Photo: Professor Yavor Kostadinov
On April 14, 2026, EVC Taiwan Office Head Marcin Jerzewski accepted an invitation from Ming Chuan University to deliver a lecture titled “Understanding NATO” for graduate students. The session explored NATO’s role in deterrence and defense in the North Atlantic region, as well as the evolution of its engagement with the Indo-Pacific, including Individually Tailored Partnership Programs. The lecture builds on EVC’s long-standing cooperation with Ming Chuan University, a leader in international education and the first university in Asia that received accreditation in the United States.
The lecture introduced NATO as both a political and military alliance, examining its institutional structure, core tasks, and decision-making processes. It highlighted the Alliance’s approach to collective defense under Article 5, as well as the increasing relevance of Article 4 consultations in managing emerging threats. Jerzewski gave particular attention to NATO’s three core tasks—deterrence and defense, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security—and how these are operationalized in practice. Using the case study of Operation Unified Protector in Libya, the session demonstrated how NATO approaches crises across a continuum of prevention, response, and stabilization, while also addressing the challenges of post-conflict governance and capacity-building.
The lecture further contextualized NATO’s evolving strategic outlook by examining its growing engagement with Indo-Pacific partners and the implications of systemic competition with China. Drawing on key international relations theories, including power transition theory and great-power competition frameworks, students were encouraged to critically assess how transatlantic and Indo-Pacific security dynamics are increasingly interconnected.
As the first European think tank with a permanent presence in Taiwan, the EVC Taiwan Office is committed to engaging with emerging policy professionals and young scholars to strengthen their understanding of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security linkages. Through academic outreach and institutionalized partnerships with leading universities such as National Taiwan University and Tamkang University, EVC actively contributes to talent cultivation and the development of the next generation of policy practitioners working on Taiwan–Europe relations.