Speaker: Wu Jieh-min, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan; Co-founder, Center for Contemporary China, National Tsing Hua University

Moderator: Ya-Wen Lei,  Professor, Department of Sociology, Harvard University

The “Silicon Shield” is often treated as a Taiwan-centered, overly-fixed concept that emphasizes Taiwan’s technological indispensability as a rationale for its defense. This talk challenges that view by situating Taiwan within the deep and highly interdependent global semiconductor supply chain. It argues that Taiwan’s future industrial development depends on deeper integration with democratic partners—an approach through which Taiwan can contribute to the rebuilding of U.S. high-tech manufacturing while also strengthening its own global economic position.

Wu Jieh-min is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and a co-founder of the Center for Contemporary China at National Tsing Hua University. His research focuses on geopolitics, democratization, and development, with particular attention to Taiwan–China relations, Hong Kong–China relations, and the global political economy. He is the author of Rival Partners: How Taiwanese Entrepreneurs and Guangdong Officials Forged the China Development Model (Harvard University Asia Center, 2022), which received the 2023 ASA Global and Transnational Sociology Best Publication Award by an International Scholar. He is currently working on a book project titled Global Taiwan.

Google Meet Link: https://meet.google.com/puv-bqok-zwt