Moderated by:
Nicola Smith – Asia correspondent for the Telegraph. Nicola has been based in Taipei for five years covering major political and social developments in East and Southeast Asia, from global tensions over North Korea to the Hong Kong protests, the Myanmar crisis and cross-Strait relations. Previously, she was posted in New Delhi for the Sunday Times for six years, focusing on India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On the panel:
Bonnie Glaser – Director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Bonnie was previously senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Bonnie is concomitantly a non-resident fellow with the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, and a senior associate with the Pacific Forum. For more than three decades, Bonnie has worked at the intersection of Asia-Pacific geopolitics and U.S. policy.
Brian Hioe – Co-founding editor of New Bloom, an online magazine covering activism and youth politics that was founded in Taiwan in 2014 in the wake of the Sunflower Movement. Brian is a freelance journalist, as well as a translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018.
Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao – Adjunct Research Fellow of Institute of Sociology, in Academia Sinica and Chair Professor of Hakka Studies, National Central University. Michael is also the chairman of both Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF) and the Executive Committee of Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), National Cheng-Chi University. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the President of Taiwan since 2016. His areas of specialization include: middle class, civil society and democratization in Asia; environmental movements, sustainability and risk society; and comparative Hakka studies in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Chen-wei Lin – Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. Chen-wei has a rich background in government and Japan affairs. He served as a senior advisor in the National Security Council, R.O.C., under two administrations and was a core member of Taiwan’s representative office in Japan. He has taught as a professor at Hokkaido University Public Policy School and Tokoha University. Dr Lin received his PhD from The University of Tokyo and is fluent in Mandarin, English and Japanese.
Heino Klinck – Senior Advisor to the National Bureau of Asian Research. Heino is a global strategist, business executive, retired U.S. Army Colonel, former diplomat, and international defence policy expert. His experience includes leading global strategy efforts in a Fortune 100 company; senior political-military roles in the Pentagon; analytical and operational responsibilities in the intelligence community; multiple diplomatic postings in Europe and Asia; and providing strategic counsel through his independent consulting company, Klinck Global LLC. Heino is also a Consultant to the Institute for Defense Analyses, and an Advisor to the Korea Chapter, Foreign Area Officer Association.