Before we jump into the Taiwan Sand, let us look at the background of Taiwan.
CIA World Fact book, states background of Taiwan as below
Quote:
In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the local population within the governing structure. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform.
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Total Georgraphy: 35,980 sq km, land: 32,260 sq km, water: 3,720 sq km, coastline: 1,566.3 km
Population : 23,024,956 (July 2010 est.)
Avg Age : 37 years
Age Profile : 0-14 years (16.2%), 15-66 year (74%), 65+ years (10.8%)
Literacy rate : 96.1% people out of 15+ year old population can read-write
As per CIA Fact book
Quote:
Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing government guidance of investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, some large, state-owned banks and industrial firms have been privatized.
Exports, led by electronics and machinery, generate about 70% of Taiwan's GDP growth, and have provided the primary impetus for economic development. This heavy dependence on exports makes the economy vulnerable to downturns in world demand. In 2009, Taiwan's GDP fell by 2.5%, due primarily to a 20% year-on-year decline in exports.
Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, low birth rate, and rapidly aging population are major long-term challenges. Free trade agreements have proliferated in East Asia over the past several years, but so far Taiwan has been excluded from this greater economic integration, largely for reasons of diplomacy. Taiwan's birth rate of only 1.2 child per woman is among the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages, falling domestic demand, and declining tax revenues. Taiwan's population is aging quickly, with the number of people over 65 accounting for 10.8% of the island's total population as of the end of 2009.
The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest, behind China, Japan, and Russia. Since President MA Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, cross-Strait economic ties have increased significantly. Since 2005 China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan's second-largest source of imports after Japan. China is also the island's number one destination for foreign direct investment. Taipei has focused much of its economic recovery effort on improving cross-Strait economic integration. Three financial memorandums of understanding, covering banking, securities, and insurance, took effect in mid-January 2010, opening the island to greater investments from the Mainland's financial firms and institutional investors, and providing new opportunities for Taiwan financial firms to operate in China. In January 2010, Taipei and Beijing began the first round of cross-Strait negotiations on an economic cooperation framework agreement.
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GDP : $717.7 billion (2009 est.), $736.1 billion (2008 est.), $731 billion (2007 est.), country comparison to the world: 20
GDP Growth rate : -2.5% in 2009
GDP Per Capita : $29,800 (2009 est.)
GDP Composition : agriculture: 1.6%, industry: 29.2%, services: 69.2% (2009 est.)
Labour Force : 10.92 million (2009 est.), agriculture: 5.1%, industry: 36.8%, services: 58% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line : 1.08% (2008 est.)
Industries : electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals
Exports : $203.4 billion (2009 est.), $254.9 billion (2008 est.), country comparison to the world: 19
Export Partners : China 26.6%, Hong Kong 14.4%, US 11.6%, Japan 7.2%, Singapore 4.2% (2009 est.)
There are 42 airports, 1582KMs of railways, 41279 KM of roads, 3 sea ports, 102 sea carriers in this tiny island alone
1 year of military service is compulsory between the age 19-35.
for more details refer below link.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/tw.html