TAYLOR, Robert 1941-

PERSONAL: Born 1941. Education: University of London, B.A., 1963; MS.c., 1967; Ph.D., 1974; University of Warwick, M.B.A. Politics: British Conservative Party. Religion: Anglican.

ADDRESSES: Home—3 Crest House, Church Rd., Ashford, Middlesex TW15 2NH, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Asia scholar. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, research affiliate; Centre for Japanese Studies, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, senior research fellow; School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, director of Chinese studies.

MEMBER: Royal Society of Arts (fellow).

WRITINGS:

Education and University Enrolment Policies in China, 1949-1971, Australian National University Press (Canberra, Australia), 1973.

China's Intellectual Dilemma: Politics and University Enrolment, 1949-1978, University of British Columbia Press (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1981.

The Sino-Japanese Axis: A New Force in Asia?, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1985.

China, Japan, and the European Community, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (Rutherford, NJ), 1990.

Greater China and Japan: Prospects for an Economic Partnership in East Asia, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996.

Contributor to books, including Perspectives on Economic Integration and Business Strategy in the Asia-Pacific Region, edited by S. Dzever and J. Jaussard, Macmillan, 1997, and China and India: Economic Performance and Business Strategies of Firms in the Mid-1990s, edited by S. Dzever and J. Jaussard, Macmillan, 1999; contributor to journals, including Journal of Far Eastern Business, Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, and Asia-Pacific Business Review.

SIDELIGHTS: Robert Taylor's academic career has focused on the study of contemporary East Asia, particularly China, and its economic evolution and participation in the global economy.

Taylor's first volumes, Education and University Enrolment Policies in China, 1949-1971 and China's Intellectual Dilemma: Politics and University Enrolment, 1949-1978, study higher education in China. In the latter, he looks at how enrollment criteria have changed in response to new economic and political policies since 1949. John K. Fairbank wrote in the New York Review of Books that Taylor "constructs a narrative of the struggle between the wily Liu Shaoqi's persistent interest in 'functional specificity' (which tends to revive individualism) and 'Mao's formulation of the proletarian intellectual concept.'" Taylor studies the tensions that resulted from these conflicting philosophies in the late 1950s, which eventually led to the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

The Sino-Japanese Axis: A New Force in Asia? is Taylor's study of the potential for a partnership between China, with the world's largest population, and the smaller but wealthier Japan, whose production capability could find a welcome market in China. At the time of its writing there were no serious political divisions between the countries; in fact, Japan had bestowed a relatively small sum toward Chinese education and research. Dick Wilson said in British Book News that the book "is of a high standard, compressing much thoughtful analysis into a brief space."

In China, Japan, and the European Community Taylor studies how China and Japan view the European community, developing trends in Chinese and Japanese policy and trade, and economic and technology investment by Europe in the Asian countries. "Taylor rightly points to the crises of authority and identity which have shaped both China's and Japan's relations with the West, including Europe, over the past century," commented Brian Bridges in International Affairs.

More than a decade after the publication of The Sino-Japanese Axis, Taylor revisits the subject of Chinese-Japanese cooperation in Greater China and Japan: Prospects for an Economic Partnership in East Asia. He studies the positive gains that have taken place in economic interaction between the countries up to 1994. In fact, Japanese investment in China rose dramatically following this period. Taylor notes changes in Chinese laws that impact trade, investment, and labor, and studies the Japanese development model and its suitability for use in China. He looks at programs that include the Green Aid Plan, established by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry and designed to assist China in reducing sulfur emissions and increasing energy efficiency in its industrial plants. Industry organizations in Japan have welcomed technology transfer and training, and Japan's Official Development Assistance Program uses funding provided by a Chinese group to support environmental technology at the provincial level.

Allen S. Whiting wrote in China Review International that Taylor "recognizes that Tokyo is not acting on simple altruistic impulses. Much of Japanese assistance is in anticipation of subsequent opportunities for participation in the world's largest market. In addition, Chinese complaints allege the withholding of cutting-edge technology, thereby allowing Japan to maintain its competitive advantage. Nonetheless, economic complementarity is mutually desired and may be advanced further should 'Greater China' come to include Taiwan as well as Hong Kong." Whiting said that "Taylor's optimism is soundly argued."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

British Book News, October, 1985, Dick Wilson, review of The Sino-Japanese Axis: A New Force in Asia?, p. 600.

China Review International, spring, 1998, Allen S. Whiting, review of Greater China and Japan: Prospects for an Economic Partnership in East Asia, pp. 256-258.

Choice, October, 1981, review of China's Intellectual Dilemma: Politics and University Enrollment, 1949-1978, p. 288; December, 1985, R. Peritz, review of The Sino-Japanese Axis, pp. 665-666.

International Affairs, April, 1993, Brian Bridges, review of China, Japan, and the European Community, p. 346.

Journal of Economic Literature, December, 1991, review of China, Japan, and the European Community, pp. 1816-1817; June, 1997, review of Greater China and Japan, p. 853.

New York Review of Books, December 2, 1982, John K. Fairbank, review of China's Intellectual Dilemma, pp. 13-15.

Quill & Quire, July, 1981, Anthony Chan, review of China's Intellectual Dilemma, pp. 59, 60.

Times Educational Supplement, August 7, 1981, Isabel Hilton, review of China's Intellectual Dilemma, p. 14.