The issue of American beef and pork imports into Taiwan has dominated the Taiwanese news cycle for days at this point, and it is rare to see such a clear example of hypocrisy from politicians. The two major parties, the KMT and the DPP, switched sides and now occupy opposite positions on the same issue...
A wave of backlash has ensued against the KMT after comments by a party representative at the party’s recent national congress arguing that the contents of the National Palace Museum’s collection belong to the party and can be considered a party asset. In particular, the comments are seen as reflective of the authoritarian views of the KMT, in that despite Taiwan’s democratization, some members of the party still view the KMT as synonymous with the state...
The KMT National Congress, which took place over the weekend, led to the party reemphasizing its commitment to the institutions of the ROC and the 1992 Consensus as the core values of the party. As such, the results of the National Congress indicate that the KMT intends to stay the course where cross-strait policy is concerned...
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed a new design for the Taiwanese passport on Wednesday. The new passport design was unveiled under the auspices of preventing confusion between Taiwan and China, a particularly salient issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tsai administration cited cases of Taiwanese travelers being mistaken for Chinese travelers in the course of the pandemic—due to the words “Republic of China” on the passport—to justify the change...
A visit by an 89-member diplomatic delegation from the Czech Republic to Taiwan came to an end tonight, with members of the delegation departing Taiwan. Among the delegation were Czech Senate president Milos Vystrcil and Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib. The delegation arrived on Sunday before departing today, staying a total of six days...
The Tsai administration surprised last week, with the announcement that it intended to open Taiwan up to beef and pork imports from America. The move is one which is clearly aimed at removing one of the major political hurdles to a bilateral trade agreement with the US, the US having made this into a precondition of a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan for well over a decade...
The NPP saw its central committee elections last week, with a three-day voting period ending on August 27th, and results announced on August 28th. However, after a month that saw a series of departures from the party, the voting process again saw controversy after Kaohsiung city councilor Huang Jie abruptly withdrew from the party on August 26th, when the party was still in the middle of its voting. The final results led to Kao Yu-ting's elections as party chair...
A dispute regarding COVID-19 testing recently broke out between the Changhua county government, and the Centers for Disease Control, the national body under the Ministry of Health and Welfare that coordinates Taiwan’s fight against COVID-19...
The NPP has continued to see controversy, with the departure of city councilor Tseng Wen-hsueh after a purported recording of an internal meeting was leaked on a Facebook page...
The KMT continues with its efforts to tar the DPP as an authoritarian party, as reflected in a number of recent actions. This is, of course, highly ironic for the KMT, which itself ruled over Taiwan for decades during the authoritarian period, which once saw the world’s longest martial law period...
