Reimagining China Studies: Taiwan as a Springboard for Exploring the Sinosphere

Taiwan can serve as a valuable platform for those pursuing China Studies and Asian Studies, as well international relations and global affairs more broadly. Tapping into Taiwan’s expertise can provide insights on the Sinosphere, cross-Strait relations, and regional issues in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

 

 

Julia G. Bentley is a former Canadian diplomat whose work focuses on Asia, where she  lived for over 20 years. She served as a diplomat in China, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia, where she was High Commissioner. At the Department of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa, she was successively Director for Northeast Asia, Executive Director for South Asia, and Director General for South Asia. She retired in 2024 and is now affiliated with the Munk School at the University of Toronto, the York Centre for Asian Research, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and National Taiwan University’s Centre for China Studies. She has degrees in East Asian Studies from Princeton and the University of Toronto, as well as a post graduate diploma in modern Chinese history from Nanjing University.

 

Joe Wong previously held the Canada Research Chair in Democratization, Health and Development for two full terms, ending 2016. In 2017, Professor Wong was appointed Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost of the University of Toronto, overseeing international student experience. Wong’s research interests are in comparative public policy and political economy. His published articles have appeared in The Bulletin of the WHO, The Lancet, Perspectives on Politics, Politics and Society, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Comparative Political Studies, Governance, Studies in Comparative International Development, Journal of East Asian Studies, among others. Professor Wong is the author (with Dan Slater) of From Development to Democracy: the Transformations of Modern Asia (Princeton University Press, 2022); Betting on Biotech: Innovation and the Limits of Asia’s Developmental State (Cornell University Press, 2011); Healthy Democracies: Welfare Politics in Taiwan and South Korea (Cornell University Press, 2004); co-editor (with Edward Friedman) and contributor to Political Transitions in Dominant Party Systems: Learning to Lose (Routledge, 2008), and co-editor and contributor to (with Dilip Soman and Janice Stein) Innovating for the Global South: Towards an Inclusive Innovation Agenda (University of Toronto Press, 2014). The founder and PI for the Reach Alliance (https://reachalliance.org/), Professor Wong is currently working on several projects relating to poverty, innovation and development. Professor Wong was the Director of the Asian Institute at the Munk School from 2005 to 2014. He was honoured with the Faculty’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013.

 

Phillip Y. Lipscy is professor of political science and Chair in Japanese Politics and Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. He is also Richard Charles Lee Director of the Asian Institute and Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. In addition, he is cross-appointed as professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. His research addresses substantive topics such as international cooperation, international organizations, the politics of energy and climate change, international relations of East Asia, and the politics of financial crises. He has also published extensively on Japanese politics and foreign policy. Lipscy’s book from Cambridge University Press, Renegotiating the World Order: Institutional Change in International Relations, examines how countries seek greater international influence by reforming or creating international organizations. Before arriving at the University of Toronto, Lipscy was assistant professor of political science at Stanford University. Lipscy obtained his Ph.D. in political science at Harvard University. He received his M.A. in international policy studies and B.A. in economics and political science at Stanford University. He is also affiliated with the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University, Weatherhead East Asian Institute Japan Research Program at Columbia University, the Maureen & Mike Mansfield Foundation, and the U.S.-Japan Council.