Taiwan's Application to GATT/WTO: Significance of Multilateralism for an Unrecognized State

Book Description
Revealing a powerful economic motive behind Taiwan's 1990 application for GATT membership, CHO questions those who interpreted it solely as a political move designed to break that island nation's diplomatic isolation. Flourishing economically since the 1950s despite non-GATT membership, matters changed for Taiwan in the 1980s. Taiwan's dual trade regime was no longer tolerated as it was pushed to liberalize its trade practices by bilateral pressures. Taiwan believes that the most-favored nation principle and diffuse reciprocity embedded in GATT/WTO's multilateralism will sheild Taiwan from the pernicious effects of bilateral asymmetry while simultaneously providing it with "more international living space."

About the Author
CHO Hui-Wan is Assistant Professor, Graduate Institute of International Politics, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.


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Driven to join GATT/WTO by both economic and political forces, Taiwan walks a fine line imposed by its international status as a "non-state state."


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