[.ca] China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc.: The Dynamics of a New Empire (ISBN 0679777563)

From Amazon.com:
With Hong Kong's reversion to Chinese rule, a new style of leadership under party chief and president Jiang Zemin, and unrivaled economic growth, China is more unpredictable than ever. In an era in which communist regimes are crumbling worldwide, China not only survives but prospers, contradicting the West's maxim that open markets inevitably lead to open societies. Given all the unknowns that surround China's future, Willem van Kemenade's China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc. seems a brave undertaking. Van Kemenade, a Dutch journalist specializing in Asian affairs, presents a well-documented account of the economic powerhouse forming around the combined might of the Chinese mainland (including Macao and Hong Kong) and Taiwan. Though he gives no easy answers, van Kemenade poses a lot of interesting questions, providing in the process a fascinating portrait of a nation replete with contradictions: though the central government has maintained an iron grip on Chinese politics, Chinese-style capitalism has garnered greater economic freedom from Beijing in many parts of the country. How this new independence might affect other areas such as the military is anybody's guess, although van Kemenade provides some compelling scenarios of ways in which such a situation might play out. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc. is a provocative look at China on the threshold of the 21st century.

The first half is excellent, but the second half is not:
Overall this is a good book, but it's big, chock full of facts and statistics. It helps to have some background knowledge of many of the figures involved. Still, most of the book is well written (or translated), so that the recitation of facts and statistics don't impede your reading at all. In the first half of the book, Kemenade covers not just China, but China's relations with Taiwan and Hong Kong, and how those two 'tigers' have dealt with the biggest power in the East. He certainly brings out the intractability and the inflexibility of the China's ruling elite on the matter of Taiwan's independence. And they show a shocking lack of sensitivity in order to save face - in the Qiandao incident, where close to 50 Taiwanese tourists were murdered, the mainland Chinese authorities were inhumanly hostile to the bereaved relatives, and refused to accept any responsibility at all. Actions like those that will do nothing to make the mainland endearing to the Taiwanese. But it is also clear that the mainland authorities are capable of great patience and subtlety in their aim of achieving reunification with Taiwan. For instance, Kemenade illustrates how China has been encouraging Taiwanese businesses to invest heavily in the mainland over the past years so as to increase Taiwan's independence on the mainland. And he goes further, showing how ambivalent the Taiwanese are about business investment in China, and the measures politicians have taken to stem the flow of money to the mainland. Kemenade deals neatly with the simmering regional/central issues on the mainland itself. He discusses in a fair amount of detail how the massive economic growth of "special economic zones" is creating centrifugal pressures on China's traditional unitary state. China may be politically centralised, but it is economically becoming a federation. He points out how in the area of tax collection, the local authorities are strong and central authorities weak; and the extent to which the local authorities - particularly in the rich provinces - are resisting tax collection by the central government. Unfortunately, the second half of Kemenade's book is much less convincing or even interesting to read. This is very unfortunate. Kemenade covers the economics of the Northeast of China, an area rarely discussed by modern commentators. He discusses mainly the investment of the other Asian economies, like Japan and South Korea, into the Northeast, often thought of as an industrial wasteland. The problem for me here was that the earlier chapters on Hong Kong and Taiwan were so compelling and comprehensive that this later chapter about the Northeast of China paled by comparison. Kemenade has little to say about Russia-China relations. I got the impression that Kemenade was saying that the Chinese do not feel as threatened by the Russians as the Russians do by the Chinese. This would seem to be a result of the economic and political confidence of the Chinese. This is plausible. Unfortunately, his evidence for this point was very weak. Given Kemenade's generally full coverage of China's domestic problems, his discussion of the Tiananmen Square massacre is surprisingly superficial. Although he gives you some of the political intrigue behind the scenes - and it is Li Peng who emerges as the real villain - he doesn't discuss in any depth the events leading up to the massacre. That's a bit disappointing. There has been some criticism that Kemenade only deals with the 'how' and not the 'why' of mainland China's policies, but this seems superficial. The approach Kemenade takes is to show us by illustration, rather than spoon-feed us. His book requires you to make up your own mind. On the other hand, there is some truth in the criticism, particularly in the second half of the book, and I would have liked to have seen a little more focussed discussion.

