It has been a sweltering few months in Taiwan's political scene with partisanship intensifying in domestic politics, increased cross-strait tensions and unfolding US tariffs.

At the end of June, I was fortunate to meet up with two of Taiwan's leading columnists and political analysts from the central city of Taichung.

Courtney Donovan Smith is a staff columnist with the Taipei Times whose regular column, Donovan's Deep Dives shares in-depth analysis on everything about Taiwan's political scene and geopolitics. He is also the central Taiwan correspondent for ICRT FM Radio.

Michael Turton is also a contributing columnist for the Taipei Times. His column, Notes from Central Taiwan provides incisive commentary informed by three decades of living in and writing about his adoptive country.

I met up with Donovan and Michael to talk about the lead up to the Great Recall vote, President Lai's leadership, party dynamics, trade pressures and what it all means for Taiwan's future.

Date of Recording, June 24th, 2025.


#TaiwanPolitics, #CrossStraitTensions, #PresidentLai, #TaiwanPodcast, #USChinaTrade, #USTariffs, #TaiwanRecall, #PartisanPolitics, #EastAsiaPolitics, #TaiwanNews, #TaipeiTimes, #ICRT, #MichaelTurton, #CourtneyDonovanSmith, #NeiloPodcast, #AsiaGeopolitics