In July of 2024, we brought talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, east Coast at Westchester University, where I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Taiwan’s, former vice President, Dr. Chen Chen (陳建仁). We talked about how Dr. Chen was trained to be an epidemiologist and was initially reluctant to go into politics, but then fate intervened and changed his mind when SARS hit Taiwan in 2003, and his experience handling the SARS outbreak as Taiwan’s Minister of Health played an important role preparing him to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as Taiwan’s Vice President.
I asked Dr. Chen why it’s important for Taiwan to be a member of the WHO World Health Organization and about the challenges he’s faced as the Vice President and Premier of Taiwan. how he overcame them and why he decided not to run as Vice President with Tsai Ing-wen for a second term.
And finally, for some context, at the time of the interview, the Bluebird movement had emerged in Taiwan a month and a half earlier. I touched upon this with Dr. Chen briefly at the end of the interview.
At the time, more than a hundred thousand people in total had taken to the streets of Taiwan in a series of massive protests. It was a very public objection to controversial bills passed by Taiwan’s opposition controlled Legislative Yuan. After interviewing Dr. Chen, I was left thinking if only the world had more politicians like him with a public service mindset, the world would be a better place.
This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.
Related Links:
Dr. Chen Chien-Jen (陳建仁): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Chien-jen
SARS outbreak: https://www.who.int/health-topics/severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome#tab=tab_1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%932004_SARS_outbreak
Taiwan’s Victory in COVID-19 Control | Dr. Chen Chien-Jen (陳建仁): https://youtu.be/PvZfhjdlTq0?si=nbuE16IXCZCB-dpl
The Coronavirus: A Crash Course by Taiwan Vice President Chen Chien-Jen (Multi-language Version): https://youtu.be/tI3KJLRKkE0?si=jrFnVwGTOjlSn4aW
You Shi Kun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Si-kun
Chen Shui-bian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Shui-bian
Former President Tsai Ing-wen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsai_Ing-wen
Tsai Ing-wen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/iingwen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsai_Ing-wen
President Lai Ching-te: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_Ching-te
https://english.president.gov.tw/Page/644
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hsiao_Bi-khi
https://english.president.gov.tw/Page/649
Legislative Yuan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Yuan
Ma Ying-jeou: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Ying-jeou
Pope Francis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
VP to give up pension, return to research: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/05/15/2003736444
Chen Chien-jen becomes Taiwan’s first vice president to give up pension: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/393
Taiwan’s Response to the Coronavirus: An Interview with Dr. Brian Chang Ep 70
Taiwan’s Response to the Coronavirus: An Interview with Dr. Brian Chang Ep 70: https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwans-response-coronavirus-interview-dr-brian-chang/
Richard Wang Announcer of Taiwan Baseball Games: First Pro Sports Since Covid-19 Pandemic Ep 77
Richard Wang Announcer of Taiwan Baseball Games: First Pro Sports Since Covid-19 Pandemic Ep 77: https://talkingtaiwan.com/richard-wang-announcer-of-taiwan-baseball-games-ep-77/
Bluebird Movement: 3 Experts Discuss the Controversial Bills Leading to Protests at the Legislative Yuan Ep 286: https://talkingtaiwan.com/bluebird-movement-3-experts-discuss-the-controversial-bills-leading-to-protests-at-the-legislative-yuan-ep-286/
An Oral History of TAC-EC by Three Past Organizers: Talking with Terry Tsao, Su-Mei Kao, and Powen Wang Ep 298: https://talkingtaiwan.com/an-oral-history-of-tacec-by-three-past-organizers-talking-with-terry-tsao-sue-mei-kao-and-powen-wang-ep-298/