Talking Taiwan

Talking Taiwan is a Golden Crane Podcast Award Winner, and has been shortlisted in the 2024 International Women’s Podcast Awards “Moment of Visionary Leadership” category. In 2025, it was nominated for the 12th Annual T.O. Webfest Awards in the category of "Best Ensemble Cast in a Podcast". Hosted by Felicia Lin, Talking Taiwan is the longest running, independently produced Taiwan-related podcast that covers political news related to Taiwan and stories connected to Taiwan and Taiwan’s global community. To learn more about Talking Taiwan visit: www.talkingtaiwan.com

Ep 343 | Vickie Wang (王宇平) Surviving the Shanghai COVID Lockdown of 2022 and Attitudes and Perceptions between Taiwanese and Chinese 03/30/2026

Ep 342 | Kita Foundation: Mapping the Path for Trailblazers that Paved the Way for Taiwan's Democracy and Freedom 03/17/2026

Ep 342 | Kita Foundation: Mapping the Path for Trailblazers that Paved the Way for Taiwan's Democracy and Freedom Every year we try to dedicate an episode of Talking Taiwan to 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. Related Links: However, the 228 Massacre is not confined to this single date in history. There were circumstances leading up what happened on February 28th and there were also subsequent events after February 28th which escalated into bloody violence and massacres leading to what some refer to as the March Massacre. Under the authoritarian Chiang regime, and Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang, what followed after 228 was 38 years of martial law and the White Terror era. Anyone could be disappeared, executed or worse for just saying or doing the wrong thing, or for what was seemingly wrong in the eyes of the authorities. The people of Taiwan were horrified and terrified. For decades there was denial and suppression of 228 by authorities in Taiwan, and generations dared not speak of 228. 228 was absent from high school textbooks until relatively recently. To learn more about the specifics of 228 I invite you to listen to some of our past episodes on the topic. We recommend episodes 309, 277, 228, and 172. In an effort to confront its authoritarian past, in recent years Taiwan has taken steps to acknowledge historical sites of injustice such as buildings where military police fired on civilians on February 28, 1947. Around this time of year, around February 28 and leading into March, it’s a time to reflect on the past, and what we can learn from it. So in the vein of reflecting on the past, this year I thought I’d share my interview with Sabrina Liu and Meng Chiang who are part of the team that makes up the KITA Foundation, an organization that was formed as an oral history project to understand who are the trailblazers that paved the way for Taiwan’s democracy and freedom. Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/40510455

Ep 341 | Dr Shih-Fen Chen 陳時奮 A Scholar with a Responsibility to Reveal the Truth 02/23/2026

Ep 340 | China’s Alarming Gray Zone Tactics Around Taiwan and its Neighboring Nations in Asia 02/07/2026

