Columbia University to raise funds for Taiwan studies centre

Columbia University in the United States is raising money to establish a Taiwan Studies Center by 2028, which would be the first of its kind at an Ivy League university, representatives from the school in New York said at an event in Taipei on Saturday 22 March, write Yang Mien-chieh and Jonathan Chin for the Taipei Times.

Speaking at a Columbia Alumni Association of Taiwan meeting at the Regent Taipei, Taiwan’s Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim hailed the potential founding of the centre as a step towards furthering the cause of democracy and learning. Hsiao said she was a student at the university in 1996, when Taiwan held its first presidential election by popular vote, a pivotal moment in the nation’s history. She said the university’s commitment to learning and the value of freedom taught her the courage, self-confidence and fervent belief in the unity of action – knowledge that she would later rely on in public service.

Hsiao had studied under Columbia University political science professor Andrew Nathan, who is spearheading the effort to found the Taiwan studies centre, she said. Nathan (88) said he hoped the establishment of the centre would foster an independent perspective in the study of Taiwan separate from the framework of China studies.
Full report on the Taipei Times site