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his conference tackles the “strange affinities” between populism and religion across the Asia-Pacific region (Taiwan, Hong Kong, China), building on two ethnographic fieldworks (January and May 2018; February and June 2025). Although the term populism is not often used in academic discussions in Taiwan or China, there is an emergent literature on the Trumpian metamorphosis of some liberal intellectuals across the Pacific Ocean (particularly between China and the US). In Taiwan, conservative evangelical and right-wing networks are also characterized by their idolization of Donald Trump. This Trumpian turn is precipitated by the status of Taiwan as an “abnormal state” which leads local conservative Christian and right-wing groups to idealize and sanitize the United States. In the case of evangelicalism, this Trumpism unexpectedly aligns with the movement’s goal of evangelizing China. Before 2019, the evangelical movement shared some ideological and instrumental porosities with China’s authoritarianism – clientelist ties with Chinese local authorities, spiritual contribution to China’s economic development, and gender conservatism. It reflects the seeming convergence between the “left” and the “right” in Taiwan and the West, resulting from a “transpacific misunderstanding.”

Cours-conférence de Juliette Duléry (FNRS Postdoctoral researcher, PragmApolis, University of Liège), organisé dans le cadre du cours ASIE0028.