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Taiwan is the greatest geopolitical question of the 21st century says Kerry Brown, sinologist, and former Diplomat to the British Embassy in Beijing.
He is, I am thrilled to say the guest on todays podcast. A sinologist is a scholar and expert of China, its language, history, politics, and culture - and the theme today is top to bottom the myriad questions looming over one of the largest political issues for China… Taiwan.
Kerry published a book last year called The Taiwan Story: How a Small Island Will Dictate the Global Future. It is marvelous, and my hope was to do as much justice to the various questions which Kerry approaches Taiwan with as possible in a brief podcast.
The big questions being, the economy, given Taiwan’s semi conductor supremacy with its home grown TSMC, the perplexing idea that Xi would view Taiwanese reunification as the most significant achievement to his legacy, how a more fractured, less unified global order creates lots of wiggle room, Taiwan’s history, and that despite having 95% Han ethnicity, what is it about Taiwan which makes them a distinctly different culture to China, Kerrys feeling for the inevitability of an attempt at reunification and lots more between those cracks.
00:00 - Kerry Brown
01:20 - Big Opportunity For China
04:13 - Brief Taiwan History
07:33 - TSMC
24:09 - What China Thinks Of Taiwan
37:42 - Taiwanese Identity & Culture
50:14 - It’s All Xi
52:35 - Opinions Of Taiwan
58:30 - Kerry’s Life Work
1:06:00 - Kevin Rudd & Australia
1:16:30 - Indonesia & Serendipity
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