The 2018 Yushan Forum: Asian Dialogue for Innovation and Progress (hereinafter referred to as the Yushan Forum) was successfully held on October 11-12, at the Grand Hyatt Taipei. This year's Yushan Forum invited 51 international leaders, new generation young leaders, as well as business representatives and civil society leaders from 17 countries to serve as resource speakers in the various Forum sessions. In addition, a total of 66 ambassadors and representatives from 24 Taiwan representative offices participated in the opening ceremony of the Yushan Forum. By October 10th, the number of registrants totaled to 1,313 (excluding 150 on-site registrations on October 11 and 12), and the total number of check-ins was 1,055, with a check-in rate of approximately 74%.
This year’s Yushan Forum—Working Together for Regional Prosperity—had a total of 8 sessions, 8 speeches (including a keynote speech), and two cultural performances (Mi-Ling’An and B.Dance, two popular Taiwanese performance groups).
The keynote speakers and notable talks of this year's Yushan Forum include those by H.E. President Tsai Ing-wen, Republic of China (Taiwan); Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Kailash Satyarthi (2014) and Hon. Frederik Willem de Klerk (former South African president); Mr. Keiji Furuya, Member, House of Representatives, Japan; Ms. Jane Nishida, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency; Hon. Kasit Piromya, former Thai Foreign Minister; Hon. Atul Keshap, former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, and Vice Chancellor, National Defense University, USA; and Ms. Bonnie Glaser, Senior Advisor for Asia, Director of the China Power Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C.
The four sessions on the first day of the Forum were "Nourishing the Future: Cultivating Young Talents for Regional Development," "Facilitating Public Health Collaboration: Reforming Regional Health Care through Investment, Innovation and Integration," "Activating Regional Agriculture – From Technical to Institutional: Activating Comprehensive Cooperation on Agriculture,” “Reinforcing Industrial Innovation: Reinforcing Capability for Innovation to Stimulate Industrial Connectivity,” which aptly respond to the policy objectives and implementation results of the four flagship programs of the New Southbound Policy.
The Forum’s second day emphasized on the dialogue between Taiwan and its Asian partners, particularly on "Civil Society Cooperation: Implementing SDGs through Transnational Civil Society Connectivity," "Think Tank Collaboration: Establishing a Regional Architecture for Non-traditional Security in Asia," "Young Leaders: Let’s Rock for a Common Future!" and "Cultural Coprosperity: Borderless Cultures, Reaching towards Cultural Foundations for Regional Prosperity."