As the G7 met in Canada in June to discuss global economic and security issues, China was aggressively courting its Central Asian neighbors. Beijing’s diplomatic push also overlapped with U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprising decision to intervene in the military conflict between Israel and Iran. With the United States distracted in the Middle East and China gathering new allies in Asia, has Taiwan become more vulnerable? Meanwhile, Taipei has attempted to protect its world-leading semiconductor industry by imposing new restrictions on China’s Huawei and SMIC. But are these bans too late to make a difference? In this episode, we discuss China’s Central Asia push, the U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict, and what Taiwan is doing to defend its economic and national security amid these geopolitical shifts. Our guests: Lin Pei-hsiang Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Ronan Fu Academia Sinica Institute of Political Science Assistant Research Fellow Chapters: 00:00:00 – China’s Diplomatic Push in Central Asia 00:00:48 – Is Beijing Rallying Support against Taiwan? 00:09:18 – Could Middle East Tension Expose Taiwan? 00:16:41 – Why Is Taipei Targeting Huawei, SMIC? 00:21:40 – Is Chip Ban Too Little, Too Late?#IranIsraelConflict #MiddleEast #G7 #GroupofSeven #DonaldTrump #USMilitary #Airstrikes #XiJinping #TaiwanStrait #PeoplesLiberationArmy #PLA #CentralAsia #ChineseForeignPolicy #USForeignPolicy #Semiconductors #ChipIndustry #TaiwanEconomy #Protectionism #TaiwanUSRelations #CrossStrait #TaiwanCrisis #TaiwanContingency #SMIC #Huawei #TaiwanTalks
