In January 2024, Taiwan voted for a new president. For the first time in its democratic history, the candidate who was elected was from a party that had already held the presidency for the maximum two terms. In May, therefore, Lai Ching-te (William Lai) of the Democratic Progressive Party was inaugurated. However, unlike his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, he will have to govern without a majority in the parliament, the Legislative Yuan. The Chinese government immediately expressed their displeasure at Lai’s election, so how will Taiwan’s new political alignments alter the cross-strait status quo? Will the new president be able to carry out his program with a hostile parliament? Will Lai’s administration follow the course set by President Tsai, or will he strike out on a new path?
These are some of the questions the 2024 ANU Taiwan Update will address. However, this year, we are also examining three issues at the forefront of modern, changing Taiwanese society. The keynote speaker, Tayal scholar Dr Wasiq Silan, will focus on social programs run by and for Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, Brian Hioe will discuss the connection between the Sunflower Movement and the recent Bluebird Movement, and we will be screening the multiple prize-winning documentary And Miles to Go Before I Sleep, which concerns the police shooting of a Vietnamese migrant worker. The director of the documentary, Tsai Tsung-lung, will also be taking part in a post-screening interview. Finally, one of Australia’s foremost Taiwan experts, Dr Craig Smith will discuss how the various images of Taiwan in the west — exotic island, oppressed colony, capitalist factory, progressive society — have been shaped and propagated.
The ANU Taiwan Update is an initiative under the ANU Taiwan Studies Program 2022-25, which a partnership between the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University and the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan).
The events associated with the 2024 ANU Taiwan Update will be co-programmed as part of the annual multicultural perspectives festival, Immersia 2024: Engaging with Asia and the Pacific.
