Agenda

Day One: 23 November 2021 

Keynote Address
1:00 PM-2:30 PM AEDT

• Senator David Fawcett, Chair, Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade
• Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Chairman of Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, National Chengchi University

Panel 1: Taiwan and security in the Indo-Pacific
2:45 PM-4:15 PM AEDT
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait are rising and are potentially more serious than crises in the 1990s and even the 1950s. Military activity around Taiwan has increased, with China’s largest daily incursion into Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone occurring in mid-June 2021. Nevertheless, experts disagree as to whether such activity signals China’s intent to go to war over Taiwan or whether Beijing is posturing to a nervous international community. What is the likelihood of conflict over Taiwan? Could accidents around the island spark all-out hostilities? How should states in the region, like Australia and Japan, react to the current situation? How is the increased tension perceived in Taipei?

• Professor Cheng Yi Lin, Academia Sinica
• Dr Bec Strating, Executive Director, La Trobe Asia
• Natasha Kassam, Director, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program
  Lowy Institute
• Dr Mark Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Tasmania
• Moderator: Rowan Callick FAIIA, Industry Fellow, Griffith Asia Institute

Networking and discussion (off the record)
4:15 PM-5:00 PM AEDT

Day Two: 24 November 2021

Panel 2: Trade and Supply Chain Issues
1:00 PM-2:30 PM AEDT
COVID 19 has disrupted supply chains around the world, while the Trump administration in the United States, Brexit, and political movements elsewhere which began before the pandemic have raised the prospect that we are once more living in a world with hard borders. China, meanwhile, has made it clear that it sees trade as a tool in its political statecraft, a factor that has been keenly felt in the region. Nervous actors in the Indo-Pacific are looking to diversify their trade away from China, but do nations in the region have many choices? What does this mean for Taiwan-Australia trade relations? How does Taiwan’s position relate to newly inked trade agreements? Where does Taiwan sit within the global trading order?

• Roy Chun Lee, Senior Deputy Executive Director, WTO and RTA Center
• Alan Oxley, Independent analyst, formerly DFAT
• Jon Berry, Director, Market Access, Article 3
• Moderator: Ching-mei Maddock, CEO, Australia-Taiwan Business Council Ltd

Panel 3: Health and environment
2:45 PM-4:15 PM AEDT
The world has much to learn from Taiwan’s initially successful response to the coronavirus, including its emphasis on transparency and open information. Indeed, Taiwan’s success early in the pandemic tended to provide a counterpoint to the oft-heard refrain that autocratic states were more efficient in supressing the virus. Similarly, meeting today’s environmental challenges will take a multilateral approach, and Taiwan as an advanced economy and a traditional fuel importer has increasing interest in going “green.” Given the potential for education and cooperation, should we be expecting a greater voice for Taiwan in multinational forums? What are the opportunities for Australia and Taiwan to cooperate in technology innovation, investment, and development in these areas?

• Dr Llewelyn Hughes, Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
• Dr Pichamon Yeophantong, Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy
• Professor Ya-wen Betty Chiu, Taipei Medical University
• Professor Caitlin Byrne FAIIA, Director, Griffith Asia Institute

Networking and discussion (off the record)
4:15 PM-5:00 PM AEDT

This event is sponsored by the Taipei Economic And Cultural Office In Australia.