By Maria Wilkinson

This article introduces a highly esteemed professor from the Department of International Doctoral Program in Asia-Pacific Studies, Professor Harry Harding.

How can we fit Professor Harry Harding into a headline? Someone quick to identify Harding may start with “Harry Harding is a Chinese specialist”, similar to the title of this article. However, this title is somewhat limiting. A more rounded title may be “Harry Harding is a generalist and a world specialist”. Not only a distinguished professor and a Yushan fellow, Harding is also an architecture enthusiast and history buff.

Professor Harding came to National Chengchi University (NCCU), International Doctoral Program in Asia-Pacific Studies (IDAS) in 2018 first as a visiting professor. He was then appointed a Yushan Scholar by the Ministry of Education, the highest honor awarded by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. To be considered for this prestigious appointment Harding had worked as the Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution from 1983 to 1994.

▲Prof. Harding / photo credit to Prof.Harding

Harding is a graduate of Princeton in public and international affairs and holds a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. In addition to his time at the Brookings Institution, Harding was the Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He later became the founding dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia (UVA).

It was after retiring from UVA that Harding moved back to Taiwan to teach, following his wife Shirley Lin to her native home. Lin and Harding teach courses at NCCU, sometimes attending each other’s classes, though Lin is typically occupied with chairing her organization, Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI). Harding is on the board of directors of CAPRI. CAPRI conducts comparative public policy research focused on the Asia-Pacific region to put forward ideas of resilient and innovative governance. CAPRI hosts conferences periodically in Taipei open to students studying in Taiwan. There are also internship opportunities open to NCCU students. Find out more at: https://caprifoundation.org/capri-internship-program/.

▲Prof. Harding and Prof. Lin/ photo credit to Prof.Harding

As a professor in the department of IDAS, Harding has built his career built around his specialty on China. His book “A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China since 1972” was one of the first comprehensive books detailing the Sino-US relationship after 1972 when President Nixon took his historic trip to China. Deciding to study China was not a popular path for political science students at the time Harding was choosing his research. The focus of his generation was not on a growing presence from China, but rather the Vietnam War dominated the influence on his generation.

It was a series of influences from professors both at Stanford and Princeton that guided Professor Harding to turn towards studying Asia. At first, Harding thought his interest in Asia was purely scholarly research, but later he found that policy research and designing academic programs aligned with his deeper passion for organizing.

One project that Harding wanted to take on when he came to NCCU was creating a partnership between UVA and NCCU, which promotes the exchange of students from both universities. For students at UVA that are interested in learning Mandarin, but not interested in attending a course in China, NCCU is a positive alternative. For NCCU students, an exchange program or pursuing a higher degree in the United States is a chance to learn in another environment, one that many Taiwanese students at NCCU spend a lot of time to understand.

Professor Harding teaches Individual Research and The Taiwan Issue in US-China Relations at NCCU. This semester (Spring 2023), Harding has begun to teach US-China Relations: the Failure of the American Engagement Policy toward China. Currently, Professor Harding is working on his latest publication that analyzes the failure of this engagement policy. His working title is “A Broken Engagement”.

It is without a doubt that Harding has had a successful and distinguished career. Harding has briefed a number of US Presidents on China, he has been invited to Camp David for informal discussions, and he has served on a number of educational and non-profit boards including the Asia Foundation and the Program for International Studies in Asia. Professor Harding provides his extensive knowledge through years of experience to students at NCCU and it is of great honor to have him on our campus.