Bills, Budgets, & Brawls: Understanding Taiwan’s Legislative Crisis

About the Event

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan has long been characterized by intense partisan competition, high-stakes negotiations, and, at times, dramatic confrontations. Recent legislative crises—including controversial cuts and freezes to the operating budgets of several ministries—have highlighted the complex interplay between budgetary politics, institutional constraints, and evolving party dynamics, raising critical questions about the resilience and functionality of Taiwan’s democratic system and constitutional order. At the same time, civil society groups, open-government advocates, and civic tech communities in Taiwan have played active roles in developing participatory mechanisms and transparency tools meant to enhance public engagement and citizen oversight in legislative affairs, but face a variety of resource and outreach constraints. The current legislative dilemma may also have substantial impacts on Taiwan’s diplomatic, national security, and geoeconomic efforts during a time of critical international exposure.

To address these timely and salient topics, please join the Sigur Center for Asian Studies for a panel discussion that brings together leading experts and practitioners to analyze the roots and ramifications of Taiwan’s ongoing legislative turbulence. Scholars, students, and policymakers interested in Taiwan’s democratic development, legislative politics, and governance will find this discussion particularly valuable in assessing both the challenges and resilience of Taiwan’s governing institutions.

About the Speakers

Ipa Chiu, "Digital Civic Engagement in Taiwan's Legislative Crisis"

Ipa is co-founder of g0v.tw, a civic tech community in Taiwan starting from 2012. She is a writer and documentary director. She focuses on citizen engagement and public participation for the past 12 years, with the g0v community, which promotes online collaboration through open source culture between civil society and public sectors. She will publish her second book at the end of 2024, which is about her sociologist father and the intellectual community during Taiwan’s democratization process in the 1990s.

Wei-Ping Li

Dr. Wei-Ping Li received her Ph.D. degree from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in 2023. She is a postdoctoral researcher and is working on a project with Dr. Sarah Oates and Dr. Naeemul Hassan to investigate the disinformation narratives in ethnic media in the United States.

Li's research focuses on the transnational dissemination of false information, conspiracy theories and propaganda. She is currently working on a book that is based on her dissertation. The book will explore the impact of disinformation and conspiracy theories from Chinese and American sources on the Taiwanese media ecosystem during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular emphasis on the geopolitical context of the intensifying conflict among Taiwan, China and the United States.

Li has been a research fellow at the Taiwan Factcheck Center (TFC) since 2023, where she monitors and analyzes false information disseminated in the Chinese-language world. Her articles and analyses, published by the TFC, have been cited by international news outlets and think tanks, providing readers with information on the trends of Chinese disinformation.

Li has been admitted to the practice of law in New York state. Before pursuing an academic career in journalism, she offered consulting services on digital human rights in Asia. She was also an experienced journalist working for media outlets in Taiwan.

Li earned her LL.M. (Master of Laws) degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Soochow University (Taiwan), as well as a Master of Arts degree in journalism from National ChengChi University (Taiwan).

Thomas J. Shattuck "A Constitutional Crisis during a Time of Global Crises”

Thomas J. Shattuck is a Senior Program Manager at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. He is a 2024-25 non-resident WSD-Handa Fellow at the Pacific Forum a 2024-25 non-resident Research Fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and a 2025 fellow with Atomic Anxiety in the New Nuclear Age. His research focuses on cross-Strait relations, Taiwanese and Chinese domestic and foreign affairs, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, and the US role in the Indo-Pacific. Shattuck is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, Non-Resident Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, member of Foreign Policy for America’s NextGen Foreign Policy Initiative, and the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program, where he participated in the 2022 US-Philippines Next-Generation Leaders in Security Initiative.

About the Moderator

Richard J. Haddock

Richard J. Haddock is the Assistant Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the George Washington University, where he leads the Center’s robust Taiwan affairs programming, outreach, and curriculum development. He is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where his research focuses on U.S.-Taiwan education diplomacy and exchange. Previously, he has held positions at the GW East Asia National Resource Center, the National Democratic Institute’s Asia team, the American Institute in Taiwan’s Public Diplomacy Section, and the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Haddock is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University, focusing on digital democracy and e-governance development in the Asia-Pacific. He holds an MA in Asian Studies from the Elliott School, with a concentration on domestic politics and foreign policy of East Asia. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BA in Political Science and minors in Asian Studies and Diplomacy.

Event Agenda

12-12:30pm: Lunch

12:30pm: Opening remarks

12:35pm: Program introduction

12:40-1:30pm: Panelist presentation

1:30-2pm: Q&A

2:00pm: Event conclusion

Host or Publisher Sigur Center for Asian Studies at GW