Georgia Tech Symposium: Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Geopolitical Competition

Taiwan has long occupied a critical position in the Indo-Pacific region. The island stands at the regional geostrategic and geoeconomic frontlines, challenging China’s regime legitimacy and hegemonic ambition, emerging as a tiger economy in the 20th century, and now securing its role as an advanced technology production powerhouse. Today, as the geopolitical competition between the United States and China heats up in the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan’s role has grown even more crucial while the island’s security circumstances have become ever more precarious.

To discuss these challenging conditions facing Taiwan and help chart a roadmap looking forward, this symposium brings together panelists, each an expert in their field, to create a nexus of thought and discussion on the topic.

The symposium covers two critical aspects of Taiwan’s role in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical competition. The first considers Taiwan’s central position in China’s geostrategic ambition and discusses how the world might ward off a Chinese invasion of the island. The panelists are top thought leaders and policy influencers in European and East Asian affairs and emerging technology’s war applications. The panel discussion will weave a synthesis of the implications of the current Ukraine war and emerging technology for China’s calculations and Taiwan’s deterrence.

The second panel will discuss Taiwan’s crucial position in the center of the tech war ramping up between the United States and China. In the age of AI and supercomputing in what some call the third industrial revolution, Taiwan dominates some of the tech sectors, above all the manufacturing of semiconductors, that will determine which great powers have the edge with access to the latest military and technological innovation possibilities. The panelists meet at the intersection between East Asian affairs and technology and industrial policy expertise to discuss the challenges and opportunities for Taiwan amid the rising U.S. export restrictions and unfolding tech competition.

Co-sponsored by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta; the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy; the Program on Emerging Technology and International Security at the Sam Nunn School; and the General Ray Davis Endowment Fund.

Format

The symposium will use a hybrid format with in-person and virtual components. The symposium will be broadcasted and recorded synchronously via YouTube, enabling real-time interactions with virtual participants and continuing publicity post the event.

Agenda (Coffee and light refreshment will be provided throughout the symposium)

10 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Opening remarks

TECO Director General Wang and Senator Nunn

10:10 a.m. – 11 a.m.  Keynote Speech: Why Taiwan Matters? By Shelley Rigger

Shelley Rigger, Davidson College, Professor

Rigger is the Brown Professor of Asian Studies and the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Davidson College. Her research interests are Taiwanese politics and U.S.-China-Taiwan relations. She previously was a Fulbright scholar at National Taiwan University in Taipei and has held visiting professor and researcher positions at universities in China and Taiwan. She is a non-resident fellow of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University and a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Panel 1: How to Prevent a Taiwan War? Lessons from Ukraine and Beyond

Moderator: Michele Flournoy (INTA, Distinguished Professor of the Practice)

Flournoy is the former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under President Barack Obama and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy under President Bill Clinton. Additionally, she is the co-founder of the Center for a New American Security and the co-founder and current managing partner of WestExec Advisors. She was one of the top candidates for President Biden’s choice for the Secretary of Defense.

Panelists:

General Phil Breedlove (INTA, Distinguished Professor of the Practice)

General Breedlove is the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and US European Command Commander. He is currently an Atlantic Council Director and led a delegation to Taiwan which was received by President Tsai in 2018. As the U.S. Air Force Commander at Luke AFB, he helped train Taiwan’s air force wings. He is also a Center for European and Transatlantic Studies Senior Fellow and a Distinguished Professor of the Practice at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

Robert Bell (INTA, Distinguished Professor of the Practice)

Bell is a Distinguished Professor of the Practice at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and CEO of National Security Counsel consulting firm. During his career, Bell has worked with the U.S. Air Force, the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Armed Services, and NATO. Amongst many other positions, Bell previously served as the senior civilian representative of the Secretary of Defense in Europe and the Defense Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to NATO from 2010-17.

Adam Stulberg (INTA, Chair and Professor)

Stulberg is a professor and chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. His wide array of research and teaching interests include Russia and Eurasian security, nonproliferation, and energy security. Some of Stulberg’s many previous roles include political consultant at RAND, post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and consultant to the Office of Net Assessment, Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Margaret Kosal (INTA, Associate Professor)

Kosal is an associate professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs with research focuses on technology, strategy, and governance, specifically weapons of emerging security technologies and weapons of mass destruction. She is also a senior fellow at the Savannah River National Laboratory, where she focuses on, among others, understanding the role of emerging technologies for security to further the needs of the Department of Energy. She has previously held positions such as Adjunct Scholar to the Modern War Institute at West Point, advisory roles within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and leader of the U.S. involvement in the NATO Nanotechnology for Defense Working Group.

Jon Lindsay (INTA and School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, Associate Professor)

Lindsay is an associate professor with research interests in intelligence studies, the sociology of technology, cybersecurity, and deterrence in the modern era. He has published several books and papers on the subjects. In addition to his career in academia, he has also served in the U.S. Navy with assignments in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch

1:30 – 3 p.m. Panel 2: Taiwan’s Crucial Role at the Center of the U.S.-China Tech War

Moderator: Alasdair Young (INTA, Professor and Neal Family Chair)

Young is a Professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. He is also Neal Family Chair and co-director of the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies and the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy. He was previously the co-editor of JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies and chair of the European Union Studies Association. His main research interest is International Political Economy, particularly EU and transatlantic trade. On these subjects, he has written several books, articles, and chapters.

Panelists:

John Krige (SOHS, Professor Emeritus)

Krige is a Professor Emeritus at the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech. His research examines the intersection between science, technology, and foreign policy, with specific interests in the Cold War and space technology collaboration. His most recent book, Knowledge Regulation and National Security in Postwar America, speaks directly to the ongoing U.S. bans on tech exports to China amid the Indo-Pacific geopolitical competition.

Fei-ling Wang (INTA, Professor)

Wang is a professor with research interests in East Asian relations and comparative and international political economy. He previously taught at the U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy and has held visiting and adjunct positions at several universities across the world. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prof. Jacques deLisle (University of Pennsylvania, Professor)

DeLisle is a professor of political science and law at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, co-director of the Center for Asian Law, and director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. His research and teaching interests include Chinese law and politics, China and the international order, China-Taiwan relations, and U.S.-China relations.

Daniel Aum (INTA, Ph.D. Candidate)

Daniel Aum is a Ph.D. candidate in International Affairs, Science, and Technology. Among other roles, he previously served as a Harold Rosenthal Fellow with the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation.