Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA)—Scholars and Stanford students welcomed Cheng Li-wun, Chairwoman of Taiwan’s Kuomintang party (KMT) to the Hoover Institution on June 2, discussing a range of issues concerning Taiwan, China, and how the US can assist in encouraging peace throughout the region.
Cheng, who became leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party last fall, made Hoover her first stop in a two-week-long tour of the United States.
In April, she became the first KMT leader to visit a Chinese leader in Beijing since 2016.
Boosting the significance of her meeting with Xi Jinping was that it took place just weeks before the summit between Xi and US President Donald Trump.
Cheng spoke to Hoover scholars, Stanford faculty members, and students eager to hear about the meeting, her goals for China-Taiwan relations, and her overarching desire for peace in the Indo-Pacific.
Participants discussed her alternative approach to improving relations between Taiwan and the mainland, the role other states in Asia can play in ensuring regional security, and the importance of avoiding great-power conflict in Asia.
They also discussed the need for continued cooperation across the nations of the Pacific to ensure shared prosperity for decades to come.
Finally, they discussed the need for a change or reimagination of the “first island chain” moniker: they envisioned it as more than a defense-oriented containment mechanism aimed at the People’s Republic of China and said it should instead be framed as a vehicle for those nations to pursue shared economic prosperity.
Joining the conversation were fellows Larry Diamond and Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., who co-lead Hoover’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region research initiative.
Also present were Hoover fellows Kharis Templeman, Glenn Tiffert, David Fedor, Michael McFaul, and Eyck Freymann.
Also present were Taiwan’s Jason Yuan (Ambassador, Retired; former Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office Representative) and Victor Chin (Ambassador, Retired).
For more information, please contact Jeffrey Marschner, assistant director of media and government relations, at jmarsch@stanford.edu or 202-760-3200.
