On 18th March 2025, during the 8th Yushan Forum, Asia Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF) in Taipei, Taiwan.
The signatories were, for the Asia Centre, its Regional Director, Dr. James Gomez and for the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, its Chairman, Dr. Michael Hsiao Hsin-Huang.
During the MoU signing, Prof Michael Hsiao announced that the Asia Centre, in collaboration with TAEF and the Advanced Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at National Chung Hsing University are jointly planning a conference entitled “The Evolving Crisis of Democracy in Asia: Challenges and Resolutions”. The planned conference will be held at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) in Taichung, and is scheduled to take place on 28th-29th August 2025.
The agreement represents a significant step between Asia Centre and TAEF to collaborate on the Think-Tank and NGO fronts. It also reflects a shared commitment to advancing research and dialogue for democratic solutions in Asia.
Following the signing, Dr. Gomez spoke at the session entitled the Think Tank Forum—Building an NSP+ Think Tank Corridor.
During this panel Dr. Gomez made two recommendations for TAEF to consider – which involves taking a non-statist approach. First, to engage with think-tanks, Dr. Gomez recommended that TAEF engage with independent entities with diverse sources of funding which tend to be progressive in outlook and are likely to share the same democratic values. Second, he recommended engagement with NGOs that work on democracy and human rights issues as there will be once again more values alignment with Taiwan.
During the Yushan Forum, Asia Centre also circulated a Position Paper in which it pledged support for the move by Taiwan to establish an INGO Hub in the country. To that end, Asia Centre’s Dr. Gomez announced the Centre is willing to explore plans for a liaison office to assist the Taiwan government, INGOs, local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to connect to relevant networks in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the end of session 8 – “NGO Forum—Creating an NSP+ INGO Hub”, Dr. Gomez was invited up for a group photo with other NGOs representing the 2025 Yushan Initiative for INGO Cooperation.
The signing of the MoU, participation in the 8th Yushan Forum, and future collaborative activities are key examples of the Asia Centre’s engagement with Taiwan. If you are interested in partnering with the Asia Centre, please contact us at info@asiacentre.org.
