John F. Copper is the Stanley J. Buckman Distinguished Professor of International Studies (emeritus) at 糖心Vlog College in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Copper is the author of more than 40 books on Asia and international affairs. In addition, he has written several monographs, edited one book, co-edited one book, and cotranslated two books. He has also contributed to more than 40 books and has published over 100 policy papers in academic journals and magazines. A number of his public addresses have been published.
Professor Copper has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Sub-Committee on Asia and Pacific Affairs. Dr. Copper was a member of the Board of Governors of the East West Center (an appointment made by the White House and the Secretary of State) from 1983 to 1989. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Chinese Studies and is currently a member of the editorial board of the journal Asian Affairs.
Professor Copper is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Men of Achievement, Contemporary Authors, Annual Guide to Public Policy Experts, and Who’s Who in Asian Studies. In 1997 Dr. Copper was the recipient of the International Communications Award. Professor Copper has spent more than 15 years in Asia teaching and doing research.
Chinese Translation
康培庄
康培庄先生是田纳西州孟菲斯罗得学院国际关系专业的斯坦利 J. 巴克曼荣誉教授。
康教授曾着有四十本多对于亚洲和国际关系的书籍，并曾发表专稿，编辑、合作编辑、合作翻译诸多书籍。 他也曾与学术日报、杂志合作编制四十多本书籍并发表了超过一百多篇论文。他的许多演讲也被发表。
康教授曾多次在参议院外交关系委员会，众议院外交关系委员会及其附属亚洲与太平洋事物委员会参与作证。
在1983到1989年间，康教授还被白宫及国务卿任命为东西文化中心的理事会成员。现今，他是美国中国研究学会的董事会以及亚洲事物日报编辑委员会成员。
康教授被列入世界名人录，美国名人录，成功男士，当代作家， 公共政策专家年册，以及亚洲研究名人录。
1997年，康教授被授予国际交流奖。
在过去的十五多年里，康教授潜心致力于亚洲关系的教学和研究。
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
John F. Copper—Books Authored (in reverse chronological order)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China) fifth edition (Roman Littlefield, 2025)
Taiwan’s Presidents: Profiles of the Majestic Six (Routledge, 2025)
Taiwan’s Politics in Action: Struggling to Win at the Ballot Box (Singapore: ?World Scientific, 2021)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (7th edition) (London: Routledge, 2020)
Taiwan at a Tipping Point: The Democratic Progressive Party's Return to Power (2017)
China’s Foreign Aid and Investment Diplomacy, Volume I: Nature, Scope and Origins (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
China’s Foreign Aid and Investment Diplomacy, Volume II: History and Practice in Asia, 1950-Present (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
China’s Foreign Aid and Investment Diplomacy, Volume III: Challenges to the United States and the World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China) 4th edition (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015)
The KMT Returns to Power: Elections in Taiwan 2008 to 2012 (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province (6th edition ) (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2013)
Complete List of Books: (in reverse chronological order)
Taiwan’s Presidents: Profiles of the Majestic Six (Routledge, 2025)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China) fifth edition (Roman Littlefield, 2025)
Taiwan Politics in Action: Struggling to Win at the Ballot Box (Singapore: World Scientific, 2021)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (7th edition) (London: Routledge, 2020)
Donald J. Trump and China (Lanham, MD: Hamilton Press, 2019)
Taiwan at a Tipping Point: The Democratic Progressive Party’s Return to Power (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018)
Missiles, Politicians and Secret Diplomacy (Taipei: Yuanzu Publisher, 2017) – in Chinese
China’s Foreign Aid and Investment Diplomacy, Volume I: Nature, Scope and Origins (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
China’s Foreign Aid and Investment Diplomacy, Volume II: History and Practice in Asia, 1950-Present (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
China’s Foreign Aid and Investment Diplomacy, Volume III: Challenges to the United States and the World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China) 4th edition (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015)
The KMT Returns to Power: Elections in Taiwan 2008 to 2012 (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (6th edition) (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2013)
Taiwan’s Democracy on Trial: Political Change During the Chen Shui-bian Era and Beyond (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2010)
The A to Z of Taiwan (Republic of China) (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (Fifth edition) (Boulder: Westview Press, 2009)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Third edition) (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007)
Playing with Fire: The Looming War with China over Taiwan (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006)
Consolidating Taiwan’s Democracy (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (Fourth edition) (Boulder: Westview Press, 2003)
Taiwan in troubled Times: Essays on the Chen Shui-bian Presidency (Singapore: World Scientific, 2002)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Second edition) (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province (Third edition) (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999)
As Taiwan Approaches the New Millennium: Essays on Politics and Foreign Affairs (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999)
