ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that both Hong Kong and Taiwan are struggling one way or another to influence, but more often than not to be influenced, by the encroachment of China. It introduces the concept "Liminal citizenship" to examine the initial process of the socio-economic development of Hong Kong's returning to China. The chapter looks at identity formation in Taiwan through the social construction of the mass media, the so-called "new Taiwanese", the development of a language policy, and the democratization process, in order to explore the socio-political relation within Taiwan. For the Taiwanese, democracy was considered to be one of the most important political achievements in Taiwan because it was the first time in history that democracy was ever practiced on Chinese soil. Since democratization is a process, the political openness and the development of an opposition party helped lay the groundwork for institutional democracy in Taiwan.
