Chen Jie - Böcker

Taiwan has become a significant player on the world stage in many areas and has developed a distinct international profile and influence. Its pro-active foreign policy firmly reminds the world of a new political entity's achievement, aspirations and unfulfilled ambitions. This pioneering book discusses Taiwan's pragmatic diplomacy as a way of seeking legitimacy, survival and development for a burgeoning nation-state, against the dynamic changes in domestic and international scenes and tumultuous relations with China. With special reference to Taiwan's relations with Southeast Asia, a key region in Taiwan's international linkages, the book investigates three major pillars sustaining Taipei's unorthodox diplomacy. These three pillars are: Taiwan's investment and trade prowess, and the global networks built by its business elite; its special relations with global ethnic Chinese communities; and transnational activism of Taiwan's political, social and religious groups, in a so-called 'total diplomacy'.Political Scientists, students and international policy makers along with anyone interested in the changing role of China and Taiwan on the world stage will find this book lively and informative.

A salient trend in studies of China and transnational civil society - two newly influential global forces - is the converging of their paths. Thousands of international NGOs and foundations have come to operate in China in the 'low politics' of environment, development and epidemics, while democracy activists campaign on China from outside. This path-breaking book investigates transnational groups' evolving relations with China and its NGO sector, and compares China with transnational stories of party states in Eastern Europe and Taiwan. This book discusses the penetration, growth and operation of transnational civil society (TCS) in China. It explores TCS' impacts on the incremental development of China's political pluralism, mainly through exploring the influences of the leading TCS actors on the country's bottom-up and self-governing activist NGOs that have sprung up spontaneously, in terms of capacities, strategies, leadership and political outlook, as a result of complex interactions between the two sectors. Transnational Civil Society in China opens up a new frontier in discussing the society, politics and international relations of China that will appeal to scholars and researchers studying China and transnational/global civil society.