Why is China holding private, closed-door meetings with democratic leaders — including in Ireland — despite growing warnings about CCP influence operations? And how does this secrecy connect to Beijing’s global effort to reshape the narrative around the Uyghur crisis?

In this episode, Irish anthropologist Dr. David O’Brien joins us to share insights from his time living and researching in Xinjiang in the mid 2000's. We explore how the Chinese Communist Party uses covert diplomacy, narrative manipulation, and state-aligned “human rights” organizations like the China Federation for Human Rights Development (CFHRD) to obscure evidence of human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims.

Dr. O’Brien discusses what he witnessed on the ground, the impact of the 2022 UN Human Rights report and international sanctions, evidence of population reduction and forced sterilization, and the broader challenge China poses to universal human rights. We also examine how the United Front Work Department conducts influence operations within democratic countries — often out of public view.

This episode exposes the high-stakes battle over truth, transparency, and human rights in the face of authoritarian pressure.

Date of Recording: October 31st, 2025.

As Ireland prepares to assume the EU Presidency in 2026, its cautious approach to Taiwan continues to draw attention. Why does Ireland remain an outlier among EU member states in its engagement with Taipei, and how much is that caution driven by concerns about Ireland–China relations?

In this episode, we speak with John McGuinness, Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow–Kilkenny, and Chairman of the Ireland–Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, about his recent visit to Taiwan and meeting with President William Lai. We discuss opportunities for cooperation under Ireland’s National Semiconductor Strategy, potential trade growth in the semiconductor industry, agri-food exports, and technology sectors — and whether Ireland is missing key trade opportunities with Taiwan. We also explore how China’s influence and EU foreign policy dynamics are shaping Ireland’s diplomatic balancing act between Beijing and Taipei.

Date of Recording: November 7th, 2025

Thumbnail picture courtesy of the Office of the President, Republic of China, Taiwan.

#Ireland, #Taiwan, #China, #EU, #ForeignPolicy, #Trade, #Semiconductors

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long pursued a multi-pronged strategy to annex Taiwan — a campaign that has intensified in recent years. From near-daily military incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and territorial waters to provocative blockade exercises around the island, Beijing is steadily increasing pressure. Alongside these military threats, the CCP is waging a parallel campaign of propaganda, disinformation, and grey-zone activities — including infiltration of Taiwan’s government, military, and broader society.

Now, in a new twist, reports suggest that China’s leader Xi Jinping may use upcoming trade talks with the United States to pressure President Donald Trump into publicly opposing Taiwanese independence. On the surface, this might seem far-fetched — especially with Trump often cast as the “Dealmaker-in-Chief.” So why does Beijing believe it can gain the upper hand?

In this episode, we explore China’s strategic response to U.S. tariffs and examine the leverage the CCP holds in its complex relationship with Washington. We also assess how Trump-era foreign policy is shaping U.S.-Taiwan relations — and how Beijing is exploiting global uncertainty to push forward its authoritarian ambitions.

.

.

Credits:

Sound Soul (This Logo Reveal) by Diamond_Tunes via Pixabay

Chinese Asian Music by SoundGalleryDT via Pixabay

Translator voice by ElevenLabs.io

.

.

#ChinaTaiwan #TaiwanStrait #TaiwanUnderThreat #ChinaThreat #USChinaRelations #IndoPacific #XiJinping #Taiwan #TaiwanIndependence #CCP #Geopolitics #TradeWar #RareEarths #Trump #ChinaLeverage #Podcast #Talk #PodcastAlert

Our daily news feeds are dominated by active conflicts—but what about the tensions simmering just below the surface, with global stakes just as high?

One of the most strategically significant, yet underreported flashpoints in the world is the Taiwan Strait—a 180km-wide body of international water separating Taiwan from mainland China. It's here that grey zone activity by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is escalating on a near-daily basis.

