Ep 333 | Does Taiwan Have the Will to Fight?

To commemorate its anniversary on December 10th, we thought this would be a great time to reshare one of our most popular CLASSIC episodes, an interview we did with Taiwan Democracy fighter Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達) in 2024 about events leading up to the HISTORIC Kaohsiung Incident. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-linda-gail-arrigo-taiwan-democracy-fighter-talks-about-events-leading-up-to-the-kaohsiung-incident-classic-ep-336/ Last year when we were in Taiwan in January for the presidential election, we were privileged to meet Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達) in Taipei and sat down for a one-on-one interview. Few have experienced such historic events first-hand in the way Linda has, as she speaks from the doorstep of history. Linda talked about the era and events that precipitated the Kaohsiung incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, which is widely considered the watershed moment in history that led to Taiwan's democratization. The Kaohsiung Incident happened in December of 1979 During this interview Linda talked about how, in 1975 she had been sent to observe a trial that had been stated to be an open trial but when she arrived there, she saw that it wasn't. In the face of intimidation by the Taiwan Garrison Command officers, she chose to speak up about the injustice she saw, and reported it to Amnesty International. To me, Linda's self-directed action was a moment of historic defiant courage.  Thank you Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達) for sharing your story and for advocating for the people of Taiwan. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-linda-gail-arrigo-taiwan-democracy-fighter-talks-about-events-leading-up-to-the-kaohsiung-incident-classic-ep-336/

Earlier this year, on March 30, at the Taiwan Center in Flushing NY, FAPA (Formosan Association for Public Affairs) hosted a panel discussion, Lessons from the Battlefield: What Taiwan Can Learn From Ukraine. Representatives from the Ukrainian community, Razom for Ukraine and Dignitas Ukraine and FAPA discussed how NGOs can strengthen advocacy, humanitarian aid, and international collaboration.    Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/what-taiwan-can-learn-from-ukraine-a-panel-hosted-by-fapa-part-2-ep-335/   It was a very substantive discussion that we wanted to record and share with FAPA's permission to our listeners. This episode part two is the second half of the panel discussion. To listen to the first half of the panel discussion listen to the previous episode, episode 334.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/what-taiwan-can-learn-from-ukraine-a-panel-hosted-by-fapa-part-2-ep-335/

Earlier this year, on March 30, at the Taiwan Center in Flushing NY, FAPA (Formosan Association for Public Affairs) hosted a panel discussion, Lessons from the Battlefield: What Taiwan Can Learn From Ukraine. Representatives from the Ukrainian community, Razom for Ukraine and Dignitas Ukraine and FAPA discussed how NGOs can strengthen advocacy, humanitarian aid, and international collaboration.    Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/what-taiwan-can-learn-from-ukraine-a-panel-discussion-hosted-by-fapa-part-1-ep-334/   It was a very substantive discussion that we wanted to record and share with FAPA's permission to our listeners. This episode part one is the first half of the panel discussion.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/what-taiwan-can-learn-from-ukraine-a-panel-discussion-hosted-by-fapa-part-1-ep-334/

I recently sat down with Dr. Raymond Kuo, Director of RAND's Taiwan Policy Initiative and Catherine Kish, Research Assistant and Chinese Language Specialist at RAND to talk about their War on the Rocks article, "Taiwan's Will to Fight Isn't the Problem." Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/does-taiwan-have-the-will-to-fight-ep-333/   Later on in the interview we also talked about how Taiwan could leverage its diaspora. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/does-taiwan-have-the-will-to-fight-ep-333/

Get Access to the Replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala Make a Donation at Humanitix https://events.humanitix.com/talking-taiwan-2025-fundraising-gala   For Free Access the Replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala Give Us Your Feedback by emailing [email protected] with the Subject Line: 12 MORE     Talking Taiwan's inaugural fundraising gala was on April 30th here in New York City at the elegant Eichholtz showroom in Chelsea. The gala was a celebration of Taiwanese American cuisine, culture and community.   We had Peter Lin's AAPI Jazz Collective perform, and food catered by 886 Restaurant, DAE tea and Taiwan Beer. It was a memorable, magical night and if you're wondering what you missed out on it, don't worry, later on in the episode I'll be sharing how you can watch the replay that we made of the event. We'll also share the Humanitix link where you can make a donation to watch the replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala.   At the gala I interviewed comedian Esther Chen, Thomas Duh of DAE Tea, artist Kaarina Chu MacKenzie, and Jonny Lee, President of TAP-NY (Taiwanese American Professionals- NY chapter). And that's what we'll be sharing in this episode.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwans-2025-inaugural-fundraising-gala-ep-332/

