Stanford University

Stanford conference to examine economic and trading pact in East Asia

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Sadaf H. Minapara
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On October 11-12, the Taiwan Democracy Project at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is holding its eighth annual conference on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Taiwan’s future development strategy at Stanford University. Hosted in cooperation with the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the two-day conference will bring together scholars and policy-makers from around the world to examine the free trade agreement that has the potential to reshape economic relations in the region for the coming decades.

Under current negotiation by 12 Pacific Rim countries, the TPP is a free trade agreement that would enhance trade, investments, innovation and economic development among the TPP countries. Speakers and conference participants will examine the evolution of the TPP with the addition of new countries and its potential new economic and strategic framework for the region. With strong implications for the balance of power in East Asia, the conference will also address the perspective of other key countries in the region including: Japan, Korea, Singapore and the People’s Republic of China.

Speakers will include Vinod Aggarwal, professor of political science and director of the Berkeley Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center at the University of California. Aggarwal will present a broad overview of trends in regional trade and trading partnerships as part of the opening panel entitled, “How the Economic andTrading Environment of East Asia is Evolving.”

Hung-Mao Tien, the president and board chairman of the Institute for National Policy Research, a private think-tank based in Taipei, will chair a panel on Taiwan’s development for the next phase of the negotiations. Tien previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan), the representative ambassador to the United Kingdom and presidential advisor to former President Lee Teng-hui.

The conference will conclude with a two-part panel on Taiwan’s future strategy and the future of the TPP that will include Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C. 

Conference papers are available for review here. 

All sessions will be held at Stanford University's Bechtel Conference Center in Encina Hall (616 Serra Street) and are free and open to the public. Space is limited so please RSVP here to attend. The latest agenda can be found here. 

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Taiwan's Future Development Strategy

Abstract:

On October 11 and 12th, the Democracy in Taiwan Project at the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, in cooperation with the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, will hold its 8th annual conference, on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a free trade agreement currently being negotiated by at least nine Pacific Rim countries that has the potential to re-shape economic relations in the region for the coming decades. This conference will bring together policymakers and scholars from Taiwan with leading specialists from other Asian countries and the U.S. to examine the evolution, geopolitics and future of the TPP, and also to consider how Taiwan is responding to the challenge of freer trade and what its strategy for deepening its trade relations and maintaining its economic development should be.

 

Among the issues to be addressed are:

  • How the economic and trading environment of East Asia is evolving, and what Taiwan’s future place will be in that regional environment.
  • The development of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a potentially far-reaching new economic and strategic framework for the region, including the origins and evolution of the TPP, US participation and China’s response, and the implications for the balance of power in East Asia.
  • Taiwan’s response to the challenge of freer trade to date, including the impact on US-Taiwan relations and domestic constituencies for free trade in Taiwan.
  • The perspectives of other key countries in the region toward the TPP, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the People’s Republic of China.

This event is co-sponsored by The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center

 

Conference Resources

 

Agenda

Speaker Bios

Presentations

Conference Papers

Conference Report (full report, abridged report)

 

 

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Contrasts Across the Strait: International Human Rights Norms in Taiwan and China

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Abstract:

In less than three decades, Taiwan has transformed from a repressive, authoritarian state into a vibrant democracy. Changes to the legal system, and particularly the criminal justice system, have played a central role in this story. Reform-minded politicians, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and scholars have been crucial advocates for strengthening human rights protections, as has Taiwan’s Constitutional Court. Since the end of martial law, the Court has vigorously given heft to rights enshrined in the Republic of China’s constitution. Now that Taiwan has adopted the contents of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as domestic law, it is an opportune moment to reflect on Taiwan’s journey towards embracing international human rights norms and to confront remaining challenges. The situation across the strait is markedly different. Today, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court has no counterpart on the Mainland and analogues to Taiwan’s former police-controlled punishments remain in full effect. As calls for reform on the Mainland become increasingly vocal, how might Taiwan’s experience inform efforts to increase human rights protections in the People’s Republic of China? 

Speaker Bio:

margaret lewis1
Maggie Lewis joined Seton Hall Law School as an Associate Professor in 2009. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Public Intellectuals Program Fellow with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and an Affiliated Scholar of NYU School of Law’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute. Her recent publications have appeared in the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, Columbia Journal of Asian Law, and Virginia Journal of International Law. She is also the co-author of the book Challenge to China: How Taiwan Abolished Its Version of Re-Education Through Labor with Jerome A. Cohen. 

Most recently before joining Seton Hall, Professor Lewis served as a Senior Research Fellow at NYU School of Law’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute where she worked on criminal justice reforms in China. Following graduation from law school, she worked as an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City. She then served as a law clerk for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Diego. After clerking, she returned to NYU School of Law and was awarded a Furman Fellowship.

Professor Lewis received her J.D., magna cum laude, from NYU School of Law, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and was a member of Law Review. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, from Columbia University. In addition, she has studied at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China, and Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany. 

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Margaret Lewis Associate Professor Speaker Seton Hall Law School
Seminars

The 2012 Taiwan Elections: What Happened and Why?

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The 2012 Republic of China presidential and legislative elections to be held on January 14th mark the fifth presidential and seventh national legislative direct elections in Taiwan. Incumbent ROC President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) enjoyed a landslide victory in 2008 over Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Hsieh Chang-ting, winning by over 2.2 million votes. Subsequent revelations of corruption by former President Chen Shui-bian of the DPP and various members of his administration further damaged the DPP's public image and electoral prospects.

In the intervening years, however, current DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen and other members of the DPP have worked to revitalize their party's image, and as chairperson of the DPP Tsai established a special internal investigative committee to root out corruption in the party. A potentially complicating new factor in the race is the first-ever presidential bid by the People's First Party (PFP), led by candidate James Soong. Polling results to date have indicated the potential for a very close race between Ma and Tsai, with Soong also pulling a substantial portion of the vote that may affect the electoral outcome.

On the legislative side, the KMT won 81 out of 113 total seats in the Legislative Yuan in the 2008 elections, a circumstance that has facilitated the passage of various controversial measures supported by the Ma administration, including in particular the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with mainland China, and a significant shift in the composition of this body is likely to have a pronounced impact.

Regardless of the outcome, the results of the 2012 elections promise to offer much insight into the popular attitudes of the Taiwanese people and the prospects for future democratic consolidation and development in Taiwan. Ten days following the elections, Professors Shelly Rigger and Eric Chen-hua Yu will join us for a panel discussion to analyze the outcomes of these elections and discuss their relevance to the US and the world.

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Sizing Up Taiwan's 2012 Election

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One of Taiwan's leading political scientists and most widely quoted authorities on Taiwan politics and cross-Strait relations, Professor Chu will address five issues in his talk:

First, how should we interpret the outcome of the January election and the nature and extent of President Ma's renewed mandate?

Second, to what extent has the 2012 election enhanced the overall quality of Taiwan's democracy?

Third, what can we expect in terms of President Ma's domestic agenda for the next four years?

Fourth, how much further and faster can the warming of cross-Strait relations proceed during President Ma's second term?

Fifth, what are the challenges and opportunities for the US-Taiwan relationship in the coming year?

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