ABSTRACT
As one of the ‘Asian tigers’, Taiwan experienced a period of high economic growth and low rate of unemployment from the 1960s. However, with increasing competition under the process of globalisation and regional economic integration since the mid-1980s, the national economy has undergone restructuring, and a more difficult economic situation has emerged in recent years, marked by lower and even negative economic growth, a higher rate of business bankruptcy and more unemployment. In addition, the change of political climate marked by a shift government from the Nationalist Party (KMT) to the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) in 2000 generated unstable political relationships between Taiwan and mainland China as well as increased economic uncertainty (Rigger 2003).
