Historical Dictionary of Israel (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East)

There are no survivors. Polls show they lead President Chen by eight points. China responded with the bitterest comments in several years. Should Taiwan strengthen its missile defense system if China refuses to withdraw its missiles targeted on Taiwan? Secretary of State Colin Powell warns both China and Taiwan against trying to unilaterally resolve their differences. The assailant is not caught.

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The opposition levels charges that the event was staged. Both referendums fail to get enough votes to pass. The High Court orders ballot boxes sealed pending a recount.

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He says the crime scene was not preserved. About three hundred thousand demonstrators protest the election near the Presidential Palace; one hundred are injured. He suggests a balance-of-terror situation like the Cold War. Lien Chan calls for big cuts, allocating more money to social welfare, and for a more pragmatic policy toward China.

President Chen states that Chinese missiles are targeting Taiwan. Pan-blue keeps its majority and even enhances its control of the legislature with the victory of several friendly independents. Analysts say President Chen overestimated the appeal of Taiwan independence. Others say the United States expressing anger with Chen may have had an impact.

He reportedly blamed Chen for the poor economy and committed suicide shortly after the attack. Many people do not believe the police account. Lien is treated almost as a visiting head of government. In the same poll, 56 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the DPP, while 61 percent said the DPP had lost its core values and 49 percent said the party was corrupt. Corruption is seen as a major cause of the DPP setback.

Melvil Decimal System: 953.30

The visit is given considerable publicity in the United States. The Republic of China has also laid claim to the Tiaoyutai islets Senkaku in Japanese, and Diaoyutai as spelled in China north of Taiwan, which are thought to be the site of undersea oil deposits and are in contention between China and Japan. Officials of the government of the Republic of China often 1 02 Intro.

The Western word for Taiwan was Formosa, which is still in use, though less frequently. Most people in Taiwan did not take these claims seriously, even less so as time passed. Taiwan is said to be a province of China—Taiwan Province. Most people in Taiwan disagree; many, in fact, say this claim is a myth. Taiwan and China may someday reconcile their differences, at which time Taiwan will presumably become part of China. Certain trends, such as trade, investment, and the large number of people traveling between Taiwan and China, suggest that this is a real possibility.

In any event, China does not support a federation, confederation, commonwealth, or other such ideas. They have also spoken of a time frame within which Taiwan must negotiate or China will employ military force to take the island. Or the United States may be seen to support the status quo, however untidy or ambiguous. Still, many believe that U. Although Taiwan appears to be a pawn in big power politics, and either America or China, or the two together, will decide its fate, domestic opinion and politics in Taiwan may play a role and may even be decisive.

Most citizens in Taiwan oppose unification with China in the short run though most say they prefer the status quo over any other choice , and a separate national identity is growing in Taiwan. Thus, it is difficult to predict where Taiwan will go in the future if its population is to decide the issue. Political trends say one thing, economic trends another. On the other 02 Intro. The islands controlled or claimed by Taipei in the South China Sea are not geologically tied to Taiwan.

The Bashi Channel separates Taiwan from the Philippines. Some geologists say that Taiwan was once part of the Asia mainland or what is now China. Others dispute this view because of its volcanic soil not found in China and instead argue that Taiwan is geologically part of a long chain of islands separate from the Asian continent that extend from Alaska, through Japan and Taiwan, to the Philippines and farther south.

These geologists contend that there was no mainland connection, or that if there ever was one, it is very far removed in time. It may be that volcanic activity caused Taiwan to separate from China at some time in the distant past and that therefore both of these views are true. All of this would not be considered very relevant except that the argument of whether Taiwan is, or should be, part of China is an intense one, and even geological evidence is cited by both sides to prove their view.

Taiwan is very mountainous; mountains, in fact, cover more than two-thirds of the island. A central range of mountains stretching from 02 Intro. There are few good harbors on the eastern side of Taiwan. On the western side of the island lies a plain that is home to most of the population and where most of its tilled land is found. The Tamsui River, which flows past Taipei and on to the Taiwan Strait, is an exception, though large ships cannot use the river. Rainfall is plentiful, averaging over centimeters inches a year.

