China and Taiwan: the view across the Straits from Taipei
A panel discussion with Prof Yu-Shan Wu, Prof Arthur Shuhfan Ding and Dr Chun-yi Lee moderated by Martin Purbrick, 15 February 2023
Relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) have been complicated during the past year. Tension has been heightened by the war in Ukraine (which drew comparisons to a possible military threat to Taiwan), the visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (which led to a short military blockade of Taiwan), and pronouncements by President Tsai Ing-wen restating the importance of democracy on the island. Taking a long-term view, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global supply chains has led to greater attention on the Taiwan’s globally significant semiconductor industry.
This complicated situation has been paralleled by Beijing’s ever louder assertions that Taiwan is a province of China. Some American politicians, on the other hand, have made strong public statements about their support for Taiwan as an independent political entity. This has resulted in a global debate about Taiwan dominated by voices from the PRC and the USA, but with little attention paid to voices from Taiwan.
Three accomplished academics from Taiwan will discuss the view of the Straits from Taipei, with their perspectives on USA-PRC-Taiwan relations, trade involving Taiwan, supply chains including the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, and the outlook for security and peace in the region. The panel provides a distinct perspective from Taiwan.
Professor Yu-Shan Wu is Academician and Distinguished Research Fellow at Academia Sinica. His major interests are in political and economic transitions in (ex-)socialist countries, constitutional engineering in nascent democracies, and theories of international relations and Cross-Taiwan Strait relations. He has authored and edited 25 books and published more than 160 journal articles and book chapters in both English and Chinese.
Professor Arthur Shuhfan Ding is a Professor Emeritus, National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taipei. He now is adjunct professor at both the NCCU and Taiwan’s National Defense University. His research focuses on China security, including China’s security policy and China’s defence, party-military relations in China, as well as China’s defence industry.
Dr. Chun-yi Lee is Director of the Taiwan Studies Program at the University of Nottingham, prior to which she had roles at the University of Duisburg, Germany, and Leiden University, the Netherlands. Dr. Lee has written extensively about China and Taiwan and related issues affecting the global economy.
