Kerry Brown | It's Taiwan All The Way Down... 'The Greatest Geopolitical Question Of The 21st Century'

Youtube - https://youtu.be/4MWFzPXQPY8 Curious Worldview Newsletter - https://curiousworldview.beehiiv.com/subscribe Taiwan is the greatest geopolitical question of the 21st century says Kerry Brown,  sinologist, and former Diplomat to the British Embassy in Beijing.  He is, I am thrilled to say the guest on todays podcast. A sinologist is a scholar and expert of China, its language, history, politics, and culture - and the theme today is top to bottom the myriad questions looming over one of the largest political issues for China… Taiwan.  Kerry published a book last year called The Taiwan Story: How a Small Island Will Dictate the Global Future. It is marvelous, and my hope was to do as much justice to the various questions which Kerry approaches Taiwan with as possible in a brief podcast. The big questions being, the economy, given Taiwan’s semi conductor supremacy with its home grown TSMC, the perplexing idea that Xi would view Taiwanese reunification as the most significant achievement to his legacy, how a more fractured, less unified global order creates lots of wiggle room, Taiwan’s history, and that despite having 95% Han ethnicity, what is it about Taiwan which makes them a distinctly different culture to China, Kerrys feeling for the inevitability of an attempt at reunification and lots more between those cracks.  00:00 - Kerry Brown 01:20 - Big Opportunity For China 04:13 - Brief Taiwan History 07:33 - TSMC 24:09 - What China Thinks Of Taiwan 37:42 - Taiwanese Identity & Culture 50:14 - It’s All Xi 52:35 - Opinions Of Taiwan 58:30 - Kerry’s Life Work 1:06:00 - Kevin Rudd & Australia 1:16:30 - Indonesia & Serendipity 🍻☕: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ryanhogg Follow me on Instagram – @ryanfhogg