Our CBC team of Adrian Di Virgilio, Angela Johnston and myself were in the great position of being able to report from Taiwan a few months back. People, including the two girls in the photo, seemed very happy to talk about politics and the island’s future. Taipei was an impressive city, easy going and well worth a visit. We had the chance to meet with the island’s most senior leaders and file several stories on micro-processors, civil defence and the mood surrounding China. A couple of takeaways: many young people don’t believe there will be a war with the mainland; they value their freedom but – perhaps rather oddly – don’t seem especially worried about losing it. Not a single analyst we spoke to really seemed to know what the future holds. No one would predict a forceful Chinese take over, but none were prepared to rule it out either. And so, given the ambiguity, civil defence preparations continue in the hopes they are never needed.