Ep 340 | China’s Alarming Gray Zone Tactics Around Taiwan and its Neighboring Nations in Asia Back in April 2021 we covered news about a record breaking 25 Chinese air force aircraft including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers that entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ). At the time 25 seemed like an alarming number. It was the largest incursion by Chinese military planes into Taiwan’s ADIZ to date. Related Links: To be clear these sorts of activities had been going on long before this and long before September of 2020 which is about the time that Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense started to publicly report China’s incursions. China’s People’s Liberation Army has shown no signs of letting up. The PLA’s gray zone tactics have also included the use of drones and balloons. Incursions by warplanes and naval ships into the airspace and waters surrounding Taiwan are now a daily occurrence. And they have completely shattered the record 25 aircraft in Taiwan’s ADIZ many times over. Major military exercises have included the Joint Sword-2024A. Three days after Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te's inauguration on May 20 of 2024, China’s PLA conducted two days of military exercises in the air and sea space around Taiwan. More recently, at the end of 2025 on December 29 and 30, People’s Republic of China (PRC) military forces carried out a large-scale exercise in the air and ocean areas around Taiwan called These two days of PLA military exercises involved at least 200 warplanes. Unfortunately these types of gray zone tactics by China have become commonplace and while they have been more widely reported on, even more troubling are the other gray zone tactics that the PRC has been levying on Taiwan, which include the presence of Chinese owned and operated oil rigs in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and on January 16th the New York Times reported that China quietly mobilized thousands of fishing boats twice already, most recently in the first few weeks of this new year. Quoting from the New York Times, "By January 11, they had assembled into a rectangle stretching more than 200 miles. Maritime and military experts said the maneuvers suggested that China was strengthening its maritime militia, which is made up of civilian fishing boats trained to join in military operations." This was not the first time. A month earlier on December 25th the Times reported that “about 2,000 Chinese fishing boats assembled in two long, parallel formations on Christmas Day in the East China Sea. Each stretched 290 miles long, about the distance from New York City to Buffalo, forming a reverse L shape.” According to the New York Times, “The unusual formations were spotted by Jason Wang, the chief operating officer of ingeniSPACE, a company that analyzes data, and were independently confirmed by The Times using ship location data provided by Starboard Maritime Intelligence.” In this episode of Talking Taiwan we will be speaking to Marvin Bernado, Maritime Domain Awareness Analyst at ingeniSPACE and Elva Wu, National Security Researcher / Imagery Analyst at ingeniSPACE. About ingeniSPACE: ingeniSPACE is a geospatial intelligence company integrating remote sensing data across multiple phenomenologies. We are an insight-as-a-service platform delivering all weather day-night multi-temporal understanding around the world. Our intelligence extends the "executive decision making time" that public sector and commercial leaders need to make well-informed decisions. Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/40028010

Ep 339 | Collective Memory Collective Trauma: A Conversation with Dr. Meng Chiang 01/22/2026

Ep 339 | Collective Memory Collective Trauma: A Conversation with Dr. Meng Chiang At the end of 2024 I sat down with Dr. Meng Chiang, the Executive Director of the 2024 Taiwanese American Conference- East Coast. We had a really wonderful heart-centered conversation about the conference theme Collective Memory and that led to collective trauma as it relates to the Taiwanese and Taiwanese American communities. We talked about the 4 types of trauma responses, the 4 Fs- flight, fight, freeze and fawn and post-traumatic growth. Related Links: This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sharon Huang, who passed away in December of 2025. She was a dear friend, mother, wife, sister, auntie, a community organizer and a cornerstone of the Taiwanese American community, especially in New York where she resided. Most notably she and her husband Patrick Huang ran the Brooklyn Artists Studio (BAS) and have supported the Taiwanese American Arts Council (TAAC) and Talking Taiwan. Together they have advocated for Taiwan democracy, human rights, and culture. The loss of Sharon is felt by so many who knew and loved her, she leaves behind family in the U.S. and Taiwan. Mengchun "Meng" Chiang, PhD (she/her/hers), is a member of the Taiwanese American community. She has served in various community leadership roles, most recently as Executive Director of the Taiwanese American Conference East Coast (TACEC) in 2024. Professionally, Meng is the founder of CHI Executive Consulting, LLC, where she provides leadership coaching and consulting services, specializing in workplace inclusion and organizational wellness. She is passionate about empowering leaders from diverse backgrounds, helping them enhance their communication, negotiation, and inclusive leadership skills. Meng regularly facilitates workshops to help leaders integrate their identities into effective leadership practices that drive business success and personal growth. Meng is a licensed clinical psychologist with affiliations to Harvard Medical School, Carnegie Mellon University, the Tepper School of Business, and National Taiwan University. Her experience spans education, training, and leadership roles. She pioneered the Leadership and Connection for Asian Women+ Leaders program and served as Assistant Director of Training at Carnegie Mellon University. In her free time, Meng enjoys traveling, practicing loving-kindness meditation, listening to music, taking walks, and grocery shopping. Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/39842595

