Ep 291 | An Emergency Preparedness Guide for ExPats in Taiwan: Our Discussion with Author John Groot
Release Date: 09/01/2024
Ep 315 | Julien Oeuillet The Voice of South Taiwan Shines a Spotlight on Kaohsiung
Talking Taiwan
Julien Oeuillet is an independent journalist, who has produced content for Radio Taiwan International and TaiwanPlus. He is the Founding Editor of IPON the Indo-Pacific Open News. Related Links: Back in November of 2024 we interviewed Julien about a broad number of topics including: How he is very much at home in Kaohsiung How he got his start in broadcasting and media What he thinks makes a good and bad journalist especially in Taiwan How he focuses on putting a spotlight on Kaohsiung and southern Taiwan through his Radio Taiwan International show, The Voice of South Taiwan...
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Ep 314 | A Conversation With Wen-Jen Deng Taiwanese Fiber Artist and Curator Ming Turner
Talking Taiwan
We recently sat down with Wen-Jen Deng one of the artists in residence at the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s House 17 on Governors Island and Ming Turner, curator of Wen-Jen’s art exhibit :The Embedded Stitch- Contemporary Fiber Art, which is currently showing at Tenri Cultural Institute until June 28th Related Links: According to Deng’s curator Ming Turner, “Deng is a core member of the influential Taiwanese artist collective, Hantoo Art Group. Her early works were primarily oil paintings which incorporated embroidery and collage using traditional Taiwanese floral fabrics....
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Ep 313 | Passport to Taiwan 2025: Ben Hedges A Laowai's View of China, Ambassador Lee of TECO, and TAAC
Talking Taiwan
This past Sunday, May 26th we stopped by the annual Passport to Taiwan that’s held in New York City’s Union Square Park. The first Passport to Taiwan was held in 2002 and it’s become the largest outdoor Taiwanese American event in the entire United States. Related Links: While there I spoke with the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s (TAAC’s) Executive Director Luchia Meihua Lee, Ambassador Tom Lee of TECO-NY, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, and Ben Hedges, host of Lao Wai Kan Zhongguo also known as the A Laowai's View of China & Taiwan YouTube channel....
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Ep 312 | Jane W. Wang Navigates a Multicultural Hero's Journey (Classic)
Talking Taiwan
Since May is both Mental Health Awareness Month and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we think it’s fitting to reshare this episode with Jane W. Wang. Related Links: What we really appreciate about this interview with Jane back in 2021 is how she spoke so openly about how she dealt with her bouts of depression. She also shared how getting back in touch with her roots in Taiwan had a part in leading her to start her coaching practice. While she no longer offers the Multicultural Hero’s Journey course that she refers to in this episode, she is still actively coaching clients. It’s...
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Ep 311 | Understanding the History of Taiwan through Dr. Jerome Keating (Classic)
Talking Taiwan
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and since 1999, Congressman David Wu (OR) and the co-chairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus have supported the celebration of Taiwanese American Heritage Week starting from Mother's Day Weekend, so we thought this would be a good time to reshare one of our most popular episodes, an interview we did with Dr. Jerome Keating in 2020 about the history of Taiwan. Related Links: Few contemporaries are more qualified than Dr. Jerome Keating on understanding the history of Taiwan. He has been living in Taiwan for over 30 years. Initially he came...
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Ep 310 | Cathy Erway on The Food of Taiwan
Talking Taiwan
Last year I came across an article in the Gothamist titled, A Taiwanese food crawl in the East Village with NYC writer Cathy Erway. I have of course heard of Cathy Erway and her cookbook and thought to myself, Why haven’t I had her on Talking Taiwan as a guest yet? For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cathy’s work, she is a James Beard Award-winning food writer and author based in New York City. Her cookbooks include The Food of Taiwan: Recipes From the Beautiful Island and Win Son Presents: A Taiwanese American Cookbook. Her cookbook, The Food of Taiwan which was published...
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Ep 309 | 228 Memorial Foundation: Executive Director Nâ Sū Phok (藍士博) on his Work and the Historical Significance of 228
Talking Taiwan
It’s about a month after 228, an important date in Taiwan’s history, marking the 228 Massacre. 228 stands for February 28 1947. February 28th is now commemorated as a national holiday in Taiwan known as the 228 Peace Memorial Day. For this year’s 228 episode, we wanted to release my interview with Nâ Sū Phok (藍士博), the Executive Director of the 228 Memorial Foundation in Taiwan. Last July 2024, I sat down with him at the Taiwanese American Conference at West Chester University about his work for the 228 Memorial Foundation. You may be wondering why we are sharing this...