In this episode of Perspectives with Neilo, we explore:

The CCP’s claim on Taiwan—and why it’s historically weaker than Britain's claim on Ireland

Taiwan’s democratic identity and its people’s overwhelming rejection of CCP rule

The rise of grey zone warfare, military drills, and coercive tactics by China

The impact of U.S. strategic ambiguity and why the U.S. might be pulled into a war with China

Why Europe and the West must care about Taiwan’s future

🎙️ My guest is Bill Emmott—author of Deterrence, Diplomacy and the Risk of Conflict over Taiwan (2024), former editor-in-chief of The Economist, and one of the most respected voices in international affairs. We recorded this episode on the sidelines of the MacGill Summer School in July 2025.

We dive deep into the risks of conflict, the future of U.S.-China relations, and how the world can avoid sleepwalking into a war over Taiwan.

🔗 Resources:

Check out our blog at www.pwneilo.com for more information.

Credits:

Thumbnail map shows the locations of China’s military drills around Taiwan. The blue blocks represent war games held in 2022, the yellow and red blocks represent the “Joint Sword 2024” drills. Photo: Screen grab from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command’s Sina Weibo account courtesy of the Taipei Times. Link in blog.

Music:

even darker variation by SamuelFJohanns via Pixabay

Cinematic Piano Ambient Trailer Soundtrack by Open-Music-for-Videos via Pixabay

#Taiwan #China #Geopolitics #TaiwanStrait #ForeignPolicy #BillEmmott #PerspectivesWithNeilo #USChinaRelations #PLA #CCP #MacGill2025 #GreyZoneWarfare #TaiwanMatters #GlobalSecurity #AsiaPacific

The European Union’s trade deficit with China has doubled over the past decade, fuelling growing frustration in Brussels over what officials describe as a flood of low-cost Chinese products into the EU.

Beijing’s continued support for Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is also a major sticking point. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas called China the “key enabler” of Putin’s war and urged Beijing to halt its support to Russia’s military-industrial base. In response, China has indicated that it does not want to see Russia lose the war.

It was not surprising then that a summit in Beijing between top EU and Chinese leaders at the end of July produced few tangible results.

Just ahead of the summit, I spoke with Finbarr Bermingham, Europe Correspondent for the South China Morning Post, to explore what’s really driving the tensions in EU–China trade. We discussed the growing trade imbalance and how China’s rare earth export controls and unwavering support for Russia are reshaping the relationship.

.

Date of Recording: Friday July 18th, 2025

.

.

#ChinaEU, #TradeTensions, #GeopoliticsPodcast, #RareEarths, #UkraineWar, #EUForeignPolicy, #ChinaRussia, #EUChinaSummit, #IPI, #FSR, #ForeignSubsidiesRegulation, #EU-ChinaNews, #rareearthmineralschina

It has been a sweltering few months in Taiwan's political scene with partisanship intensifying in domestic politics, increased cross-strait tensions and unfolding US tariffs.

At the end of June, I was fortunate to meet up with two of Taiwan's leading columnists and political analysts from the central city of Taichung.

Courtney Donovan Smith is a staff columnist with the Taipei Times whose regular column, Donovan's Deep Dives shares in-depth analysis on everything about Taiwan's political scene and geopolitics. He is also the central Taiwan correspondent for ICRT FM Radio.

Michael Turton is also a contributing columnist for the Taipei Times. His column, Notes from Central Taiwan provides incisive commentary informed by three decades of living in and writing about his adoptive country.

I met up with Donovan and Michael to talk about the lead up to the Great Recall vote, President Lai's leadership, party dynamics, trade pressures and what it all means for Taiwan's future.

Date of Recording, June 24th, 2025.

#TaiwanPolitics, #CrossStraitTensions, #PresidentLai, #TaiwanPodcast, #USChinaTrade, #USTariffs, #TaiwanRecall, #PartisanPolitics, #EastAsiaPolitics, #TaiwanNews, #TaipeiTimes, #ICRT, #MichaelTurton, #CourtneyDonovanSmith, #NeiloPodcast, #AsiaGeopolitics

On July 26th, nearly one-third of Taiwan’s electorate were eligible to vote in the first wave of what’s being called The Great Recall (大罷免) — a rarely used mechanism allowing voters to dismiss nationally elected lawmakers midterm. This marks the first time the process has been deployed on such a large scale with 24 lawmakers from the Kuomintang (KMT) or Chinese Nationalist Party on the ballot.