Taiwan’s Mid-1990s Elections: Taking the Final Step to Democracy (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998)
Coping with a Bad Global Image: Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China, 1993-94 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America)
The Taiwan Political Miracle: Essays on Political Development, Elections and Foreign Relations (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1997)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (Second edition) (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996)
Words Across the Taiwan Strait: A Critique of Beijing’s White Paper on China’s Unification (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1995)
Bamboo Gulag: Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China, 1991-92 (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law, 1994)
Taiwan’s 1991 and 1992 Non-Supplemental Elections: Reaching a Higher State of Democracy (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994)
Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1993)
Tiananmen Aftermath: Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law, 1992)
China Diplomacy: The Washington, Taipei, Beijing Triangle (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991)
Failure of Democracy Movement: Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China, 1988/89 (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of law, 1991)
Taiwan’s Recent Elections: Realizing the Democratic Promise (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law, 1990)
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990)
One Step Forward, One Step Back: Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China, 1987/88 (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law, 1989)
A Silent Revolution: Political Development in Taiwan (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988)
Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China (Boulder: Westview Press, 1988)
Reform in Reverse: Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China, 1986/1987 (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law, 1987)
Human Rights in Post-Mao China (Boulder: Westview Press, 1985)
Taiwan’s Elections: Political Development and Democratization in the Republic of China (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law, 1984)
China’s Global Role (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1980)
A Matter of Two Chinas: The China-Taiwan Issue in U.S. Foreign Policy (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute, 1979)
China’s Foreign Aid: An Instrument of Peking’s Foreign Policy (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Co., 1976)
Notes:
China’s Global Role won the Clarence Day Foundation Award for Outstanding Research and Creativity in 1981.
Taiwan: Nation-State of Province? (Fourth edition); The KMT Returns to Power; As Taiwan Approaches the New Millennium; Taiwan: Nation-State or Province? (Second edition); Taiwan’s 1991 and 1992 Non-Supplemental Elections; Taiwan: Nation-State or Province?; A Silent Revolution; and Taiwan’s Elections were all printed in both hardcover and soft cover.
Human Rights in Post-Mao China has a Chinese-language edition.
Taiwan: Nation-State or Province?; Human Rights in Post-Mao China; China’s Global Role; and China’s Foreign Aid all sold out in first printing and went into second printing.
Books #7, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18 & 21 were jointly authored.
Journal Articles
2025
“Taiwan: President Lai’s Trials and Tribulations,” China Brief, Jamestown Foundation, July 22, 2025 (online at Jamestown.org).
President Donald Trump’s China/Taiwan Policy, East Asian Policy, August-September 2025
Taiwan rated a full democracy, US a flawed democracy, Substack, March 18, 2025
2024
“The Outlook for Taiwan’s New President, Lai Ching-te,” East Asian Policy, September-December 2024
Policy Papers
“Is Taiwan’s Kuomintang Down and Out?” Background Brief, East Asian Institute (Singapore). April 25, 2024
Blogs
“What Will Beijing Do If Lai Ching-te Wins Taiwan’s Presidential Election?” Pearls and Irritations, January 10, 2024
“Taiwan’s Elections: The Whole Story,” Pearls and Irritations, January 16, 2024
“Democracy in Decline in the West, Not in Asia,” Pearls and Irritations, March 23, 2024
“How Terrible is Inflation?” Quora, May 3, 2024
“Socialist America, State Capitalist China,” Pearls and Irritations, July 4, 2024.
“Next Year’s U.S. Taiwan Policy: Trump Versus Harris,” Pearls and Irritations, September 9, 2024.
“How threating AI? Opinions differ in the United States and China,” Pearls and Irritations, September 27, 2024
A US-China War is Just Around the Corner, True or False? Pearls and Irritations, January 12, 2025
Professional or Scholarly Honors
Addressed Book Event to announce the publication of my newly published book: Taiwan’s Presidents: Portraits of the Majestic Six. It was held at National Central University in Taiwan, June 6, 2024
Presented podcast: Ops Room Podcast on November 14, 2024, on the topic of Taiwan’s wars. Host: Rapid Media Co. in UK
Presented podcast: on January 9, 2025, on NucleCast in the U.S. on Taiwan’s Future
OUTSTANDING STUDENT AWARD
In 2020, an award for an International Studies student excelling in his or her study of Asia was established in Professor Copper’s name and a plaque placed in Buckman Hall.
Education
1968, Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
1964, Chinese, Taiwan Normal University, Taipei
1964, M.A., Asian Studies, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
1961, B.A., University of Nebraska, Lincoln
