Taiwan remains one of the great paradoxes of the international order. A place with its own flag, currency, government and military, but which most of the world does not recognise as a sovereign country. A place which China continues to regard as a `rebellious province', but which... has nevertheless managed to survive for decades as an independent nation, in defiance of its far stronger neighbour. But with China now becoming a major power on the world stage, Taiwan's position has never been more precarious. In The Taiwan Challenge, Kerry Brown and Kalley Wu Tzu Hui provide a concise but comprehensive history of Taiwan, and of its tempestuous relationship with mainland China. Surveying the country's political, cultural and economic history, the authors consider how the island's shifting fortunes have been shaped by conquest, Cold War intrigue and more recently by the rise of China as a global power. They argue that the dispute over Taiwan's status speaks to a wider conflict over Chinese identity and control of China's past, and provides a unique insight into how China views its place in the world, as well as its ambitions for the future.
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