The vote result is being closely watched as it has the potential to alter the balance of power in Taiwan’s parliament, which has seen months of political deadlock between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the opposition KMT and their allies.

In this episode we dive into the outcome of that vote. We break down the results, highlight the key takeaways, discuss the reactions and review how these results are likely to shape the remaining term of Taiwan’s current administration.

#Taiwan, #GreatRecall, #KMTRecall, #DPP, #ChinaInfluence, #Taiwanelection, #RecallVote2025, #TaiwanDemocracy, #PoliticalPodcast, #Geopolitics, #ProDemocracy, #DemocracyInAsia, #TaiwanVotes, #CivicEngagement

Welcome to the fourth installment in our series on Taiwan’s Great Recall in which we aim to bring you perspectives from all sides of the debate at this important moment in Taiwan’s democratic journey.

In our earlier episodes in this series, we spoke with a political scientist, a pro-recall grass roots organization and a Kuomintang or KMT (中國國民黨) representative. Feel free to go back and listen to those episodes which you can find on our blog at pwneilo.com or by searching for Perspectives with Neilo wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to hit the Subscribe or Follow button as it would really help us a lot!

As we explained in previous episodes, this unprecedented KMT recall stems from a public backlash against months of legislative gridlock, budgetary obstruction, and interference with Taiwan’s highest court—including accusations of collusion with the Chinese Communist Party.

While the recall effort is mostly organized by civil society organizations, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party or DPP (民主進步黨) has recently begun to engage more visibly as the first voting day approaches. Taiwan’s President and DPP party leader Lai Ching-te (賴清德) has also been conducting a series of 10 speeches at various civic centers around Taiwan which media reports indicate is a likely effort to boost DPP turnout in the voting.

Clearly, if enough KMT lawmakers can be unseated and the DPP can reclaim their seats in the follow on election, it would dramatically shift the balance of power in Taiwan’s parliament.

One of the KMT candidates on the recall ballot for July 26th is Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇). She is the deputy secretary general of the KMT legislative caucus and was last elected to the single seater District 3 in Taipei in 2024 with over 52% of the vote. Prior to becoming a national politician she was a Taipei City councillor and before that worked in Journalism.

While Wang Hung-wei is no stranger to controversy, people we spoke to say they are most concerned about her close ties to China. They cite her visit to Beijing in 2024 with KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-Chi (傅崐萁) and their meeting with top CCP politburo official Wang Huning (王滬寧) - a meeting for which they were not able to obtain any readout.

The reason many constituents worry about such meetings is because Wang Huning is credited with being the CCP’s leading ideologist since the 1980s and is also the leader of the organization tasked with what the CCP call the “peaceful reunification of Taiwan".

At the end of June, I went along to a neighborhood gathering at a small cafe in the Songshan district of Taipei. It was organized by the Wang Hung-wei recall group.

I was interested to find out more about the group, hear more about the concerns that were causing them to recall Wang Hong Wei and get their reactions to the questions and accusations from the anti-recall camp.

Subscribe to Perspectives with Neilo for upcoming episodes and updates on Taiwan’s Great Recall.

Follow us on Instagram and YouTube for exclusive behind-the-scenes content, short clips, and lots more.

#TaiwanPolitics, #TaiwanRecall, #DemocracyInAction, #KMTRecall, #TaiwanElections, #RecallVote2025, #CivicEngagement, #TaiwanDemocracy, #perspectiveswithneilo, #politicalpodcast, #TaiwanPodcasts, #GrassRootsMovement, #ProDemocracy, #ElectoralReform, #CivilSocietyVoices, #StopCCPInfluence, #TaiwanVotes, #PeoplePower

Welcome to the third installment in our series on Taiwan's Great Recall (大罷免) in which we aim to bring you perspectives from all sides of the debate at this important moment in Taiwan's democratic journey.

As the days count down to July 26th, campaigning by both the pro and anti recall groups in Taiwan is gaining momentum. These recall campaigns are a result of a power struggle between different branches of Taiwan’s government - the Legislative Yuan which is controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party or KMT with their smaller ally the Taiwan People’s Party, and the Executive Yuan which is controlled by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party or DPP.

