LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Taiwan: Mainland
built 627 days ago
"These partnerships are key for several reasons," said Bryan Sparks, CEO of Lineo, Inc. "First, Taiwan is where embedded devices are predominantly manufactured for world-wide consumption. Second, the selection of Embedix Linux as an embedded OS base will decrease the cost of embedded devices and add powerful functionality. This will encourage the broad deployment of Internet appliances and other embedded devices throughout the Asian market, including countries like mainland China, India and others, where traditional PCs have not experienced a high rate of adoption among small businesses and home consumers."
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Over the last three decades, Taiwan has averaged around 8% annual GDP growth while in the process of turning itself into a dynamic capitalist economy becoming one of the Asian 'tigers'. Agriculture, although employing 12% of the workforce, now accounts for only 3% of GDP, compared to 35% in 1952. Taiwan's economic success was initially based on the manufacture of low technology goods. These labour-intensive industries are increasingly re -locating to lower cost bases, primarily in mainland China. Taiwan has successfully moved into higher value added manufacturing and exports, mainly in electronics and computers, which have continued to drive growth. High -tech products account for about 35% of Taiwan's exports (up from 18% in 1991), a higher proportion than that of its competitors (the equivalent figure for Japan is 20% and for South Korea 29%).
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Taiwan should take the initiative and propose some such pragmatic solutions to the mainland. Although rejected, such proposals would at least have the effect of putting the onus on Beijing. In fact Taiwan could learn some lessons from Cyprus, where the leaders have for years suggested reasonable-sounding solutions they know are, for some obscure reason often barely discernible to outsiders, completely unacceptable to the other side. At the same time, Taiwan should abandon some of the more ritualistic restrictions on trade and travel across the Strait. And Taipei should make plain that it does not hold a “Two China” policy but rather a “one China, one Taiwan” policy. Like Austria and Germany, or Australia and Britain, Taiwan is close to China—but separate.
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Since the Taiwan localization movement of the 1990s, Taiwan's cultural identity has been allowed greater expression. Identity politics, along with the over one hundred years of political separation from mainland China has led to distinct traditions in many areas, including cuisine, opera, and music.
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Due to the complexities of doing business with both mainland China and Taiwan, most Western hotel chains do not operate on Taiwan, the most notable exceptions being Sheraton, Westin and Hyatt. There are still plenty of five-star hotels around, and in fact these are often the only ones that show up on hotel booking sites. Keep in mind... that many of the international hotels tend to be outrageously expensive, while comparable and much cheaper accommodation is usually available in the same vicinity. For example, the airport hotel at CKS International charges about three or four times as much as a hotel in Taoyuan which is a half hour cab ride away. Taxi drivers and tourist offices are invaluable resources for finding cheaper hotels
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[H]aving long enjoyed a de facto independence, many in Taiwan are now aggressively searching for full, de jure independence. A democratic Taiwan seeking to leave China paradoxically undermines democratic transformation on the mainland. In fact, the Taiwan issue has served to justify and magnify rising Chinese nationalism, instilling excessive humiliation, anger, and frustration among Chinese against outsiders rather than against internal injustices and irrationalities. This nationalist reaction ... gives the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a means to steer Chinese away from learning from the Taiwanese experience and pushing for democracy at home. [2]
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