The east coast receives more rain than the west, and the mountains receive more than the lowlands. October through March is the rainy season in the north; the south gets more precipitation from April to September. Winds are periodic and seasonal, not continental or strong. Taiwan experiences no cyclones or tornadoes; however, it suffers very severe typhoons in the late summer and early fall.

The typhoons that hit Taiwan are among the strongest in the world and do considerable wind damage and often cause severe flooding. Taiwan is traversed by the Tropic of Cancer, just below the middle of the island. The climate of Taiwan is therefore subtropical and, in the very southern part of the island, tropical. Proximity to the ocean also moderates the climate.

On the other hand, temperatures throughout the island vary considerably with elevation. In fact, snow falls in the high mountainous areas and occasionally at some lesser elevations to the north in the winter. Generally, however, temperatures are moderate to hot.

The surface area of the Republic of China is 36, square kilometers 13, square miles , of which slightly over 10 percent is water mostly ocean territory. This makes Taiwan slightly smaller than the U. If Taiwan were made part of China, it would be its second smallest province after Hainan. The soil in Taiwan is generally rich in the lowlands but leached and acidic at higher elevations. This, in addition to changes in elevation, accounts for the wide variety of trees and other flora on the island. Rice is the 02 Intro. Farmers grow a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, the latter having the reputation for being the tastiest in the world.

Taiwan has few natural resources. However, early in its history, coal and some other minerals were commercially important. Petroleum and gas exploration have not yielded any meaningful finds. The population of the Republic of China was just over twenty-three million in The population of the Pescadores is around ,; Quemoy is home to 50, people, and Matsu about 8, though there is a sizable number of military personnel stationed on Quemoy and Matsu. Considering its small geographic size, this makes the Republic of China the second most densely populated nation in the world after Bangladesh excluding, of course, the city-states and mini-states.

There are around 3, people per square kilometer 1, per square mile. Taking cognizance of the fact that most of the island of Taiwan is mountainous, the Republic of China has more people per unit of flat land than any small, medium-size, or large nation in the world. An influx of people after the Nationalist Chinese regime was defeated by the Communists on the mainland, along with a rapid rate of increase for more than two decades thereafter, caused the population to grow rapidly. As a result, in , the government established a birth control program. In fact, the current population replacement rate has been below par for two decades.

Although very crowded, Taiwan is not said to have a population problem. In fact, there is now a shortage of labor due to the low birthrate. This has resulted in problems caused by importing labor from other countries. Another serious problem that is anticipated is aging.

Life expectancy is now These figures represent dramatic changes from the recent past and suggest high social welfare and medical costs in the future. They constitute less than 2 percent of the population. Together they represent 85 percent of the population, with the latter outnumbering the former by two or three to one.

They hailed from various parts of China but came disproportionately from the coastal and southern provinces. In total, they constitute just under 15 percent of the population. Currently most live in the mountains, although originally two separate groups could be identified: There are a number of different aboriginal groups, but there are said to be less than a dozen major ones. The aborigines speak languages or tribal dialects that resemble Malay rather than Chinese.

However, their languages or dialects are mutually unintelligible, and their common language is Chinese. Many still live by hunting and fishing, though many aborigines are now working in other occupations, especially those associated with tourism. They are poorer than the rest of the population, and their birthrate is lower. It is uncertain when the first Chinese took up residence in Taiwan. It may have been as early as the sixth century AD.

However, probably most Chinese on the island at that time were fishermen who stopped on the island to repair their boats or nets, merchants who traded with the aborigines, and pirates who used places on the island as hideouts. By AD , there were a number of Chinese communities in western Taiwan. Most 02 Intro. The Hakka, who probably came earlier, resided more in the southern part of the island. Today there are still Hakka-dominated areas in Taiwan.

Hakkas speak the Hakka dialect of Chinese in addition to Taiwanese a derivative of the Fukien dialect and Mandarin Chinese. Hakkas are, in a number of ways, culturally distinct from other Chinese. Today, many Hakkas are in politics, and many work in local police organizations and the railroads. The Fukien Taiwanese, or Hoklo, began to settle in Taiwan nearly a thousand years ago, but most migrated in the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries. They also controlled the island politically when it was not governed by outside powers.

