S4-E20 – Democracy Fighter and Taiwan History Professor Gerrit van der Wees

Did you know that all the water buffalo in Taiwan are the
descendants of a group of these bovines from Indonesia (formerly
the Dutch East Indies)? These poor water buffalo were put on a
sailing ship by the Dutch in 1648 and sent to Taiwan!





Who knew? Well, former Dutch diplomat and current
George Mason University Taiwan history professor Gerrit van
der Wees does… and that’s not all he knows.





It was a genuine pleasure to chat with a person who's not only
studied Taiwan extensively but who also played a big role in
Taiwan’s fight to become a democracy. 





The day before former President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down, she
honored van der Wees by conferring on him the Order of
Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon, primarily for his work as chief
editor of Taiwan Communiqué, a bi-monthly publication that
chronicled Taiwan’s transition to democracy from 1980 to
2016.  





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