1126. 37th North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association Annual Conference 2017 北美洲台灣人教授協會年會 / NATPA /08/2017/Magazines/雜誌

37th North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association Annual Conference 2017 北美洲台灣人教授協會年會

作者 NATPA

NATPA President Conference Address 2017

Dear Participants,

It is my greatest pleasure, on behalf of the North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association, to welcome you to Chicago and the 37th Annual NATPA Conference.
With more than 100 Taiwanese scholars and professionals from America and Taiwan gathering together, this conference truly embodies an unparalleled convention for the brightest Taiwanese minds in North America. I thank you all for your participation that makes this conference possible.

The conference theme this year is “Explore Taiwan’s New Opportunities and Challenge” to reflect the need for new strategies to help Taiwan to sustain the monumental victory of the 2016 election, where the pro-Taiwan party not only took back the presidential office, but also won the majority in the congress (Legislative Yuan) for the first time. While the victory has effectively stopped the erosion of Taiwan’s sovereignty and its statehood under the KMT’s administration, Taiwan’s challenge is greater than ever as China’s aggression towards Taiwan never stops and its economic and military capacities have grown to a level that equips its aggression with a real threat to the regional and global stability.

US policy makers and strategists should not overlook the gravity of the new situation in the West Pacific. The decades old notion of “constructive ambiguity” in the so-called one-China policy can no longer strangle Taiwan’s vital democracy and content China’s aggression at the same time. As the NATPA is committed to continue and extend its outreach beyond academia for a better understanding of US-Taiwan relation, the program committee has invited many well-known scholars and decision makers from different institutes in Taiwan and the US to be our keynote speakers. Many thanks go to everyone who will make presentations for this event, and we hope our effort will initiate a channel for productive dialog between Taiwanese scholars and American think tanks.

The 3rd Professor Liao Shutsung Memorial Award will be presented at our annual conference. This year, the Award will be shared by Dr. Lin, Marie (林媽利) and Mr. Chung, I-Ren (鍾逸人)for their life-long contribution to Taiwan. We are very pleased to have Dr. Lin and Mr. Chung in our conference to deliver their award speeches. Another highlight of the conference is the presentation of our Young Scholar Program. This year the YSP committee selected 26 Young Scholars to attend the conference and present their research in a variety of different fields related to Taiwan.

One of the major purposes of the NATPA conference is to bring everybody together in hoping you will cheer with old and new friends and continue to expand your network of your love for Taiwan. Most importantly for our senior members, please help our junior members and first-time attendees meet others and make them feel like home in our NATPA community. In such a way, NATPA will continue to grow and serve its purpose as it was founded almost 4 decades ago.

Finally, I hope each and every one of you will enjoy the conference and bring back good memory and fresh ideas of what we can do for Taiwan beyond the Taiwanese diaspora in North America. All the staff of NATPA and I will be looking forward to hearing from you throughout the conference.

Best wishes,

Chung-Chih Li,(李中志)

President

North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association

 

2017北美洲台灣人教授協會年會會長歡迎信

各位參加NATPA年會的貴賓:

弟中志很榮幸代表北美州台灣人教授協會,歡迎您到芝加哥參加第37屆的NATPA年會。一年一度的年會是NATPA的盛事,齊聚來自台美兩地上百人的台灣人學者專家於一堂,讓NATPA年會成為北美地區無以倫比的台灣人菁英聚會。

今年大會的主題為《開展台灣政治與國際地位的新局》,以此來反映我們對台美兩地新政府的期許,希望在亂局中把握機會,台美共同開創新局。遠望故鄉台灣,台派重新執政再度扭轉台灣併入中國的軌道,但執政以來內有保守勢力頑強抵抗,外有中國日易強大,對台灣步步進逼,台灣想自一個中國魔咒中脫困,仍然舉步維艱。在美雖有川普總統一反過去美國堅守台海政策的形式主義,開啟台北華府直接對話的創舉,不再對台灣視而不見,但自身爭議不斷,加上中國地緣政治的影響力日増,美國在西太平洋的主導權正受到嚴属的挑戰。而美國過去四十年所謂創造性模糊的台海戰略,已難繼續框限台灣蓬勃的民主社會對台灣國家地位的主張,也不足以哄騙中國併吞台灣的野心。在這充滿挑戰與變數的時刻,本屆大會希望聚海內外菁英於一堂,為台灣尋找出路。

