Contemporary China Seminar
Contemporary Centre for Chinese Studies, The University of Melbourne
5:30 – 6:30 pm AEDT, Wednesday 11 March 2020
Old Geology (155) Theatre 1 – Parkville Campus University of Melbourne
Taiwan held its quadrennial presidential and legislative elections in January 2020. Barely over a year ago, the incumbent President Tsai Ing-Wen’s Democratic Progressive Party suffered a crushing defeat at the mid-term local elections. The defeat, coupled with the threat posed by the immensely popular insurgent populist challenger in the KMT’s candidate, Han Kuo-Yu, once made the DPP’s 2020 prospects looked dire. And yet eventually the DPP defied expectations, not only retaining majority in the legislature, but walked away with the highest number of popular votes in presidential electoral history.
What happened? What does it mean for the future of Taiwan’s political alignment, cross-strait relations, and regional dynamics more broadly?
About the speaker
Wen-Ti Sung is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University (ANU). He is a recent MOFA Taiwan Fellowship visiting fellow and an Asian Studies visiting fellow at the East-West Center. His research focuses on cross-strait relations, Chinese elite politics, and US-China policy epistemic community.
He is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the ANU, and received his MA in international affairs from Columbia University. Wen-Ti is also a political columnist for leading Taiwanese media outlets such as Liberty Times, Yahoo News Taiwan, Up Media, and Apple Daily.