A Report on a Conference That Never Was: Connections, Collaboration, and Solidarity among the Taiwan Studies Community

This essay reports on a Taiwan studies conference that did not take place in April 2020 in Europe. Recalling what has replaced this disrupted conference, this report provides a sketch of how the Taiwan studies community responded to the unprecedented challenges of the global pandemic by organising online events. It concludes by calling for comparative research where the experiences of Taiwan can be juxtaposed with underlying issues that have deepened the divide between those who have and those who have not during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also calls for solidarity among academics within and beyond the Taiwan studies community and for a more sustainable academic infrastructure constituted by universities, research institutions, funding agencies, and academics themselves.