From Democracy to Semiconductors ... A Look Inside Taiwan [New Book]

[Financial News] “Taiwan, a Country Growing Happier Step by Step,” by Dr. Choi Chang-geun, a journalist specializing in Taiwan, offers a broad look at Taiwan’s history and identity, political system and foreign relations, as well as its economy, society, culture, education and media, surveying the bright and dark sides of Taiwanese society.
The author studied at National Chengchi University in Taiwan and worked as a local correspondent. He is an expert who has published five books on Taiwan since 2012. In the book’s preface, he explained what prompted him to write it:
“I explored how Taiwan, after experiencing the world’s longest period of martial law—a 38-year period from 1949 to 1987—rose to become Asia’s top-ranked democracy, and how it maintains its independence while confronting China, which is unmatched in overall national power, amid extreme diplomatic isolation, with formal diplomatic relations with only 12 countries.”
Taiwan is a country with strong patriarchal traditions rooted in Confucian culture, yet it has achieved gender equality and became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. It has many distinctive aspects.
In the three decades since Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with South Korea in 1992, it has become a country that merits a fresh look. That is because Taiwanese semiconductor companies, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), have established themselves at the heart of the global information and communications technology (IT) supply chain. They are engaged in fierce competition with South Korean companies such as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and SK hynix.
South Korea, too, would be heavily affected if conflict broke out in the Taiwan Strait. That is because energy vital to the South Korean economy, including Middle Eastern crude oil and LNG, is brought in via the strait. The author points out, “We must not treat the Taiwan Strait issue as someone else’s problem, like watching a fire across the sea; this is the fundamental reason we should hope for peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
Despite the severing of formal diplomatic ties, relations between South Korea and Taiwan are bound to grow closer. According to 2025 statistics from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, total trade between South Korea and Taiwan reached a record $90.2 billion. South Korea is currently Taiwan’s fourth-largest trading partner, while Taiwan is South Korea’s fifth-largest trade partner.
The author said, “I hope this book will offer a small measure of help in better understanding a neighboring country’s inner workings and in thinking through and resolving the problems facing Korean society.”

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