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TAIWAN HISTORY - Formosa Files Episodes

Sept. 12, 2024

S4-E23 - Taiwan’s President in Exile – Thomas Liao.

This forgotten father of Taiwan democracy sacrificed his comfortable life (he came from a rich family and had a PhD from the US in Chemical Engineering) to fight for Taiwanese independence in the post-WW2 decades. In 1956 he was elected …

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Nov. 30, 2023

[ENCORE] Henry Kissinger (and president Nixon) Go to China, and Every…

Henry Alfred Kissinger died on November 29, 2023 at the age of 100. This incredibly controversial figure was a massive player in US politics and policies during the last four decades of the 20th century. Among the most consequential choices …

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Oct. 12, 2023

[ENCORE] The 4,300-Kilometer Chase of an Illegal Taiwanese Fishing Bo…

Taiwan loves seafood, and boats from this island trawl for yummy ocean offerings thousands of kilometers away from our shores. Taiwanese fishing vessels are very good at what they do, but they weren't always so good in how they did …

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July 13, 2023

S3-E18 - Getting Arrested in Taiwan - With Lawyer Ross D. Feingold

Formosa Files and Taipei-based lawyer Ross Feingold very much hope you never get arrested in Taiwan, or anywhere else for that matter. But should this unfortunate event occur, what are your rights? Does Taiwan require search warrants? Are there "Miranda …

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July 4, 2023

Bonus Episode: AIT/K: The American Institute in Taiwan - Kaohsiung Br…

It's the Fourth of July! Happy 247th Birthday, America! It's estimated that around 80,000 U.S. nationals live and work in Taiwan; most, however, do so in the north. But the U.S. State Department has never forgotten southern Taiwan! The American …

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June 22, 2023

Bonus Episode: Eryk Calls John for a Meanderingly Interesting Chat

Now that we're well into Formosa Files season three, your co-hosts add some background to stories we've told, try to clear up misconceptions about the ROC’s exit from the United Nations, make some “controversial” comments on Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and …

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June 15, 2023

S3-E14 - The Three “Pearl Harbors” of the Chinese Communist Party - w…

Author of The Final Struggle, Ian Easton, sits down for a long chat with Eryk about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It's remarkable how close to extinction the CPP came, not once, but thrice. This is a story of spies …

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April 13, 2023

S3-E9 - Nixon and Kissinger Grovel in China, and Taiwan's “China” Day…

Long hailed as a “historic diplomatic breakthrough,” the reality is that US president Richard Nixon's 1972 trip to China has been rather oversold. Yes, the brief Mao-Nixon meeting did start a thaw in relations, but Nixon may have given more …

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March 10, 2022

S2-E1 - The CIA vs. Made in Taiwan Nukes

After the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, nations around the world began thinking about acquiring nuclear weapons of their own. Among them was China, then ruled by supreme leader Chiang Kai-shek. The Nationalists' retreat to Taiwan …

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Sept. 30, 2021

S1-E7 - Luzon or Formosa? - Taiwan Dodges WWII Invasion

World War II in the Pacific is coming to a close... American military top brass meets with the President to pick the island from which to launch the final attack on Japan. Taiwan -- in particular, southern Taiwan -- is …

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Sept. 30, 2021

S1-E6 - Big Crises on Tiny Islands

The Korean War is over, and Mao turns again to the mission of invading Taiwan. To do that, his forces will need to first take some tiny islands just off the coast of China... which is easier said than done. …

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Sept. 25, 2021

S1-E5 - Rioters Ransack the Taipei U.S. Embassy (1957)

A U.S. officer shoots dead a 'Peeping Tom' allegedly spying on the officer's wife as she took a shower. The subsequent trial and verdict lead to the incredible -- yet little-known -- story of riots that ransacked the US embassy …

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