In this thoroughly revised and updated edition, John Copper provides a comprehensive introduction to Taiwan. The book highlights Taiwan's unique attributes: its uneasy status as a nation-state, its successful trade-oriented economy - despite a lack of natural resources - its rapid transition to democracy in the wake of economic development, and its ambiguous relationship with the United States.

Considering Taiwan's international role in the post-Cold War era, Copper weighs the future of this small but vital island nation.