Talking Taiwan

Courtney Donovan Smith discusses the 9-1 Local Elections in Taiwan.

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After reading Nancy Chen Baldwin's book, One Thousand Layers of Water and Clouds: The Tale of A Taiwanese Daughter, and taking some time to digest it, I decided to interview Nancy (born Lai Shui-yun / 賴水雲) on Google Meet and to invite Talking Taiwan's listeners to join us, but instead of having a Q&A afterward, I wanted to hold a private healing circle discussion.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/nancy-chen-baldwin-%e8%b3%b4%e6%b0%b4%e9%9b%b2-shares-about-her-unimaginable-childhood-ep-366/

Nancy's book touches upon child molestation, neglect, abandonment and emotional trauma. The idea of having...

Wan-jen Lin (林宛蓁) is an award-winning architect who has worked on Weiwuying (衛武營) National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts  along with her husband Ching-Mou Hou (侯慶謀) Together they formed studio HOU x LIN, an architecture and urban design firm, and some of the projects that they have worked on as studio HOU x LIN include the Echo Across the Harbor (大港迴聲) public art installation located at Kaohsiung's Penglai Commercial Port, and the Kaohsiung Train Station.

Just recently, in September of 2026, Echo Across the Harbor won the Artistic Creation Award at Taiwan's 10th Public Art Awards, presented by the Ministry of Culture. And in 2024 Echo...

While Felicia was away attending the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations (WFTA) meeting, that was held in Helsinki, Finland this year, back in New York the annual UN for Taiwan Rally was taking place on Saturday, September 12th. Kaju was there and he spoke with Dr. Dean Shih (史書華) who is now serving as President of TAIUNA, Taiwan United Nations Alliance. We met and interviewed Dr. Shih last year at the Taiwanese American Conference West Coast, so this was a follow up episode of sorts. Kaju also spoke with Anna Tung.

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In July of 2025, we brought Talking Taiwan to the Taiwanese American Conference West Coast hosted in San Francisco/Silicon Valley, where we interviewed several of the conference's speakers.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/from-the-sunflower-to-the-bluebird-and-great-recall-movement-a-conversation-with-dr-dean-shih-%e5%8f%b2%e6%9b%b8%e8%8f%af-ep-363/

Dr. Dean Shih (史書華). Dr. Shih is a dentist by training and he shared how he got involved in Taiwan's social movements and the Great Recall. This interview was recorded before July 26th, the first vote to recall 24 Chinese Kuomintang legislators.

This episode is sponsored in part by the Pacifi...

This year marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. September 11, 2001 when four commercial passenger airplanes were hijacked by terrorists linked to the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda. Two of the planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City causing the twin towers to collapse and a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The passengers and crew of the fourth plane fought the hijackers, and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-american-voices-remembered-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-9-11-ep-362/

Cl...

The last time that Taipei elected a mayor from the Democratic Progressive Party was Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 1994. At the time it seemed like some kind of a breakthrough because Taipei is known to be a Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang stronghold. During his tenure as mayor of Taipei, Chen Shui-bian had a very high public approval rating of over 70% to nearly 80%. In spite of this he was not reelected for a second term. Instead, the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected mayor of Taipei. Now nearly 30 years have passed and none of the DPP mayoral candidates have been able to get elect...

In July Puma Shen (沈伯洋) who's currently a Legislator in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan came to the U.S. for an eight-day trip. Puma is an Associate Professor at National Taipei University's Graduate School of Criminology, Co-Founder of Doublethink Lab, Co-Founder of Kuma Academy, and this year's Taipei City mayoral candidate for Democratic Progressive Party.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/meet-puma-shen-%e6%b2%88%e4%bc%af%e6%b4%8b-the-democratic-progressive-party-legislator-running-for-taipei-mayor-ep-360/

It's been nearly 30 years since Taipei has elected a DPP mayor and Puma most definitely has an uphill battle because Taipei voters usually...

Earlier this year, in March we met and interviewed 13-year-old artist Ashton Yeh right before the opening of his debut exhibition in New York. Born in Taiwan Ashton moved to Japan to immerse himself in his passion for animation and Japanese Manga. He has already had successful solo shows in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and the Philippines. Ashton's artwork is a vibrant portal of monsters, pop-culture-inspired creatures, and imaginative worlds.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/ashton-yeh-13-year-old-taiwanese-imaginative-artist-does-exhibitions-around-the-world-ep-359/

We had a lot of fun meeting and speaking with Ashton. What a cr...

