The possibility of the US establishing an arms stockpile in Taiwan under the provisions of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act has been increasingly discussed in Taiwan. In particular, proponents of such measures and opponents of such measures often divide between the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps...
Chinese nationalist essayist and blogger Zhou Xiaoping recently proposed a resolution at a session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for China to draw up a list of “Taiwanese separatists” to be killed during a “Special Military Operation” to take Taiwan. Zhou later claimed that the resolution had been adopted, though this could have been a way for Zhou to claim his own political relevance...
Reports indicate that a Taiwanese soldier stationed in Kinmen who disappeared from his post is in China. On Saturday, Next Apple reported that the soldier had been found in China and had been rescued by the Chinese Coast Guard after swimming there, while the Ministry of National Defense’s official stance was that the soldier’s location was unclear...
Speculation is on the rise regarding who the KMT intends to field for its next presidential candidate. All indications are that there will be significant in-fighting in the KMT on this matter...
A suspected crime against a gay couple in Zhongli last week has drawn significant public attention, as perhaps one of the most widely reported hate crimes against LGBTQ individuals reported on since the legalization of gay marriage three years ago...
Controversy over the General Mobilization Act has led the Ministry of Defense to drop planned amendments, particularly following a wave of criticism from the pan-Blue camp. The Ministry of Defense now states that it will revise the act with further input, before it takes any action...
The DPP claimed victory in the Nantou legislative by-election over the weekend, with a victory by Frida Tsai over Lin Ming-chen of the KMT. Nantou is traditionally considered pan-Blue territory, as a result of which this is the first time that the DPP has won the legislative seat since the reorganization of the Legislative Yuan in 2008 to have 113 single-member seats. The by-election was to fill the seat vacated by preceding legislator Hsu Shu-hua of the KMT after her victory in the race for Miaoli county magistrate in the November 2022 nine-in-one elections...
Civil society groups held a march today in Taipei to commemorate the 64th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day. Tibetan Uprising Day marks the uprising that took place on March 10th, 1959 against the PRC presence in Tibet, and is commemorated on March 10th each year. Today’s march was part of a series of activities to commemorate Tibetan Uprising Day, including cycling around Taipei in the prior month with Tibetan flags, and a vigil that will be held at Liberty Plaza on Friday...
A piece in The Atlantic in December by Damir Marusic, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, proves yet another example of when soi-disant western experts parachute into Taiwan and conclude they know Taiwan better than Taiwanese in a matter of days....
Civil society groups held a press conference in front of the Taipei Fish Market late last month to call for wi-fi access for migrant fishermen. Participant groups included the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Stella Maris Kaohsiung, Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum, the Humanity Research Consultancy, and Fospi Donggang Pingtung. Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih of the NPP was also present and DPP legislator Hung Sun-han was scheduled to attend but was later unable to make it. According to these groups, this press conference was more than half a year in planning...