The Fukien Chinese or Taiwanese are now dominant in agriculture, business, and local and national politics. Because of the years of separation from China, and as a result of greater contact with other peoples and countries, along with a fifty-year period of Japanese colonial rule before World War II, their culture is also unique.

They speak Taiwanese, which is derivative of the dialect spoken in southern Fukien Province. The Mainland Chinese are called latecomers. Most were government or ruling party officials or soldiers. In the early years after , they monopolized government employment and jobs in education and lived primarily in the large cities, especially Taipei.

Since they hailed from all parts of China, they speak various dialects, in addition to Mandarin Chinese. Today many also speak Taiwanese. The aborigines battled both groups of early-arrival Chinese, or Taiwanese, when the latter migrated to the island, and for a long time thereafter. In addition, the Hakka and Fukien Chinese also fought and have long harbored hostilities toward each other. Ethnic identification and hatred, however, have waned in recent years with urbanization, prosperity, and a common outside threat from China, though it at times seems worse due to democratization especially during election campaigns.

Ethnic tension increased after Chen Shui-bian was elected president in Also, most people report adhering to more than one religion. The aborigines practice nature worship and various sacrifices. Most Chinese—65 percent according to a recent poll—adhere to some Chinese folk religion. Buddhism has seen an increase in followers in Taiwan in recent years, with 15 percent of the population reporting to be converts. Taoism has merged with other religions and in Taiwan has adopted many of the practices of local folk religions.

After making gains in the s and s, the number of Christians has remained about the same in recent years: Protestants count their numbers at just over ,, and Catholics number over , Among Protestants, the Methodist Church at one time had an advantage in seeking converts because Chiang Kai-shek was Methodist.

The Methodist Church still attracts many Mainland Chinese. So are the origins of the aborigines. It has long been assumed that all or most of the aborigines came to Taiwan from Southeast Asia. Various cultural similarities suggest 02 Intro. In addition, the aboriginal languages are classified as Malay based on grammatical structure and the fact that as many as two-thirds of the words in some of them are similar to those of Malay. However, this does not rule out the possibility that they came from the southern part of China, which was not at that time culturally Chinese and was populated by people who later migrated to Southeast Asia.

On the other hand, certain evidence suggests that some tribes may have migrated from the north—North China or possibly even Japan. South Asia and other places have also been mentioned. Recently, yet another theory has been advanced: Anthropologists say that in prehistoric times the human population of Taiwan was quite evenly distributed throughout the island and that the early residents lived by hunting, fishing, and some shifting agriculture.

Their political and social systems were tribal in structure, with land held in common. Lineage and customs varied among the various tribes. There is mention of Taiwan in early Chinese historical records, but there are few details. In the third century AD, the Chinese government sent a ten-thousandman expeditionary force to Taiwan, ostensibly to explore the island, but no follow-up mission was sent.

If the purpose of the effort was to make Taiwan Chinese territory, the idea was soon forgotten.

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After that, Taiwan was seldom mentioned in Chinese court documents or in Chinese historical records for the next 1, years, though there were some other government-sponsored visits to the island. Later, Chinese began to visit the island: After Chinese began to permanently migrate to Taiwan from areas on the mainland across the Taiwan Strait, China learned about Taiwan from those who visited the island and from relatives of migrants, but information con- 02 Intro.

Few Chinese who went to Taiwan to live returned to China, since much of the time it was unlawful for them to leave the motherland, and the punishment for doing so was death. In addition, they usually migrated for economic reasons, and when they found good land or other opportunities to improve their livelihood in Taiwan, they did not want to return to China.

Furthermore, not many of those who did return had any contact with the government far off to the north in Peking. Still, it was the first mention of the word Taiwan in Chinese history. On the other hand, reports about Taiwan and the people residing there were not complimentary, explaining at least in part why the Chinese court at this time showed no real interest in the island.

