Written and edited by Hannah Little, Intern at Taiwan AID
On the 16th and 17th of March 2026, Taiwan Alliance in International Development (Taiwan AID) attended the annual Yushan Forum, a platform for regional dialogue to promote cooperation between Taiwan and its valued international partners. Taiwan AID would like to extend its gratitude to its partner, Taiwan Asia-Exchange Foundation (TAEF) for organising the event and for extending an invitation to Taiwan AID to participate in meaningful discussion about the role of Taiwanese NGOs in the Indo-Pacific.
Alongside a packed agenda of workshops for the two-day event, Taiwan AID conversed with representatives from academia, business, technology, and the non-profit sector about the importance of the inclusion of Taiwan’s NGOs in the conversation about regional cooperation, especially around shared challenges in supply chain instability, green and smart technological innovation, and geostrategic competition. Taiwan AID foregrounded the inspirational work by its members to showcase the unique strengths of Taiwanese expertise and international aid and amplify the voice of its members at a Taiwan centred international event.
The Event
ROC President Lai Ching-Te(賴清德) gave his opening remarks to welcome the international audience to Taiwan and endorse the event as a key method of collaboration for Taiwan with the region. Day 1 of the forum focused on opportunities for economic and technological collaboration to promote green innovation and geostrategic industrial cooperation. The conversations made clear that Taiwan remains a formidable competitor and collaborator in the region, with many opportunities ahead.
Day 2 looked at regional stability and people-to-people connections through think tanks, NGOs and young people. Speakers reaffirmed the role of cultural exchange, intellectual collaboration, and value-sharing as a foundation for long-term regional trust and resilience with Taiwan at its heart.
Let’s look at the key takeaways from the event, and ask: What does this mean for Taiwan AID’s members, Taiwanese NGOs operating abroad, and the future of international development?
“Let’s not waste a good crisis”.
Global instability is on the rise, and this acutely affects international development NGOs as cooperation across borders is ever more polluted with suspicion, uncertainty, and economic disadvantage. The forum connected Taiwan to other countries facing the same challenges which are culminating in the shrinking of civic space. Funding cuts, misinformation, democratic backsliding, post-pandemic rebuilding, climate change, increased conflict and disaster events have all created a difficult environment for non-profit humanitarian organisations.
But, especially for those in the field, hearing the diagnosis over and over again does not get us any closer to the solution. The forum’s speakers highlighted how international development goes on in more strained circumstances than before, and it becomes ever more important that we play to our strengths and remain resilient. Speakers like Shihoko Goto, Director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, reminded us that most of us are still fighting for a peaceful, equitable and sustainable world and this is enough to push through tough times and imagine solutions for a better future. The Yushan Forum offered a chance to find these solutions, and as session V panellist, Zbigniew Pisarski poignantlysaid, “let’s not waste a good crisis!”
So, what have we learnt about how Taiwan can flip the narrative?
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Taiwan has a lot to teach the world.
Session VI panellist, Ben Bland, Director of the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House, pointed out that Taiwan is currently and should continue to play a teacher role. The UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee’s visit to Taiwan in 2022 saw representatives spend their time in Taiwan taking notes from experts and practitioners on cybersecurity strategies, rather than delivering a lecture to Taiwanese officials.
This reversal of traditional knowledge hierarchies highlights a crucial shift: Taiwan is no longer just a recipient of international expertise, but a provider of it. Expertise on democratic transition, economic resilience, and critical education is a competitive advantage of Taiwanese NGOs. There is a growing need to capitalise on this strength and ensure that this knowledge is actively shared, scaled, and embedded into global development practices. This relies on confidence and action from Taiwanese NGOs in sharing their work internationally.
Existing outside international organisation structures has meant Taiwanese NGOs have developed unique strategies of resilience, funding risk management, and diplomatic sensitivity in international partnerships. If the international fabric is fraying, NGOs must help hold it together, and Taiwanese NGOs are a vital part of that effort.
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Advocacy over event management
“Hope is not a strategy, but strategies that produce hope” can generate collaboration, momentum, and lasting structural change. Panellist, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chuahan, reminded us of this pragmatic approach in session VI: “Think Tank Corridor — Leveraging Shared Values to Spur Democratic Action”.
For Taiwanese NGOs, this means moving beyond hosting dialogues and into shaping them. Advocacy is not a choice, but a necessary part of each development program to ensure that information sharing can be turned into policy frameworks and international collaboration. The forum demonstrated that people are willing to listen to Taiwan, but we need to mobilise mutual respect into structures which support rather than challenge the international development environment. Pressuring power domestically and abroad based on shared values is vital for strengthening humanitarian cooperation and holding those accountable and demand better funding structures and support.
Taiwan AID’s motto “Taiwan can help”, must be actively translated into the international development space. This means demonstrating impact, building coalitions, and positioning Taiwan not just as a participant, but as a leader in values-based development. Taiwan AID is well placed to provide this leadership by coordinating voices, amplifying member expertise, and strengthening Taiwan’s global development identity.
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Civic Power: Global supply chain of knowledge
Dr. James Gomez, a panellist in Session VII “NGO Corridor-Mobilizing Civic Power to Connect Free Societies”, further emphasised that civil society plays a central role as the “heartbeat of democracy” and serves as a key barometer of democratic resilience. From the Asia Centre’s perspective, there is a need to strengthen regional networks and support civil society organisations (CSOs) as key actors in advancing accountability, cooperation, and democratic engagement across the region.
Following the forum, Taiwan AID organised an in-person meeting with Dr. Gomez to further extend the discussion. The exchange underscored that strengthening networks is essential to sustaining effective international initiatives, as well as the importance of engaging a diverse range of stakeholders. Knowledge, strategy, and advocacy should not remain siloed; rather, they must actively flow across borders, sectors, and generations.
In this sense, knowledge itself becomes part of a global supply chain, one that must be applicable, diversified, protected, and continuously renewed across different partners and sectors.
So, no matter the unstable context, resilience and growth comes by working with what you have and exploiting capacity to the fullest extent. Taiwan’s NGOs are best placed to support each other in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. While there are certainly challenges, the Yushan Forum demonstrated that there are also opportunities. Many of us still believe in the rules-based order, and in the potential for countries and international people to help one another. We must build on these partnerships and remain hopeful for their positive impact on struggling communities around the world. In shaky times of weaker official dialogue, we must keep the unofficial dialogue afloat to deliver this. Taiwan AID remains determined in this mission to coordinate efforts and support its members through an increasingly unstable world and continue proving that “Taiwan Can Help”.