After five years of centrist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, Taiwan has made uneven progress toward President Chen Shui-bian’s policy vision of becoming a “green, silicon island” and a centre of regional economic and financial development.
After an unprecedented 2.2% contraction in 2001, triggered by the collapse of the global information bubble, the nation’s sensitive export-oriented economy has rebounded. Its inflation-adjusted GDP expanded by 3.9% in 2002, 3.3% in 2003 and 5.7% last year.
