Taiwan and the World System of Trade - Essay Example

Taiwan and the World System of Trade and Power Competition Name Institution Date Introduction Taiwan’s standing in terms of economic development at the global stage has received a lot of admiration from academicians and practitioners. It has done exceptionally well despite being an island with relatively scarce resource endowment and a small population density. Generally, the country has derived its economic might from external trade since the Dutch period. While there is a lot to admire about the progress that this country has made, this has not come without implications. In this paper I will be discussing the implications of Taiwan’s integration into the worlds system of trade and power competition. My argument is twofold. To begin with I will be discussing how such integration resulted in the loss of autonomy on the native Taiwan aborigines. In the subsequent section I will highlight how international trade and political might wars led to the exposure of Taiwan to the outside world and other societies. The Aborigines have faced a lot of challenges because of the opening up of Taiwan to the outside world. Available literature shows that, way before the 17th century Taiwan used to engage in international trade. However, it is during the Dutch period that this kind of trade escalated a notch higher. Prior and during the 17th century the Taiwan aborigines were popularly known as hunters and horticulturalists (Shepherd,1993). Although they did some farming but the kind of farming techniques that were employed were so traditional and the farming tools crude. Initially when the Dutch came to the East they wanted to engage with china in trade. However Ming Dynasty would not allow them and that’s how the settled for Taiwan. Discussion One of the commodities that the Dutch imported from Taiwan was deer skins that were gotten from the Aborigines who were skilful hunters. The Taiwan Aborigines consisted of various tribes that were known for certain special hunting skills. Hence, to the Taiwan government the Aborigines were a special people that needed to be guarded since they owned large chunks of open lands (Breen, 2013). That’s why the government of the day introduced the quarantine policy so as to protect the aborigines from Chinese immigrants that were eyeing their large chunks. In my view, it is the opening up of Taiwan to the outsiders especially the Japanese and chines that led to the Aborigines loss of their lands. The scenario is such that in the begging it’s the Aborigines that owned the land and when an outsider especially the Chinese needed to use the fields they would lease it from the Aborigines. However, as time passed by, all the land ended up being leased to the immigrants who would sublet it to other people without the consent of the Aborigine landlord (Shepherd, 1993). Mechanised farming was introduced on the fields thus leading to a decline in the hunting activities since all the animals were displaced by the farming activities. The Aborigines ended up losing their autonomy in land ownership which was their key asset and a source of their livelihood. This explains why most of the aborigines live in poverty despite being owners of large chunks of land. Additionally, the engagement of Taiwan in international trade demanded an institutional change. For a country to experience such economic growth, institutional change becomes inevitable. Scholarly literature gives a definition of institutions that encompasses both the traditional such as traditions, values and believes as well the formal aspects which are in the constitution and other government policy documents (Wills, 1999). Taiwan aborigines are a native people that had their own traditional rules and regulations which were engraved in their beliefs and customs which informed their livelihood. As aforementioned they had clans that belonged to specific hunting category and they had their own native government structure that defined their responsibilities and far as farming and hunting is concerned. With the introduction of mechanised to boost agricultural production for exports the aborigines traditions were overridden by Taiwan’s formal laws. The Taiwan government especially under the Japanese control introduced new methods of farming, new crops and technologies for processing agricultural products. This rendered the aborigines crude farming techniques useless. Having lost their lands to the chines some of them were forced to start working on those farms as casual labourers so as to make a living. According to Clulow (2010), it is the Japanese that introduced the formal rules and laws to Taiwan during their colonisation era. There laws had a lot of impact on property rights. Some of the clauses were heavily contested. For instance according to the Japanese laws it is the eldest son who inherits property especially land from the father. This did not auger well with the Chinese custom where all the sons have a right to the father’s property. The property rights laws that were introduced by the Japanese era which are popularly known as the pro colonisation policy. These policies redefined land ownership and use which rendered the uneducated and unskilled Taiwan aborigines landlords powerless. They were caught in a situation where they had to give up their large fields for mechanised farming to immigrants. The Taiwan government to introduce the cultivation of other crops such as rice which were not known to the Aborigines. Available literature also reveals that there have times when the aborigines were relocated by the Taiwan government to pave way for development. The government would relocate them so as to build airports, dams and national parks. For instance the famous dog park has been built on the aborigines land. Some of them were forced to go and live in the plains among the Chinese immigrants. The repercussions of this move are that it brings about forced assimilation. Studies on the challenges that face the Taiwan show that during the Japanese rule, their land was appropriated and later on passed onto the Nationalists as state property(Breen, 2013). This move has had dire consequences on the lives of these indigenous people. The implication of this move is that in order to have land formalised as native land so as to give it a reserve status especially under the Basic Act, the process is tedious and might just take several years. International trade requires creativity so as to remain competitive. Over the years as Taiwan continued to interact with the outside world through trade, they attracted international investors and tourists. The tourists are normally attracted to the beauty of the islands as well as the culture of the indigenous aborigines. The Taiwan government has capitalised on the aboriginal artefacts, culture and traditions to market the tourism industry. Trading with the outside world meant also exporting