backbone of the Taiwanese social and economic growth process.
Politically, the KMT has dominated, with native Chinese also controlling much of the political and economic activity within the country. The presidency of Taiwan remained in the family of Chiang Kai shek until 1988. At that time, Lee Teng hui became Taiwan's first native born president. He was recently reelected with strong support throughout the population. Lee actually ended the emergency measures, and emergency powers of the presidency, in 1991, after they had been in place for over 40 years.
Taiwan has gradually been democratizing during the late 1980s and 1990s, with a constitutional convention held in 1992, and full, free elections to the legislative bodies. Many new members of the legislature, and many younger members of the KMT, actually support closer ties to China, despite the opposition of more conservative members of the society. The conflict between "mainlander" and "Taiwanese" wings of the party have been somewhat immobilizing, creating disunity in the government and throughout society.
Political initiatives in regard to mainland China have varied widely during the past few years. There was a move toward reentry to the UN, which seemed impractical and unlikely, along with meetings with high government officials from the Chinese mainland.
The recent attempts at intimidation by mainland China appeared to have failed miserably when Lee was reelected by a large margin. Baum (1996) noted that China's actions seemed to have backfired by increasing Lee's voter support and decreasing the support for the most conciliatory presidential candidate.
In looking at the economy, the 1990s have found Taiwan scaling back its plans for infrastructure development, and making some efforts at dealing with corruption at the upper levels of society. The economic team under Premier Lien Chan was deemed the most pro business of any of the Taiwanese governm...