Political History Episodes

In the 1930s, a mysterious document known as the Tanaka Memorial shocked the world. Supposedly written by Japanese Prime Minister Baron Tanaka, it outlined a strategy for conquering Manchuria, China, Southeast Asia, and even the United States. As real-life events seemed to unfold according to the a…

We step into the strange Cold War world of The Chairman, a forgotten 1969 spy thriller starring Hollywood great Gregory Peck. The movie, which was partly filmed in Taiwan, is about a scientist sent behind the Bamboo Curtain to steal a miracle agricultural formula. The plot is outlandish, but behind…

In 1904, colonial Taiwan tried to impress America with oolong tea at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Just five years later, two American spies disguised as South African zoologists were secretly roaming Japanese Formosa – but they weren’t investigating tea. They were on a U.S. Army mission to gather mi…

This is part one of the extraordinary life story of Huang Chin-tao (黃金島 Huáng Jīndǎo). In fact, he seemed to live not one life but many; he was a Japanese naval recruit, a combat soldier, a survivor of typhoons and pirates, an armed rebel during the 2-28 Incident of 1947, a man on the run, a prison…

American George H. Kerr was the most important Western eyewitness and chronicler of the February 28 Incident of 1947, the violent uprising and brutal crackdown that shaped Taiwan’s modern politics and identity.Kerr first lived in Taiwan in the late 1930s, when the island was a colony of Japan. …

John talks to Lee Moore about his 2025 book China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read, which focuses on four important China-related stories that often make headlines: Taiwan, Xinjiang, the Chinese economy, and Hong Kong.In this conversation, Lee and John focus on Taiwan b…

The Cold War is heating up as the CIA continues to build a “Third Force” – a democratic alternative to both Mao’s Communists and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists. A secret army is being trained on the islands of Okinawa and Saipan. But when these Chinese special forces are dropped inside the PRC to g…

Standard histories tell us that after fleeing to Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek became America’s staunch Cold War ally – an immovable figure with an iron grip on Fortress Formosa. But behind the scenes, parts of the U.S. government were quietly exploring ways to push him aside. Today we uncover a little-k…

When Japan took control of Taiwan in 1895, it inherited a financial mess: a chaotic mix of chopped silver, copper cash, and foreign coins. The new colony also cost far more to subdue and administer than it brought in. Yet during that demanding first decade, able administrators such as Gotō Shinpei …

We end our Shulinkou trilogy by tying together the surprisingly interconnected Taiwan–U.S.–Vietnam story. It’s July 1964, and two U.S. Navy destroyers are in Taiwan preparing for an intelligence-gathering mission off the coast of North Vietnam. Shulinkou Air Station provided intel, specialized equi…

We continue the story of the Shulinkou Air Station and the American military in the early 1960s. We tackle Taiwan’s infamous gravel-truck killers (urban legend or fact?), get slapped by Typhoon Gloria, and have our duck-hunting excursion interrupted by the Generalissimo’s latest China invasion plan…

It was one of Taiwan’s most secretive Cold War outposts: Shulinkou Air Station (樹林口空軍情報站), a joint-service U.S. intelligence base perched on a misty plateau west of Taipei. Built in 1955, it was a hub for the interception, decryption, and analysis of enemy radio and electronic communications.In…

We’ll let Benjamin Sando, research fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, and our guest for this week’s episode, describe the topic:“From the early days of Han Taiwanese society, through the period of Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨) martial law and on to the era of democratization, the influence of Taiwa…

In 1968, just 23 years after the end of WWII, Japan became the world’s second-largest economy (and would remain so until 2011, when it was overtaken by China). In 1970, Japan highlighted its rise from the ashes by holding the Osaka Expo, a showcase of technology, culture, and confidence — from a mo…

Everyone knew it was coming, but when U.S. President Carter announced on Dec. 15, 1978 that Washington D.C. was switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in two weeks, both the Taiwanese people and the foreign community (then mostly Americans) were shocked.On that historic day of …

Imagine you’re an Allied soldier in the Pacific during WWII. You’re captured by the Japanese, survive brutal conditions as a POW, and the dangerous voyage in a “hell ship” to Japan, where you endure more years of captivity. Finally, in August 1945, the war ends. You’re freed, ready to go home. But …

With sprawling 1,750-acre grounds and a record-setting 12,000-foot runway, CCK stood as America’s most significant Taiwan base during the Vietnam War. At times hosting as many as 8,000 U.S. troops, CCK was a vital airpower logistics hub. From its prime spot near Taichung, CCK orchestrated major Sou…

Long before 1988, Taiwan’s beauty pageants had been mired in rumors — winners accused of marrying into political dynasties, whispers of contests doubling as “wife buffets” for the elite, and government crackdowns on such events being too frivolous in austere times.Even beauty standards themselv…

From Chiang Kai-shek’s nuclear ambitions to the fallout from Chernobyl and Fukushima, Taiwan’s nuclear story has always been controversial. The ROC once came within months of being nuclear-bomb ready, but today, fission is gone from even civilian atomic power generation. This Saturday, Aug. 23, 202…

This episode was released on August 15th, 2025, exactly 80 years after the Empire of Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allies following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today, we bring you a largely forgotten story.In 1944, Japan launched its biggest land campaign of the wa…

In the summer of 1972, Chiang Kai-shek vanished. He missed Double Ten parades. However, Madame Chiang (Soong Mei-ling), and the step-son she loathed (future president Chiang Ching-kuo) carried on as if all was well. There were no press leaks as the president of the Republic of China lay in a coma f…

In this episode, a young American missionary family boards a cargo ship for Taiwan in 1955. What could go wrong? Four weeks, a typhoon, and a customs nightmare later, they arrive in a land where whole-wheat flour is exotic, and blonde kids conjure crowds. Taipei in the 1950s was “fragrant,” with op…

Taiwanese pilots flew combat jets in Saudi uniforms over Arabian skies? Yes. This week, learn about what may seem like an unusual friendship: the close ties between Taiwan and Saudi Arabia. Bonded by oil, anti-Communism, technical exchanges, interest-free loans, and even seedless watermelons, Saudi…

Han Cheung, the man behind Taiwan in Time, the long-running history column in the Taipei Times, returns to tell the story of Taiwan’s first pop star. Liu Ching-hsiang 劉清香  was singing Taiwanese opera in the late 1920s. A few years later, under the stage name Chun-Chun 純純, she became Japanese Formos…