In the last election back in January of 2024, the KMT won 52 seats in the Legislative Yuan and combined with the 8 seats of the smaller Taiwan People’s Party as well as two independents, they command a clear majority over the DPP who currently hold 51 seats.

The KMT and TPP have, according to critics, used this majority to assert and boost legislative power and have sought to block the ruling party’s agenda, freeze or cut budgets, undermine Taiwan's constitutional order and weaken efforts to bolster defense capabilities against growing Chinese military threats.

Civil Society recall groups also express concerns with KMT lawmakers' frequent visits to China and meetings with senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party while the parliament was in session. They accuse the KMT of collusion with the CCP with some - like UMC founder and chip tycoon Robert Tsao going so far as to say that “Beijing wants to use the KMT to annex Taiwan” and calling the KMT - “China’s Trojan Horse” - that’s according to a report by news outlet Nikkei Asia.

In this third episode in our series on Taiwan’s Great Recall, we speak with Chance Hsu (須予謙) who is the Assistant Director of International Affairs for the KMT. We sat down with him in Taipei in early July to hear the party’s official response to these recalls and understand why the KMT think they are politically motivated. We also wanted to hear the KMT’s response to the concerns raised by the different civic groups, talk about their controversial budget cuts and discuss the party’s connections with China.

Date of Recording: July 1st, 2025

Post Interview Update: Taiwan’s Central Election Commission announced on July 2nd that recalls for two more KMT lawmakers will take place on August 23rd. This brings the total to 26 KMT lawmakers now facing potential removal.

Subscribe to Perspectives with Neilo for upcoming episodes featuring additional content on Taiwan’s Great Recall.

Follow us on Instagram and YouTube for exclusive behind-the-scenes content, short clips, and lots more.

#TaiwanRecall, #TaiwanGreatRecall, #TaiwanPolitics, #KMTRecall, #TaiwanDemocracy, #DPPvsKMT, #TaiwanLegislativeYuan, #RecallMovement, #TaiwanNews, #TaiwanNow, #TaiwanPodcast, #July26Recall, #TaiwanVotes, #CCPInfluence, #RobertTsao, #TaiwanCivilSociety, #DefendTaiwan, #KMTChinaTies, #DemocracyInAsia, #CivicActivism

#GeoPolitics

Welcome to the second installment in our series on Taiwan’s Great Recall in which we aim to bring you perspectives from all sides of the debate at this important moment in Taiwan’s democratic journey.

As we explained in our first episode, since the last election in January of 2024, Taiwan’s parliament or Legislative Yuan has been controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their smaller ally the Taiwan People’s Party who according to opponents have sought to block the ruling party’s agenda, freeze or cut budgets, undermine Taiwan's constitutional order and weaken efforts to bolster defense capabilities against growing Chinese military threats.

The KMT insist that they are seeking to strengthen and protect Taiwan’s democracy and say these recalls are politically motivated. They accuse the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of instigating the recall campaign, of mobilizing civic groups and attempting to use recalls to eliminate the opposition.

On a Friday afternoon in early June, I met up with members of Public Collaborative Tactics, a grassroots pro-recall group based at Jinan Presbyterian Church—just steps away from the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.

I was really interested to find out how the group came together and what motivates their cause. I also wanted to hear their thoughts on the Chinese Nationalist Party or KMT and if they had particular concerns about the party’s behavior. I also asked if they had connections with any political parties and how they were funded - but to begin the group introduced themselves and then told me how they all came together.

Subscribe to Perspectives with Neilo for upcoming episodes featuring interviews with KMT officials, protest leaders, and more.

Follow us on Instagram and YouTube for exclusive behind-the-scenes content, short clips, and lots more.

#TaiwanPolitics, #TaiwanGreatRecall, #DemocracyInAsia, #KMTvsDPP, #CivicActivism, #Taiwan2024, #PerspectivesWithNeilo, #PwNeiloPodcast, #TaiwanNews, #RecallMovement, #TaiwanCivicGroups, #JinanChurch, #Geopolitics