Tuesday, December 12, 2023 from 1:15 PM – 2:45 PM (ET)
In-Person (RSVP here) and Webcast
Event Description:
The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) is pleased to invite you to a public seminar entitled “Prospects and Implications for Taiwan’s 2024 Presidential and Legislative Elections,” presented in partnership with the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. In just over a month, Taiwan will hold its 2024 national elections. After months of maneuvering and strategizing, the presidential tickets from each of the three largest parties—the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP)—have finally solidified, setting the stage for a highly contentious closing stretch of the campaign. Despite several major shakeups that have injected uncertainty into the race—including a short-lived partnership between the KMT and TPP—the DPP’s William Lai Ching-te has been a consistent frontrunner. Beyond the presidential race, however, the prospects of the governing DPP are far less certain, as both of its rivals seem poised to make gains in legislative and local elections. All the while, the specter of Chinese influence is ever-present, threatening to subvert Taiwan’s democratic society and erode public confidence in its electoral processes.
For both Taiwan and its international partners, this election could prove pivotal. Accordingly, this panel will feature in-depth discussions of the many factors shaping the 2024 Taiwan elections, as well as the implications of the potential outcomes. What are the current trendlines regarding support for the various candidates and parties? What are the issues that will shape the decisions facing voters? What are China’s likely responses to the various scenarios and implications for US policy? Panelists will confront these questions and more in this timely seminar.
Panelists will include: Julia Famularo (Harvard University), Brian Hioe (New Bloom Magazine), Robert Sutter (George Washington University), and Bo Tedards (Taiwan Foundation for Democracy). The event will be moderated by GTI Executive Director Russell Hsiao.
The event will be held at the GTI office located at 1836 Jefferson Place NW in Washington DC (approximately one block from the Dupont Circle Metro). Doors will open at 12:45 PM, and the event will begin at 1:15 PM. If you plan on attending in-person, please RSVP by December 10, as seating is limited. A light lunch will be provided. Please direct questions or concerns to Program Manager Marshall Reid at mreid@globaltaiwan.org.
**Media: Please contact Marshall Reid at mreid@globaltaiwan.org if you would like to bring additional crew members or equipment, so that we can be sure to accommodate you.
Panelists:
Julia Famularo concurrently serves as a postdoctoral fellow in Taiwan Studies at the Harvard University Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and a visiting scholar at the US Naval War College Strategic and Operational Research Department, China Maritime Studies Institute. She has also taught as a lecturer at the University of Hawai’i in the Department of Asian Studies, Master’s in Asian International Affairs (MAIA) program. Dr. Famularo earned her PhD in modern Asian political history at Georgetown University, and was an International Security Studies Predoctoral Fellow at Yale University. She also earned an MA in history from Georgetown University; an MA in East Asian studies from Columbia University; and a BA in East Asian studies and Spanish literature from Haverford College. Over the course of her academic career, she won a number of prestigious fellowships, including Boren and Fulbright Fellowships. She has lived and traveled extensively in the People’s Republic of China, ethnographic Tibet, East Turkestan, and Taiwan.
Brian Hioe is one of the founding editors of New Bloom Magazine. He is a freelance journalist, as well as a translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian languages and cultures from Columbia University, and graduated from New York University with majors in history, East Asian studies, and English literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018, and is currently a non-resident fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Studies Programme.
Robert Sutter is professor of practice of international affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University. Previously, he served as director of the school’s main undergraduate program from 2013-2019. He also serves as special adviser to the dean on strategic outreach (2021-present). His earlier full-time position was visiting professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University (2001-2011). A PhD graduate in history and East Asian languages from Harvard University, Sutter has published 22 books (four with multiple editions), over 300 articles, and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent book is Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy of an Emerging Global Force, Fifth Edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) saw service as senior specialist and director of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service, the national intelligence officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the US Government’s National Intelligence Council, the China division director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Bo Tedards is a long-time observer of Taiwan’s political scene, having resided in Taiwan for over 25 years. He is currently affiliated with the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), where he has served as director of the International Cooperation Department from 2007-2010 and again from 2016-2022. In his first years in Taiwan, he worked for the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Institute for National Policy Research, the Taipei Times, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2004 to 2010, he served as coordinator of the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA), a regional network of democracy advocates, and from 2013-2015 as director of Amnesty International Taiwan. He received his MA in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Tufts University, and his BA in political science from Yale University.
Moderator:
Russell Hsiao is the executive director of GTI, senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, and adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum. He is a former Penn Kemble fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia. He previously served as a senior research fellow at The Project 2049 Institute and national security fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Prior to those positions he was the editor of China Brief at The Jamestown Foundation from October 2007 to July 2011 and a special associate in the International Cooperation Department at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. While in law school, he clerked within the Office of the Chairman at the Federal Communications Commission and the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center at the Office of the US Trade Representative. Hsiao received his JD and certificate from the Law and Technology Institute at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Catholic University’s Journal of Law and Technology. He received a BA in international studies from the American University’s School of International Service and the University Honors Program.