Taiwan: Beyond the Economic Miracle.

THIS VOLUME brings together seventeen essays presented at a 1989 conference. The editors assume familiarity with the broad outlines of the Taiwan economic miracle, and have instead asked the contributors to explore, based on empirical research and informed speculation, ways in which other aspects of contemporary Taiwan are changing. Some of these changes grow directly out of the economic miracle, others do not. Overall, the authors evaluate the changes quite favorably.

Of central importance are political reforms at the national and local levels. Hung-mao Tien, Parris Chang and Yung-mau Chao provide useful insights and identify critical issues, but subsequent events such as the election of a new National Assembly and Legislative Yuan, the appointment of a Taiwanese premier, and the explicit debate over Taiwan's national identity have already changed the landscape they describe.

Taiwan's economic miracle has brought about structural change within the society, with differential impacts on various groups. Elsewhere, Michael Hsiao has discussed the question of the middle class and civil society; here he focuses on labor activism as an example of the changing balance between state and society. Marshall Johnson's empirical essay on the construction of ethnicity and the waning of the ethnic division of labor in the marriage market, enterprise groups, and occupations, addresses one of the fundamental shifts brought along in the wake of economic growth. Still a taboo subject at the time of his writing, discussions of provincial origin and mainlander/Taiwanese differences are now commonplace.

Two essays break new ground in examining problems Taiwan faces as it confronts the consequences of and moves beyond its headlong focus on economic growth: Denis Simon focuses on the past role of the state and multinationals in transferring technology to Taiwan, and the challenges of cultivating domestic research and development capabilities in order to maintain continued growth. Jack Williams presents a comprehensive overview of Taiwan's environmental mess.

Several chapters deal with Taiwan's new role in the global political-economic system, in particular as a payoff of Lee Teng-hui's policy of "flexible diplomacy." Richard Bush's analysis of the role of the United States in Taiwan-mainland relations offers several scenarios, predicting that the most likely trend is toward a separate Taiwan, and that the PRC must take the responsibility for dissolving the mistrust the island's people hold to deal successfully with this situation.

It is a measure of the rapidity with which things are changing both within Taiwan and its external relations that many of the current events and predictions in this book are already history. One area that would have been very hard to predict is Taiwan's aggressive economic movement after Tiananmen into the mainland and the increased dependence of many sectors and enterprises on the mainland for cheap labor, lax regulations and a market. An aspect of external ties not covered is the emerging Greater China, comprising the economies of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Fujian and Guangdong. The Koo-Wang talks of April 1993 represent a significant step in working out a modus operandi across the straits.

Without second-guessing the editors, some additional areas that could have been more systematically explored under the general theme of "beyond the economic miracle" might include the changing role of women; emphasis on social welfare and other quality of life issues; crime and social order; the sociopolitical role, makeup and upgrading of the military; and popular culture.

Finally, the book required more rigorous copy editing: The romanization is inconsistent and frequently incomprehensible; the mode of citations and references is not standardized and many are incorrect; and Chiang Ching-kuo's death is wrongly reported as 1987 in the first sentence of the introduction.

THOMAS B. GOLD University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.