11/15/2023 | Roundtable on “Taiwan’s Upcoming Elections and Foreign Policy Stakes”

The Taiwanese people will soon vote in presidential elections in January 2024. Taiwan’s vibrant democracy means that there is no certainty to electoral outcomes. Which players and parties should we be paying attention to this upcoming election season and what are the foreign policy stakes involved? The Sigur Center for Asian Studies is pleased to invite you to a discussion on these key questions: “Cross-Strait Relations and Policy Debates” and “Perspectives on Economic Strategies and Foreign Policy Implications.” This event features three esteemed guest speakers: Syaru Shirley Lin, Founder and Chair of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation, Kevin Sheives, Deputy Director for the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy, and Riley Walters, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in international economics and national security. The event will take place on Wednesday, November 15 from 12:00 to 2:00pm. There will be lunch from 12:00 to 12:30pm and the discussion will take place from 12:30 to 2:00pm. We hope you can join us for such an important discussion on the future of Taiwan and the region as a whole.

Lunch (12:00-12:30 pm)

Roundtable Discussion (12:30-2:00 pm)

“Cross-Strait Relations and Policy Debates”  Syaru Shirley Lin, Founder and Chair, The Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI)

“Responding to China’s Rising Threats to Information Integrity in Taiwan and Elsewhere” Kevin Sheives, Deputy Director, the International Forum for Democracy, the National Endowment for Democracy

“Perspectives on Economic Strategies and Foreign Policy Implications” Riley Walters, Senior Fellow, The Hudson Institute

Speakers

Syaru Shirley Lin is Founder and Chair of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation, Research Professor at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. Previously, she was a partner at Goldman Sachs, responsible for private equity investments in Asia, and led the first round of institutional investments in Alibaba and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. She currently serves as a director of Langham Hospitality Investments, Goldman Sachs Asia Bank, TE Connectivity, and MediaTek. Dr. Lin is the author of Taiwan’s China Dilemma: Contested Identities and Multiple Interests in Taiwan’s Cross-Strait Economic Policy (2016), which was also published in Chinese (2019). She is currently writing a book about economies in the Asia-Pacific caught in the high-income trap, facing problems such as inequality, demographic decline, financialization, climate change, political polarization, and inadequate policy and technological innovation. She earned an MA in international public affairs and a Ph.D. in politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong and graduated cum laude from Harvard College.

Kevin Sheives is the Deputy Director for the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy. He helps oversee the Forum’s staff and research on authoritarian influence, disinformation, emerging technologies, and transnational kleptocracy. Previously, Kevin served nearly fifteen years in the U.S. government with the State Department’s China Desk and the Global Engagement Center, and in positions at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Department of Defense, and the U.S. House of Representatives. Kevin received a Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in International Relations from Baylor University. He developed moderate proficiency in Mandarin as a regular summer English teacher in Xinjiang, China. His writings have appeared in War on the Rocks, The Diplomat, Asia Nikkei, and the International Forum’s platforms.

Riley Walters is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute specializing in international economics and national security. His areas of expertise include international trade policy, investment regulations, technology and innovation, cybersecurity, and the intersection of economics and national security. He is also an expert on east Asian political affairs, primarily focusing on Japan and Taiwan. Mr. Walters is also a senior non-resident fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute. Prior to joining Hudson, he was a senior policy analyst and economist in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation. Previously, he was a Penn Kemble fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy, a George C. Marshall fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a national security fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and a Kim Koo fellow with the Korea Society.

Moderators

Deepa M. Ollapally is a political scientist specializing in Indian foreign policy, India-China relations, and Asian regional and maritime security. She is Research Professor of International Affairs and the Associate Director of the Sigur Center. She also directs the Rising Powers Initiative, a major research program that tracks and analyzes foreign policy debates in aspiring powers of Asia and Eurasia.

Dr. Ollapally is currently working on a funded book, Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indian Ocean Region, which assesses the shifting patterns of geopolitical influence by major powers in the region since 2005 and the drivers of these changes. She is the author of five books including Worldviews of Aspiring Powers (Oxford, 2012) and The Politics of Extremism in South Asia (Cambridge, 2008). Her most recent books are two edited volumes, Energy Security in Asia and Eurasia (Routledge, 2017), and Nuclear Debates in Asia: The Role of Geopolitics and Domestic Processes (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). Dr. Ollapally has received grants from the Carnegie Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Asia Foundation for projects related to India and Asia. Previously, she was Associate Professor at Swarthmore College and has been a Visiting Professor at Kings College, London and at Columbia University. Dr. Ollapally also held senior positions in the policy world including the US Institute of Peace, Washington DC and the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India. She is a frequent commentator in the media, including appearances on CNN, BBC, CBS, Diane Rehm Show, and Reuters TV. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.