On May 20, 2024, Taiwan will inaugurate President-elect Lai Ching-te and Vice-President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim. Lai will give his much-anticipated inaugural address, laying out his vision for governing Taiwan in which he may offer a new formula for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) approach to cross-Strait relations. 

On Tuesday, May 21, 2024, join us for an online roundtable with leading experts who will dissect what the address might mean for Taiwan, China, and the United States.

Led by Lyle Morris, Senior Fellow on Foreign Policy and National Security, Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, the conversation will feature Simona Grano, Senior Fellow on Taiwan, Center for China Analysis, and Rorry Daniels, Managing Director, Asia Society Policy Institute and Senior Fellow, Center for China Analysis.

Speakers

Simona Grano is a Senior Fellow on Taiwan at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis. She is also currently a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at the University of Zurich.

Simona has held research positions and taught China Studies and Taiwan Studies at her alma mater, at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and at National Cheng'chi University in Taiwan.

Simona completed her Ph.D. in Chinese Studies at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy in 2008. She is a research fellow of the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT), in Tübingen, Germany and a research associate of SOAS, London.

Simona is the author of Environmental Governance in Taiwan: A New Generation of Activists and Stakeholders, published in 2015 by Routledge. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Civil Society, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, China Information, Asiatische Studien, Taiwan in Comparative Perspective, Orizzonte Cina. Her latest edited volume: China-U.S. Competition: Impact on Small and Middle Powers' Strategic Choices, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in December 2022.

Rorry Daniels is the Managing Director of Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), where she leads and oversees strategy and operations for ASPI's projects on security, climate change and trade throughout Asia. She is also a Senior Fellow with ASPI's Center for China Analysis. She was previously with the National Committee on American Foreign Policy where she managed the organization's Track II and research portfolio on Asia security issues, with a particular focus on cross-Taiwan Strait relations, U.S.-China relations, and the North Korean nuclear program. Her most recent research project audited the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue to evaluate its process and outcomes.

She regularly writes and provides analysis for major media outlets and newsletters on security issues in the U.S. and the Asia Pacific. She is a 2022 Mansfield-Luce scholar, a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the National Committee on North Korea, a Pacific Forum Young Leader, as well as a Korea Society Kim Koo Foundation Fellow (2015 cohort). She earned her M.S. in International Relations at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, where she focused her studies on East and South Asia. She is proficient in Mandarin and holds a B.A. in Media Studies from Emerson College.

Lyle J. Morris (Moderator) is Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy and National Security at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. Prior to joining ASPI, Lyle was a Senior Policy Analyst at the RAND Corporation leading projects on Chinese military modernization and Asia-Pacific security from 2011-2022. From 2019 to 2021, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) as the Country Director for China, advising OSD on defense relations between the Department of Defense and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and on Indo-Pacific maritime security. He received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service for his service. Before joining RAND, Lyle was the 2010–11 Next Generation Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and a research intern with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Lyle has lived and studied in Beijing, China for four years, where he studied Mandarin at the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies (IUP) at Tsinghua University and later worked at Dentsu Advertising and the China Economist Journal.

Lyle holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), earning a Certificate in East Asian Studies from Columbia's Weatherhead East Asian Institute; and a B.A. in International Business from Western Washington University.