Economy of Taiwan in the context of "Taiwan Miracle"

East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are among the world's largest and most prosperous. East Asia borders North Asia to the north, Southeast Asia to the south, South Asia to the southwest, and Central Asia to the west. To its east is the Pacific Ocean.

East Asia, especially Chinese civilization, is regarded as one of the earliest cradles of civilization. Other ancient civilizations in East Asia that still exist as independent countries in the present day include the Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian civilizations. Various other civilizations existed as independent polities in East Asia in the past but have since been absorbed into neighbouring civilizations in the present day, such as Tibet, Manchuria, and Ryukyu (Okinawa), among many others. Taiwan has a relatively young history in the region after the prehistoric era; originally, it was a major site of Austronesian civilisation prior to colonisation by European colonial powers and China from the 17th century onward. For thousands of years, China was the leading civilization in the region, exerting influence on its neighbours. Historically, societies in East Asia have fallen within the Chinese sphere of influence, and East Asian vocabularies and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script. The Chinese calendar serves as the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived.

The Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area (Chinese: 臺北基隆都會區; pinyin: Táiběi-Jīlóng Dūhùiqū) also commonly known as Greater Taipei Area (Chinese: 大臺北地區; pinyin: Dà Táiběi Dìqū) is the largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. It is composed of 3 administrative divisions: Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung. The region encompasses an area of 2,457.13 square kilometers (948.70 sq mi) and a population of 7,034,084 as of 2019. It is the most populous and the most densely populated metropolitan area in Taiwan, with one-third of Taiwanese people living and working there. In some sources, Taoyuan City is included in the metropolitan area on a broader extent, but is usually considered as a metropolitan area of its own.

The region is the epicenter of Taiwanese culture, economy, education and government. Designated as a global city, the region exerts a significant impact on commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, both locally and internationally. As a diplomatic center, it is the home to all consulates and embassies in Taiwan. Its economic power makes the region the country's premier commercial and financial center as well as in the region of East Asia. Considered to be a global city and rated as an Alpha - City by GaWC, Taipei is part of a major high-tech industrial area. Railways, highways, airports, and bus lines connect Taipei with all parts of the island. The metropolitan area is served by two airports – Songshan and Taoyuan.

The Four Asian Tigers (a.k.a. the Four Asian Dragons or Four Little Dragons in Chinese and Korean) are the developed Asian economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Between the early 1950s and 1990s, they underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates of more than 7 percent a year.

By the early 21st century, these economies had developed into high-income economies, specializing in areas of competitive advantage. Hong Kong and Singapore have become leading international financial centres, whereas South Korea and Taiwan are leaders in manufacturing electronic components and devices; Taiwan now produces the most advanced semiconductor chips in the world; South Korea has also developed into a major global arms manufacturer. Large institutions have pushed to have them serve as role models for many developing countries, especially the Tiger Cub Economies of Southeast Asia.

The East Asian model (Japanese: 修正資本主義, romanized: shūsei shihonshugi, lit. 'modified capitalism'), pioneered by Japan, is a plan for economic growth whereby the government invests in certain sectors of the economy in order to stimulate the growth of specific industries in the private sector. It generally refers to the model of development pursued in East Asian economies such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. It has also been used by some to describe the contemporary economic system in Mainland China after Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms during the late 1970s and the current economic system of Vietnam after its Đổi Mới policy was implemented in 1986. Generally, as a country becomes more developed, the most common employment industry transitions from agriculture to manufacturing, and then to services.

The main shared approach of East Asian economies is the role of the government. For East Asian governments have recognized the limitations of markets in allocation of scarce resources in the economy, thus the governments have used interventions to promote economic development. They include state control of finance, direct support for state-owned enterprises in strategic sectors of the economy or the creation of privately owned national champions, high dependence on the export market for growth, and a high rate of savings. It is similar to dirigisme, neomercantilism, and Hamiltonian economics.

The economy of East Asia comprises 1.6 billion people (20% of the world population) living in six different countries and regions. The region includes several of the world's largest and most prosperous economies: Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is home to some of the most economically dynamic places in the world, being the site of some of the world's most extended modern economic booms, including the Taiwan miracle (1950–present) in Taiwan, Miracle on the Han River (1974–present) in South Korea, Japanese economic miracle (1950–1990) and the Chinese economic miracle (1983–2010) in China.

East Asia's economic prominence has grown significantly in recent years, increasing its importance and influence in Asia and the world economy. Recent developments have led to an expanding cosmopolitan middle class. East Asian countries are vital contributors to central global communications and trade networks, developing relations with other nations, including those of the Western world, making them a significant contributor to the global economy. The region's economic success was referred to as "An East Asian Renaissance" by the World Bank in 2007.