Academic experts available to provide context or comment on the following topic: Taiwan Elections
Members of the media may directly contact:
Scott Simon (English and French)
Full Professor, School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, and member of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre
ssimon@uottawa.ca
Professor Simon is on the ground in Taiwan, thus a 13-hour time difference.
Professor Simon's research focuses on Taiwan, including political economy and ethnic identity and nationalism, issues that are crucial to understanding relations between Taiwan and China.
André Laliberté (English and French)
Full Professor, School of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences & Research Chair in Taiwan Studies.
alaliber@uOttawa.ca
"The presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan, while often viewed from abroad as influenced by concerns about China, are actually shaped, like in all mature democracies, by more mundane but important issues such as housing affordability, long-term care, job prospects for the young generations, and rising social inequalities. The Chinese Communist Party seeks to influence the outcome of the election in Taiwan but the irony is not lost on Taiwanese that the CCP does not allow Chinese to choose their leaders."
Yongjing Zhang (English and Mandarin)
Associate Professor, Economics, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, Faculty of Social Sciences.
yongjing.zhang@uOttawa.ca
Professor Zhang's expertise relates to China and its governance, political economy, institutional change and influence.