Taiwan Independence Advocate Minze Chien

The Strait Up Podcast

This week, I bring you the last of my interviews conducted during a recent trip to Washington DC. This time we have the President of FAPA (Formosan Association for Public Affairs) Minze Chien (簡明子). FAPA is a DC-based organization whose mission is to educate US policymakers about Taiwan, with the goal of establishing official diplomatic relations between the US and Taiwan. They also advocate for full Taiwanese independence. We interviewed Chien in-person at FAPA’s Washington office. Given the less-than-perfect recording environment, you will hear some background street noise during the interview, so my apologies for that.

Obviously, Taiwan independence is a very controversial topic in both Taiwan and in the United States. The current DPP government in Taiwan claims that Taiwan is already independent under the name The Republic of China, but many in Taiwan who consider themselves independence advocates feel that this falls short of true independence, and the issue remains a third rail in Taiwanese politics. The US’ official one-china policy also does not support Taiwanese independence, and the US government has repeatedly stated this position many times even recently. Given the sensitivity of the issue, I should state clearly that the opinions expressed by Minze Chien are those of himself and FAPA alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of this show or of Radio Taiwan International.

All that being said, it was really great to speak with Chien, as an unabashed advocate for Taiwan independence. He is very clear about FAPA’s goals to this end, and given how the subject is often danced around in domestic Taiwanese politics, it's refreshing to hear someone talk about it publicly in such a straightforward manner. Not only does he support independence for Taiwan, but naturally he also completely rejects the US one-china policy and China’s one-China principle. FAPA also has several near-term goals, which you will hear us discuss in the early part of this interview, but even these are all in service of the greater goal of having the US government treat Taiwan exactly the same as it would any other independent country, even if Taiwan has not yet declared independence.

Beyond discussing FAPA’s near-term goals, we also discuss how Taiwan has become part of mainstream US politics, the support for independence within Taiwan, and other topics. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.