Taiwanese identity from domestic, regional and global perspectives

The tension between Taiwan's globalization and its ongoing identity formation is clearly visible in the economic, political and societal spheres of the island republic. Against this background, the authors of this volume deal with the following questions: To what extent has Taiwan become part of the Greater China region and - in that sense - a part of „China“? How successful have Taiwan's endeavors been to escape „China“, assert its own identity and communicate this to the international community? How does Taiwanese identity connect to its integration within „Greater China“ and beyond, that is, to its being part of a gobalized (transnational) world? The varied focus and range of the papers in this volume show that politically, the result of the debate on Taiwan's (national) identity is undecided; economically, however, Taiwan has become part of a Greater China region and cross-Strait integration would thus seem to be inevitable.