Ep 338 | Talking Taiwan Top 5 of 2025 Award Winner End of Year Review 01/02/2026

Ep 338 | Talking Taiwan Top 5 of 2025 Award Winner End of Year Review It’s time to reveal the Top 5 episodes of Talking Taiwan in 2025. What’s notable about these 5 episodes is that they are among the most popular Talking Taiwan episodes of all time. Related Links: But before revealing the Top 5 episodes of 2025, let’s take look back on 2025, which was a busy year for Talking Taiwan! We hosted the inaugural Talking Taiwan Fundraising Gala at the elegant Eichholtz showroom in New York City in April. It was truly a magical memorable night. In April we were also invited to speak at the North American Taiwanese American Women Association’s (NATWA) Annual Conference. For sometime we’ve been watching what was happening with the Great Recall in Taiwan which ultimately led to 24 legislators being put up for a recall vote on July 26th and another seven on August 23. The world had not seen anything like this happen on a national level in a democracy! And after Felicia interviewed a group of highly dedicated recall campaigners, she learned firsthand about the grassroots mobilization efforts that resulted in over one million signatures being collected in support of the recall vote, and she felt this was a historic moment that Talking Taiwan should be in Taiwan to cover. Thanks to an anonymous donor who offered to pay for our flights back to Taiwan and others who made generous donations we were able to travel back to Taiwan for a week to cover the first recall in vote on July 26th. We left shortly after returning from the Taiwanese American Conference- West Coast (TAC-WC) which was held in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was the first time we were invited to speak at TAC-WC about our work. While we were at the conference, we also set up an on-location podcasting studio where we interviewed several of the conference’s speakers. We look forward to releasing those episodes very soon in the New Year. It's been an extremely eventful year for Talking Taiwan with many ups and downs. Spending only a week in Taiwan to cover the Recall Vote in July, and trying to conduct interviews, and edit and produce them in that time period proved to be a bit unrealistic and we’ll need to pace ourselves better in the future. It was also crushing to witness the results of the Recall Vote on July 26th with none of the 24 legislators successfully recalled from office. While still recovering from that ordeal in July, we traveled to T.O. Webfest awards in September where Talking Taiwan was nominated in the Best Ensemble Cast category. While we didn’t win, it was our second nomination after being shortlisted at the International Women’s Podcast Awards in 2024 and winning a Golden Crane Award in 2021. As we go into the 13th year of Talking Taiwan, I’d like take a moment to especially thank everyone who has supported Talking Taiwan over the years and made a contribution to help fund our trip to return to Taiwan to cover the Great Recall in July. We also want to thank each and every one of all of our amazing guests for being a part of the Talking Taiwan podcast. Special thanks to our listeners. We remain committed more than ever to producing content that matters to people who care about Taiwan. For links to the top 5 episodes of 2025 visit our website TalkingTaiwan.com. Wishing everyone a Happy Healthy New Year 2026! I’m your host Felicia Lin. Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/39589760

Ep 337 | The Charm of Tainan Taiwan's Oldest City: A Talk with Author and Historian Jinyu Hsieh (謝金魚) 12/29/2025

Ep 336 | Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo: Taiwan Democracy Fighter Talks About Events Leading Up to the Kaohsiung Incident (Classic) 12/14/2025

Ep 335 | What Taiwan Can Learn from Ukraine: A Panel Discussion Hosted by FAPA - Part 2 12/14/2025

Ep 334 | What Taiwan Can Learn from Ukraine: A Panel Discussion Hosted by FAPA - Part 1 12/13/2025

Ep 333 | Does Taiwan Have the Will to Fight? 11/22/2025

Ep 332 | Talking Taiwan's 2025 Inaugural Fundraising Gala! 11/07/2025

Ep 331 | Author and Speaker Dr. Yang Szu Pang (楊斯棓): Don't Think You're Too Small to Make a Difference 10/23/2025

Ep 330 | Eco Art on Island: The Deer God and Wearable Art Now at Governors Island House 17 10/13/2025