Vincent Hsu (徐崇育) is a Taiwanese bassist, composer and the leader of Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz band. We sat down to speak a few days before his concert, Spirits from Both Sides. The concert was held on August 15th at Flushing Town Hall with Vincent and Arturo O'Farrill- a six-time GRAMMY Award winner and two-time Latin GRAMMY Award winner. Hsu planned to premiere a big-band arrangement of his Taiwanese Trilogy Music Suite (台灣人三部曲), at the August 15th  performance.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/vincent-hsu-%e5%be%90%e5%b4%87%e8%82%b2-award-winning-taiwanese-jazz-bassist-composer-bridges-cultures-through-his-musical-works-ep-358/

We talked about the pa...

We were invited to help out with book packing for an organization called Books for Taiwan, which was spearheaded by Amy Lin (賴淑娟). In July the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in New York gave Amy the Community Spirit Award and we are sharing her inspiring story in this episode. The concept behind Books for Taiwan, is pretty straightforward. They collect children's books and ship them to schools, organizations and businesses in Taiwan.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/books-for-taiwan-founder-amy-lin-changes-lives-one-book-at-a-time-ep-357/

Books for Taiwan collects books that are stored at a warehouse donated to them located in New Je...

This year Taiwanese Waves is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and will be back at SummerStage in New York City's Central Park's Rumsey Playfield on Sunday August 16th. Doors open at 5:00pm. When Taiwanese Waves debuted in 2016, it set an all-time record for the highest single-day attendance at SummerStage. And since then it's continued to introduce audiences to Taiwanese Music.

This year's lineup includes Golden Melody Award regulars 9m88, YELLOW and ØZI.

You'll also be hearing the psychedelic sounds of Mong Tong and from Taiwanese American singer-song writer Chance Emerson, and finally New York's C...

While we were at last year's Taiwanese American Conference West Coast in July of 2025 which was hosted in San Francisco Silicon Valley, we sat down with Akio Yaita (矢板明夫), the keynote speaker of the conference. As a senior journalist at Sankei Shimbun Akio has covered Beijing and Taipei. He's been a strong advocate for Taiwan. In 2024 Akio obtained citizenship in Taiwan and founded the Indo-Pacific Strategy Thinktank.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/akio-yaita-%e7%9f%a2%e6%9d%bf%e6%98%8e%e5%a4%ab-outspoken-taiwan-advocate-in-taiwan-i-can-make-a-bigger-contribution-ep-355/

As we were working on translating and editing our interview with Aki...

The Taiwanese American Arts Council is celebrating its 10th anniversary and third year as an organization in residence on Governors Island. Island Reverence is the theme of this year's residency. I recently sat down to interview three of the artists in residence at TAAC's house 17 on Governors Island: Chia-Che Tsou, Dena Paige-Fischer, and Leon Chuang. Chia-Che has a fascinating story about how he ended up becoming an artist. Dena and Leon both coincidentally grew up with parents who are artists. Dena and Leon's artwork are currently on view at TAAC house 17 on Governors Island until August 2.

Related L...

We were at the dress rehearsal of BIRDY, one Hung Dance's most critically acclaimed productions, which will be premiering in New York at NYU Skirball on July 17 & 18th. BIRDY explores the relationship between freedom, limitation, and identity through a distinctive movement language inspired by Tai Chi, traditional Peking opera and contemporary dance.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/birdy-explores-universal-themes-of-freedom-limitation-and-identity-relevant-to-taiwan-ep-353/

We sat down to speak with Lai Hung-Chung, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Hung Dance about his artistic vision for BIRDY and Wei-Ping Chen the dance company's Operations Director. Lai told us that the themes...

We sat down to speak with Claire Wang (王婉諭), chairwoman of the New Power Party, one of Taiwan political parties, that emerged from the Sunflower Movement. While she never imagined herself going into politics, personal circumstances changed that. She's a powerful example of transforming personal tragedy into action. Wang is a passionate advocate for progressive values and local democracy, from judicial reform and child protection to housing justice. Now she's leading a new chapter for the New Power Party. Last July we brought Talking Taiwan to TAC-WC, the Taiwanese American Conference West Coast hosted in San Francisco/Silicon Valley.

Rel...

Dr. Hsing-Huan Wang is Chairman of the Taiwan Statebuilding party. Last July we sat down to speak with him at TAC-WC, the Taiwanese American Conference West Coast hosted in San Francisco/Silicon Valley.  We talked about how he went from studying Buddhist philosophy and aspirations to pursue academic research as a professor, to accidentally becoming a politician. The Taiwan Statebuilding has a clear vision for an independent Taiwan and a Taiwanese Republic. The party also takes a hard line on China as an enemy state.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-hsing-huan-wang-chairman-of-the-taiwan-statebuilding-party-an-unwavering-voice-for-taiwans-independence-ep-351/

This interview w...

Happy Pride month! Cony Hsieh is President of the Kaohsiung Pride Parade Association. We recently spoke with Cony about her experience as a lesbian woman serving in Taiwan's military, and how she hopes her research on gender issues in the military can help push for reform in Taiwan's military.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/cony-hsieh-kaohsiung-pride-president-focuses-on-lgbtq-issues-and-reforming-taiwans-military-ep-350/

She's also a podcaster and her podcast 微叛逆ê副駕 (which has been translated as "The Slightly Rebellious Co-pilot") is about LGBTQ+ life experiences and gender issues in the military. She once created 28 days of podcast episodes covering a range of LGBTQ+ expe...

This year's Taiwan Pride Float at the New York City Pride March was inspired by Taiwan's Betel Nut Beauty culture. The concept and design was conceived by Nymphia Wind, who was already an established drag queen in Taiwan when she won RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 in 2024.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/nymphia-wind-brings-taiwans-betel-nut-beauty-culture-to-the-new-york-pride-march-ep-349/

Nymphia dedicated her win to Taiwan and that same year Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Nymphia and invited her to perform at the presidential office. In 2024 Nymphia also appeared on the Taiwan Pride Float at the New York City Pride March...

Jotham Hung is a ceramic artist and educator based in Southern California reflecting on his early experiences with art. Late last year I sat down to speak with Jotham about his evolution and journey to becoming a full-time educator artist and he shared the dark moment that led to his creative process which has resulted in pieces that reflect the themes of deconstruction & reconstruction, damage & repair.

If you think you're not creative, don't write yourself off. Jotham believes everyone is an artist and has the potential to be creative.

Late last year, I sat down to speak with John Enger Cheng about the early roots of his creativity in childhood, his creative process as an artist, what it means to him to be Taiwanese American and how that shows up in his art. We also talked about how he maintains a creative practice and believes that inspiration finds you working.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/john-enger-cheng-on-his-creative-process-and-how-inspiration-finds-you-working-tuf-part-2-ep-347/

In this candid conversation, John talks about his artwork that has been inducted into the permanent collection of Taiwanese Art Treasures Preserved Overseas – The Homecoming Ex...

We sat down to speak with George Yin, Board Chair of the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation & Political Law Attorney about his interest in supporting the arts, why he thinks it's important to do so, and how so-called "non-artists" can support the arts and more specifically artists in their community.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/george-yin-arts-advocacy-can-be-a-lifelong-passion-tuf-part-1-ep-346/

This episode is sponsored by the Taiwanese United Fund (TUF). TUF is an arts and culture foundation that celebrates the cultural heritages of Taiwanese Americans. Established in 1986, the foundation's mission is to facilitate cultural exchange between...

We stepped out in the drizzling rain for this year's Passport to Taiwan on Sunday, May 24th in New York City's Union Square Park, and were happy to see that the weather hadn't put much of a damper on the number people that came out for this annual tradition.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/passport-to-taiwan-2026-making-our-rounds-with-taiwanese-community-organizations-fapa-tccny-natma-ep-345/

We made our rounds and spoke to people at some of the booths representing different Taiwanese American community organizations including the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce New York, (TCCNY) and the...

