Three serving legislators and a former legislator were found guilty on corruption charges by the Taiwan Taipei District Court earlier this week. The case serves as a reminder of the deeply-rooted nature of corruption charges in Taiwan, as well as how such charges can cut across party lines ...
Hsinchu city mayor Lin Chih-chien was accused by the KMT of plagiarism earlier this week. Lin, who is a DPP politician that won in Hsinchu in 2014, is running as the DPP’s candidate for Taoyuan mayor in elections later this fall...
Taiwan has expressed dissatisfaction after China acted to block imports of grouper last Friday, alleging that it had found oxytetracycline and other prohibited chemicals in excessive amounts in grouper imports from Taiwan. For its part, Taiwan has suggested that China’s actions are politically motivated, similar to China blocking imports of pineapple, wax apple, and custard apple, as a way to hit back at Taiwan’s agricultural sector...
There has been a political firestorm after entertainer Antony Kuo made a viral Facebook post suggesting that there have been more deaths of children from COVID-19 than have been reported by the Central Epidemic Command Center. After the post, a number of suspected content farms posted claims about alleged child deaths due to COVID-19, raising questions about the circulation of misinformation and disinformation versus free speech in Taiwan. Unsurprisingly, the issue became contested between the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps...
Former president Chen Shui-bian was acquitted of corruption charges related to misuse of Presidential Office funds earlier today, following changes to the Accounting Act that were pushed for by the DPP. Chen is not cleared of all charges, however, and so this is not equivalent to a de facto pardon for him...
The question of who the DPP and KMT intend to field as their mayoral candidates in Taipei and Taoyuan has come under scrutiny in recent days, as the primary season comes to a close before nine-in-one elections later this year...
The KMT has sought to attack the Tsai administration over the issue of rapid tests as of late, taking advantage of public outrage over rapid test shortages. This follows a familiar script, seeing as the KMT has sought to use shortages of various medical supplies used to fight COVID-19 to attack the DPP throughout the course of the pandemic...
Backlash from pan-Green legislators has led the Mainland Affairs Council to suspend a plan to allow individuals from Hong Kong and Macau to obtain permanent residency in Taiwan after five years on a work permit. What the incident shows is the dynamics regarding perceptions of Hong Kong in Taiwan at present. Namely, as democratic freedoms continue to deteriorate in Hong Kong, it is increasingly possible that Taiwan simply comes to treat Hong Kong as part of China–and Hongkongers as Chinese. The issue continues to be contested over, with members of the pan-Green camp having not reached a consensus on the issue...
In the past week, some members of the DPP legislative caucus have proposed amending the Anti-Infiltration Act in order to allow for the dissolution of political parties that cooperate with another nation to influence the outcome of an election. In particular, DPP legislator Chiu Chih-wei is the main public backer of the bill...