Ep 329 | The Real Life "Love in Taipei" Story: Virtuoso Musician Couple Antoine Boyer and Yeore Kim 10/03/2025

Ep 328 | TAIUNA's White Protest of Taiwan's Exclusion from the UN 09/25/2025

Ep 327 | Dr. Chen Chien-jen 陳建仁 Former VP of Taiwan Reflects Upon his Life in Politics and as a Public Servant 09/01/2025

Ep 326 | Working in the Intersection of Ceramics Sound and History: Taiwanese American Maker Eugenie Chao 08/29/2025

Ep 325 | 3 Perspectives in Taiwan Why the Great Recall Failed 08/24/2025

Ep 325 | 3 Perspectives in Taiwan Why the Great Recall Failed When we decided to travel back to Taiwan to cover the vote to recall 24 KMT legislators on July 26th we had no idea how things would turn out. The Great Recall (or da ba mian) as it came to be known in Taiwan, was notable not just because it led to a record number of 31 KMT legislators in total being put up for a recall vote. What was most impressive about is that it was a nationwide effort that started at a grassroots level by everyday people. Related Links: It’s been incredible to watch everything leading up to the Great Recall. Going back to last May in 2024 during what came to be known as the Bluebird Movement when tens of thousands of people and upwards of 100,000 took to the streets of Taiwan in a series of protests against controversial bills proposed in the legislative yuan. What happened during the Bluebird Movement protests is said to be what in part galvanized citizens to organize the recall campaigns. I can’t deny that our hopes were high for the results of the July 26th recall vote and after we learned that none of the KMT legislators were successfully recalled, we did our best during the remaining days of our time in Taiwan to try to make sense of the results by talking to a number of our friends and peers. What you’ll hear in this episode are some sound bites from conversations we had on July 30th with Rath Wang, Safe Spaces Senior Policy Fellow and Dennis Chen, Chairman of Wikimedia Taiwan. They shared their observations and thoughts on why the recalls failed, the recall campaigners and what the results of the recall vote could mean for President Lai. Later that day I also spoke with Morrison Lee a Taiwanese businessman who went to China on what was supposed to be a 48-hour trip and ended up getting detained and stuck there for nearly 4 years. Morrison talked about his personal involvement in the recall effort also shared his thoughts on why the recall votes failed. As mentioned, recall campaign groups succeeded in putting up a total of 31 KMT legislators for a recall vote. Another 7 legislators will be up for a recall vote on August 23rd. Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/37933295

Ep 324 | A-Mei: The Great Recall Crusader 08/14/2025

Ep 323 | Jiho Chang: Why Did the Recall Fail and How Can the DPP Do Better? 08/03/2025

Ep 322 | Day After Analysis of the Great Recall with Dr Linda Gail Arrigo 07/30/2025

