Introduction

An emerging economic community has already been established among China (or the People’s Republic of China [PRC]), Taiwan, and Hong Kong known as Greater China. ¹ During the 1990s, China was the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI), second to the U.S. In 2003, it surpassed the U.S. ² as the largest recipient of FDI. ³ Its total reserves doubled from U.S. $142,762 million in 1997 to U.S. $291,128 million in 2002. ⁴ Its growth potential and future economic opportunity, apart from the major concern of East Asia and the U.S., is now receiving more attention from the European Union. ⁵ In April 2004, Long Yongtu, secretary general of Boao Forum for Asia mentioned that “China is the center of Asia’s economic activities including trade and manufacturing. It is obvious that China would be automatically catapulted to taking the leading role by virtue of its current engagement.” ⁶