When the Mongols ruled China from to , a military mission brought the Pescadores under control; however, the Mongols made no effort to extend their control to Taiwan. Hakkas in the south and Japanese pirates in the north occupied some of the coastal areas of Taiwan at this time. Fukienese were also residing on the island. The aborigines controlled the interior of the island and constituted the majority of the population. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinese from various parts of China but chiefly the Amoy area of southern Fukien Province began to migrate to Taiwan in large numbers.

Thus Fukienese became the dominant group among the local Chinese population. Japanese pirates at this time still held control over some of the northern part of the island, and Chinese pirates occupied some ports in the south. When the first Westerners arrived, Chinese, numbering twenty-five thousand at most, were the main population on only a small portion of the island.

The Portuguese, however, did not lay claim to Taiwan or try to colonize it; nor did other Western countries at this time. In , Japan, under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, made a weak and ill-fated attempt to colonize Taiwan. In , Dutch forces captured the Pescadores. They used their military presence there to control ship traffic through the Taiwan Strait and to harass Portuguese vessels traveling to and from Japan.

The Dutch tried to wrest Macao, on the China coast, from the Portuguese, but failed. Subsequently, in , Dutch representatives signed a treaty with China, which gave Holland posts on Taiwan and other rights in exchange for Dutch forces withdrawing from the Pescadores. The Dutch then established a settlement in southern Taiwan and built three forts, including Fort Zeelandia, the most famous, near the present-day city of Tainan.

In , Spanish soldiers seized the port of Keelung in northern Taiwan and established control of an area down the west coast to a short distance from Tamsui. Nevertheless, in , Dutch garrisons subjugated Spanish forces. Shortly after, the Dutch suppressed a Chinese rebellion with the help of the aborigines and established jurisdiction over the entire island, though their de facto control did not extend very far inland.

The Dutch East India Company forthwith gained exclusive rights to commercial operations in Taiwan and ruled most of the island as a colonial enterprise. They also dug new wells, conducted land surveys, introduced cash crops such as sugar, and romanized the aboriginal languages. They built large forts or castles and introduced the residents of Taiwan to opium, which the Chinese population mixed with tobacco for smoking.

During the early years of Dutch control, the Chinese population was estimated at thirty thousand; the aborigine population was probably several times larger. The Dutch population was but a few thousand. Cheng, with a fleet of three thousand vessels, won some battles but did not succeed in his given mission, and the Manchus finally captured and executed him. The latter Cheng welcomed Chinese immigrants who fled to Taiwan to escape Manchu rule.

He recruited them and built a larger army and expanded his already strong navy.

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With twelve thousand vessels and , soldiers, he battled the Manchus for more than a decade, trying to restore the Ming Dynasty. At one point, he nearly captured the city of Nanking. From his bases in the north, Cheng sailed down the coast with 30, men to do battle with the 2, Dutch soldiers and Dutch farmers. After a ninemonth siege, the Dutch negotiated an agreement whereby they would evacuate, and in so doing they ended their colonial rule of Taiwan.

Fearing a rebellion, Spanish officials in the Philippines ordered the suppression of Chinese political activities, killing ten thousand Chinese residents in the process. The Spanish then sent a message to Cheng that they had killed all Chinese residing in the Philippines.

Cheng vowed revenge, but he died of a mysterious ailment some say of a heart attack after hearing news of the fate of the Chinese in the Philippines before he could retaliate against the Spanish as he swore to do. He imported and nurtured Chinese culture, which he admired. He adopted the Chinese legal and political systems, recruiting the best available scholars and advisers.

Thus Taiwan in some ways became sinofied, and in some other ways it did not. In many respects, Cheng brought progress to the island. He encouraged Chinese across the Strait to come to Taiwan, setting in motion a wave of immigration that soon brought a significant increase in the Chinese population in Taiwan. He died in Taiwan, like his father, at a young age. Many of his subjects, even loyal ones, refused to recognize this son as their ruler. The Manchu government in China immediately took advantage of the situation.

In , Manchu troops landed on Taiwan and, not encountering much resistance, brought to a close just over two decades of Cheng family rule over Taiwan—a period when Taiwan was self-governing. However, it did so reluctantly, seeing Taiwan as important to China only for strategic reasons. Chinese officials, including the emperor, did not otherwise view Taiwan as valuable to China and 02 Intro.

