Ep 21: From Separatist to Fellow Traveler (w/ Roger)

What happens when someone raised at the heart of the Taiwan separatist movement walks away from it all?

In this episode, we sit down with the son of a well-known longtime activist — someone who grew up steeped in the rhetoric of FAPA, WUFI, and various Taiwan separatist organizations back when a sizeable portion of the movement operated from exile. Once surrounded by ideological fervor, he now views Taiwan separatism as a political dead end and instead advocates for cross-strait reconciliation — doing business on the mainland and even self-identifying as a fellow traveler of the CPC!

We talk about the class and demographic makeup of the Taiwan lobby in America, how many of its early members came from benshengren PMC families, and why the movement rarely included working-class or waishengren voices. We trace how the Taiwan separatist movement was deeply shaped by the New Left in America, how groups like WUFI once plotted assassinations and terrorist attacks, and how the KMT responded with its own dark alliances — including targeted killings in coordination with organized crime.

From the rise of the DPP to the weaponization of wokeness, we explore how Taiwan's politics are entangled with American ideological currents. And we ask hard questions: Why do second-gen ABCs so often get recruited into causes they barely understand? What happens when identity politics becomes a tool of empire? And how do we move forward — honestly, pragmatically, and with historical clarity?

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