Countdown to the 2012 Presidential Election

[Gman]

Fact is Taiwan would have been far better off as part of Japan, I think a lot of folks forget that.

I agree with you....... What a strange feeling.

[cyborg_ninja]

What is meant by the Japanese economic model? There's no bone of contention here, I really am ignorant on what is meant by this.

lots of state intervention to gain a competitive advantage in global markets, eg pour a ton of money into anything thats exportable.

japans economy has been in the absolute shitter for the past 10 years. but thats another issue with their central banks.

[FurTrader]

Fact is Taiwan would have been far better off as part of Japan, I think a lot of folks forget that.

If US forces occupied Japan and Taiwan after WWII, what would have been the outcome?

[ChewDawg]

Fact is Taiwan would have been far better off as part of Japan, I think a lot of folks forget that.

If US forces occupied Japan and Taiwan after WWII, what would have been the outcome?

They did didn't they? US had troops stationed in Taiwan until the 70s.

[headhonchoII]

What is meant by the Japanese economic model? There's no bone of contention here, I really am ignorant on what is meant by this.

lots of state intervention to gain a competitive advantage in global markets, eg pour a ton of money into anything thats exportable.

japans economy has been in the absolute shitter for the past 10 years. but thats another issue with their central banks.

That's a common fallacy, japan is a very advanced country with a high standard of living, great infrastructure and environment , good salaries, huge tourism industry, large pool of savings and a strong industrial and research base. It's property crash was a necessary adjustment and things have gotten cheaper which is good for savers. It's main problem is high government debt but the debt is largely owed to it's own citizens.

[Omniloquacious]

The Japanese left good infrastructure all over the island. Factories and industrialisation was quite advanced and Taiwanese learned a lot from them to go and setup their own operations.

But much of that infrastructure and industry had been bombed to ruins by the US in World War Two. Here's an old discussion about it, with some good links.

The accounts of the rebuilding of Taiwan's economy after retrocession generally emphasize the ruined state from which it needed to be resurrected.

[headhonchoII]

Obviously though Taiwan did not get hit anywhere as hard as Japan, China, Phillipines, nor suffer like Vietnam or Korea later. I think it's not a valid argument.

[Mucha Man]

Obviously though Taiwan did not get hit anywhere as hard as Japan, China, Phillipines, nor suffer like Vietnam or Korea later. I think it's not a valid argument.

Exactly. The educated and experienced workforce was still there. The schooling and technical training program still there (literacy rates were in the 80s). The advanced agricultural practices and the technical know-how, the stable and disciplined society, the rule of law, teachers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, reporters, etc.

Some infrastructure was destroyed but that was easily replaced. The train system was back up and running very quickly, the ports were opened, and there were enough factories left that the carpet bagger party officials had lots to loot and send back to China.

It took Taiwan 20 years to recover from the first few years of KMT administration because the society was flattened as incompetent and rapacious mainlanders arrogated themselves into position of power and influence, ran industries into the ground, defunded schools, and later slaughtered thousands of teachers, intellectuals and professionals.

Btw, Omni, "retrocession"? Are you trying to wind people up?

[Mawvellous]

Obviously though Taiwan did not get hit anywhere as hard as Japan, China, Phillipines, nor suffer like Vietnam or Korea later. I think it's not a valid argument.

Exactly. The educated and experienced workforce was still there. The schooling and technical training program still there (literacy rates were in the 80s). The advanced agricultural practices and the technical know-how, the stable and disciplined society, the rule of law, teachers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, reporters, etc.

Some infrastructure was destroyed but that was easily replaced. The train system was back up and running very quickly, the ports were opened, and there were enough factories left that the carpet bagger party officials had lots to loot and send back to China.

It took Taiwan 20 years to recover from the first few years of KMT administration because the society was flattened as incompetent and rapacious mainlanders arrogated themselves into position of power and influence, ran industries into the ground, defunded schools, and later slaughtered thousands of teachers, intellectuals and professionals.

Btw, Omni, "retrocession"? Are you trying to wind people up?

I think you are overstating the case somewhat. Of course, Taiwan did benefit from the education system, infrastructure and so on that were left by the Japanese, but at the end of the Japanese colonial period Taiwan was still overwhelmingly an agricultural society. Japanese attempts to industrialize Taiwan came very late and only had a very limited impact. In addition, Taiwan's economy was almost completely orientated towards the export of commodities (mostly tea and rice) to Japan. Taiwan's successful industrialization after the war was only partly to do with the Japanese legacy - the flight of textile capital from China after the civil war, the role of the state, land reform, the opening of American markets, US aid were all at least if not more important.

[Mucha Man]

...Japanese attempts to industrialize Taiwan came very late and only had a very limited impact. In addition, Taiwan's economy was almost completely orientated towards the export of commodities (mostly tea and rice) to Japan.

That's a debatable point. Some historians now say that the rate of industrial growth under the Japanese was in fact faster than in the agricultural sector.