Wednesday, August 13, 2025 from 12:00PM – 1:15 PM (ET)
In-person and Webcast
Event Description:
The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) is pleased to invite you to a panel discussion titled “Taiwan’s Unofficial Diplomacy in Asia.”
Taiwan has no formal diplomatic allies on the Asian continent. But how does Taipei—in spite of diplomatic isolation and heavy coercive pressure from Beijing—build productive relationships with Asian partners? Taiwan has long relied on creative approaches to overcome its diplomatic isolation: such as civil society diplomacy, foreign aid programs, and engagement with the limited number of multilateral organizations where international recognition is not a prerequisite. But can this make up for Taiwan’s gradually declining official diplomatic recognition?
In this GTI seminar, Leah Lin—Secretary-General of the Asia Citizens Future Association (ACFA)—will lay out how ACFA promotes democracy by building civil society relationships between Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Zoë Weaver-Lee, adjunct fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, will discuss how Taiwan has employed foreign aid programs to form societal connections in Asia even without diplomatic recognition. Finally, Jeffery Wang, PhD candidate at the University of Indiana-Bloomington, will share his research into Taiwan’s effective use of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping to bolster its economic diplomacy, despite Beijing’s pressure. The event will be moderated by GTI Research Fellow Benjamin Sando.
The event will be held at GTI’s office located at 1836 Jefferson Place NW in Washington DC (approximately one block from the Dupont Circle Metro). Doors will open at 11:30 AM, and the event will begin at 12:00 PM. A light lunch will be provided. Please direct questions or concerns to Senior Programs Manager Adrienne Wu at awu@globaltaiwan.org.
**Media: Please contact Yuchen Lee at ylee@globaltaiwan.org if you would like to bring additional crew members or equipment, so that we can be sure to accommodate you.
The Panelists:
Leah Lin is the Founder and Executive Director of Asia Citizen Future Association (ACFA), a Taiwan-based NGO committed to defending civic space in Taiwan and Southeast Asia through close collaboration with local civil society organizations. As an experienced human rights practitioner, Leah specializes in supporting human rights defenders at risk and building resilient cross-border networks. Her work focuses on developing sustainable, secure, and strategic infrastructures to strengthen civic movements across the region. Leah’s efforts position Taiwan as a critical and transformative base for transnational civil society engagement in East and Southeast Asia. She has actively advocated for policy and legal reforms to address institutional barriers in Taiwan, including restrictions on foreign NGO registration. In parallel, she works with partners in four Southeast Asian countries to promote legal protections for the freedom of association. Through her leadership, Leah seeks to establish Taiwan as an emerging regional hub for civil society incubation, transnational solidarity, and democratic resilience.
Zoë Weaver-Lee is an incoming graduate student at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan under the Ministry of Education Taiwan Scholarship, as well as an adjunct fellow at GTI. Previously, she served as a programs coordinator at the East-West Center in Washington and as a program associate at the Global Taiwan Institute, where she focused on Taiwan’s foreign assistance policy and China’s use of economic coercion. She graduated from Stetson University in 2019 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Global Development and minors in Political Science and Asian Studies. Zoë has participated in programs such as the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship and the Taiwan-US Policy Program, and has presented her research at the North American Taiwan Studies Association conference. She will also be co-authoring a book chapter on Taiwan’s aid programs under President Tsai Ing-wen to be published in 2025.
Jeffery Shih-Chieh Wang is a PhD candidate in Political Science and Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington. His research examines how non-binding international organizations, such as APEC and ISO, facilitate strategic alignments through cooperation networks, with a focus on Taiwan and China. From 2013 to 2016, he served as the APEC SME Working Group focal point on behalf of Taiwan’s Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, hosting APEC meetings in Taiwan, attending APEC ministerial meetings, contributing to joint-ministerial declarations, and drafting APEC-funded projects that were successfully approved and implemented.
The Moderator:
Benjamin Sando is a research fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, where he investigates PRC united front influence operations and hosts the Global Taiwan Insights podcast. He previously worked at the Doublethink Lab NGO in Taipei, Taiwan, studying PRC united front strategy for the China Index project. Sando holds an MA in Asian Studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He completed his BA at Stanford University, where he majored in International Relations and minored in Mechanical Engineering. Sando has lived in Seoul, South Korea, as a researcher at the ROK National Assembly Research Service and the Yonsei University Institute for Sinology. Fluent in Mandarin and Korean, his writing has been published by the Global Taiwan Brief, Council on Foreign Relations, East Asia Forum, The Diplomat, NK News, and others