Throughout most of this period, Taiwan was administratively a part of Fukien Province. Many were sent as a form of punishment. Harsh and inhumane punishments were meted out for minor crimes. Peking responded with punitive vengeance, further alienating much of the population. Most people on the island came to hate the government of China as a result of its oppressive rule and its regular use of military force to resolve problems. Peking banned women from going to Taiwan, thus creating a Chinese society in Taiwan that was overwhelming male.

This added to the frontier nature of Taiwan and the prevalence of violence. Secret societies grew in Taiwan and took on a life of their own at this time. It is further supported by the fact that Peking sent garrisons from China to Taiwan, and when it recruited local militia, it did so from the aboriginal population, not trusting the local Chinese. Also, very few local Chinese took the imperial civil service examination, and few, perhaps none, who passed were assigned to service in Taiwan.

Food was shipped to Japan as well. In , three Jesuits were commissioned by Peking to produce a map of Taiwan in order to plan infrastructural improvements. Also, some efforts were subsequently made to spur commerce in Taiwan. When problems arose, Western governments sought the redress of their grievances from Peking, especially for the killing of their subjects.

Consistently, the response was that China bore no responsibility for Taiwan, thus repudiating, in the minds of Westerners, any claim of sovereignty over the island. In contrast to the growing notion that Taiwan was not claimed by China and thus was not legally part of China at this time, culturally, Taiwan became more and more Chinese. One must also note that China did not espouse the idea of nationhood, as was then common in the West, but instead viewed China as defined by its culture and civilization.

The Chinese government also experienced opposition to its rule elsewhere, which it dealt with in similar ways to the troubles on Taiwan. In the s, several Western powers showed an interest in colonizing Taiwan, or at least in establishing some kind of permanent presence on the island. In fact, in the s, the Chinese government suspected that the British planned to make Taiwan a colony.

In , Commodore Oliver Perry appealed to the U. Later, Townsend Harris, the U. Washington, however, did not follow this advice. A bit later, after acquiring the Ryukyu Islands, Japan also showed an interest in colonizing Taiwan. Realizing that this constituted a threat to China, Peking sent more competent officials to rule Taiwan. Liu Ming-chuan became the most well known. The next year, Liu was appointed governor, and, upon his advice, Taiwan was made a full-fledged Chinese province. But his efforts were too late; Japan had already taken an interest in Taiwan and soon found an opportunity to bring the island under its control.

China lost, and in the surrender agreement, the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed in , Peking ceded 02 Intro. The Chinese population of Taiwan was split over the transfer of ownership of the island to Japan. Some favored it, feeling that Japanese governance could be no worse than the corrupt and cruel Chinese rule they had suffered under for more than two centuries. Many felt that Japan might be able to deal with the vexing problem of rival warlords, rampant crime, and other problems.

But this turned out to be a short-lived affair. Another factor helped Japan gain control over the island: Peking, in a formal and public ceremony in Taiwan, turned over the reins of government to Japan, signaling to the population of Taiwan that China had no interest in keeping Taiwan and would not help those on the island who wanted to resist Japanese rule.

Thus Japan quickly consolidated its control over the population of the island, and opposition to Japanese rule faded, though there was scattered opposition to Japanese rule for the next three years. In any case, the Japanese first sought to establish law and order, which they did very efficiently. The Japanese colonial government issued decrees, which were, in effect, criminal laws, and they enforced these laws harshly, including using capital punishment with considerable frequency.

Some felt the Japanese were cruel, but most were thankful that warlordism, crime, and other problems were largely eradicated and that social stability had returned to the island. Political and social tranquility laid the groundwork for economic development. The top economic priority for the Japanese colonial government was agriculture.

Japan introduced new breeds of rice and better farming and harvesting techniques. Surplus food was sent to Japan, especially rice and sugar. When Japanese colonial rule began in , Taiwan had forty-eight kilometers thirty miles of railroads. By , it had ten times that, and work was in progress to more than double that amount. Roads and harbors were improved and new ones built. As a result, domestic and foreign commerce increased rapidly.

