The Third Annual Forum | Building Resilience on Shaky Ground in the Asia Pacific
The previous foundations of international trade, environmental sustainability, and the global order are giving way to a complex new reality. How are Asia-Pacific stakeholders working within this environment to build healthy communities, promote the green transition, and contribute to innovation and economic growth?
The Third Annual Forum was full of timely conversations on resilience in the the Asia Pacific amid an increasingly unsteady geopolitical landscape. With a keynote by Sir Robin Niblett and panelists including policymakers from Taiwan, business leaders from Asia, and scholars and other experts from across the globe, the forum explored challenges and regional responses to rising geopolitical tensions, climate and health vulnerabilities, and economic uncertainty, as well as Taiwan’s growing role in global education and exchange.
Keynote Speaker
Sir Robin Niblett
Distinguished Fellow and former Director and Chief Executive, Chatham House (2007–2022)
Author of The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century
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Robin Niblett is a Distinguished Fellow with Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London, where he was the Director and Chief Executive for 15 years (2007–2022).
He is also Distinguished Fellow with the Asia Society Policy Institute and Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, where he served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (2001–2006), overseeing all research and operations.
A leading expert on the relations between Europe, the US, and Asia, he is the author of The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century (Atlantic Books, 2024).
Alongside his policy work, Robin is the Director of Ledwell Advisory, offering insights into geopolitical trends and their implications for risk management by private institutions across the world. He serves on the International Advisory Board of Brown Advisory, the US investment firm, and was Senior Adviser for geopolitics and international affairs with Hakluyt, the London-based strategic advisory firm, from 2022 through 2024. From 2010 to 2020, he was a Non-Executive Director of Fidelity European Values Investment Trust.
Currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Geopolitics and its Co-Chair (2020–2022), Robin has served as Chair and member of other WEF Councils since 2012. He was a member of the UK FCDO’s Expert Group (2019–2022), Special Adviser to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (2015–2017), and Chairman of the Experts Group for the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales. While at CSIS, he also directed the CSIS Europe Programme and its Initiative for a Renewed Transatlantic Partnership.
The author of numerous Chatham House and CSIS reports on European, British, and US foreign policy, his commentary and analysis have appeared in the world’s leading journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Times, and The Guardian. He is a regular commentator on Bloomberg and CNN International and a speaker at major international conferences; he has testified to committees of the House of Commons and US Congress.
Robin was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022 Birthday Honours for services to international relations and British foreign policy, and CMG in the 2015 New Year’s Honours.
He received his MPhil and DPhil in International Relations from New College, Oxford.
Date
May 12, 2025
Location
Taipei, Taiwan
Event Recap
Opening Keynote
How the Asia Pacific Can Navigate a New Cold War Between the US and China
Sir Robin Niblett, Distinguished Fellow and former Director and Chief Executive, Chatham House (2007–2022); author of The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century
Public Problems, Private Solutions: How Asia’s Private Sector Can Respond to Uncertainty
Daniel Tsai, Member of the International Advisory Council, CAPRI; Chairman, Fubon Group
Lim Boon Heng, Member of the International Advisory Council, CAPRI; Chairman, Temasek Holdings, Pte. Ltd.
Takeshi Niinami, Member of the International Advisory Council, CAPRI; Chairman & CEO, Suntory Holdings Limited
Moderated by Janet Pau, Executive Director, Asia Business Council
Partnerships for the Pacific: Navigating Climate and Health Across the Blue Continent
Introduction by Lin Ching-Yi, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare, Republic of China (Taiwan); Former Coordinator, Taiwan Medical Mission in Tuvalu
Sir Collin Tukuitonga, Senior Fellow, CAPRI; Co-Director, Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa – Centre for Pacific and Global Health, University of Auckland
Li’amanaia Roannie Ng Shiu, Co-Director, Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa – Centre for Pacific and Global Health, University of Auckland
Emi Chutaro, Executive Director, Pacific Islands Health Officers Association
Moderated by Silva Shih, Managing Editor, CommonWealth Magazine
Trump, Trade, and Tariffs: Protecting Economic Resilience in an Era of Disruption
Kathy Matsui, General Partner, MPower Partners; Former Policy Commentator, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (2015–2020)
Mara Rudman, Practitioner Senior Fellow, CAPRI; James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia; Former Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs to Presidents Obama and Clinton
Alicia García Herrero, Member of the Board, CAPRI; Chief Economist for Asia Pacific, Natixis; Senior Fellow, Bruegel
Moderated by Enoch Wu, Founder, Forward Alliance
Research, Collaboration, and International Exchange: Preserving Innovation and Nurturing Global Talent Amid Radical Decoupling
Introduction by Chen Ming-Chi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan); Former Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council, Republic of China (Taiwan)
Wei Shyy, Member of the International Advisory Council, CAPRI; Academician, Academia Sinica; Former President, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Harry Harding, Member of the Board, CAPRI; Yushan Scholar, National Chengchi University; Founding Dean of the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia
Randall Nadeau, Executive Director, Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan)
Moderated by Rachel Bernstein, Fulbright Fellow
Concluding Thoughts
Sunjoy Joshi, Vice Chair of the International Advisory Council, CAPRI; Chairman, Observer Research Foundation
