John F. Copper presents various arguments to make the case about whether Taiwan should be a nation-state or a province. In other words, should Taiwan be an independent country or a province of China, which China claims it is and which Taiwanese authorities have rejected? To answer the question, one has to go back through history to when a Portuguese vessel that sailed through the Taiwan Strait in 1517 first discovered the island. The captain of that vessel noted in his log the words "Ilha Formosa" meaning "beautiful island." It was the West's first encounter with Taiwan.

About a century later, the Dutch, in competition with the Portuguese over trade in the region, signed an agreement with local Chinese on Taiwan to receive a post and privileges on the island. Spanish settlers arrived later, fighting the Dutch, who prevailed and extended their control over the whole of the island. Taiwan became a Dutch colony, governed by the Dutch East India Company, which claimed sovereignty over the island on behalf of Holland. The Ming dynasty in China at the time, threatened by the non-Chinese Manchus, hired Cheng Chih-lung, a pirate with a base in Taiwan, to fight the Manchus. But he failed, contributing to the downfall of the Ming dynasty as well.

China suffered another defeat in a war with Japan in 1894. In the Shimonoseki treaty the following year, China ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan "in perpetuity." Japan colonized Taiwan for 50 years. At the beginning of the Japanese occupation, there was an attempt by a small opposition force to establish a Republic of Taiwan, but it was short-lived.

Taiwan's political culture and traditions reflect the waves of occupation and changes brought about by outsiders, including Japan, which have made a long-lasting imprint on the island and its inhabitants. Tokyo ruled the island effectively, but failed to erase the political culture that derived from Nationalist China led by Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang.

The author assesses in the chapter dealing with the political system in Taiwan that its constitution, which was imported from China by Chiang Kai-shek in 1949, has given the country the institutions of a democratic government even though it is weaker than the constitutions in some Western countries, particularly in guaranteeing freedom of speech, assembly and the press. He mentions, however, that those guarantees are interpreted differently in some countries. Taiwan's constitution thus provides all the institutions that can be found in Western countries, from civil to political rights, from the presidency to the local government, from the executive to the legislative. But whether the Taiwanese people are happy with their government is another question. Copper said, however, that the people have shown a high level of satisfaction with Taipei as the country has become a "political miracle" as well as an "economic miracle" and a full-fledged democracy.

With all the attributes of an economically prosperous country, Taiwan has remained politically troubled by the conflict with the mainland over its sovereignty, which threatens its future, Copper said.

"Few nations face a future more fraught with uncertainty than Taiwan," Copper writes. He says Taiwan cannot claim itself to be a nation because the mainland already claims it as a province. Copper says Taiwan cannot survive without US military intervention if China decides to attack. But he says US policy on Taiwan has been inconsistent.

Copper writes that Taiwan was occupied by China only for four years in the 20th century and the island has an identity distinct from the mainland during Japan's occupation. He says that Taiwanese as well as the international community believe that Taiwan already possesses sovereignty. Can it qualify for nationhood then? Under international law, there are four qualifications for nationhood: territory, population, government and diplomatic ties. Of the four, only diplomatic ties are weak, but that is the situation with most Third World countries.

Taiwan will remain separate from the mainland "in the near term," says Copper. For the international community, Taiwan is an "anomaly." By that he means that Taiwan is regarded simultaneously as a pariah and a role model, sovereign nation-state and a part of a major and gigantic country, which is China. Copper urges the international community to settle the issue whether Taiwan is a nation-state, or a province of China.