On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Daniel Kuo-Ching Chen, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) of cooperation with Ana Mari Cauce, President of the University of Washington (UW) in a virtual signing ceremony held on December 8, 2020.
Based on the MOU, Taiwan government provided US$1.8 million for the UW to strengthen its Taiwan Studies Program and teaching and launch a Taiwan Arts and Culture program. With the cooperation between Taiwan and the UW, which is the academic leader in the Northwestern United States, the UW will become an important center for Taiwan studies and cultural exchanges in the Northwestern United States.
In order to continue promoting Taiwan studies and to cultivate a new generation of Taiwan studies experts, TECO in Seattle actively discussed with the UW and reached a consensus to establish US$ 1 million "Taiwan Studies MOFA Endowment” and a further US$800,000 grants to establish Taiwan Arts and Culture program, which covers Taiwan’s political economy, society, literature, history, language, art and culture, and will employ new media to expand its reach and enhance cooperation capacity.
Director General Daniel Chen indicated that "The strengthening of the cooperation between Taiwan and the UW will not only enrich and diversify the curriculum and research in the field of Taiwan studies, but also effectively promote the understanding of Taiwanese society, art and culture for local society. It also facilitates exchanges between scholars and young students and complements the "Taiwan-US Education Initiative" recently promoted by Taiwan and the United States in a coherent fashion. It once again proves that Taiwan is a reliable partner of the United States. I hope that through this project, we will continue promoting and deepening the United States "Taiwan Studies" in academia, to enhance the interaction between Taiwan and the Northwestern United States.
The UW attaches great importance to this cooperation. Led by President Cauce, Jeffery Riedinger, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, Leela Fernandes, Director of Henry M Jackson School of International Studies, and William Lavely, Director of the East Asia Center, attended the online signing ceremony.
“Taiwan is important for social science and humanities research. It has transformed in three generations from an agrarian export economy to a global producer of cutting-edge technologies, and it is a rare example of peaceful transition from authoritarianism to resilient democracy,” said Jackson School Assistant Professor James Lin, a historian of modern Taiwan and Associate Chair of Taiwan Studies, and the first faculty to be hired by the program. “Thanks to historical influences and a vibrant civil society, Taiwan also has a unique arts and cultural presence which, with this support from the MOFA, we look forward to sharing with local and regional audiences in the coming years.”
Founded in 1861, the UW is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast and the largest in the Northwest. The UW ranked 29th among top 1000 universities and the 4th public universities in the U.S. Taiwan Studies Program within the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, UW, established in 2017, is dedicated to research, teaching and outreach about the history, society, language and culture of Taiwan. There are more than 500 Taiwanese students and about 1,700 Taiwanese alumni of the UW.
