transcript
show notes
In this Conflicted Conversation, journalist Chris Horton talks about his new book Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and Its Struggle for Survival.
Chris explains:
- Why China wants Taiwan and why the island is vital to control of the western Pacific.
- Taiwan’s strategic position in the First Island Chain between China, Japan and the Philippines.
- How a Chinese invasion, blockade or maritime quarantine of Taiwan could unfold.
- Why a war over Taiwan could devastate global trade and the world economy.
- What Taiwan’s fall would mean for US power, Japan and the Philippines.
- Why Taiwan is an independent democracy but still officially called the Republic of China.
- Who the Taiwanese are: Indigenous peoples, Hoklo, Hakka and post-1949 mainlanders.
- How martial law, dictatorship and democratisation created modern Taiwanese identity.
- Why the Kuomintang, once Communist China’s enemy, is now Taiwan’s most Beijing-friendly major party.
- Whether Taiwan could eventually choose closer integration with China through democracy rather than war.
Find Chris on X: www.x.com/heguisen
Visit Chris’s website: www.chrishortonwriter.com
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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.
Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.
Produced and edited by Thomas Small .
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