Ep 321 | The Day of Taiwan's Historic Recall Vote 07/30/2025

Ep 320 | First Day in Taiwan, Day Before The Great Recall 07/27/2025

Ep 319 | Taiwanese Waves 2025 is Back 07/24/2025

Ep 318 | Meet Taiwanese YouTuber Ba Jiong 八炯 07/23/2025

Ep 317 | The Great Recall Explained by Courtney Donovan Smith 07/22/2025

Ep 317 | The Great Recall Explained by Courtney Donovan Smith In Taiwan recall bids have been filed against 35 of the 39 Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang or KMT lawmakers who were directly elected to the legislative yuan in January, 2024. Recall campaigners have said that they want to restore order to Taiwan’s legislative yuan, by removing pro-China KMT legislators who have passed amendments to expand the legislature’s powers, undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order by paralyzing the constitutional court, cut budgets and made Taiwan vulnerable to infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party. Related Links: Just a few days ago we learned that a total of 31 KMT legislators will be up for a vote to be recalled from office. 24 on July 26 and another 7 on August 23. Since my interview with 3 recall campaigners in episode 316, I thought it would be good to follow up with an explainer video with political commentator and analyst Courtney Donovan Smith about how the recall mechanism in Taiwan works and what led to this mass recall effort. And in a few days from now our two-person team will be heading back to Taiwan to witness and cover the July 26th recall vote. History is being made in the only way it can be in a vibrant democracy like Taiwan! Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: How the recall mechanism works in Taiwan Past cases of politicians who have faced a recall vote Factors leading to the Bluebird Movement and Recall Efforts The expanded powers of the legislative yuan that were ruled unconstitutional What happened to paralyze Taiwan’s constitutional court What has motivated the people campaigning to recall KMT legislators Why the KMT’s recall efforts against DPP legislators have failed How Ko Wen-je’s supporters have reacted to his detainment due to corruption charges DPP involvement with recall efforts How some of the Kuomintang KMT have shifted from being anti-Communist China to pro-Communist China (PRC) The historical significance of Taiwan’s mass recall votes of legislators If the DPP is behind the recalls of KMT legislators What happens next after the recall vote The impact of the Sunflower Movement Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/37502025

Ep 316 | The Great Recall Movement in Taiwan: A Historic Unprecedented Boots on the Ground Exercise in Democracy 07/05/2025

Ep 316 | The Great Recall Movement in Taiwan: A Historic Unprecedented Boots on the Ground Exercise in Democracy Have you heard about the great recall movement that’s happening in Taiwan? What’s it all about? Related Links: 24 lawmakers, or legislators from the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang KMT party are being put up for a recall vote. I don’t think the world has ever seen anything like this happen on a national level in a democracy- 24 lawmakers being recalled from office, and that number is likely to be even higher at the time that this episode gets released. It’s truly unprecedented! This recall vote certainly didn’t happen overnight. It was through dedicated grassroots efforts, of the everyday people of Taiwan. Questions have been raised as to whether the recall efforts are a partisan politically motivated effort on the part of the Democratic Progressive Party to oust KMT legislators. That’s what I wanted to get to the bottom of in this episode as I talked to some of the volunteers who have been boots on the ground in Taiwan’s recall effort. As you’ll hear in this episode, what’s happening in Taiwan is a historic demonstration of the will of the people to exercise their rights in a democracy. The island-wide effort in Taiwan to recall lawmakers has been going on since last year and I sat down to speak to three volunteers Carol, Acho and Eric about how this mass movement has successfully gone through two stages, first signatures from1% of eligible voters in a legislator’s district must be collected to initiate a recall. Then in the second stage signatures from 10% of eligible voters in a legislator’s district must collect to in order for a recall vote to proceed. The hard part is that the signatures on the 1% and 10% petitions cannot be the same. On July 26 Taiwan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) will hold recall votes for now possibly even more than 24 KMT lawmakers. Special thanks to Julien Oeuillet the Founding Editor of IPON (the Indo-Pacific Open News) for his help in making this interview possible. Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: What the recall movement that’s happening in Taiwan is about Why and how Acho, Carol and Eric volunteer their time and energy in the effort to recall legislators How the recall efforts are targeting pro-CCP Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang KMT legislators How the recall is necessary so that Taiwan’s parliament/legislature can function normally How the first volunteers for the recall met through a LINE group How what happened after the Bluebird Movement protests motivated people to attempt to recall KMT legislators How the Sunflower Movement compares to the recall movement How they vetted volunteers from outside of Taiwan who wanted to help with the recall effort in Taiwan How they dealt with people trying to infiltrate the recall volunteer groups How the recall effort got started with 10 volunteers and has grown to 500 volunteers globally How A-Mei one of the lead recall movement volunteers was targeted by the KMT who accused her and revealed her personal information and identity How the Taiwanese people feel they are at risk of losing their country to pro-CCP KMT legislators How the KMT has smeared and sued recall movement volunteers including Carol How the KMT has broken up recall movement volunteer groups How Carol has put her job on hold to be dedicated to being a leader of her recall movement volunteer group full-time What Carol does as leader of her recall movement group How Acho volunteers for the recall effort by editing and creating videos How Eric volunteers for the recall effort by dealing with the media The types of videos they produce to promote and create awareness of the recall effort How the majority of recall volunteers are women (60% women, 40% men) How over 100 recall volunteers are dedicated full-time to the effort How the women recall volunteers have been confronted by people who don’t support the recall The standard for collecting signatures for the recall Why the KMT’s efforts to recall DPP have failed due to forgery or signatures of the deceased on their recall petitions How the KMT is trying to paint the picture that the DPP are orchestrating the recall of KMT legislators How the recall effort is a grassroots effort not about conflict between the DPP and KMT political parties How there could be more than 24 KMT legislators put up for a recall vote The demographics of the districts that Carol, Eric and Acho are volunteers in for the recall How Acho and Eric balance volunteering for the recall effort with their day jobs How KMT legislators have not offered any explanation of what was discussed in a closed door meeting in 2024 with Chinese officials How public reaction to volunteers of the recall effort has changed over time How the recall volunteers now need to focus on encouraging the public to vote on July 26 How Carol encouraged creativity and idea of the recall volunteers that she manages How the sentiment of the recall volunteers is that we are all in this together How if eight to 10 KMT legislators are recalled there will be a better balance in the legislative yuan How Carol, Eric and Acho feel they are working selflessly for a common goal and that they are taking care of each other How this experience with the recall effort has helped Acho to see how the people of Taiwan can be so united How Carol has seen many recall volunteers evolving How what is happening in Taiwan is important for Asia and other democracies in the world Related Links: /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/37288850

