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The Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region at the Hoover Institution held The International Dimensions of China’s Lawfare against Taiwan on Friday, November 14, 2025 from 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. PT in the Herbert Hoover Memorial Building, Room 160.
For several years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has ramped up its pressure on international organizations and on third countries to endorse its preferred position on the legal status of Taiwan. This campaign has born fruit for Beijing: it has made significant gains in the number of countries now signing joint statements that accept the “one China principle” – that there is only one China, that Taiwan is part of China, and that the legal representative of China is the PRC with its capital in Beijing and led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These shifts in policy have been made possible in part by the PRC’s growing economic and diplomatic clout in the world, and by its increased willingness to make the one-China principle a precondition for bilateral cooperation on other issues.
To explore this issue further, this symposium brought together several experts on the topic of People’s Republic of China (PRC) coercion against Taiwan, including its efforts to deepen Taiwan’s international isolation, bolster the claim that cross-Strait relations are China’s “internal affairs,” and build international legal justifications to legitimate further coercion and potentially the use of military force against Taiwan.
For several years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has ramped up its pressure on international organizations and on third countries to endorse its preferred position on the legal status of Taiwan. This campaign has born fruit for Beijing: it has made significant gains in the number of countries now signing joint statements that accept the “one China principle” – that there is only one China, that Taiwan is part of China, and that the legal representative of China is the PRC with its capital in Beijing and led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These shifts in policy have been made possible in part by the PRC’s growing economic and diplomatic clout in the world, and by its increased willingness to make the one-China principle a precondition for bilateral cooperation on other issues.
To explore this issue further, this symposium brought together several experts on the topic of People’s Republic of China (PRC) coercion against Taiwan, including its efforts to deepen Taiwan’s international isolation, bolster the claim that cross-Strait relations are China’s “internal affairs,” and build international legal justifications to legitimate further coercion and potentially the use of military force against Taiwan.
About the Speakers
Ja Ian Chong is an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore and a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China, Carnegie’s East Asia-based research center on contemporary China, where he examines U.S.-China dynamics in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific. He received his PhD from Princeton University in 2008 and previously taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research covers the intersection of international and domestic politics, with a focus on the externalities of major power competition, nationalism, regional order, security, contentious politics, and state formation. He also works on U.S.-China relations, security and order in Northeast and Southeast Asia, cross-strait relations, and Taiwan’s politics.
Elisa Zhai Autry is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where she contributes to the Human Security Project, advancing security, liberty, and prosperity in authoritarian countries. Previously, Dr. Autry served as principal policy advisor on Global China and East Asia and Pacific Affairs in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State. As the bureau’s China expert and chief liaison for diplomatic affairs involving China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, she played a key role in shaping public diplomacy strategies and advancing US foreign policy objectives worldwide.
Glenn Tiffert is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs Hoover’s program on the US, China, and the World, and also leads Stanford’s participation in the National Science Foundation’s SECURE program, a $67 million effort authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to enhance the security and integrity of the US research enterprise.
Ja Ian Chong is an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore and a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China, Carnegie’s East Asia-based research center on contemporary China, where he examines U.S.-China dynamics in Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific. He received his PhD from Princeton University in 2008 and previously taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research covers the intersection of international and domestic politics, with a focus on the externalities of major power competition, nationalism, regional order, security, contentious politics, and state formation. He also works on U.S.-China relations, security and order in Northeast and Southeast Asia, cross-strait relations, and Taiwan’s politics.
Elisa Zhai Autry is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where she contributes to the Human Security Project, advancing security, liberty, and prosperity in authoritarian countries. Previously, Dr. Autry served as principal policy advisor on Global China and East Asia and Pacific Affairs in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State. As the bureau’s China expert and chief liaison for diplomatic affairs involving China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, she played a key role in shaping public diplomacy strategies and advancing US foreign policy objectives worldwide.
Glenn Tiffert is a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a historian of modern China. He co-chairs Hoover’s program on the US, China, and the World, and also leads Stanford’s participation in the National Science Foundation’s SECURE program, a $67 million effort authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to enhance the security and integrity of the US research enterprise.
First of all, I would like to thank you for your research and efforts regarding Taiwan’s security.
Over the past two or three years, based on my observation, it seems that as long as the KMT continues to rely on China, they believe that after 2028, Taiwan’s sovereignty will no longer substantially exist. Because of that, whether Taiwan has national defense or not does not seem important to them.
In 2025, the KMT avoided the large-scale recall vote held across Taiwan by distributing NT$10,000 to the public. After that, they have refused to review national budgets that would genuinely benefit Taiwan and that are also part of their responsibility, including budgets to strengthen Taiwan’s national defense, and even special defense budgets that could help deter a certain country from launching a military attack on Taiwan. This also demonstrates their intention.
In fact, solving this problem is very simple. It is only because of election-related concerns and issues of Taiwan’s judicial jurisdiction that the ruling authorities are unable to carry it out.
If the relevant authorities in your country were to conduct green card reviews or reviews of U.S. bank accounts belonging to KMT members and their family members, and thereby affect the use of their credit cards, Taiwan’s judicial authorities would also have a basis to take related actions because of your country’s investigation. I believe the KMT would quickly change course, and the effect would be more effective and faster than the voices of your country’s members of Congress.
Such action would be lawful and beneficial to the safety of Taiwan’s 23 million people, as well as to all U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region.
A suggestion from a citizen of Taiwan