Presidential Contests and Peace in the Pacific: Implications of the 2012 Taiwan Election and Leadership Challenges in China and the United States

A lecture by Clayton Dube, Executive Director of the US-China Institute at University of Southern California

2012 is witnessing leadership challenges in Taiwan, China, and the United States – a situation which can destabilize Cross-Strait and U.S.-China relations. Will the recent policies of Cross-Strait and Trans-Pacific cooperation survive a new round of electoral politics and elite infighting? Focusing on his experiences as election observer at the recent Taiwan presidential contest, Clayton Dube discusses the implications of possible leadership transitions in Taipei, Beijing, and Washington.

Thomas B. Gold, leading China expert and Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley, will serve as discussant. Chiho Sawada, Director of the Japan Policy Research Institute at the USF Center for the Pacific Rim, will moderate.

This event is part of the opening ceremony for the 2012 Strait Talk Symposium Berkeley-San Francisco, a week of workshops and public events to promote peaceful relations across the Taiwan Strait and Pacific Rim. Strait Talk is a student-centered “non-partisan dialogue program that seeks to transform Cross-Strait and broader Asia-Pacific relations by connecting young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and from the United States,” and by “empowering them” through conflict resolution training to become the next generation of peacemakers.

Presented by the Japan Policy Research Institute (JPRI) at the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim. Co-Sponsored by Asia Society Northern California; Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley; Strait Talk Berkeley-San Francisco Chapter; and the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning.