Taiwanese journalist Jason Liu was born in 1987 — the veryyear when martial law, which had lasted for thirty-eight years, was lifted on the island. This period in Taiwan’s history is also known as the “White Terror,” remembered for widespread repression, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and severe restrictions on civil rights and freedoms. Since then, the island has been building a democratic state. However, Liu reminds us that the struggle for rights among the people of Taiwan began much earlier — at the end of the 19th century, after the island was colonized by Japan.
Today, Taiwan is under immense pressure from neighboring China. The PRC uses armies of social media bots, various influence agents, political parties, and media outlets to exertpressure and sow chaos within the country’s democratic system. For example, the national parliament is now dominated by the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) party. It promises a “new era of peace,” cuts budget spending on weapons procurement, and scales back the development of the island’s civil defense system. At the same time, China cooperates closely with Russia and studies its lessons from the war in Ukraine with a single goal — to better prepare for a future invasion of Taiwan.
Journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk speaks with Jason Liu about Taiwan’s preparations for a possible Chinese invasion, the country’s relationship with the new U.S. administration, how Taiwan’s advanced high-tech industry can be used for defense — and what role Ukraine might play in this — as well as howthe island perceives the legacy of a century-long struggle for its own rights.
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