In Season 7, Episode 3 of Global Taiwan Insights, Ben Sando interviews Dr. Brett Benson, Associate Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, on his groundbreaking research into Chinese companies selling mass surveillance services to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Using leaks from two Chinese firms—Golaxy and Geedge—Benson has shed light on a private industry leveraging artificial intelligence to conduct massive surveillance of citizens in China, Taiwan, the United States, and around the world. Dr. Benson discusses how such Chinese companies are not only marketing their services to the CCP, but also to authoritarian governments beyond China’s borders.

In Season 7, Episode 2 of Global Taiwan Insights, Ben Sando and Eliza Cormier interview Lotta Danielsson, Executive Vice President of the US-Taiwan Business Council. Lotta shares how Taipei has stimulated investment in air- and sea-based drones that can prepare the island against a PRC attack. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Taiwanese drones have been delivered to Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines, challenging Taiwanese manufacturers to improve their technology.

In Season 7, Episode 1 of Global Taiwan Insights, Ben Sando interviews Mariah Thornton, teaching fellow at the London School of Economics, on her groundbreaking research into Taiwan’s own political warfare system. Taiwan’s Political Warfare Bureau, embedded within the Republic of China military, has existed since the Kuomintang ruled China in the early 20th century. Even after the Kuomintang lost the Chinese Civil War and Taiwan democratized in the 1980s, this political warfare system has continued to operate within Taiwan’s military and society. But as Chinese influence operations surge on the island, this system has renewed purpose.