The island of Taiwan and its strait the Taiwan Strait are the gateway to the South China Sea which stretches from Taiwan to Malaysia. One third of the world’s shipping traffic sail through these waters every year. And because of this Taiwan is one of the most dangerous flashpoints in global politics today. China believes Taiwan is part of China and that includes the Taiwan Strait.  Many countries support Taiwan as an independent country and the Strait as international waters.   One school of thought is that China’s Xi Jinping is moving closer to invading Taiwan and the U.S. has vowed to defend it.  Oh, and there’s another thing, remember from Episode 2, Taiwan produces over 60 per cent of all semiconductors and 93 per cent of the most advanced chips.

Mortal Giants is hosted by Sandy Garossino and Vina Najibulla.  Sandy is a former crown prosecutor and has been the public affairs columnist for Canada’s National Observer responsible for some groundbreaking investigations.  Vina is the vice-president of Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada- Asia relations.