Class notes (week 11)

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Class Notes (Week 11)

Taiwan: Introduction

* Taiwan is small but rich, economically powerful.

* Taiwan is one of East Asia's NICs and has achieved tiger status in terms of economic development.

* Taiwan incorporates the main island and smaller islands called the Penghu Islands - The Penghu were colonized by the Portuguese, who named them Pescadores (Fisherman) (Fig.11-11).

* Most people dwell on the western coastal plain.

* Agricultural output has steadily declined over the years as farmland and employment shifts to urbanization and industry.

* Taiwan is 75 percent urban with major population clusters in the capital of Taipei, and in the ports of Chilung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.

Taiwan: Rise of the Tiger

* Taiwan's achievements as an economic tiger are underpinned by its excellent educational system, infrastructure, and American connections.

* Taiwan's industry has moved steadily up the value-added ladder from garments, to footwear, to electronics.

* Growth of population in the four metropolitan regions of Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung and the construction of a north-south freeway from Taipei to Kaohsiung have created a metropolitan corridor similar to that between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan.

* Hsinchu Science Park has become the world's third largest high-tech industrial center with strong links to California's Silicon valley, where hundreds of U.S.-schooled Taiwanese are now employed.

* Taiwan now leads the world in the production of notebook computers and is among the top three makers of desktop computers and peripherals.

* But a small domestic market, increasing labor costs, shortage of land for expansion, and lack of raw materials have compelled structural and spatial changes.

* The PC market is divided into two sectors: (1) big name-brand marketing and sales, and (2) hundreds of no-name component suppliers - Taiwan has garnered the latter.

Taiwan: The China Connection

* Taiwan...