我們安排前來演講的來賓十分難得,包括前美國駐聯合國大使John Bolton,大使在川普政府具有極大的影響力,當此台灣參與WHA橫遭中國阻饒,巴拿馬斷交的時刻,這位一向主張美國強硬外交的重要推手,必能提出一反過去華府傾中的主流觀點。我們也請來了在台灣已是家喻戶嘵的人物 Steven Yates (葉望輝),他是一位對台灣十分友善的華府策士與美國政治人物,在共和黨政府裡角色日重,有更上層樓的機會。還有Joseph Bosco,他是華府智庫資深的分析家,對美國亞太政策有獨到的見解。他們的出席除了讓我們了解美國智庫對台美關係的中心思想,更能讓這些左右美國東亞政策的策士智嚢聽到海外台灣人的聲音,這是NATPA做為海外台灣人在學界的重要團體,必須努力的工作之一。

我們也請到多位台美一流的學者專家與年輕的意見領袖前來共襄盛舉,其中包括對台灣民族主義與轉型正義有精湛研究的中研院吳叡人教授;對太陽花學運有深入的觀察與分析的台教會現任會長,林秀幸教授,將以台灣主權實踐的軌跡變化,從太陽花到李明哲事件,提出台灣對中立場的檢討;百萬小說獎的得主,陳耀昌醫師,其鉅著《島嶼DNA》,《福爾摩沙三族記》,《傀儡花》,《獅子花1875》,以小說展現台灣族群的融合;基進側翼創始人,陳奕齊先生,現為基進黨黨主席,堅定的台灣獨立推動者;林聿襌,新一代的政治參與者,曾負責小英女孩的召集、訓練,目前為行政院發言人室專門委員;Ketty Chen (陳婉宜),曾入選NATPA 2003的青年學者,目前是臺灣民主基金會副執行長;Michael Cole (寇謐將),長年替台灣發聲的知名評論員,現為Taiwan Sentinel的總編兼負責人;朱真一教授,我們NATPA備受敬重的會員,長年鑽研台灣醫學史,對學術倫理尤有用心,這次將以台灣層出不窮的學術造假與掛名案提出討論。

今年廖述宗紀念獎分由林媽利醫師與二七部隊長鍾逸人獲得。令我們興奮的是,這兩位得獎人都要前來接受此殊榮,老英雄鍾逸人先生已96歲髙齡,千里迢迢從台灣趕來,實在令我們感動萬分。兩位不辭辛苦前來受獎,發表演說,一方面讓我們興奮不已,一方面也足見廖述宗紀念獎在台灣人心目中的地位崇髙,這是NATPA全體的榮耀。青年學者計劃(YSP)的演講一向是NATPA年會的亮點,今年申請YSP的青年學者十分踴躍,人才濟濟,大會很難割捨。最後我們決定史無前例地選出了26位青年學者,為我們帶來各式的專題演講,從台灣主權與漁權的衝突、台灣禁歌的歷史、海外台灣文化的推廣、到LGBT在台灣的人權,內容廣泛,主題與台灣息息相關。這些青年學者無疑將是NATPA與台灣未來的主力,值得我們全力支持。

以北美教授協會成員散居在北美各地的現實,獨立舉辦年會是不小的挑戰。我們要特別感謝教授協會中北區分會長李香蘭教授與芝加哥台灣同鄉會長沈耀初教授,他們與芝加哥台灣人的鼎力相助,這個年會的籌備才得以展開。當然,我們的鄭麗伶博士更是籌備委員會的靈魂。要感謝的人太多,無法一一在此列出,沒有他們的付出,不會有今天大會的成果。而最要感謝的是各位的參與,沒有你們的出席,大會只是一份廣告,謝謝大家。

最後,希望大會能帶給各位愉快的回憶,也希望透過大會的研討,讓散居在北美各處的知識分子,能夠啟發更多幫助台灣獨立建國的好點子。在建國的路上,我們不孤獨,也不悲情。祝各位身體健康, 萬事如意。

李中志

敬上

北美州台灣人教授協會會長 八月五日,2017,芝加哥

Published in 08/2017

Posted in 08/2017