Ep 315 | Julien Oeuillet The Voice of South Taiwan Shines a Spotlight on Kaohsiung 07/01/2025

Ep 314 | A Conversation With Wen-Jen Deng Taiwanese Fiber Artist and Curator Ming Turner 06/21/2025

Ep 314 | A Conversation With Wen-Jen Deng Taiwanese Fiber Artist and Curator Ming Turner 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. Deng often draws inspiration from Taiwanese food culture— her earlier pieces explored the island’s distinctive betel nut culture, while more recent works have focused on everyday culinary traditions and the cultural heritage of the Sirayu Pingpu people.” Special thanks to Ming Turner for translation assistance during this interview. Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: Wen-Jen’s upbringing in Taiwan and how she knew she wanted to be an artist What Wen-Jen thinks an artist’s role in the world is Why Wen-Jen studied art in France and how she was inspired by Marc Chagall How Wen-Jen started off doing oil painting as an artist How Wen-Jen switched from using oil paint as her medium to fiber and textiles How Wen-Jen worked in a textile shop making Chinese dresses while she was a student in France Why her early source of inspiration was food Her series of work that focused on lotus shoes and pig’s hooves (pigs feet), betel nuts, and other everyday Taiwanese cuisine How Wen-Jen discovered her mother’s was from the Siraya tribe during her 2017 residency at Soulangh Cultural Park in Tainan, and that inspired her to move her focus from food to indigenous culture How Wen-Jen learned indigenous weaving techniques How Wen-Jen’s mother was a seamstress but Wen-jen did not pick out any of those skills from her mother How Wen-Jen taught herself to embroider when she was working in the textile shop in France How all of the embroidery and sewing on Wen-Jen’s works are done by hand How in the process of weaving and embroidering Wen-Jen gets in a focused state of meditation The field work that Wen-Jen does related to her artwork Ming shared some of her thoughts on the significance of Wen-Jen’s artwork Wen-Jen’s artwork “Oyster Noodles” which will be on display at the TAAC Governors Island House 17 How Taiwan’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy has impacted artists in Taiwan How artists in Taiwan get funded How Wen-Jen’s sculptural piece which is shaped like the island of Taiwan and shows its topography will be displayed at the TAAC House 17 on June 21 /episode/index/show/talkingtaiwan/id/37097875

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