Showing posts with label #TsaiIngwen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TsaiIngwen. Show all posts

Invisible Nation - Interview with Vanessa Hope

In this episode we talk with award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Hope who shines an urgent spotlight on Taiwan as it fights for autonomy and freedom from fear in the gripping new documentary, Invisible Nation.

 It tells the story of how Taiwan's first female president, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) delicately balanced on the tightrope between the hopes and fears of her nation and the colossal geopolitical forces of the US and China. The movie interweaves highlights from her time in office with Taiwan's history and struggle to preserve its hard won democracy.

Invisible Nation premiered in Ireland at the 36th Galway Film Fleadh in July and we went along to see the movie and talk with Director Vanessa Hope.

Date of Recording: July 12th, 2024.




Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan from 2016 to 2024 leads her cabinet during an official event in Taipei
Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024, leads her cabinet during an official event in Taipei.


DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:

  • Invisible Nation - website, Trailer (Trailer soundtrack used in this podcast episode courtesy of Invisible Nation)


#Taiwan, #InvisibleNationFilm, #China, #TsaiIngWen, #DPP, #TaiwanisaCountry, #GalwayFilmFleadh

Safeguarding Taiwan's Democracy from China's Disinformation Deluge

 With Taiwan's presidential election taking place in early January, the island's future relation with the neighboring People's Republic of China (PRC) occupies pole position on the ballot.

The PRC who claim Taiwan as their sovereign territory despite having never occupied or controlled it, have historically launched extensive disinformation campaigns to dissuade voters from supporting the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

According to a 2022 report by the Digital Society Project, part of the Swedish institute Varieties of Democracy, Taiwan has ranked as the biggest target for foreign disinformation in the world for the last decade. Taiwanese politicians and researchers say the majority of those attacks originate from China.

In recent months, Beijing has been amping up its campaign of intimidation, disinformation and cyber attacks sending ever-increasing numbers of fighter jets into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, as well as exploiting Taiwan's free speech and open internet to manipulate politics and influence public opinion. Among their more popular disinformation tactics are inciting fear of a possible war of invasion and sowing skepticism about the sincerity of the support from Taiwan's allies, most notably the United States.

Disinformation actors also use current international events, such as the ongoing war in Gaza, to remind audiences of the dire consequences of war, sending the message that avoiding war with China is the best option for Taiwan. Beijing aims to convince Taiwanese people that unification is inevitable and irresistible, while balancing its deployment of coercive measures with incentive-driven approaches. 

Thankfully, there are a number of expert organizations in Taiwan that work full-time to investigate and debunk disinformation. One of those is the Taiwan Fact Check Center (@taiwantfc). According to their website, they are a non-profit NGO established by the Association for Quality Journalism and Taiwan Media Watch Foundation. Their mission is to fact-check claims related to public interest issues to promote reliable information, digital literacy, and to make Taiwan a better and stronger democratic society.

We met up recently with their CEO, Eve Chiu (邱家宜) to talk about the organization, examples of their debunking work, China's wumao disinformation army (五毛黨) and much more.


Date of Recording: November 16th, 2023.



Disinformation visualized by a flow of 1's and 0's from a hidden faced character in a hoodie with a CCP government crest in front of his face
Main image courtesy of Pixabay and Taiwan News (see link below)


DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

  • Seeing is not believing - deepfakes and cheap fakes spread during the 2024 Taiwan presidential election - Wei-Ping Li, Ph.D., Taiwan Fact Check Center (December 25th, 2023)
  • Additional Fact Check Organizations in Taiwan
  • Shadow Play [pdf download] - Jacinta Keast, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2023) - see graph below
  • Wumao - 50 Cent Party - wiki

  • Title graphic image courtesy of Pixabay and Taiwan News


Graph of YouTube China propaganda video posting versus China Standard time
From Shadow Play by Jacinta Keast, ASPI, 2023 (see link above)

The 'Maocron' Faux Pas

With the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating relationship between China and the West and concern about the deepening relationship between China and Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron and EU President Ursula von der Leyen both visited Beijing on the week of April 3rd.

While Macron's visit was treated very much as a high-level official state visit by the Chinese government, President von der Leyen's visit was much more low key.

In our previous podcast, The Beijing Straddle with Alex Davey of MERICS, we had discussed France's position on 'strategic autonomy' and how China had called on the EU to support it. On Macron's recent visit to China, he reiterated this position explicitly stating that Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the US over Taiwan. 

In this episode, we cover President von der Leyen's landmark speech on EU-China relations prior to her China visit, President Macron's controversial statements on 'strategic autonomy' and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, as well as the reaction to his comments from both sides of the Atlantic.

Published on April 14th, 2023.




DIVE DEEPER

Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:

Visits and Vanishing Acts


Welcome back to Perspectives with Neilo!

My guest in this episode is Courtney Donovan Smith (@donovan_smith) who is a journalist based in Taiwan. He's a regular contributing columnist for Taiwan News as well as the central Taiwan correspondent for ICRT FM Radio and a Political Analyst at the Taiwan Report. We've linked more details on Courtney's work below.

Our discussion topics include the visit of former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to China, an overview of the political landscape in Taiwan as the January 2024 presidential election approaches, the recent forfeiting of diplomatic ties with Taiwan by Honduras, and President Tsai Ing-wen's US stop over and upcoming meeting with the US House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. 

Recording date: March 29th, 2023.

DIVE DEEPER

Additional information and further reading;


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