China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Inc.: The Dynamics of a New Empire

For the past 20 years, van Kemenade, a Dutch journalist, has been posted to Hong Kong and Beijing. During that time he has made frequent visits to China's provinces and stayed for extended periods in Taipei and Jakarta; he lives in Beijing and is married to a Taiwanese. The book, which is based on these experiences, is a riveting analysis of China's recent past and reflections on its future direction. Van Kemenade explores the anticipated political and economic fallout from the mainland's absorption of capitalist Hong Kong later this year and the possibility of its eventual takeover of Taiwan. He projects a foreseeable confrontation with Japan over Asian hegemony, ethnic and economic upheavals on China's ""wild"" western border that abutts former Soviet republics and a political backlash from the fast-growing middle class, which in its pursuit of wealth seems no longer loyal to socialist ideals. Concluding that China will continue to prosper economically, he predicts that politically it will remain as ""secretive... and repressive as ever."" This window onto the Middle Kingdom at the turn of the century should hold great interest for China watchers. (June)