I spent three months in the spring of 2025 based at National Taiwan University’s Centre for China Studies, examining the question of Taiwan as a springboard for learning about the Sinosphere, by which I refer to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China). I concluded that Taiwan can serve as a valuable platform for those pursuing China competencies and Asian Studies, as well as international relations and global affairs more broadly. Tapping into Taiwan’s expertise can provide insights on the Sinosphere, cross-Strait relations, and regional issues in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
In addition, Taiwan’s development over the past 30 years provides additional reasons to explore Taiwan in its own right: Taiwan’s economic dynamism and technological prowess, its democratic evolution and its embrace of progressive social values.
Living in China and Taiwan and understanding the perspectives of people in the Chinese-speaking world can be transformative and provide a foundation for careers in the public, private and non-profit sectors as well as academia.
What prompted this research?
Canada has a sustained need for people with China competencies, who understand the Sinosphere from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and who are familiar with Asian regional perspectives on China and Taiwan.
Given the rise in geopolitical competition and the state of Canada-China relations, some Canadians are wary of going to the People’s Republic of China for academic purposes, to study or conduct research.
In this context, Taiwan provides a valuable springboard for learning about the Sinosphere, without the political or security considerations related to the PRC.
Of course, there are limitations to the views of China specialists in Taiwan. This calls for critical thinking regarding potential bias, and the ability to assess whether the conclusions drawn are substantiated by the evidence provided.
Taiwan held some surprises
One of the things that surprised me was the extent of continued academic engagement between China specialists in Taiwan and their counterparts in mainland China.
Of course, the degree of academic collaboration and exchange between faculty, students and researchers on either side of the Taiwan Strait has decreased dramatically since the highpoint over a decade ago, but this engagement is still significant and certainly more extensive than Canada-PRC academic collaboration has been since before the downturn in our bilateral relations. Thus, there is much for Canadians to learn from informed China-watchers in Taiwan about their observations of China’s economic, political and social developments.
Another thing that surprised me about Taiwan was the number and range of courses taught in English at Taiwan universities. There are several reasons for this, including Taiwan’s push for bilingual education in Mandarin and English, and its interest in attracting international students and ultimately skilled workers to sustain Taiwan’s economic growth. The upshot is that for those who are not fluent in Chinese, there are many courses available in English and indeed entire degrees taught in English at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Why does this matter?
Direct access to experts in the PRC by international researchers, analysts, journalists and diplomats is shrinking, due to ideological constraints in China discouraging this kind of interaction.
As a result, there is growing recognition of the value of the China expertise available in Taiwan. For Canadians and other international China watchers, tapping into this expertise can provide insights and perspectives which are hard to find outside the Sinosphere.
As a senior political scientist in Taiwan put it, “We should not let the spectre of demonization of China prevent us from understanding what is actually going on in China.”
That spectre of demonization casts a long shadow, including in Canada.
Regardless of how one feels about the direction and policies of the People’s Republic of China, Canada needs people who have a sound understanding of what is actually going on in China.
Engaging with China specialists in Taiwan can help shed light on this question, as detailed in my report.
Postscript:
When I gave a talk on this research at University of Ottawa on November 19, 2025 hosted by the Centre for International Policy Studies and the Research Chair in Taiwan Studies, I was impressed by the turn out and the fact that both graduate and undergraduate students were giving serious thought to undertaking exchanges or graduate research in Taiwan. This is in part because University of Ottawa is one of three universities in Canada with a Taiwan Studies Program, and several faculty members have significant research interests in Taiwan, such as Prof. André Laliberté and Prof. Scott Simon; Prof. Pascale Massot and I were in Taipei at the same time thanks to overlapping Taiwan Fellowships. I was encouraged by the students’ enthusiasm for learning about the Sinosphere and Asian perspectives, and by their professors’ cultivation of this enthusiasm.
Julia G. Bentley is a former Canadian diplomat whose work has focused chiefly on Asia. She served as a diplomat in China, Taiwan, India and Malaysia, where she was High Commissioner. She held successive executive positions in Ottawa responsible for Northeast Asia and for South Asia. She retired in 2024 and is now affiliated with the Munk School at University of Toronto, the York Centre for Asian Research, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and National Taiwan University’s Centre for China Studies.. In spring 2025 she was awarded a Taiwan Fellowship to conduct three months of field research there. Her research was supported by this Fellowship from Taiwan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a grant from York University’s China Insights Fund. The views presented here are her own.
