Date: March 12th, 12:00-13:30 PST
Location: Case Room, Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia
Please join the Center for Japanese Research on US-Japan Alliance and the Taiwan Strait. We are honoured to invite Professor Adam P. Liff, the Visiting Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, to share his insights on the U.S.-Japan security alliance’s and the JSDF’s potential roles in a “Taiwan Strait contingency.”
Food and drink will be provided at the event.
Speaker: Adam P. LIFF, the Visiting Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service
Discussant:
- Chung-min Tsai, Professor at the Department of Political Science at the National Chengchi University (NCCU), jointly appointed professor at Taipei School of Economics and Political Science (TSE) at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU)
- Chih-shian Liou, Professor at the College of International Affairs at the National Chengchi University (NCCU)
- Yves Tiberghien, Professor of Political Science and Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Director of the Center for Japanese Research.
Moderator: Mei Terasawa, Research Assistant at the Centre for Japanese Research, UBC.
[Talk abstract]: In April 2021, President Biden and his Japanese counterpart made global headlines when they jointly “underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”—the first such reference to the Taiwan Strait in a joint summit-level statement since the U.S. and Japanese governments switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in the 1970s. In the nearly three years since, Japanese leaders have repeated such language numerous times. Meanwhile, discussions within Tokyo about a so-called “Taiwan Strait contingency” have been mainstreamed to an unprecedented degree. Amidst a rapidly changing regional balance of power and with the Biden administration asserting that U.S. allies would “take action” if Beijing seeks “to use force to disrupt the status quo,” this talk will examine the historical evolution of Japanese perspectives on the U.S.-Japan security alliance’s and the JSDF’s potential roles in a “Taiwan Strait contingency.” Though Tokyo’s nuanced positions and policies are often neglected in the U.S.-centric academic literature and policy discourse, Japan is a critical front-line player. Its choices are today—and will inevitably remain—crucial variables affecting cross-strait deterrence, U.S. options, and how things may play out if deterrence fails.
Speaker bio: Adam P. LIFF is the Visiting Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Beyond Georgetown, Dr. Liff is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, as well as an Associate-in-Research at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. He is currently on leave from Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where he is Associate Professor of East Asian International Relations (with tenure) and Founding Director of the 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics from Princeton University, a postgraduate research certificate from the University of Tokyo, and a B.A. from Stanford University. His personal research website is https://adampliff.com/.
Discussants Bio:
Chung-min Tsai (Ph.D., UC-Berkeley 2010) is a Professor at the Department of Political Science at the National Chengchi University (NCCU), jointly appointed professor at Taipei School of Economics and Political Science (TSE) at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), and the editor of Taiwanese Political Science Review. He served as the secretary-general of the Taiwan Political Science Association, the deputy director of the Institute of International Relations, the department chair of political science, and the associate dean of social sciences at National Chengchi University. His research interests include comparative politics, political economy, Chinese political economy, and international relations in East Asia. His research projects focus on the issues of state regulation, industrial policies, and the geopolitical landscape in East Asia. He has published articles in Asian Survey, China Quarterly, Problems of Post-Communism, and edited volumes.
Chih-shian Liou (Ph.D., UT-Austin 2010) is a Professor at the College of International Affairs at the National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taiwan. Her research specializes in political economy, economic statecraft, and institutional theories with an empirical focus on China. Throughout her research agenda, Chih-shian is especially interested in how institutions form and evolve over time. Her past research has addressed the negotiated interactions between the Chinese state and its state-owned enterprises. She has published articles in Asian Survey, World Development, Problems of Post-Communism, edited volumes, and other Chinese journals. Continuing with this academic interest, she is currently working on China’s industrial policy. From 2021 to 2023, during her tenure as the Director of the Program in Japan Studies at NCCU, Chih-shian broadened her research scope to compare the foreign economic behavior of China and Japan in Africa.
Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University, 2002; Harvard Academy Scholar 2006; Fulbright Scholar 1996) is a Professor of Political Science and Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. He is also Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research, and Director of the Center for Japanese Research. Yves is Distinguished Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada and a Senior Fellow at the University of Alberta’s China Institute. He is an International Steering Committee Member at Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD). In November 2017, he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre national du mérite by the French President. In 2014-2016, Yves served as Co-Director of the UBC Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA), which he founded as Chair of the UBC Public Policy Curriculum Committee in 2014. He is a regular visiting professor at Tokyo University (Graduate School of Public Policy) and at Sciences Po Paris (Paris School of International Affairs). He has held other visiting positions at National Chengchi University (Taiwan), GRIPS (Tokyo), and the Jakarta School of Public Policy (Indonesia). Yves’ research specializes in comparative political economy and global economic and environmental governance, with an empirical focus on Japan, China, Korea, and Europe.
Background reading:
* Adam P. Liff. “The U.S.-Japan Alliance and Taiwan.” Asia Policy 17, no. 3 (2022): 125-160.
* Adam P. Liff, “Japan, Taiwan, and the ‘One China’ Framework after 50 Years.” The China Quarterly 252 (2022):1066-1093
Please RSVP HERE and direct inquiries to Mei Terasawa at may0614@mail.ubc.ca.