On October 17-18, 2014 the Taiwan Democracy Project at CDDRL, with the generous support of the Taipei Economic and Culture Office, hosted its annual conference at Stanford University to examine the politics of polarization in Taiwan.
This conference brought together specialists from Taiwan, the U.S., and elsewhere in Asia to examine the sources and implications of this political polarization in comparative perspective. It will include a special case study of the Trade in Services Agreement with China that triggered this past year’s protests, as well as a more general overview of the politics of trade liberalization in Taiwan, prospects for Taiwan’s integration into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other regional trade agreements, and a consideration of the implications for Taiwan’s long-term democratic future.
Chien-fu Jeff Lin (林建甫) has served as the convener of monetary and public finance policies at the National Policy Foundation since 2008. Currently, he holds a variety of positions, including professor at the department and graduate Institute of Economics, College of Social Science, National Taiwan University (since 1998); associate dean, Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University (since 2006); member of the industry development council committee, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Executive Yuan (since 2003); independent non-executive director, Citi Bank, Taiwan (since 2009); and chairman, Taiwan Competitive Forum Association (since 2007). Apart from academic and government positions, Dr. Lin has worked as a member of the committee of economics and finance at the President’s Office, and as a director at Hua Nan Financial Holding and Waterland Financial Holding. Dr. Lin has also held visiting professorial roles abroad at the University of Berlin and the University of Chicago. He was previously a co-editor of the Taiwan Economic Review and Economic Policy and Forecast. Dr. Lin earned a bachelor of arts and master of arts, both in Economics, from National Taiwan University, and he holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 2006.
Hsin-chang Lu (盧信昌) is an Associate Professor of Business Economics in the College of Management and a Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of Banking and Finance at National Taiwan University. Dr. Lu currently serves as a director of Taiwan Financial Holdings and is the founding director for the Forum for Taiwanese Competitiveness, an organization devoted to diagnosing setbacks and promoting would-be solutions for the Taiwanese economy. He is also a member of the National Policy Foundation, a think tank that provides counsel to the government. He has participated in deregulation of air transportation and reform of the banking sector and served on several committees for public affairs, including national health program, public utilities, cable-TV, labor rights and telecommunication. Dr. Lu has published over 30 articles and written three books in area of labor market performance, Taiwanese foreign direct investment and international trade issues. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.