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opinion
By: Bitange Ndemo

I spent most of last week in Taipei at the Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan, barely three weeks after Typhoon Soudelor swept through the Island. Amazingly, Taipei has been cleaned up. You wouldn’t think such a powerful natural force had swept through the city.

What this small nation of 36,000km2- about the size of Tana River County in Kenya — of about 24 million people has managed to achieve in a span of 60 years is something we all should be interested in.

It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 650 inhabitants per square kilometre, but it is among the top 20 richest countries in the world today.

An island formerly known as Formosa, Taiwan emerged in 1949 after the defeat of Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist Party by Mao Zedong’s Communist Party in a protracted civil war in mainland China.

Both leaders, through their political parties, wanted to unify China through different ideological foundations. Whilst Chiang Kai Shek favoured a strong centralised China under the banner of the Republic of China (ROC) and leaning towards traditional Chinese culture, Mao wanted to establish communist rule under the banner Peoples Republic of China.      [FULL  STORY]