Taiwan Talk

Cynthia Wu is a successful businesswoman and philanthropist who wears many hats. Most recently, she had been at the Legislative Yuan for just over a year before she was asked to be the running mate of TPP Vice-Presidential Candidate Ko Wen-je. Wu tells I-C-R-T's Hope Ngo what drew her to politics, and what she hopes to achieve as she re-enters civilian life.

Taiwan's Indigenous languages have gone through centuries of social upheaval and marginalisation, But many of these languages still persist in Indigenous communities - and so do the people determined to save, document and revitalise them.

Building a successful wedding and event planning company can't be easy, but it's all in a day's work for Lin Ching Ching of Taipei's Chin Chin Weddings. Hear how the self-confessed "farm girl" built a thriving business by doing something young men and women can dream about -- owning a high-end event planning firm with a designer client roster.

The dust has settled and the 2024 Presidential and Legislative Elections are behind us. What can we expect of the incoming administration, and the new Legislative Yuan? I-C-R-T's Hope Ngo speaks to Sara Newland, Assistant Professor of Government at Smith College and a scholar of local politics in China and Taiwan.

There may not be absentee voting in Taiwan, but that won't keep members of the island's overseas community from weighing in on the elections which happen on January 13. In this special report for ICRT, Keith Menconi reveals how San Francisco-based Taiwanese feel about the polls.

2023 saw the end of COVID restrictions and new iterations of existing trade ties with Western allies. Stanford University Taiwan specialist KharisTempleman looks at the year that was in the area of foreign relations.

YouTube Co-Founder Steve Chen rode out most of the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. The (literal) move gave him the opportunity to study Taiwan's startup ecosystem up close. Has anything changed since that time? He shared his thoughts with I-C-R-T's Hope Ngo in an interview that took place last summer in this encore presentation.

What does it take to introduce a cuisine that not many people may be too familiar with, and turn that into the cornerstone of a Michelin-starred offer? Zea's chef de cuisine Joaquin Elizondo talks about what brought him to Taipei, and the role his restaurant plays in bringing the flavors of Latin America to the island.

Hailing from Ivory Coast, Ange Samuel Kouamé has made his name in Taiwanese football with spectacular goal scoring - and in 2023, he became naturalized as a Taiwanese citizen. He talks with guest host Aspen Beilharz about his story, and how he overcame challenges to reach a footballer’s dream of playing on the world stage.

With most of life returning to normal, few of us remember that it was just a year ago in November that the Taiwan government began easing its COVID-related restrictions. I-C-R-T's Hope Ngo looks back at the conversations she's had with personalities within the food and restaurant industry, as well as hospitality space to ask them what they remember about business in the time of the coronavirus, even if many of us might have forgotten.