Medical Resource Mobilization in Asia’s Developmental States During COVID19

Full Talk Title: Leveraging Coordination Capacity: Medical Resource Mobilization in Asia’s Developmental States During COVID-19

Speaker: Wei-Ting Yen, Assistant Research Fellow in Political Economy, Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica, Taiwan

Moderator: Qin Gao, Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Associate Dean for Doctoral Education, Director of China Center for Social Policy, Columbia School of Social Work

Wei-Ting Yen examines how South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, three developmental states, adopted distinct medical resource strategies during the early phase of COVID-19. He argues that differences in pre-crisis industrial coordination capacity shaped whether and how states prioritized test kits, masks, or vaccines. His talk draws on comparative cases and process tracing to highlight domestic production capacity as a key institutional driver of rapid crisis.

This event is part of the 2025-2026 lecture series on "COVID-19 Governance and Impacts: China from Comparative Perspectives." The series will be part of the China COVID Project, a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary research initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. It aims to spotlight new empirical and theoretical research that interrogates China’s post-COVID standing through social, economic, political, and gender-based lenses. It features scholars working on governance, public health, digital statecraft, labor, gender, and civil society responses in China and Asia. The series will foster public dialogue and contribute to documentation and analysis of the pandemic’s legacy.

This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the Columbia China Center for Social Policy and the Andrew J. Nathan Taiwan Lecture Series.

For non-Columbia affiliates, registration is required to access the Morningside campus. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street & Broadway or 116th Street & Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 4:00pm on Sept. 12 for campus access.

Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Weatherhead East Asian Institute (located at the School of International and Public Affairs), 420 West 118th Street, New York, United States