2025 ANU TAIWAN UPDATE

Taiwan’s Economic Statecraft and the Future of the Liberal International Order

Over the last decade, China has punished countries that undermine its territorial claims and foreign policy goals with measures such as restricting trade, encouraging popular boycotts, and cutting off tourism. These coercive measures have caused significant economic damage to U.S. partners such as Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Australia. This talk focuses on Taiwan’s response to China’s economic sanctions, highlighting the agency of medium-sized countries in the shadow of a great power.

The second part of this presentation will propose a common understanding of the liberal international order in which state and non-state actors follow rules, norms, and legal procedures in conducting international affairs. This rule-based practice is an essential part of the Asian regional order. If Taiwan were integrated into the multilateral institutions in Asia, the chance of conflict would be greatly reduced. The future of Taiwan also depends on the resilience of the liberal international order and other middle-power states in the Asia Pacific.

Speaker

Christina Lai is an Associate Research Fellow in the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Dr. Lai received her Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University. In 2015–16, she was a post-doctoral fellow in the China and the World Program at Princeton University. Her research interests include U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations, Chinese Foreign Policy, East Asian politics, and Qualitative Research Methods. Her works have appeared in the Politics, International Politics, Political Science, PS: Political Science & Politics, Journal of Contemporary China, Pacific Review, and Asian Security.

Drinks reception at 5pm for 5:30pm start.
View the 2025 Taiwan Update Program

The Taiwan Update is an initiative under the ANU Taiwan Studies Program 2025-28, which is a partnership between the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University and the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan). We especially thank the Political Science and International Relations programme at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington for co-hosting the 2025 Taiwan Update in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

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