Taipei City Councillor, Miao Poya 苗博雅 @miaopoya is a member of Taiwan's Social Democratic Party and was first elected to the council in 2018. She is one of 13 councillors representing the Da'an - Wenshan district of Taipei, an area with an electorate of 400,000 people.
When first elected at the age of 31, she was one of Taiwan's first openly lesbian council members. She advocates for workers rights, care of children and the elderly as well as Taiwanese sovereignty and independence. She has held official council positions as Convener of Taipei City Council Transportation Committee and Convener of Taipei City Council Reform Caucus.
I sat down with her recently to talk about the upcoming Taiwan Presidential election, the difficulties of engaging with authoritarian regimes, the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Taiwan public opinion and how her constituents perceive China's unrelenting gray warfare attacks.
Date of Recording: May 15th, 2023
DIVE DEEPER
Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode;
- Taipei City Council website
- Miao Poya Wikipedia
- Taiwan Ministry of National Defense website Tw @MoNDefense