the political

arena. It was up until World War II that Taiwan was under the control of Japan, an

arrangement which resulted from the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. (Rigger 34, 1999)

However in 1945, at the end of the war, Taiwan was given back to Chi...

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China), http://www.freedomhouse.org/survey/2000/reports/country/taiwan.html>>,

Accessed September 25, 2000.

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