Dr. Yang Szu Pang (楊斯棓) is an author and speaker. He has donated 100% of his books royalties to causes and organizations that he cares about. He has been invited to speak at several Taiwanese American conferences and communities across the country. In July of 2024 he sat down to speak with at the Taiwanese American Conference East Coast which was held at Westchester University. We talked about a broad range of topics from how to be financially prepared to care of aging, ailing parents to his most recent book, It Only Takes One, where the title of the books comes from and how it's related to Hsiao Bi-khim, the current the Vice President of Taiwan.   Special thanks for translation assistance provided by Dr. Lee-Yuan Liu.   This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/author-and-speaker-dr-yang-szu-pang-%e6%a5%8a%e6%96%af%e6%a3%93-dont-think-youre-too-small-to-make-a-difference-ep-331/

Wang Guo-ren's deer sculpture measures well over 10 feet if you include its antlers. Constructed completely of fallen pieces of wood and tree branches that have been colorfully painted, the deer seems to have magically taken up residence on the lawn outside of the Taiwanese American Arts Council House 17.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/eco-art-on-island-the-deer-god-and-wearable-art-now-at-governors-island-house-17-ep-330/   Inside of the house we spoke with Julia Hsia about her exhibit "Wear Enough" which includes artifacts made with paper and receipts.   In September we ventured over to Governors Island to meet artists in residence Wang Guo-ren and his sculpture entitled the Deer God, and Julia Hsia.   This year's house theme is Eco Art on Island and as you hear at the beginning of the episode we were outside with the lovely sounds of nature like birds, and the more than occasional airplane flying overhead, many of which had to be edited out. Special thanks to Julia Hsia for helping to translate for Guo-ren at the beginning of the episode, before we moved indoors to interview her.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/eco-art-on-island-the-deer-god-and-wearable-art-now-at-governors-island-house-17-ep-330/

In this episode, the husband-and-wife team, gypsy jazz and classical guitarist Antoine Boyer and chromatic harmonica player Yeore Kim shared about their real life "Love in Taipei" story. He's from France and she's from South Korea, so music was their first common language. We also talked about how they navigate their partnership as life partners and as musical partners, and their debut duet album You and I.   If you'd like to know more about Antoine you can check out Kaju's in-depth interview with Antoine on YouTube   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-real-life-love-in-taipei-story-virtuoso-musician-couple-antoine-boyer-and-yeore-kim-ep-329/

On Friday, September 12th at the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza which is across from the UN Headquarters, in New York representatives from the Taiwan United Nations Alliance or TAIUNA, an NGO from Taiwan, held a press conference urging the UN to include Taiwan in its system. TAIUNA Youth Representatives performed a dance, a white protest of Taiwan's exclusion from the UN. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiunas-white-protest-of-taiwans-exclusion-from-the-un-ep-328/ September is when the UN General Assembly takes place and delegates from TAIUNA have been coming to New York for the past twenty years to call for Taiwan's membership in the UN. This year is the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The General Assembly High-level Week runs from September 22-30th. The following day, Saturday, September 13th was the UN for Taiwan rally and march which has been organized by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York since 1992. The annual press conference and UN for Taiwan Rally are reminders of Taiwan's long-standing isolation from the international community. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiunas-white-protest-of-taiwans-exclusion-from-the-un-ep-328/

In July of 2024, we brought talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, east Coast at Westchester University, where I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Taiwan's, former vice President, Dr. Chen Chen (陳建仁). We talked about how Dr. Chen was trained to be an epidemiologist and was initially reluctant to go into politics, but then fate intervened and changed his mind when SARS hit Taiwan in 2003, and his experience handling the SARS outbreak as Taiwan's Minister of Health played an important role preparing him to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as Taiwan's Vice President.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-chen-chien-jen-former-vp-of-taiwan-reflects-upon-his-life-in-politics-and-as-a-public-servant/   I asked Dr. Chen why it's important for Taiwan to be a member of the WHO World Health Organization and about the challenges he's faced as the Vice President and Premier of Taiwan. how he overcame them and why he decided not to run as Vice President with Tsai Ing-wen for a second term.   And finally, for some context, at the time of the interview, the Bluebird movement had emerged in Taiwan a month and a half earlier. I touched upon this with Dr. Chen briefly at the end of the interview.    At the time, more than a hundred thousand people in total had taken to the streets of Taiwan in a series of massive protests. It was a very public objection to controversial bills passed by Taiwan's opposition controlled Legislative Yuan. After interviewing Dr. Chen, I was left thinking if only the world had more politicians like him with a public service mindset, the world would be a better place.   This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-chen-chien-jen-former-vp-of-taiwan-reflects-upon-his-life-in-politics-and-as-a-public-servant/