It is with great pleasure that I introduce the CAPRI 2023 Annual Report. Reading through the highlights from the past year, I am proud of what our small team has already achieved through dedication and hard work. We hosted 12 events, reaching nearly 50,000 people worldwide, that brought experts and leaders together to discuss public health, innovative governance, and societal resilience. While I anticipated some interest in CAPRI as the first international think tank headquartered in Taiwan, I am encouraged by the appetite for programs and publications that promote the best the Asia Pacific has to offer, both within and outside the region.
It is with great pleasure that I introduce the CAPRI 2023 Annual Report. Reading through the highlights from the past year, I am proud of what our small team has already achieved through dedication and hard work. We hosted 12 events, reaching nearly 50,000 people worldwide, that brought experts and leaders together to discuss public health, innovative governance, and societal resilience. While I anticipated some interest in CAPRI as the first international think tank headquartered in Taiwan, I am encouraged by the appetite for programs and publications that promote the best the Asia Pacific has to offer, both within and outside the region.
Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of numerous people. What started as an idea Harry Harding and I had shared for years was given impetus by a call from Malcolm Turnbull, who also believed that the region could contribute more to global resilience. Our becoming the Asia-Pacific hub of the London-based Reform for Resilience Commission conceived by George Freeman and a founding member of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience demonstrated that the region could support a new international think tank, one focused on issues beyond security and geopolitics.
Special thanks must be offered to CAPRI’s preparatory committee members, Chien-jen Chen, Irene Chen, Stan Shih, and Daniel M. Tsai, as well as the Fubon Educational and Cultural Foundation, which incubated CAPRI in its early days. I also want to acknowledge the Cheng-Han Education Charity Trust Fund, Acer Foundation, and MediaTek, who provided the initial funds for CAPRI’s establishment in Taipei, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, which supported CAPRI’s activities for the Reform for Resilience Commission at the University of Virginia. I owe a great debt to the unfailing encouragement and wise guidance of David Lee, former SecretaryGeneral to the President.
Looking ahead, I believe that CAPRI will continue to be a leader in conducting policy-focused research in the region and offering recommendations to relevant stakeholders and the public. Its expansion to the US through CAPRI USA and the broadening of its research themes will cement its role as a leading public policy think tank, drawing on the region’s experience to make the world more resilient and innovative.
Thank you to the Board of Directors, International Advisory Council, Senior Fellows, staff, and our ever-expanding network of partners, whose support of our mission will enable CAPRI to advance its research, convening, and policy impact in 2024.
CAPRI joins thought leaders globally in dialogue on the world’s most pressing, complex challenges. In 2023, members of CAPRI spoke at 23 international conferences, and the office in Taipei received over 100 visits from think tanks, universities, governments, and private companies.
CAPRI collaborates with leading international policy institutions and global initiatives to advance its mission through interdisciplinary research and activities that reach stakeholders across sectors.
CAPRI is a founding member and the Asia-Pacific hub of the Reform for Resilience Commission (R4R). R4R brings together leaders globally across the public sector, private sector, and academia to recommend policies that can strengthen global resilience across health, the environment, and the economy.
“Vaccines and the ‘Triple Challenge’” is CAPRI’s first independent research. Drawing from R4R experts, the report analyzes the challenges in finding innovative solutions for the distribution, rollout, and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines in the Asia Pacific. The report’s findings have been promoted globally at COP26, the OECD, the G20, and UNESCAP.
The Miller Center has been a partner of CAPRI since our founding, enabling our work to reach policy and academic communities in the US. In October 2021, the Miller Center and CAPRI hosted a webinar to launch its “Vaccines and the ‘Triple Challenge’” report, bringing together 14 expert speakers from across 5 time zones to share how different regions and sectors can work together to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
CAPRI and the Miller Center continue to co-host panel discussions, speeches, and webinars covering policy challenges around the world. CAPRI contributes to the Miller Center’s Health Care Policy Initiative, the Project on Democracy and Capitalism, and other programs connecting CAPRI’s work in Asia with global audiences.
Harry Harding, Syaru Shirley Lin, Lucy Turnbull, Malcolm Turnbull, Stephen D. Mull, Margaret Foster Riley, Alicia García Herrero, and Chang-Chuan Chan at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, April 19, 2023
CAPRI is a founding member and the first regional research hub of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), whose goal is to improve global health by building more sustainable and resilient health systems. PHSSR member organizations include the London School of Economics, the WHO Foundation, the World Economic Forum, AstraZeneca, KPMG, Philips, CAPRI, and additional organizations at the regional and national levels.
CAPRI is leading research on the health systems of the Asia Pacific with its Senior Fellows, studying Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. It convened the PHSSR’s first in-person research workshop in Taipei for the research teams to present the country findings. Each report is used to engage national stakeholders across academia, the private sector, and policymaking.
CAPRI authored a summary report highlighting challenges in population aging, climate change, workforce, and technological innovation affecting health systems in the Asia Pacific. The results were presented at the 2024 Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok.
Members of the PHSSR in a panel session on “Collaborating to Build Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems” in Davos, Switzerland, May 25, 2022. From left: Emanuele Capobianco, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer, WHO Foundation; Syaru Shirley Lin, Chair, CAPRI; Frans van Houten, CEO, Philips; Leif Johansson, Chair, AstraZeneca; and Anna van Poucke, Global Head of Healthcare, KPMG International
In collaboration with the Washington-based Brookings Institution and their Democracy in Asia project, CAPRI led a public health working group of experts from Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The group analyzed how these democracies are addressing public health challenges through data acquisition and technological innovation while protecting individual liberty and personal privacy.
