The Center for Taiwan Studies (CTS) is affiliated with the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Its objective is to promote Taiwan-related scholarly activities in the social sciences, humanities, and other cultural areas in an academic venue in the United States. It provides a forum for the public and a vehicle to meet the professional interests of faculty and students from a variety of disciplines by supporting collaborative programs involving visiting writers and scholars, hosting conferences, publishing Taiwan literature in English translation, and by encouraging interdisciplinary scholarship and Taiwan-related campus activities. By hosting this array of activities and bringing prominent experts to the campus, CTS will make UCSB an important institution in the field, both nationally and internationally.
As the importance of studying Taiwan and its culture on its own—rather than a minor subsidiary of China—becomes increasingly recognized, the programs planned for CTS will complement existing Chinese and Asian Studies programs offered at many universities. In promoting scholarly work and intellectual exchanges on Taiwan literature, culture, and society, these programs will also enable a better understanding of other topical issues in Asian Studies, such as the relations between China and Taiwan, the Taiwan issue in global politics, and security in the Asian-Pacific area during this century of globalization and China's ascendance in the global community.