In part two of our interview with Vickie Wang (王宇平), she talked about how the COVID lockdown of 2022 in Shanghai affected her mental health, her thoughts on the Great Recall movement in Taiwan last year, how she questions her Taiwanese-ness i.e. if she's Taiwanese enough, generative propaganda, and how she got into stand-up comedy. Vickie Wang a writer, interpreter, and stand-up comedian born and raised in Taiwan. Now based in New City York she co-produces a monthly stand-up show called Wang's World Comedy.

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Vickie Wang (王宇平) is a writer, interpreter, and stand-up comedian born and raised in Taiwan. She's lived in Shanghai, China for nearly a decade, where she started doing stand-up comedy under censorship. Last year I sat down to interview Vickie. in part one of my interview with Vickie, we talked about the perceptions and attitudes that many Taiwanese have about the Chinese, and on the other end how the Chinese she met in China perceived the Taiwanese and Taiwan.

We also talked what it was like for her to go through the strict COVID lockdown in Shanghai in 2022. Now ba...

Every year we try to dedicate an episode of Talking Taiwan to 228, an important date in Taiwan's history, marking the 228 Massacre. 228 stands for February 28 1947. February 28th is now commemorated as a national holiday in Taiwan known as the 228 Peace Memorial Day.

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However, the 228 Massacre is not confined to this single date in history. There were circumstances leading up what happened on February 28th and there were also subsequent events after February 28th which escalated into bloody violence and massacres leading to what some refer to a...

Last July, we brought Talking Taiwan to the 2025 Taiwanese American Conference, West Coast. While we were there, I sat down to speak with Dr. Shih-Fen Chen (陳時奮), who's also been known by his pen name Wēngdáruì (翁達瑞). Dr. Chen is Professor Emeritus at Ivey Business School, and a Professor at Western Washington University. He's an outspoken political commentator, self-described as a scholar with a sense of responsibility to reveal the truth.

This episode is sponsored in part by the Pacific Times (太平洋時報)

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Back in April 2021 we covered news about a record breaking 25 Chinese air force aircraft including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers that entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ). At the time 25 seemed like an alarming number. It was the largest incursion by Chinese military planes into Taiwan's ADIZ to date.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/chinas-alarming-gray-zone-tactics-around-taiwan-and-its-neighboring-nations-in-asia-ep-340/

To be clear these sorts of activities had been going on long before this and long before September of 2020 which is about the time that Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense started to publicly report...

At the end of 2024 I sat down with Dr. Meng Chiang, the Executive Director of the 2024 Taiwanese American Conference- East Coast. We had a really wonderful heart-centered conversation about the conference theme Collective Memory and that led to collective trauma as it relates to the Taiwanese and Taiwanese American communities. We talked about the 4 types of trauma responses, the 4 Fs- flight, fight, freeze and fawn and post-traumatic growth.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/collective-memory-collective-trauma-a-conversation-with-meng-chiang-ep-339/

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sharon Huang, who passed away in December of 2025. She was a...

It's time to reveal the Top 5 episodes of Talking Taiwan in 2025. What's notable about these 5 episodes is that they are among the most popular Talking Taiwan episodes of all time.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwan-top-5-of-2025-award-winner-end-of-year-review-ep-338/

But before revealing the Top 5 episodes of 2025, let's take look back on 2025, which was a busy year for Talking Taiwan! We hosted the inaugural Talking Taiwan Fundraising Gala at the elegant Eichholtz showroom in New York City in April. It was truly a magical memorable night. In April we were also...

In July of 2024, we brought talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference (TAC), East Coast at Westchester University.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-charm-of-tainan-taiwans-oldest-city-a-talk-with-author-and-historian-jinyu-hsieh-%e8%ac%9d%e9%87%91%e9%ad%9a-ep-337/

Jinyu Hsieh (謝金魚), one of the speakers at TAC is a writer and a historian. I sat down to talk to her about the charm of Tainan, located in southern Taiwan. It is the oldest city in Taiwan and was founded in 1624. In 2024, Tainan was celebrating its 400th anniversary.

This episode is sponsored in part b...