Taiwan should not be lump together with China!!:
This is of interesting read, but I highly recommand reading 'The Coming Collapse of China' or even 'China Dream' to have better pictures!

Great overview of the situation in greater China:
I picked this book up at ..., not really knowing what to expect. To my surprise, I ended up with a very detailed account of the economic and political situation in greater China (eastern continental Asia plus Japan, basically). To begin with, this book really shows how the economic situation dominates the politics and realities of China. The incomplete transformation to a market economy where it is now legal, and even encouraged, to strive for profit is discussed throughout the book at varying levels. Keep in mind that China is still Communist - competition and striving for profit/growth is only somewhat the antithesis of Marxist theory. Reversing Mao's egalitarianism in favor of Deng's "those who can, get rich and it will trickle down" is something that has led to corruption and lack of moral guidance for most Chinese. It also contains a good portrayal of the conflict between the gerontocracy and the younger (heh, 55-65 being young) generation more inclined to quicker and more complete economic reform. The government's ever changing policy on Confucianism, for example, illustrates the current problem the Communists are having coming up with ideology for the changing situation. This is discussed especially near the end of the book (including some nice information about new folk heroes). The discussion on Communist theory displays some arguments that since China was never capitalist, they cannot proceed along the normal historical dialectic. I found this quite interesting. It seems the Chinese argue out of everything with paper-thin ideology, which is a recurring theme in this book - regarding relations with Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, America, just about everyone (including internal criticism of government policy). An important topic also discussed in this book is the nature of the neonationalism present in Chinese today, as well the probable nature of China's Communism in the future. It is suggested that the Communism will evolve to where it is political repression that is the rule, but that out of necessity economic freedom will be increasingly common. This will create problems for the Communist system, even as it attempts to reform itself. The translation is well done, and the statistics are also handled well. Oh, and for those who have been complaining about the second half of the book dealing with China's economic zones - I really found that part of the book to be the most informative. I assume most of us had very little knowledge of the northeast/xinjiang compared with our knowledge of Taiwan or Hong Kong. There was a good portrayal of Chinese racial relations with the Islamic portion to the west, and in the east with the Russians and Koreans. It was also interesting to learn more about the slow-motion invasion of the Siberia by the Chinese. This involves mass migration and illegal immigration, basically taking over towns that used to be Russian and turning the Russians into the lesser beings (as opposed to the imperialist notions circa old Shanghai), i.e. the mistreated waitresses and desperate barterers traveling to escape the economic problems in Russia itself. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the subject matter and the will to learn a great deal about internal politics and conflict, as well as the economics signified by the "Inc." in the title.

An Economic Powerhouse Rises:
Mr. van Kemenade, a journalist who has lived in mainland China for twenty years, has firsthand knowledge of Chinese history and society. He has written a detailed discussion about China's dynamic goal-oriented society, and about China's willingness to use long-term planning and almost ruthless determination to accomplish societal goals. Mr. van Kemenade discusses how China's internal economy is increasingly controlled by centralized planning. Mr. van Kemenade also discusses China's economic relationships with Taiwan, with China's neighbors, and with the world. China is the United States' largest trading partner. Every month our debt to China increases. This accumulating debt is a real and major transfer of wealth from the United States to China. We cannot assess the true cost until the bill comes due.

A hard to put down look at Greater China.:
Although there is a plethora of books on China there are few books on Taiwan and fewer still on relations between the two countries. Kemenade is to be thanked for taking up the challenge of such a daunting subject. He realizes that Taiwan can't be understood without looking at its overlarge, over-testosteroned neighbor. Kemenade excels at explaining the intricate business relationship between China and Taiwan. Despite constant worries of invasion from China, Taiwanese businessmen flock to China to make their fortune. On one hand China tries to keep Taiwan locked in a diplomatic cage, but on the other hand Taiwan is the third largest investor in China, and would probably be the second if Taiwan's government didn't actively discourage investment on the mainland. One of the few books on Chian that I have reread and will likely read again. Admittedly, not the best summary of China but what book under 1,000 pages is. Kemendae gives you the facts to make your own conclusions about what is happening in Greater China.