2024 MOFA-TAP US-China-Taiwan Conference

Conference Location:

Sam Houston State University
The Woodlands Center
3380 College Park Drive
The Woodlands, Texas 77384

Sam Houston State University hosts the 2024 Taiwan & Asia Program Conference, which is sponsored by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington D.C. The conference format is in-person. Contact the TAP Conference Coordinator, Dr. Lu-Cheng Weng (dennis.weng@shsu.edu), if you have any questions.

The Biden administration has persisted in strengthening US- Taiwan relations while assembling a coalition of like-minded global and regional allies/partners to jointly counter the PRC’s increasingly autocratic and bellicose behaviors. Though the Biden- Xi face-to-face meeting at the 2022 G-20 meeting in Bali calmed their rising tensions to some extent, the US has remained steadfast in the pursuit of a competitive approach towards China, which is identified by the Biden administration’s newly released National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Defense Strategy (NDS) papers as America’s most “consequential challenge” and the “only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it.” The PRC’s spy balloon incursions into continental America in early 2023 further plunged the brittle US- Chinese relations to yet another low point. In this context, Washington’s strategic, economic, high-tech and normative ties with Taipei will continue to deepen, to the chagrins of Beijing, which has also escalated its coercive campaigns and so-called gray-zone operations to intimidate and pressure Taiwan. The January and November 2024 General/Presidential Elections in Taiwan and the US, respectively, have introduced new uncertainties and variables to the increasingly intricate US-Taiwan-China strategic balance. How will the election outcomes from both Taiwan and the US potentially affect and shape their ties with the PRC, domestic politics, socioeconomic changes, as well as the broader contours of the Indo-Pacific region? The three levels of analysis—individual, domestic, and international—may provide useful lenses to approach these questions, but the conference theme is open to all methodological approaches and theoretical paradigms that also address issues pertaining to U.S., Taiwan, and China political institutions, electoral and identity politics, state-societal relations, high-tech rivalry, international political economy, etc.

Sponsor Representative:
Yvonne Hsiao
Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Houston

Yvonne Hsiao is the Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, representing Taiwan's interests in the southern United States. With over 20 years of experience in Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), she has held key roles, including Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs and the Department of International Organizations. Ms. Hsiao has also served in diplomatic postings in New York and Australia. She holds a B.A. in Foreign Languages and Literature from National Taiwan University.

SHSU Representative
Host Institution Representative:
Dr. Chien-pin Li

Dr. Chien-pin Li is Professor of Political Science and Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sam Houston State University. Before assuming his current role, Dr. Li spent 26 years at Kennesaw State University, where he was a founding member of the China Research Center. Dr. Li received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Iowa and has held research fellowships at esteemed institutions, including Academia Sinica in Taiwan and the Atlantic Council of the United States. His research interests center on East Asian political economy, regional trade disputes, and international negotiations. Dr. Li is the author of Rising East Asia: The Quest for Governance, Prosperity, and Security (2020) and has published articles in leading journals such as Asian Survey, Pacific Review, and International Studies Quarterly. His work continues to shape the academic understanding of East Asia's evolving political and economic landscape.

Conference Coordinator:
Dr. Dennis Lu-Chung Weng

Dr. Dennis Lu-Chung Weng is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Sam Houston State University and the founding Director of the Asia Pacific Peace Research Institute (APPRI). He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas and has held teaching positions at Wesleyan University and SUNY-Cortland. Dr. Weng’s research interests focus on comparative politics, international relations, and the interplay between domestic political behavior and international politics, particularly in East Asia. His recent research delves into U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, foreign policy, and defense strategies in the Asia-Pacific. Dr. Weng has published widely in academic journals and contributed to op-eds and media outlets. He is recognized for his deep insights into U.S.-Taiwan relations and broader East Asian political developments.