An exchange in which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was upbraided by US president Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance will likely be watched carefully in Taiwan. Zelensky was criticized for not being sufficiently thankful for US support and accused of starting the war...
A recent piece by Kaiser Kuo arguing for the fundamental difference between western and Chinese political systems proves the usual, facile apologism for authoritarianism from Kuo. And yet it is not a particularly sophisticated one either–it is the usual reaching for nationalist abstraction, tautological logic, and cherry-picking that one has come to expect from Kuo...
The Taiwanese government has placed two Chinese universities on a blacklist, preventing them from conducting academic exchanges. These universities are the Jinan University in Guangzhou, which has an enrollment of 1,500 Taiwanese nationals, and Huaqiao University in Xiamen, which has an enrollment of 600 Taiwanese nationals...
Several KMT and TPP lawmakers have come under scrutiny over corruption allegations in the past days. However, it is to be seen whether such allegations affect them politically at a time when recall campaigns against all KMT legislators are ongoing...
With US president Donald Trump having threatened to hit Taiwan with tariffs over semiconductors, it is unclear how this ill-baked idea of Trump’s will continue...
Former Sunflower Movement participant Johanne Liou is to be deported from the US next month, facing charges related to drug trafficking and fraud. The arrest was conducted by ICE, with Taiwanese authorities stating that they requested Liou’s extradition. Liou did not appear at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in 2023, which resulted in charges against her...
Taiwan reported record-high tax revenue for 2024, with 3.73 trillion NT in taxes collected. This is a larger windfall than expected, in that there were 497.2 billion NT more in taxes than budgeted for by the government. The extra revenue is due to strong exports, as well as stock gains because of market enthusiasm about artificial intelligence...
Huang Kuo-chang was elected chair of the TPP this weekend. Huang’s victory was by overwhelming margins, in that he defeated his only competitor, former legislator Tsai Pi-ru, by 8,903 votes to 360. As such, Huang won 96.11% of votes, while Tsai only won 3.89% of votes...
Former KMT legislator Chang Hsien-yao faces charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act and Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, in accepting instructions from the Chinese government to interfere with the 2024 presidential elections. Chang traveled to China several times in 2023 as part of receiving instruction, meeting with individuals such as Taiwan Affairs Office director Song Tao, current Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference chair Yeh Yu-shan, and CCP chief ideologist Wang Huning, who has taken a more proactive role in Taiwan matters for the CPP in recent years...
