The China impact on Taiwan's elections

Since the lifting of martial law in 1987, there has been a transformation in Taiwan’s trade and investment patterns. In that year, Taiwan’s dominant trade partners were still the United States and Japan, while trade and investment with China remained outlawed and only limited indirect flows were possible. It was not until 1987 that the Taiwanese were permitted to visit China, and it would be another two decades before there was genuine liberalization in the form of Chinese visitors coming to Taiwan for tourism and study. ¹