Paul Huang, the real situation in Taiwan: politics, military, China — Manifold #40

 

Paul Huang is a journalist and research fellow with the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation. He is currently based in Taipei, Taiwan. 

Sample articles: 

Taiwan’s Military Has Flashy American Weapons but No Ammo (in Foreign Policy): https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/20/taiwan-military-flashy-american-weapons-no-ammo/ 

Taiwan’s  Military Is a Hollow Shell (Foreign Policy): 

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/15/china-threat-invasion-conscription-taiwans-military-is-a-hollow-shell/ 

Audio-only and transcript:

https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/paul-huang-the-real-situation-in-taiwan-politics-military-china-40

Steve and Paul discuss: 

0:00 Introduction 

1:44 Paul’s background; the Green Party (DPP) and Blue Party (KMT) in Taiwan 

4:40 How the Taiwanese people view themselves vs mainland Chinese 

15:02 Taiwan taboos: politics and military preparedness 

15:27 Effect of Ukraine conflict on Taiwanese opinion 

29:56 Lack of realistic military planning 

37:20 Is there a political solution to reunification with China? What influence does the U.S. have? 

51:34 The likelihood of peaceful reunification of Taiwan and China 

56:45 Honest views on Taiwanese and U.S. military readiness for a conflict with China