The resulting policy memos and CAPRI’s preface in the Democracy in Asia volume discuss how Asia-Pacific democracies have harnessed innovation, technology, and data during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also offer policy recommendations and key insights for maintaining public trust by enhancing accountability and transparency, prioritizing equity and privacy, and ensuring legal preparedness for future crises. New policies, social consensus, and adaptive institutions will be essential in helping societies be resilient in future health crises.
CAPRI collaborated with the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) on its flagship publication Strategic Asia.
With the CAPRI research team, Syaru Shirley Lin contributed a chapter titled “Taiwan: Walking the Tightrope between the United States and China,” which investigates the implications of US–China decoupling for Taiwan’s economy, especially in the semiconductor sector. She presented the chapter’s findings in policy briefings at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Division for Trade Policy and Negotiations at the US State Department.
The 2023 chapter is a follow-on to our team’s research in Strategic Asia 2020, “How Taiwan’s High-Income Trap Shapes Its Options in the U.S.-China Competition.” It analyzed Taiwan’s double bind of trying to preserve its identity against increasing Chinese pressure while integrating with the Chinese market to address the severe socioeconomic problems of Taiwan’s high-income trap. The high-income trap encompasses wage stagnation, increasing living costs, energy insecurity, and political polarization that have emerged in the world’s wealthy economies.
Established in early 2024, CAPRI USA is an independent 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization and our affiliate in the US.
CAPRI and CAPRI USA work closely on research and convening, building global networks, and promoting innovative policy solutions worldwide with insights from the Asia-Pacific region.
CAPRI convenes policymakers, scholars, and industry leaders in global and regional forums to discuss policy challenges and their most promising solutions.
Nineteen experts from twelve countries gathered in Taipei to discuss the role of think tanks in today’s world; the connections among health, economy, and environment; as well as upgrading the global supply chain of talent. Across four panel discussions, members of CAPRI’s Board of Directors, International Advisory Council, and Senior Fellows shared their insights on how the Asia Pacific can be resilient coming out of the pandemic. Malcolm Turnbull, chair of CAPRI’s International Advisory Council, and Chen Chien-Jen, Premier of Taiwan, delivered keynote speeches on how to enhance societal resilience.
Co-sponsored by the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience, Bloomberg, and CommonWealth Magazine, the forum was hosted at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Hotel, watched by over 30,000 viewers, and covered in over 50 media reports.
CAPRI’s first public forum featuring Yen and Matt Pottinger explored whether the lessons from the pandemic were being applied across all areas of public policy. As Deputy National Security Advisor, Matt Pottinger advised the White House on its COVID-19 policy as the pandemic unfolded. Yen Pottinger, a virologist, is a Technical Advisor for Laboratory Surveillance at Columbia University and former HIV Incidence Team Lead at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and she advised the US and other governments on how to fight COVID-19. They reflected on the successes and failures of the US pandemic response and ongoing efforts to understand the origin of the virus. Co-hosted with the Miller Center of Public Affairs, the forum was streamed live and widely followed by the media in Chinese and English.
Richard Bush, nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Institution and former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, spoke about the challenges Taiwan faces in balancing competing policy priorities in this forum held at the National Taiwan University College of Law.
After his remarks, an expert panel comprising Alicia García Herrero, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis; Enoch Wu, Director of Forward Alliance; and Jiunn-rong Yeh, Chair Professor at National Taiwan University College of Law, discussed Taiwan’s challenges in balancing its security, health, energy, and budgeting policies.
In an event co-sponsored and co-hosted by CAPRI along with the Miller Center, UVA Global, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy, Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull spoke in the Dome Room at the University of Virginia’s historic Rotunda on democratic resilience and effective leadership from the local to the global level.
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan opened the forum, and the discussion was moderated by Vice Provost for Global Affairs and International Advisory Council member Stephen D. Mull. Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull noted the importance of institutions like CAPRI that can advocate for the truth and serve the informed public by nourishing democracy with facts.
CAPRI Conversations is a closed-door roundtable series in which local and international speakers share insights with CAPRI’s Board of Directors, staff, and invited guests in Taipei. Since its inception, we have held 12 CAPRI Conversations with expert speakers on topics of long-term healthcare in Japan, the international media environment, political campaigns, and policy communication, as well as Taiwan’s public policy formulation and legislative practices in comparison with other Asia-Pacific countries.
In this three-part CAPRI Conversations series, legislators from each of Taiwan’s major political parties shared their experiences in formulating policies and seeking consensus amidst diverse opinions to enact policy that benefits constituents. Cynthia Wu detailed the policymaking process in the Legislative Yuan and her efforts to establish a sovereign wealth fund for Taiwan. Charles I-Hsin Chen emphasized the challenges of negotiating policy among different parties. Ching-Yi Lin shared her experiences of advocating progressive policies such as same-sex marriage and labor reform.
Taiwan People's Party
August 1, 2023
Kuomintang
August 14, 2023
Democratic Progressive Party
September 1, 2023
CAPRI engages with colleges and universities, cultivating international talent by engaging future leaders with CAPRI’s mission and work.
Internships are a core part of CAPRI’s strategy to cultivate domestic and foreign talent in Taipei. We are a proud host organization for Northeastern University, Princeton in Asia, National Taiwan University, and National Chengchi University to provide professional opportunities for students and recent graduates interested in policy research.
CAPRI strives to build a start-up culture of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship by developing talent pipelines that connect diverse professionals and students within Taiwan, the Asia Pacific, and the world.
You don’t recruit stars; you incubate stars. Whichever direction CAPRI takes, a lot will depend on the people it can hire. It is critical to bring together a diverse group of people across disciplines who would not normally meet.
CAPRI is gaining recognition locally, regionally, and globally, with growing media coverage by BBC, Bloomberg, European Business Review, The New York Times, Nikkei Asia, and Taiwan News.
Featured in media reports in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, and the US.
