Global Taiwan Studies Salon Series
Global Taiwan Studies Salon Series
the 147th regular seminar of JATS Tokyo Branch
The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Taiwan’s External Relations:
Views from Japan
Japanese Association of Taiwan Studies, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, European Association of Taiwan Studies, North American Taiwan Studies Association
The COVID-19 has been described as a “catalyst.” It accelerates previously existing changes in society. In less than three months, the epidemic which started in China quickly became a global pandemic, coming to bear in significant ways on national economies, societies, politics and international relations. Already strained Cross-Strait and Sino-U.S. relations have further deteriorated during the pandemic, while U.S. support for Taiwan has strengthened in important ways, and will likely continue to improve moving forward. Why and how has the pandemic changed Taiwan’s external relations in general, and Taiwan-Japan relations in particular? Three presenters from Japan will share their views on the catalytic effect that COVID-19 has had on Taiwan’s external relations, including old and new challenges therein.
Speakers and presentation titles
- Cross-Strait Relations
Yasuhiro Matsuda, University of Tokyo
- US- China-Taiwan Relations
Ryo Sahashi, University of Tokyo
- Japan-Taiwan Relations
Madoka Fukuda, Hosei University
Moderator: Atsushi Sugano, Meio University
Bios of speakers
Yasuhiro MATSUDA is Professor of international politics at Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. He received his Ph.D. in law from Graduate School of Law at Keio University in Tokyo. He spent sixteen years in the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Japan Defense Agency (later, Ministry of Defense), as an assistant and a senior research fellow. He moved to the Institute of Oriental Culture (later, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia) of the University of Tokyo in 2008. He specializes in political and diplomatic history of Asia, politics and foreign relations in the PRC and Taiwan, the Cross-Strait Relations, and Japan’s foreign and security policies. He was a member of the Council on Security and Defense Capability in the New Era, the advisory group of the Prime Minister in 2010. He is the winner of the seventh Yasuhiro Nakasone Award of Excellence in 2011. He has published numerous books and articles in Japanese, English and Chinese. His most recent publication in English is “Cross-Strait Relations under the Ma Ying-jeou Administration: From Economic to Political Dependence?” Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies, Vol.4, No. 2, 2015, pp. 3-35, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/24761028.2015.11869083?.
Ryo SAHASHI is an Associate Professor of International Relations, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. He serves as Member, Advisory Panel on Science & Technology Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has published widely on U.S.-China relations, regional security order in East Asia, and Japanese foreign policy. His book is In a Search for Coexistence: the United States and ‘Two Chinas’ during the Cold War (Tokyo: Keiso, 2015), and his recent works in English include (with Evelyn Goh) “Worldviews on the United States, alliances, and the changing international order,” Contemporary Politics, 26:4 (2020), (with Tomohiko Satake) “Rise of China and Japan’s ‘vision’ for free and open Indo-Pacific,” Journal of Contemporary China, 2020; “American Power in Japanese Security Strategy,” in Andrew O’Neil and Michael Heazle (eds.), China’s Rise and Australia-Japan-US Relations Primacy and Leadership in East Asia, London: Edward Elger, 2018, and “Japan-Taiwan Relations since 2008: An Evolving, Practical, Non-Strategic Partnership,” Jean-Pierre Cabestan and Jacques deLisle (eds.), Political Changes in Taiwan under Ma Ying-jeou: Partisan conflict, policy choices, external constraints and security challenges, New York: Routledge, 2014. He holds a Ph.D and LL.M. from the University of Tokyo.
Madoka FUKUDA is a professor of international politics and China studies at the Department of Global Politics, Faculty of Law, Hosei University. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in media and governance from Keio University. Previously, she studied at the doctoral course of Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies, National Cheng-Chi University as a Taiwan scholarship student. She specializes in the PRC’s diplomacy and the Cross-Strait relation in the postwar years. She published her first book, The PRC’s Diplomacy and Taiwan; the Origin of the ‘One-China’ Principle, (Keio University Press, 2013), and got the 25th special prize for Asia-Pacific studies (The Asian Affairs Research Council, Japan). She has also published a number of peer-reviewed articles along with research for the Cross-Strait relations. Her article, “The normalization of Sino-French diplomatic relations and the formation of ‘One-China’ principle,” in Vol. 163 of the Journal of Japan Association of International Relations (JAIR) , was awarded as the 4th JAIR academic prize for the excellent article by young scholars in 2011. Her most recent publication in English is “The Japan-Taiwan Relationship Under the Tsai Ing-wen Administration,” in Lee Wei-chin ed., Taiwan’s Political Re-Alignment and Diplomatic Challenges, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp.297-322.
Atsushi SUGANO is a Senior Associate Professor at Faculty of International Studies, Meio University, Nago Okinawa Japan. His research areas are Contemporary History of Taiwan. His research specifically focuses on postwar cultural and language policy and how the society and people in Taiwan experienced the transitions of De-Japanization, Sinicization and Indigenization. In addition to published research papers, his books are Taiwan no Kokka to Bunka [The Nation and Culture of Taiwan] (Tokyo: Keiso Shobo, 2011) and Taiwan no Gengo to Moji [The Language and Characters of Taiwan] (Tokyo: Keiso Shobo, 2012). He was awarded Azusa Ono Memorial Award from Waseda University in 2002, 3rd Award for the Japan Association for Taiwan Studies in 2005, and 33rd Award for the Promotion of Studies on Developing Countries from, JETRO-IDE in 2012. He received his Ph.D at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific (GSAPS), Waseda University in 2007, MA in 2001. He received his BA from Sophia University in 1998.
