Taiwan's film importation from China: a political economy analysis of changes and implications
For 40 years, Taiwan observed a strict `closed door' policy with China, concerning not only political and economic relations but also cultural relations. This study examines the changes in Taiwan's importation of China's media and cultural products from 1987, when the two societies resumed contact, to 1997, when both governments announced the most significant policy change. This article reviews the evolution of changes in Taiwan's policies on film importation from China, discusses the motivations for the policy changes and analyzes the implications of these changes. The purpose of this study is to explore relationships between the two Chinese societies' cultural relations and political and socioeconomic relations.
Mass communication in Asia and the Pacific. Recent trends and developments.

 1 of the current trends in Asian mass communication discernbile in 1964-65 was mass media evolution as a big business. 25 years ago the makings of big business journalism already were evident. At this time, Asia is deeply involved in corporate journalism, and in recent years newspaper groups have become affiliated with multinational corporations such as Dow Jones and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Combines of government, local business, and regional conglomerates have purchased chunks of broadcast stations and newspapers in at least Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and India. Although government control of mass media is not new to Asia, the manner of control differs from 25 years ago. Overt repressive actions still persist but not as frequently or blatantly as a generation ago. Less noisy forms of control are preferred in many countries, which resort to suspensions, arrests, or direct censorship when subtle means are ineffective. An irony of Asian mass communication is that authorities do not always shut out more pernicious outside channels and messages, while rather effectively curbing the foreign media's role in and impact upon their societies. The speed with which much of the new technology has been introduced and expanded in Asia has brought undesired consequences, e.g., much dialogue previously focused on development journalism, ethics, or freedom of expression has shifted to information hardware.

International Transactions in Services: The Politics of Transborder Data Flows.@@@Trade and Foreign Direct Investment in Data Services.
tional market, and the role in the legal process of nongovernmental organizations and nonbinding resolutions of international organizations. Despite these gaps, the materials are about as comprehensive as is feasible for classroom use. Although this review is limited to primarily international materials, the book as a whole seems suitable for both the classroom and the reference desk. Much of the contemporary debate in this sphere of law arises out of the sometimes conflicting interests between countries of origin of cultural property, actual or derivative, and collecting or importing countries. As Japanese collectors and others drive up prices on the art market and develop greater interest in, and access to, the heritage of such historically collecting countries as the United States, international constraints on trade have become more appealing and accepted. A UNESCO Convention provides the basic framework for helping to accommodate the competing interests, but it still enjoys too few parties and suffers from too much controversy about the reach of national antiquities and export laws. Merryman and Elsen have carefully highlighted this controversy. However, a concluding note on the retention and repatriation of cultural property seems somewhat too uncharitable toward country-of-origin controls and overgenerous toward the merits of freer trade in cultural property. Rather than extending this rather sterile debate, the most fruitful scholarship and policy development today focuses on proposals for strengthening the UNESCO mechanism; for encouraging long-term loans of material and other institutional cooperation; for helping poor countries to excavate, display and protect their heritage; and for releasing duplicative or site-insignificant material abroad. Schemes of triage, by which scientists and museum officials employ scarce resources effectively, offer an ethical and legal model for deciding what should stay at home and what should be allowed to enter the global market. For example, objects might be divided into four categories: those whose long-term retention by a country of origin is imperative; those whose retention for medium-range research needs is important; those whose short-term retention is necessary for documentation or temporary display; and those that are expendable. In the progressive development of the law along these lines, Law, Ethics, and the Visual Arts is a treasure chest of historical background, thinking and criticism.