About 200 people attended a Taiwan Studies dinner hosted by the American Political Science Association (APSA) on Friday.
The APSA, a 122-year-old academic organization, held its annual conference in Vancouver from Thursday to yesterday.
As part of the event, the Conference Group on Taiwan Studies (CGOTS), founded under APSA in 1992, hosted a dinner on Friday. This year’s conference featured a record 18 Taiwan-related discussion sessions, all of which were filled to capacity.
Photo: CNA
National Chengchi University political science professor Huang Chi (黃紀), one of CGOTS’ founding members, said the group was established because research on Taiwan had been too scattered.
“We realized we needed to concentrate our efforts to make the nation more visible,” Huang said.
They applied to establish the group in 1991, Huang said, adding that at the time, only two sessions on Taiwan were held, with just 10 academics participating.
The discussion group has grown bigger every year since it was established, he said, adding that he was moved to see all 18 Taiwan-related sessions this year filled to capacity, with some attendees even standing to listen.
This year, Rhodes College international studies professor Chen Chien-kai (陳建凱) convened the CGOTS.
APSA has more than 50 conference groups, many of which see the CGOTS as a model for how to operate, Chen said.
“This is the united efforts of many academics, giving Taiwan a firm foothold in the global political science community,” he said.
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver Director-General Liu Li-hsin (劉立欣) also addressed the dinner, thanking academics worldwide for their attention to Taiwan.
“Your research is crucially important, providing guidance for Taiwan’s national security, economic prosperity and global connectivity, and further enhancing its global visibility,” she said.
The CGOTS Best Paper Award was presented to National Taiwan University’s Huang Yu-hsiang (黃煜翔), while the Young Scholar Paper Award went to Lai Jun-lin (來瑞霖) of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Huang’s paper examined gender roles in elections, while Lai’s focused on judicial persecution in Hong Kong.
Lai, who studied in China, Hong Kong and the US, said his survey research found that following the implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, a wave of trials against pro-democracy advocates prompted many Hong Kongers to choose silence.
“This is exactly what the Hong Kong authorities intended, and it could offer a warning to the people of Taiwan,” Lai said.
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