their culture. The traditional education system that concentrated on enhancing one’s life skills such as hunting and interpersonal skills was replaced by a formal education to march the diversified job market. Taiwan needed Diplomats and a people that could engage and negotiate on its behalf at the international level. This has had an impact on aboriginal language growth. According to…initially the aborigines spoke 24 languages but as more international languages were learnt and promoted in school, there only 17 remaining. Since the 17th century there have been a lot of changes especially as regards technological advancement. As Taiwan strives to build itself economically it has had to embrace technology. Industries, new farming techniques and research that is needed in manufacturing goods for export requires expertise which, in many cases, is not available among the small population. The Aborigines constitute only 2% of the Taiwan population (Wills, 1999). As aforementioned they have lived in poverty for many since they lost their lands and were unable to catch up with the fact growing Taiwan. One reason for this is that, most aborigines are illiterate or semi illiterate. This therefore implies that they cannot make it with the stiff competition in the job market. In order to keep up its good record in economic growth globally, the country has had to allow a huge number of labourers from abroad to come and fill in the expertise and skills gap. While the foreign workers seem to have taken care of the deficit of the prerequisite skills this has a major impact on the indigenous peoples working rights. The reason why the Taiwan government over the years has opted for foreign workers is because they are cheaper. There working in Taiwan has led to the aborigines having to settle for poor pay especially the learned ones. Exposure to the international trade arena has resulted in the discrimination of aborigines and other indigenous business people. The government controls the market. They come up with rules that promote industries run by the government (Andrade, 2007). The local people face a lot of hurdles when securing business permits for their businesses. Available literature reveals that sometimes the local businesses are forced to sell their goods at a cheap price so as to compete with the immigrants who ran successful businesses especially in the capital. Perhaps this could be a tactic by the Taiwan government to make the aborigines to only opt for the poorly paid casual jobs in the factories (Andrade, 2007). In an article by one scholar from a research carried out among the aborigines, it was revealed that even accessing loans is hard. The procedures and the interests are very cumbersome. So in summary, international trade led to the pulling of the aborigines from their traditional settings into what was thought as a civilised system which in turn discriminated them more. Besides, the involvement of Taiwan in international arena has shaped its foreign policy since the 17th century. Taiwan has been faced with a lot of challenges especially as regards on its positioning in Asia and its relations with the super power. International trade has given this small county an opportunity to work and trade with powerful countries in the world such as United States of America, Japan, and France among others. The kind of business engagements have not gone well especially with its immediate China which continues to fight for an Asia-super-power spot in international politics (Breen, 2013). For a very long time the only large number of immigrants that were in Taiwan were Chinese because they were interested in the large lands owned by the Aborigines. But as time went by an especially during the colonial rule by Japan that ended in 1945, a lot of foreign business deals were signed and that’s how the Taiwan people came to be exposed to people from other races(Clulow, 2010). The country now enjoys trade and cordial diplomatic relations with states that cover as far as the Americas, Britons, South America, Africa, Europe and the larger Asia. The country enjoys trade ties with Persia, japan, USA, France, Some countries in Africa etc. Conclusion In conclusion indeed international trade has had implication on Taiwan’s government system, education sector, culture and foreign relations. While its economic growth which is notable globally stems from the long external trade that spans hundreds of years, the traditional aboriginal people have been adversely affected by it. It is the international trade that led to the introduction of mechanised farming and a change in land rights that saw them lose their large fields as well as decrease their hunting. International trade necessitated the adoption of formal education that has excluded them from the formal job market since a majority are uneducated. Their culture, language, religion and other traditional systems have been eroded as a result of interacting with the outside world. All in all there still remains one thing admirable about Taiwan’s engagement in external trade; it has enabled the tiny country to make friends from all over the globe thus opening it to other cultures and societies. International trade has enabled Taiwan to shape its foreign policy as it seeks to have a stake in the international arena as far as international politics is concerned. References Andrade, T. (2012). “Koxinga's conquest of Taiwan in global history: reflections on the occasion of the 350th anniversary”Late Imperial China 33, no.1 p. 122-140 Andrade, T. (2010).How Taiwan became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han colonization in the seventeenth century. ACLS Humanities E-Book electronic edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010, c2007. Retrieved May 6, 2017 from Shepherd, J. R. (1993). Statecraft and political economy on the Taiwan frontier, 1600-1800, Stanford: Stanford University Press. John E. Wills (1999). “The Seventeenth Century Transformation: Taiwan Under the Dutch and the Cheng Regime”, in Murray A. Rubinstein, (ed.) Taiwan : a New history, Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, c1999.UniM Baill Res 951.24905 TAIW Wong, Y. ‘Security and warfare on the China coast: the Taiwan question in the seventeenth century’, Monumenta Serica 35 (1981-1983): 111-196. Wills, J. E. (1974). Pepper, guns, and parleys; the Dutch East India Company and China, 1622 [i.e. 1662]-1681 Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1974.UniM ECO 382.09510492 W741 Clulow, A. (2010). “A fake embassy, the lord of Taiwan and Tokugawa Japan” [1620s] Japanese Studies 30, no.1 23-41 Turnbull, S. (2010). “Onward, Christian samurai! The Japanese expeditions to Taiwan in 1609 and 1616”. Japanese Studies 30, no.1 3-21 Breen, B. (2013). “No man is an island: early modern globalization, knowledge networks, and George Psalmanazar's Formosa”. Journal of Early Modern History 17, no.4 Pages: 391-417 . Read More