International politics centers around economic topics, and Taiwan's development is at a strategic crossroads. Take for example iPhone sales. Apple Inc made a vast amount of money while the Taiwanese manufacturers of the phones received only a small portion. The question is, does Taiwan want to continue to be a manufacturing country, or move toward the new European direction of values economics or aesthetics economics?
Political, classical and Keynesian economics all point out that the goal of economics is to create a better life through management and allocation of resources, not to blindly pursue economic growth. England's New Economics Foundation also believes GDP growth and happiness ought to be looked at separately. Unfortunately, most Taiwanese only care about money. Economic growth takes priority over happiness, thereby reversing the means and ends of economics. As a result, the debate on economics normally gets hung up at the technical level, and not at the national level of strategic planning and value distribution.
For example, one important goal of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is promoting economic equality and distribution of wealth, not simply blind pursuit of economic growth.
The Monterrey Consensus calls for economic development in every country to be humane while assuring people's safety. Likewise, the Millennium Declaration states that countries pursuing growth must also reduce poverty. This shows that economic growth should not be the only goal.
Another example is the rapidly growing Chinese economy, which is only focused on the pursuit of development, will soon face serious challenges. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that China has for many years exported food products unfit for human consumption. When "Made in China" becomes a synonym for poor, and even life-threatening quality, China's export-based economy will take a big hit.
At the same time, despite Beijing's sparkling economic statistics, the Chinese are not happy. They face three major problems -- poor housing, medical services and education -- that put enormous pressure on them.
Forbes magazine's "tax misery index" lists China as third highest in the world. As a result, Chinese citizens are still sneaking overseas to find jobs, resulting in a huge number of Chinese being smuggled into Europe and North America. Even visas for Hong Kong, which lives under Beijing's"one country, two systems" formula, are coveted by Chinese. This demonstrates that GDP does not always correlate to how the average person feels about their country's economy.
Taiwan's future economic strategy should combine the special characteristics of its society, industrial environment and the trends in world markets, and pursue realistic and safe value-added development. The responsibility of the political elite is to plan a long-term approach that balances economic growth with people's happiness, and not focus purely on technical discussions about establishing a common market with China.
Only in this way can Taiwan's economy grow while also providing for peoples' happiness.
Su Tzu-yun is a doctoral student at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.
TRANSLATED BY JASON COX
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US