On May 7th, Dr. Ching-ping Tang, the director of the Center for China Studies at National Chengchi University pointed out that Taiwan will inaugurate a new president this month, and the cross-strait relations might possibly be different. Since NCCU has a strong foundation of China studies, he believed that academic research here will not be influenced and changed. The Center for China Studies would keep on doing research with open minds, interpret in various viewpoints, and pay more attention to issues like “nation and community” to demonstrate Taiwan’s academic strength and characteristics.

On May 6th and 7th, the Center for China Studies and other three institutions jointly held the “International Conference on Strategizing the Rise of China: Development, Dynamics and Driving Forces” to represent recent research results of NCCU’s “Cross-Strait Relations and China Studies— Formation of Modern China and Regional Security Studies Plan,” which is a part of the “Aim for the Top University Plan.” There were five panels including “The Formation of Modern China,” “The Change of Politics and Legal System,” “Inside Challenge of Developing China,” “Inside Challenge of Developing China,” and “External Impacts on Rising China.”

Dr. Wen-hsin Yeh, the director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at University of California at Berkeley, was invited to give a keynote speech. In her speech, Yeh briefly reviewed the development of histography on China studies from the post-war period till the present, and discussed the impact of modern China on the world. As an historian, Yeh tried to think and construct modern China studies from a historical perspective. She also raised many other issues relevant to the rise of China for future discussions.

Dr. Whei-ming Chou, the director of the Humanities Research Center, took a recent international affair on a scam gang as an example to consider the possibility of interpreting issues on China historically. This affair aroused a debate whether those Taiwanese criminals overseas should be repatriated and judged in Taiwan or China. Chou thought this case was all about the consular jurisdiction. The controversy over this law question reflected the distinction between Jus sanguinis and Jus soli in the consular jurisdiction.

Mr. Chi Su, the chairman and CEO of Taipei Forum and the former Secretary-General of the National Security Council, agreed with Dr. Chou. In Su’s opinion, analyzing the development of China historically is very important. He believed that scholars in Taiwan have an advantage of predicting the future development of China over Western scholars because of their knowledge of Chinese history and the geographical location of Taiwan.

NCCU is a leading university in China studies in the world. Since the government has adjusted its policy on the “Aim for the Top University Plan,” and there will be a new government in Taiwan, scholars in this conference discussed how to enhance NCCU’s leading position and advantage under these new situations. Dr Tang said that although the change of the cross-relations is likely to happen due to the party alternation, NCCU’s China studies will not be affected.

NCCU has accumulated lots of research on China studies and will continue to play its role in this field. NCCU has planned to focus more on the issue of “nation-state and community.” By examining policies of China and their impacts on society, Taiwan could show the difference between Taiwan and China, and also let China understand how Taiwan solves social problems. In this way, China will see strength and advantage of Taiwan which might help China loosen their control over the society. Tang believed, from the angle of national security, that the more China knows about Taiwan, the safer situation Taiwan will have.

Both scholars and students actively and happily participated in this conference. Miss Tingting Xiu, an exchange student of the Department of Political Science from Shanghai, said she learned a lot from these professional speeches given by “great masters.” For example, she was impressed by Dr. Yeh’s observations on the rise of China and how China identifies itself in the world order. This conference had aroused her interest in the future development of China in the world.