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Motorcycles and Taiwan with Bing-yu Chiu
55:00Today I have another topic that mostly concerns life in Asia, and especially in Taiwan: the ownership and use of motorcycles. By some metrics Taiwan has the highest level of motorcycle ownership in the world.It’s definitely something you notice when living here in Taiwan, as motorcycles not only cover the roads, but also the sidewalks. But, is it all bad? Are there any benefits to having so many people on motorcycles? And, how did it get tot be this way in the first place?Well, today on the show, I have a specialist on this topic to answer some of these questions. Dr. Bing-yu Chiu is research fellow at the Japan Transport and Tourism Research Institute. He has a PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, has worked as a government consultant on transportation issues, and also published articles on these topics in Taiwanese media (found here and here)This episode is a kind of follow up to an interview I conducted with Dr. Cheng Tsu-jui from National Cheng Kung University, where we discussed road safety and pedestrian issues in Taiwan.In this interview, we discuss rates of motorcycle ownership across the world, the pros and cons of motorcycle heavy societies, the relationship between national income level and motorcycle ownership, the link between public transit and motorcycles, their impact on pedestrians, and many other topics.
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1. The Future of the DPP with Lin Fei-fan
01:03:32Hello and welcome to the NEW Strait Up Podcast, a show about international affairs with a focus on East Asia and of course Taiwan. And, if you’re listening to this that means you’ve found the show’s new home on the new podcast feed, so thanks so much for following me here. IFor my very first guest on Strait Up 2.0, I have none other than Lin Fei-fan. Fei-fan was of course one of the leaders of the student-led Sunflower Movement which began in 2014, before moving into party politics and eventually serving as the deputy secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party or DPP. He now currently serving on the board of the the DPP’s policy think tank the New Frontier Foundation, and is also on the board of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. In this episode, we talk about many topics including Fei-fan’s transition from student leader to party leader, the DPP's future in a divided government, the lesson’s learned in the last election, low wages in Taiwan, and of course we talk a little bit about cross-strait relations.I should say that it’s important to note that although I ask Fei-fan to explain many of the DPPs positions, everything he says in this conversation is only his personal opinion and he is not representing the party in any official capacity. In fact, I was eager to speak to him specifically because he is not currently in the government which I think gives us a little more space to have a more open conversation. Also, I want to apologize about the audio quality on my side of the recording for this episode. I promise that I will never sound that bad again, so don’t hold it against me.
Welcome to the NEW podcast feed!
01:06If you’re hearing this message, that means you’ve found the new RSS feed for this show! So, if you’re an old listener, thanks so much for taking the time to follow me here. If you’re a new listener, welcome to the show! This is a show where I interview experts, lawmakers, and others about topics related to international affairs, especially those related to East Asia and Taiwan. But I’m excited to say that since this show is independent now, I will likely be expanding the kinds of topics and regions covered here. I already have several interviews recorded with some very interesting and exciting guests, so please keep an eye on this feed, and please share it on your socials or with anyone you think would be interested. I will also soon be opening a YouTube channel to go along with the podcast, so stay tuned for announcements about that as well. Thanks again for listening!