TAIWAN AT THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY: THE GAINS AND LOSSES

Professor Chu has analyzed the interplay of the trend towards globalization and the historical forces at work in Tiwan from several previously unconsidered aspects. Taiwan at the End of the 20th Century is both an important contribution to understanding the context of the momentous political and social changes in Taiwan and a set of pians from which to plot the possible ways forward. In particular. the chapters on the rise of island-mainland separatism and on identity politics will prove useful for scholars seeking an ”Asian paradigm”for understanding how Taiwan-China relations could evolve over the decades to come. I would urge all of Taiwan’s friends and all those who have a scholarly interest in the island’s affairs to read Professor Chu’s work and to use it as a lens through which to observe this new democracy’s passage into the 21st Century.