FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S5-E5 - South Africa and Taiwan (and the sad story of the South African Airlines Flight 296)

November 28, 1987: South African Airways Flight 295 departs from Taipei bound for Johannesburg. Somewhere near Mauritius, a mysterious fire breaks out. The crew fights hard to extinguish it, but sadly, the plane and all 159 people on board are doomed to a watery grave in the Indian Ocean. The crash of SAA Flight 295 raises questions: What was in the cargo hold? Did the fire have anything to do with banned items or weapons? Plus, we'll tell you why the ROC (Taiwan) and white-ruled South Africa were once very good friends – to the point that Taiwanese were deemed “honorary whites.”

#formosafiles #podcasts #taiwan #history #formosa

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The Formosa Files podcast is sponsored by the FRANK CHEN FOUNDATION (陳啟川先生文教基金會)
Website: https://www.frank-chen.org.tw/

This top-rated history podcast tells stories from the history of Formosa (Taiwan) from circa 1600 C.E. - 2000 C.E., via interesting, lesser-known short stories presented in a non-chronological order.

HOSTS: John Ross is an author and co-founder of publisher Camphor Press, which specializes in books on Taiwan and China in English, while Eryk Michael Smith has worked as a writer and journalist for multiple media outlets in Taiwan, including the island's only English-language radio station ICRT (FM 100.7). Both Ross and Smith have lived in Taiwan for well over 20 years and call the island home.