The Taiwan Take

Alice and Catherine are two anthropologists whose “jobs” is to write about other people-types… but they can’t stop obsessing over their own sociocultural categories - working-class or elite, Chinese American or Taiwanese American - and whether or not you can hear it in the way(s) they talk. Alice was an intern on The Taiwan Take and Metalhead Politics. This episode was originally aired as a part of “In Training 小鬼登島” - our program for and by emerging creators / interns: https://ghostisland.media/#intern. Writing by: Alice Yeh Production Coordinator: Trevor Liu Supervising Producers: Ghost Island Media Happy Lunar New Year from all of us at Ghost Island Media!! Support us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taiwan Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ghostislandme A Ghost Island Media production | www.ghostisland.media Support the show: https://patreon.com/Taiwan See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

PTT is one of the most open social media platforms in the Chinese language. Though it’s not more populous than Facebook, it’s arguably more impactful than Facebook here in Taiwan. It’s a reflection of Taiwan's spirited democracy, and it’s used heavily as a source for local journalists. We speak with two INDSR researchers on a year-long project, “A Pilot Study on PTT in the Context of Influence Operations” (批踢踢影響力作戰前導研究）which attempts to identify CCP state actors on the platfor. The researchers are Oddis J.F. Tsai (Policy Analyst at the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources) and Dr. Jui-Ming Hung (Assistant Research Fellow at the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources). The paper lays out mechanics and - through quantitative analysis - identifies types of suspect behavior on the world’s largest non-commercial, forum-based, open-source online bulletin board system in the Chinese language. This interview was recorded in January 2021 after the paper was publ...

“Democracy is a failure” - that’s the narrative the Chinese Communist Party has been trying to plant over the past year and hopes to take root in international discourse and in the minds of its 1.4 billion citizens.This disinformation has heavy implications for democracy in Taiwan, and it’s never been as serious as it is now. CCP disinformation methods are detailed in a report issued late last year titled “Deafening Whispers” by Doublethink Lab, a Taiwanese organization whose mission is to strengthen democracy through digital defense. The report has just been made available in English. This interview was recorded in January 2021 when the Chinese-version of the report was first published. Online disinformation and influence operations affect offline real-world defense and security. Fake news is a global issue and this is The Taiwan Take. Today’s guest is Dr. Puma Shen (沈伯洋), chairman of Doublethink Lab (臺灣民主實驗室) and an assistant professor at National Taipei Universit...

Nate Maynard discusses green party politics with Dafydd Fell, a political scientist who focuses on Taiwan.

The state of cannabis in Taiwan with the country’s only lawyer who only takes on cannabis-related cases. In 2020, she ran for a seat in the parliament on the platform of legalizing medical marijuana. She’s currently deputy secretary general of the Green Party in Taiwan. In March 2021, Ms. LEE won “Best Show Host” at the inaugural KKBOX Podcasts Awards for her podcast on cannabis, “In The Weeds with Lawyer Zoe Lee #大麻煩不煩,” produced by Ghost Island Media. Marijuana remains a taboo in Taiwan. It’s a Class-2 narcotics. That’s the same class as meth. Possession over 20 grams can get you 5 years to life time in jail. There is a movement for legalization here in Taiwan, and Ms. Zoe is a key person leading this movement. The global legal marijuana market, by one estimate, is predicted to be at 65 Billion USD by 2027. Cannabis is a global trend, and this is The Taiwan Take. Today’s episode is hosted by Emily Y. Wu, co-founder of Ghost Island Media and producer of The Taiwan Tak...

(This interview was recorded in November 2020.) In 2019, according to the Pentagon, China launched more ballistic missiles for testing and training than the rest of the world combined. It did it through its newly minted rocket force, the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force - acronym P-L-A-R-F. PLARF is a critical component of China's nuclear deterrence strategy to deter and counter third-party intervention in regional conflicts. China's current defense minister, General Wei Fenghe, knows missiles. He was previously the commander of the predecessor of PLARF before PLARF was reorganized and given its new name. Mark Stokes is our guest today. He is executive director of the Project 2049 Institute, a think tank based in Washington, DC. Mr. Stokes is a 20-year United States Air Force veteran who served in intelligence planning and policy roles. Today’s episode is hosted by J.R. Wu - Chief of the Secretariat for INDSR (Institute for National Defense and Security Research) in Taiwan. Wu...

