In this paper we investigated the dynamic behavior of a nonself-oscillatory chemical system switched periodically between two nearby stable stationary states in a concentration phase space. Despite the absence of self-oscillating dynamics, a variety of nonlinear phenomena including periodic oscillations of large amplitudes and chaos has been uncovered when the switching frequency is varied systematically. Our analysis suggests that the onset of large amplitude oscillations in the studied system is due to an unusual response of the system to an inhibitory perturbation. In addition, this study further demonstrates that the waveform of a square-wave switching can be equally important as other control parameters in determining the dynamics of a forced system. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.