This was posted on a yahoo group discussing the quality of machine tools ....the guy was serious ...
Taiwan is a British Colony that is an island off of China. The quality of products being produced in Taiwan has risen by leaps and bounds of the past number of years. They are producing very decent products, but their prices have risen accordingly.
Older Taiwan, was like older Japanese. Newer Taiwan, Quality is close to or exceeds North American made. There again, depends on the factory, I have bought US amde stuff and wished I hadn't and bought Taiwan and glad I did.