Digital Minister and self-taught coding whiz Audrey Tang shares her unconventional life story – from gender identity to hacktivism, why she chose the name “Audrey 唐鳳,” and what conservative anarchism means to her. Having come of age together with Taiwanese democracy and the Internet, Tang relates how she took her education online after dropping out of junior high. Since then, Tang has striven to make knowledge as accessible, transparent, and collaborative as possible. She explains how open data initiatives (e.g. vTaiwan, g0v) can help citizens build consensus, participate in the legislative process, and ultimately, govern themselves. Today’s episode is hosted by J.R. Wu - Chief of the Secretariat for INDSR (Institute for National Defense and Security Research) in Taiwan. Wu is a former journalist with nearly two decades of media experience in the US and Asia. She has led news bureaus for Reuters and Dow Jones. Follow us on Twitter @ghostislandme EPISODE CREDIT | Producer, Emil...

The first Taiwanese to receive a Michelin star, Chef Andre (江振誠) closed his 2-star restaurant in Singapore in 2018 to come home. He is the subject of the documentary “Andre and His Olive Tree” on his art, life, and what he calls “original intention”. Chef Andre left Taiwan to learn culinary arts at age 13. A citizen of the world, he was inspired while in Japan, trained in France, and made a name for himself in Singapore. Today, he talks to us about finding perfection and letting go; how he stays connected to home during his 30 years abroad; and his creative philosophy. The documentary is now available worldwide on Netflix. Today’s episode is hosted by Emily Y. Wu - producer of The Taiwan Take. Video of this interview was broadcasted on Dec 12 at Taiwan Fest. Special thanks to Taiwanese American Citizens League (TACL) for organizing the interview in collaboration with TAP (Taiwanese American Professionals) chapters Atlanta, Austin, LA, New York, Orange County, San Diego, San ...

Nearly 40% of the 700,000 migrant workers in Taiwan are from Indonesia. We speak to Nick Calpakdjian, producer of the feature-length documentary “Help Is On The Way” (2020) from Indonesia that explores the nuances of being domestic caregivers workers in Taiwan. Stories of these migrant workers begin at a nanny school in West Java. “Help Is On The Way” won Best Feature Documentary at the 39th Indonesian Film Festival (FFI). It premiered in Taiwan in May on Public Television Station. International labor migration is a global issue, and this is The Taiwan Take. Guest-host today is Katherine Wei, a Taiwan-based journalist with The Strait Times. She is on Twitter @Katherinewei508. Follow us on Twitter @ghostislandme EPISODE CREDIT | Host, Katherine Wei | Producer, Emily Y. Wu @emilyywu | Editing, Eli Morimoto, Emily Y. Wu | a Ghost Island Media production | www.ghostisland.media Support the show: https://patreon.com/Taiwan See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We talk to PhD candidate Lev Nachman about the world of Taiwan Studies in academia. He discusses his entry into the field and provides practical advice for students around the world who are interested in studying Taiwan. Lev Nachman is a PhD candidate in the political science department at UC-Irvine studying social movements and political parties in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He is also a Fulbright scholar and is currently based in Taiwan. He tweets (a lot!) at https://twitter.com/lnachman32 Today’s episode is hosted by Sam Robbins - a masters student at the department of sociology at National Taiwan University where he researches international data activism.He is also editor at Taiwan Insight, the online magazine from the University of Nottingham. This was Sam’s final episode as a researcher on the Taiwan Take. Follow us on Twitter @ghostislandme EPISODE CREDIT | Host/Producer - Sam Robbins | Editor - Claudia Shen, Sam Robbins, Emily Y. Wu @emilyywu | a Ghost Island Media production |...