By John J. Metzler
TAIPEI ― Taiwan’s dynamism and optimism is contagious. Walking around this prosperous and increasingly world-class city one is reminded of the self-reliant and can-do attitude which turned Taiwan from a poor and languid backwater at the end of World War II, to one of East Asia’s most prosperous places.
But leafy avenues and upscale shops aside, not to mention the iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper, the world’s second tallest building, the capital of the Republic of China remains a model of resourcefulness and resilience.
To be sure the numbers tell only part of the story; historically a high-growth export-oriented economy based largely on free enterprise, Taiwan’s GDP growth in 2010 reached 10 percent; despite the global recessionary gloom, growth will still hold at 5 percent this year, an impressive gain. Moreover, per-capita income has grown to $19,500 from $2,300 in 1980.
Geography certainly hasn’t changed and Taiwan remains in the shadow, and some would say the creeping social sphere of influence, of its longtime rival the People’s Republic of China (PRC). When Mao Zedong’s Communist forces seized the mainland in 1949 following the Chinese civil war, the Nationalists went into exile on Taiwan. Thus China was divided de facto into two competing governments and two starkly different social visions.
Though political tensions have eased remarkably between both sides of the Taiwan Straits since the election of Nationalist President Ma Ying-jeou, the unnerving fact remains that the PRC regime has never renounced the use of force to reunify Taiwan.
Chang Chun-fu, deputy director general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, said, “Forty-one percent of our exports now go to Mainland China as compared to 11 percent to the U.S.” Back in the 1980s about 30 percent of Taiwan exports went to the U.S.
He added that the “production costs are too high in Taiwan” so many private sector firms have invested in China. There’s at least $100 billion in Taiwanese investment in China, despite Taipei and Beijing being political rivals.
Director Chang stresses that Taiwan’s focus remains on a “service economy, green industry such as solar panels.” Currently Taiwan is the second largest producer of solar panels; most are exported to Europe. Moreover Taiwan’s research and development (R&D) sector remains impressive but with clear dependence on assembly and production in China especially in the computer industry.
The bigger story remains the island’s quality of life improvements. Having first been to Taiwan in the mid-1970s and 1980s, the island was defined by fast economic growth but often at the expense of the environment; air pollution, especially given the hot and humid climate, was a serious problem. This is far less so today as the island has widely embraced “green technology.”
Moreover the massive traffic jams have been alleviated by better roads and in Taipei, the capital, a very efficient and clean subway system which has alleviated downtown traffic.
The island’s once extensive but slow rail network has been upgraded by bullet trains with frequency and speed connecting the island’s western coastal cities. Travel between Taipei and the southern port of Kaohsiung which once took at least five hours is now done swiftly in 90 minutes on a privately funded and run high speed rail network.
Taiwan’s socioeconomic success story stands as a model for the developing world; a poor, war ravished ex-Japanese colony transformed itself into a laudable success story. Education, hard work, equitable land reform, and free enterprise remain the key ingredients. So too do ageless Chinese ethical and family values and religious freedom. Today Taiwan ranks in the top 10 globally, between Switzerland and Canada, in the IMD World Competitiveness rankings.
The New Hampshire-sized island with 23 million people is separated from the mainland by just 80 miles of water, but by a huge gulf in sociopolitical systems between the divided nation.
Perhaps one of Taiwan’s biggest accomplishments remains its thriving and tumultuous democracy. Contrary to the People’s Republic of China’s authoritarian political system where the monolithic Communist Party exerts a suffocating control on politics and still much of the economy through “state capitalism,” Taiwan’s two major parties, the ruling Nationalists (KMT) and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) offer the population real political choices which are vigorously and freely debated.
Presidential and legislative elections are slated for January 2012; incumbent KMT President Ma seeks re-election but is challenged by the DPP’s Tsai Ying-wen.
The Republic of China celebrates its 100th birthday this October. People tend to forget that Asia’s oldest republic is quite alive and well despite its diplomatic isolation by Beijing and being shadowed militarily by the mainland. This is still very much the David and Goliath saga.
John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of “Transatlantic Divide; USA/Euroland Gap” (University Press, 2010). He can be reached at jjmcolumn@earthlink.net