To commemorate its anniversary on December 10th, we thought this would be a great time to reshare one of our most popular CLASSIC episodes, an interview we did with Taiwan Democracy fighter Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達) in 2024 about events leading up to the HISTORIC Kaohsiung Incident.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-linda-gail-arrigo-taiwan-democracy-fighter-talks-about-events-leading-up-to-the-kaohsiung-incident-classic-ep-336/

Last year when we were in Taiwan in January for the presidential election, we were privileged to meet Dr. Linda Gail Arrigo, Ai Linda (艾琳達) in Taipei and sat down for a one-on-one interview. Few have experienced such historic events first-hand i...

Earlier this year, on March 30, at the Taiwan Center in Flushing NY, FAPA (Formosan Association for Public Affairs) hosted a panel discussion, Lessons from the Battlefield: What Taiwan Can Learn From Ukraine. Representatives from the Ukrainian community, Razom for Ukraine and Dignitas Ukraine and FAPA discussed how NGOs can strengthen advocacy, humanitarian aid, and international collaboration. 

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/what-taiwan-can-learn-from-ukraine-a-panel-hosted-by-fapa-part-2-ep-335/

It was a very substantive discussion that we wanted to record and share with FAPA's permission to our listeners. This episode part two is the second hal...

Earlier this year, on March 30, at the Taiwan Center in Flushing NY, FAPA (Formosan Association for Public Affairs) hosted a panel discussion, Lessons from the Battlefield: What Taiwan Can Learn From Ukraine. Representatives from the Ukrainian community, Razom for Ukraine and Dignitas Ukraine and FAPA discussed how NGOs can strengthen advocacy, humanitarian aid, and international collaboration. 

Related Links:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/what-taiwan-can-learn-from-ukraine-a-panel-discussion-hosted-by-fapa-part-1-ep-334/

It was a very substantive discussion that we wanted to record and share with FAPA's permission to our listeners. This episode part one is the first hal...

I recently sat down with Dr. Raymond Kuo, Director of RAND's Taiwan Policy Initiative and Catherine Kish, Research Assistant and Chinese Language Specialist at RAND to talk about their War on the Rocks article, "Taiwan's Will to Fight Isn't the Problem."

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/does-taiwan-have-the-will-to-fight-ep-333/

Later on in the interview we also talked about how Taiwan could leverage its diaspora.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/does-taiwan-have-the-will-to-fight-ep-333/

Get Access to the Replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala Make a Donation at Humanitix

We had Peter Lin's AAPI Jazz Collective perform, and food catered by 886 Restaurant, DAE tea and Taiwan Beer. It...

Dr. Yang Szu Pang (楊斯棓) is an author and speaker. He has donated 100% of his books royalties to causes and organizations that he cares about. He has been invited to speak at several Taiwanese American conferences and communities across the country.

In July of 2024 he sat down to speak with at the Taiwanese American Conference East Coast which was held at Westchester University. We talked about a broad range of topics from how to be financially prepared to care of aging, ailing parents to his most recent book, It Only Takes One, where the title of the books comes...

Wang Guo-ren's deer sculpture measures well over 10 feet if you include its antlers. Constructed completely of fallen pieces of wood and tree branches that have been colorfully painted, the deer seems to have magically taken up residence on the lawn outside of the Taiwanese American Arts Council House 17.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/eco-art-on-island-the-deer-god-and-wearable-art-now-at-governors-island-house-17-ep-330/

Inside of the house we spoke with Julia Hsia about her exhibit "Wear Enough" which includes artifacts made with paper and receipts.

In September we ventured over to Governors Island to...

In this episode, the husband-and-wife team, gypsy jazz and classical guitarist Antoine Boyer and chromatic harmonica player Yeore Kim shared about their real life "Love in Taipei" story. He's from France and she's from South Korea, so music was their first common language. We also talked about how they navigate their partnership as life partners and as musical partners, and their debut duet album You and I.

If you'd like to know more about Antoine you can check out Kaju's in-depth interview with Antoine on YouTube

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https://tal...

On Friday, September 12th at the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza which is across from the UN Headquarters, in New York representatives from the Taiwan United Nations Alliance or TAIUNA, an NGO from Taiwan, held a press conference urging the UN to include Taiwan in its system. TAIUNA Youth Representatives performed a dance, a white protest of Taiwan's exclusion from the UN.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiunas-white-protest-of-taiwans-exclusion-from-the-un-ep-328/

September is when the UN General Assembly takes place and delegates from TAIUNA have been coming to New York for the past twenty years to call for T...