In , Taiwan was electrified, making it the first area outside of Japan proper to take this step into modernity. Meanwhile, communications facilities were built or upgraded. Many diseases were eradicated, and others were reduced in terms of the number of people affected, making Taiwan the most diseasefree area in Asia outside of Japan. Tokyo also undertook progressive social reforms. Education was improved; as a result, illiteracy was reduced markedly. Superstitions were in large part eliminated.

However, Japanese colonial administrators, many of them high-ranking military officers, did not prepare Taiwan for democracy or self-rule. They instead studied the physical sciences, engineering, and medicine. Japanese policies generally helped Taiwan develop economically and in some ways socially, but they were authoritarian and oppressive.

Japan ruled with the help of a local aristocracy or landowning class, which supported Japanese policies in return for favors, mostly economic ones. Japanese officials were generally honest and treated the local population well, but they did not consider them equal to Japanese. Thus they were generally condescending in their attitudes, which was reflected in their style of governance. After World War I, Tokyo prohibited foreign enterprises from operating on the island.

In the s, Taiwan even began to build heavy industries. Japanese authorities found them difficult to control, though they successfully kept them from obtaining guns and thus reduced their threat to the Chinese and Japanese population. They also stopped them from practicing headhunting.

The Japanese army built bases in Taiwan and trained soldiers there. Tokyo recruited soldiers among the Chinese community in Taiwan, even using some in units fighting in China. Some, in fact, participated in the atrocities committed against Chinese in Nanking and elsewhere. Toward the end of the war, the United States contemplated invading Taiwan, but Washington gave up the plan when it found no good maps of Taiwan and, more importantly, calculated that the population would probably fight with the Japanese against American soldiers. Hence, with the exception of U. This pledge was reiterated in the Potsdam Agreement in July In all, they constituted one-eighteenth of the population.

Their exit left a serious vacuum in Taiwan in the realms of political administration, business management, and more. One might infer that legal transfer was made to the Republic of China, though there were no formal documents to support this. In any case, Chiang Kai-shek forthwith sent military forces and government 02 Intro.

The people of Taiwan generally welcomed both the end of Japanese colonial authority and the coming of Nationalist rule of Taiwan, though some discussed alternatives such as independence, a United Nations trusteeship over Taiwan, or a special relationship with the United States. Although the population generally applauded this, they soon became disappointed or worse. Taiwan was not made a province as expected. Nor did the Nationalists give a high priority to establishing democratic practices or institutions. Instead, Taiwan was placed under military rule.

Soldiers and administrative officials from China were sent to Taiwan. The Nationalist government was preoccupied with a civil war on the mainland with the Communists and felt that the people of Taiwan should understand this and should be willing to accept sacrifices. Taiwanese witnessed the economy deteriorate badly due mainly to what they considered gross mismanagement and corruption.

With the economic decline, health standards deteriorated, causing epidemics of cholera and bubonic plague. Rumors spread that Nationalist soldiers brought these illnesses. Public works and the education system fell into disrepair. All of this evoked serious resentment on the part of the local population, which came to view government officials as carpetbaggers.

In this milieu, in February , when 02 Intro. Police fired into the crowd. This triggered open rebellion, an event now known as er er ba, or , for 28 February, when it started.

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He treated the rebellion as Communist inspired, which it was not. The melee saw Fukien Taiwanese beat and kill Mainland Chinese and anyone who could not speak Taiwanese, including some Hakka. Chiang Kai-shek sent troops to restore order. As a result of this incident, Chiang Kai-shek temporarily turned his attention to problems in Taiwan.

He made Taiwan a province and canceled military rule. He appointed more Taiwanese to political positions of importance. He ordered other reforms. But considerable lasting damage had already been done. In the fall of , the government and the military of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan. But this was not to happen soon, and maybe not at all. As a result, Taiwan became synonymous with the Republic of China. Truman ordered the U. Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to block the pending invasion and save the island.

