Taiwan usually appears in Western media because of the simmering conflict with mainland China or its global dominance in the semiconductor industry. The entrepreneur and podcaster Emily Y. Wu lets us in on other issues that are moving the Taiwanese people today beyond these two topics. In this episode, she gives an insight into her work and her country – one of only three “full democracies” in Asia.

Wu explains how metal music and politics fit together, what tensions still remain between the various ethnic groups in Taiwan and how she lives with the constant threat of a Chinese invasion.

Furthermore, the ifa magazine KULTURAUSTAUSCH has dedicated its current issue II/2023 to Taiwan. In doing so, it also sheds light on topics beyond the current news situation and offers other perspectives on the island state in the West Pacific.

For English articles from the current edition of KULTURAUSTAUSCH, you can visit the website at kulturaustausch.de or order the German print issue of the magazine here: https://www.kulturaustausch.de/de/bestellen/bestellung

To listen to Freddy Lim’s personal playlist, click here: https://www.kulturaustausch.de/de/archiv/dossiers/taiwan/playlist

If you want to learn more about Taiwan’s approach on cultural diplomacy, you can download our country report on Taiwan: https://culturalrelations.ifa.de/forschung-detail/taiwan-country-report/

If you would like to find out more about Emily Wu’s work, listen to her podcast „Metalhead Politics“.

All previous episodes of “Die Kulturmittler:innen”, e.g. on feminist foreign policy or our special episodes on Ukraine, can be found here: https://www.ifa.de/ifa-podcast/

Do you have topic requests or feedback? Feel free to send them to podcast@ifa.de.

More information on the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen at https://www.ifa.de.