ECCT Special Lunch

The new global economic order and the future Taiwan-Europe partnership

Guest speaker
Dr. Roy Lee (Chun), Senior Deputy Executive Director, Taiwan WTO & RTA Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) 中華經研究院WTO及RTA中心 李淳資深副執行長

Date: Wednesday, 7 September 2022
Time: 12:00-14:00
Venue: The Residence, 2F, Grand Hyatt Hotel / 台北君悅酒店2樓, 凱寓
Address: No. 2, Songshou Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City /台北市信義區松壽路2號

The premediated and unprovoked attack by Russian forces on Ukraine has shocked the world and prompted a global response unmatched in scope and severity since World War II. The invasion of a sovereign, independent state has drawn almost universal condemnation and led to a strengthening of unity among EU Member States, countries in the NATO alliance and democracies outside of it. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said we are now living in a new reality that will have far-reaching implications for the world.

For its part, the European Union has stepped up its efforts to support Ukraine. The EU has imposed crippling sanctions on Russian and Belarussian leaders and oligarchs, shut down European airspace to Russian planes and blocked state-backed Russian media in Europe. And, for the first time in its history, the European Union is financing the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to counter the attack on Ukraine. In addition, the EU is providing significant funding and humanitarian assistance for people inside Ukraine and refugees fleeing the country.

Given ongoing tensions between the West and China, Europe and the US are working to improve their economic relations both with each other and with their other trading partners. Taiwan and the EU recently agreed to collaborate on enhancing semiconductor supply chain resilience by boosting bilateral trade and investment, and deepening research-and-development efforts following ministerial-level talks between Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and the EU’s Director-General for Trade, Sabine Weyand. Meanwhile, although Taiwan was not included in the newly-launched US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) agreement, the US is moving ahead with solidifying ties with Taiwan through the framework of the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-century Trade. These efforts demonstrate Taiwan’s growing level of importance to its biggest trading partners outside Asia. At this event, our guest speaker will talk about how the Taiwan-Europe economic partnership is likely to evolve in the new economic order.   

Among other topics in his presentation, our guest speaker will cover the following:

• The Global Supply Chain (GSC) and Taiwan’s participation: Over the last four decades, Taiwan’s participation has evolved from labour-intensive assembling to electronic contract manufacturing (ECM), with a unique Cross-Strait network.
• The GSC reform agenda and challenges: This will include the pressures coming from the US-China economic rivalry, the Covid-19 pandemic, and great powers’ strategic competition, structural uncertainties and challenges, such as the emergence of “economic security” and “strategic autonomy” policies, the departure of the GSC from economic rationales, and the risk of decoupling.
• Taiwan’s response so far: Production in China has been scaled back rapidly in recent years, especially of ICT products. Diversification efforts started with expansion of production capacities in Taiwan, with new investments in ASEAN and beyond. What are the implications?
• The outlook for a next generation Taiwan-EU partnership: Areas of priorities for mutual benefits, (lack of) new institutions for better policy coordination and others.

About the speaker

Dr Roy Lee (李淳) is currently the Senior Deputy Executive Director of the Taiwan WTO and RTA Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER). He was a member of the Advisory Committee of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council from 2018 to 2020. He specialises in trade liberalisation policy, WTO, services trade, Non-Tariff Measures (TBT and SPS) and regional integration. He is a policy advisor for Taiwan’s trade policy and negotiations and has served as a capital-based expert for WTO and APEC meetings since 2012.  In other capacities, Dr Lee is a frequent column writer on liberalisation policy for major newspapers in Taiwan, and currently serves as an independent director of the board of Fubon Financial Holding. Before joining CIER in 2006, Dr Lee worked as a regulatory expert project consultant for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the ASEAN–Australia Development Cooperation Program (AADCP). Dr Lee received his PhD in Public Policy from the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University.

Cost: NT$1,600 for members and NT$2,200 for members' guest(s)

Please note that participation may be limited based on Covid-19 restrictions at the time of the event.

To cancel without penalty, written cancellations must be received 24 hours prior to the event.