With Hong Kong’s reversion to Chinese rule, a new style of leadership under party chief and president Jiang Zemin, and unrivaled economic growth, China is more unpredictable than ever. In an era in which communist regimes are crumbling worldwide, China not only survives but prospers, contradicting the West’s maxim that open markets inevitably lead to open societies. Given all the unknowns that surround China’s future, Willem van Kemenade’s China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc. seems a brave undertaking. Van Kemenade, a Dutch journalist specializing in Asian affairs, presents a well-documented account of the economic powerhouse forming around the combined might of the Chinese mainland (including Macao and Hong Kong) and Taiwan.
Though he gives no easy answers, van Kemenade poses a lot of interesting questions, providing in the process a fascinating portrait of a nation replete with contradictions: though the central government has maintained an iron grip on Chinese politics, Chinese-style capitalism has garnered greater economic freedom from Beijing in many parts of the country. How this new independence might affect other areas such as the military is anybody’s guess, although van Kemenade provides some compelling scenarios of ways in which such a situation might play out. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc. is a provocative look at China on the threshold of the 21st century.