Ben Graham Jones is an election observer. In his new report “Taiwan POWER” on the 2024 presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan, Jones sets up Taiwan as a model for resilience against foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI).

Jones identifies a set of strengths that's the core of Taiwan’s resilience against FIMI: Purpose-driven, Organic, Whole-society, Evolving, Remit-bound. Jones stresses it’s the bottom-up approach of Taiwan’s civic society that’s made it particularly resilient.

“What’s interesting about Taiwan is we often consider Taiwan to be patient zero of Chinese information operations, Beijing’s information operations… If we are to move from not just defining the problem, but also defining the solution, I think Taiwan is a place that provides a good deal of inspiration to the wider world.”

Jones points to Chinese PRC influence of political elites, often through tourism, and why countries need to understand the work of the United Front.

We also talk about AI, deep fake, media literacy, and where he stands on the responsibility of social media platforms against false information.

The Taiwan 2024 elections took place on January 13, 2024. While the ruling DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) won an unprecedented third consecutive term in office, it lost the majority in parliament. Elections take place in Taiwan every two years. They alternate between national and local elections. The next local elections for mayors, city counselors, and village chiefs should be in November 2026.

Taiwan POWER by Ben Graham Jones, commissioned by DoubleThink Lab, was released in August 2024: https://medium.com/doublethinklab/taiwan-power-a-model-for-resilience-to-foreign-information-manipulation-interference-70ea81f859b7

Previous episodes from Ghost Island Media on disinformation:

“Disinformation: Building Digital Resilience” on Dispatch From Taiwan - with voices from Taiwan FactCheck Center, DoubleThink Lab, and Citizen Lab: https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/01/disinformation-building-digital-resilience

“Influence Operations on PTT” with Oddis J.F. Tsai and J.M. Hung (INDSR): https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/taiwan-take/indsr-ptt-influence-operation

“Disinformation” with Puma Shen (Doublethink Lab): https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/taiwan-take/disinformation-doublethink-lab

“China Information Warfare” with Jeremy Hung (INDSR): https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/taiwan-take/indsr-china-information-war

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“Decathlon: The CK Yang & Rafer Johnson Story” 《奧運傳奇：楊傳廣與強生》is a tribute to one of the greatest Taiwanese Olympians - C.K. Yang - and his American rival and long-time friend, Rafer Johnson.

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, C.K. Yang (Yang Chuan-kwang 楊傳廣) won silver and became the first person with a Chinese surname to win an Olympic medal. Rafer Johnson carried the flag for the U.S.A national team and was the first black American to do so.

The 45-minute film - 18 years in making - was released in August 2024 during the Paris Olympics. Directed by Frank W Chen. Written by Mike Chinoy and John Krich. Interview footage with C.K. Yang, Tom Brokaw, Chi Cheng, Michael Eaves, and more.

Mike Chinoy is an American journalist who spent 24 years as a foreign correspondent for CNN. He was CNN’s first bureau chief in Beijing, and has won the Emmy, the Dupond, and the Peabody Awards for his coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. He is the author of five books. He currently lives in Taipei.

Frank W. Chen is a Taiwanese-Canadian documentary filmmaker. His previous film, “Late Life” (2018) on the Taiwanese MLB pitcher Wang Chien-Ming (New York Yankees, 2005-2007) was nominated for a Golden Horse Award and won audience awards in Los Angeles and Vancouver.

Stream the film here on TaiwanPlus Docs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usbdC5v3LX8

If you’d like to organize a screening in your city, please contact mikechinoy@gmail.com

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EPISODE CREDIT

Host / Emily Y. Wu @emilyywu
Editing / Wayne Tsai
Researcher / Zack Chiang
A Ghost Island Media production / @ghostislandme

www.ghostisland.media

Support the show: https://patreon.com/Taiwan

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taiwanese writer Chi Ta-wei (紀大偉)'s 1996 novel “The Membranes” has seen global success in recent years, with translations in French, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Spanish, Danish, and forthcoming editions in Portuguese, Greek, and Vietnamese.

“The Membranes” is a dystopian fiction set in the 22nd century. Climate change has devastated Earth, and humans now live at the bottom of the sea. The protagonist is a dermatologist named Momo who can read her clients’ memories through their skins.

Chi Ta-wei is an important voice in Taiwanese queer literature.

We talk about the year 1994 - the era of Pulp Fiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Nirvana. In Taipei, a bookstore called FemBooks (女書店) was opened. Artists and students wanting international cinema flocked to the Golden Horse Film Festival.

One of Ta-wei’s contemporaries is the late author Qiu Miaojin (邱妙津). Ta-wei talks about why he and Qiu shared a fondness for Europe. We also talk about the Australian writer and translator Ari Heinrich who worked on English translations for both Chi Ta-wei and Qiu Miaojin.

Chi Ta-Wei also talks about his appreciation for translators, and advice for writers, editors, and publishers who are working on bringing Taiwanese books to the world.

For French listeners, here’s our Interview with theater director Cédric Delorme-Bouchard on the stage adaptation that premiered in Montreal 2024: https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/france-taiwan/membrane-cedric-delorme-bouchard

More on Chi Ta-wei: www.taweichi.com/

Links to the novel “The Membranes”:

(In English) “The Membranes” translated by Ari Heinrich (University of Columbia Press, 2021) - https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-membranes/9780231195713

(En français) “Membrane” traduit par Gwennaël Gaffric (L'Asiathèque. 2020)
https://www.asiatheque.com/fr/livre/membrane

《膜》繁體中文版 (聯經出版, 1996) https://www.linkingbooks.com.tw/LNB/book/Book.aspx?ID=184182&vs=pc

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Support us by donating on Patreon - http://patreon.com/taiwan

EPISODE CREDIT

Host / Emily Y. Wu @emilyywu
Editing / Zack Chiang, Wayne Tsai
Researcher / Skylar Nguyen
A Ghost Island Media production / @ghostislandme

Support the show: https://patreon.com/Taiwan

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.