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Ep 308 | FAPA: All About Its Essential Advocacy Work for Taiwan
Talking Taiwan
If you’ve been following our social media, you might already know that Talking Taiwan is participating in the Podcasthon which is a global movement calling on as many podcasts as possible to dedicate one episode of their show to a cause of their choice. The idea is to release these episodes simultaneously, from March 15-21, 2025 and by doing so this will create a massive and international wave of inspiring audio content. We are proud to represent Taiwan in the Podcasthon and to dedicate this episode to FAPA, The Formosan Association for Public Affairs. FAPA was established in...
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Ep 307 | Taiwan on the Margins of CSW 69: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress at Taiwan Main Stage
Talking Taiwan
If you’ve listened to our most recent episode of Talking Taiwan, you’ll know that the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women or CSW69 is now taking place at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It began on March 10th and runs until March 21st. Related Links: On March 12th the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY) hosted an event called “Taiwan Main Stage: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress on the margins of CSW 69.” This smartly worded event title is undoubtedly a soft reference the fact that Taiwan is not a...
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Ep 306 | Empowering Women Through Education and Community Panel: Meet the Panelists
Talking Taiwan
March is Women’s History Month and in this episode of Talking Taiwan I’ll be speaking with the Angela Feng, the organizer of the Empowering Women Through Education and Community Action panel, a UN CSW69 Parallel Event that’s going to be held here in New York City on Friday, March 14th from 4:30pm-6:00pm. CSW69 stands for the 69th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Also with me in this interview are the other two panelists Cindy Wu who’s been a previous guest on Talking Taiwan and Dr. Remi Duyile. There are quite a few acronyms tossed around in this...
info_outlineEarlier this summer, in June, I spoke with John Groot the author of An Emergency Preparedness Guide for Expats in Taiwan.
Related Links:
John has made the book is available for free on his website and you download a copy of it by >> clicking here<<: https://thecultureshack.blog/
Taiwan is of course no stranger to natural disasters since it often experiences earthquakes and typhoons. What’s raised eyebrows about John’s book is that it has a section that specifically addresses what to do in case of a military attack by China.
Since 2020 China has upped its grey zone tactics by sending planes into Taiwan’s ADIZ on a daily basis. Concerns about civil defense preparedness in Taiwan peaked in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, and then there was the PLA’s military actions in August of 2022 in response to Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House Speaker at the time visiting Taiwan.
John and I talked about the research involved in writing the guide, how people can be prepared in case of and emergency or disaster and why he felt it was necessary to include a section in the guide to address dealing with a possible invasion of Taiwan by China.
John Groot is a long-time Canadian expat in Taiwan. He is an independent writer-researcher and has done one book and many articles about Taiwan's history, culture, and geography. Recently he has focused more on the security situation with regards to Chinese aggression toward Taiwan. One of his major recent projects was a 68 page PDF e-book called "Resilience Roadmap: An Emergency Preparedness Guide for Expats in Taiwan."
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
· John’s background and upbringing
· How John got interested in civil defense and emergency preparedness
· How Russia’s invasion in Ukraine in 2022 heightened interested in civil defense in Taiwan
· How John learned about the NGO Open Knowledge aka OK Taiwan
· Documentary filmmaker Tobie Openshaw
· The PLA’s military actions in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022
· The civil defense handbook that was issued by Taiwan’s government and how it showed the difference between uniforms of Taiwan’s military and China’s PLA
· How many expats there are in Taiwan, and the different types of expats
· Issues with the path for expats to apply for nationality in Taiwan
· The research John did for the book
· Tobie Openshaw’s experience with the 921 Earthquake in Taiwan
· Sweden’s defense system
· Israel’s military service system
· How France supports its citizens abroad
· How long it took John to write the book
· How the book is organized
· The earthquake in Taiwan that caused a crane to fall from Taipei 101
· John’s experience with natural disasters in Taiwan
· The acronyms in the book
· The origin of the term “bug out”
· How people can be prepared for emergencies or disasters
· Having a communication plan in case of emergency or disaster
· What students learn about dealing with natural disasters and emergencies
· Liability issues in Taiwan when it comes to medically intervening to help someone
· Why John felt that the book should address what to do in case of threat of war i.e. an attack on Taiwan by China
· Meetings amongst the American communities in Taipei after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022
· The response John’s received to the book
· Whether or not it is advisable to go to a government evacuation center
· How in times of need it’s important to consider the needs of others
· How families can prepare their children for dealing with disasters
· How Taiwan and the U.S. do not want war with China
· What John would like people to take away from the book
· How John hopes that people can be prepared for emergencies or disasters
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