There were, in fact, serious issues to attend to: In short, conditions in Taiwan were bad. Taiwanese and the Mainland Chinese who governed the island soon realized that they had to put their differences behind them if they were to succeed in reconstruction efforts and launch a successful economic development program. The government proved that it was serious about rebuilding the infrastructure and fixing the economy, which it did effectively. It earned praise for this, especially for a highly successful land reform effort launched in , a program that is to this day viewed as a model by scholars and officials of developing nations.

With the help of U. With American encouragement, Chiang Kai-shek nourished some democracy in local government, where Nationalist officials served as mediators between political factions. Democratization at the level of the national government, Chiang said, had to be delayed while the people were prepared for it. A political opposition, including new political parties that might compete with the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang KMT , was thus not allowed to develop. Rationalizing this, ethnic problems were potentially divisive, and many felt that Taiwan needed a strong government to prevent chaos and promote economic development.

Certainly there was tension with China. In , and again in , fighting broke out between the two sides over the Offshore Islands. Chiang regarded these islands, especially Quemoy and Matsu, as critical to his dream of reconquering the mainland. In ensuing years, he put Taiwan on the road to sustained rapid economic growth. Economic growth soon was so rapid that the island became one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Moreover, growth with equity benefited nearly all of the population.

The result was the development of a large middle class, more contact with the outside world since economic growth was propelled by foreign trade , and the need for democratic institutions to sustain the modernization process. And American leaders did not like the thought of going to war with China having experienced that in Korea , especially since it might expand into a U.

Taipei, however, was given a respite in dealing with the growing feeling in the United States and elsewhere that China had to be admitted into the world community and that Taiwan should no longer represent China in the United Nations and other international organizations. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution thrust the Chinese leadership into a power struggle in the mid- and late s, and a self-imposed isolationism followed.

At the same time, Washington-Peking relations deteriorated as a result of the United States escalating the Vietnam War in The new president also perceived that a different meaning better relationship with China was desirable for other reasons, especially in light of the Soviet Union engaging the United States in an arms race. The next year, U. Peking needed Washington for the same reason. Thus they built a new relationship. This brought an end to the Nationalist Chinese claim to represent China in a world once clearly polarized into Communist and democratic blocs.

In April , Chiang died. His dream of deposing Mao and removing the Communists from power in China was not realized. However, he could claim success in modernizing Taiwan and making it a model of economic development. Other books in this series. Historical Dictionary of Fiji Brij V. Historical Dictionary of Yemen Robert D.

Historical Dictionary of Israel (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania and the Middle East)

Historical Dictionary of Singapore Justin J. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan Ludwig W. Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan Kamoludin Abdullaev. Historical Dictionary of Bangladesh Syedur Rahman. Historical Dictionary of Australia Norman Abjorensen. Historical Dictionary of Israel Bernard Reich.

Historical Dictionary of Kazakhstan Ustina Markus. Historical Dictionary of Mongolia Alan J. Retail store and online prices may vary. These factors, along with a steady government, have helped to contribute to the country's affluence. Historical Dictionary of Yemen Robert D. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan Ludwig W.

Historical Dictionary of Singapore Justin J. Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan Kamoludin Abdullaev. Political Dictionary of Israel David H. Historical Dictionary of Mongolia Alan J. Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan Zaur Gasimov. Historical Dictionary of Thailand Harold E. Historical Dictionary of Israel David H. Historical Dictionary of Morocco Aomar Boum. Historical Dictionary of Iran John H. Review quote Officially known as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, this landlocked central Asian nation has been the site of the longest war in American history. The burgeoning interest in this country--commonly known as the "graveyard of empires"--may help explain the need for a fourth edition of this title 3rd ed.

Similar to the format of other works in the "Historical Dictionary" series, this volume primarily contains an A-Z dictionary covering history, politics, geography, institutions, and culture, in addition to prominent contemporary and historical figures, among numerous other topics. The editor notes that "hundreds of added or substantially revised entries" are featured in this latest, hefty edition.

A mostly brief chronology spans the country's history since its earliest times, but the emphasis is primarily on recent times. The appendixes feature some interesting primary documents, and the introduction provides a short but useful overview of Afghanistan This work is a superb ready-reference source suitable for major academic and public libraries.