Ahead of the inauguration of Lai Ching-te as the new president, the KMT has continued to call for the revival of the Special Investigation Division of the Ministry of Justice...
Taiwanese civil society groups held a press conference in the legislature on February 2nd to call attention to the third anniversary of the coup in Myanmar, which overturned the democratically elected government and instituted a military regime...
Environmentalists called on the government to take further action against carbon emissions ahead of the Lunar New Year. In particular, the Environmental Justice Foundation and other groups filed a constitutional lawsuit calling for swifter action and a clearer timeline for action on environmental goals. The Climate Change Response Act was criticized for not having short-term and medium-term goals in terms of action to be taken on climate change...
On December 28, 2023, Reuters and CNN reported a disconcerting incident involving Mayday, a Taiwanese rock band, who found themselves entangled in a request from Chinese authorities to make pro-Beijing statements. As reported by CNN, the authorities demanded a public statement affirming the unity of China and Taiwan as a single nation. The band’s refusal to comply resulted in consequences related to alleged lip-synching, which is referred to as “deceptive singing (假唱)” in Chinese. This accusation carries the potential for fines or even performance bans under Chinese law. These developments stemmed from their December concert in Shanghai and are potentially connected to Taiwan’s presidential election in January 2024, prompting an ongoing investigation....
The 2024 Taiwanese presidential election has garnered substantial international attention due to the ever-intricate US-Taiwan-China relationship. However, this election means more to the Taiwanese than just how they want to engage with China. Contrarily, domestic issues carried much more weight than usual, including housing prices, economic policies, transportation infrastructure, and, for the first time in the centre of the competition, the Assisted Reproductive Act...
A few months before the presidential elections, I gave a talk in Taipei on the responsible recruitment of migrant workers, where they do not bear the cost of their job recruitment and begin their employment saddled by debt. Afterwards, a participant came up to ask me which presidential candidate I thought would stand the best chance to reform Taiwan’s labour recruitment system towards the Employers Pays Principle, where the costs of recruitment are borne by the employers...