46 died in a building fire in Kaohsiung yesterday, with at least 41 injured. A total of 55 were taken to the hospital, with 14 found to have no signs of life, while 32 bodies were found on-site by firefighters. The fire is the deadliest in the history of Kaohsiung...
A national controversy has broken out, following the euthanizing of 154 cats that were being smuggled into Taiwan on a fishing vessel. The cats, which included breeds such as American shorthair, British shorthair, Persian, Ragdoll, and Russian blue, were worth over 10 million NT. The cats were found in 62 cages on the vessel, which had a crew of five...
After the defeat of the KMT’s candidate, Jane Lee, also known as Lee Mei-jhen, in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election last Saturday, the KMT has seen some internal contestation from party members that have called on the party leadership to take the results of the by-election to heart...
It took few by surprise that Chen Chi-mai of the DPP was the winner of the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election today. Chen won by large margins, winning 70% of the vote, and defeating KMT candidate Jane Lee and TPP candidate Wu Yi-jheng. The by-election was the first by-election to replace a mayor who had been recalled from office in Taiwanese history...
With Tsai beginning her second term as president, Tsai’s cabinet saw a minor reshuffle earlier this month. At the same time, with most positions remaining the same, Tsai’s cabinet primarily represents continuity more than anything else...
With the defeat of Michael You and the victory of Cho Jung-tai in DPP chair elections, this has been read by many as signaling a mandate of confidence from DPP members in current president Tsai Ing-wen. Namely, Cho is seen as a Tsai protege, and You ran on a platform primarily characterized by its antagonism to Tsai...
The Han Kuo-yu phenomenon continues full-steam, with constant coverage of Han in the Taiwanese media after his victory in the Kaohsiung mayoral election in late November. However, at the same time, a number of scandals have since emerged about Han’s past actions. And some controversy has begun regarding his early actions as Kaohsiung mayor...
With mayorship of all of Taiwan’s six special municipalities up for the vote in 2018 local elections, the DPP looks like it may have a tough time holding onto its current political dominance in four out of the six municipalities. Some take the view that DPP losses in these municipalities will allow the KMT to rebuild momentum, which is why DPP losses could be worrying...
The two Kaohsiung mayoral debates that took place on November 10th and yesterday, on November 19th, raise a number of questions going forward. In particular, KMT mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu did not perform as well as one would have expected in either debate and so it is to be seen whether the debate will negatively affect his election chances. On the other hand, it is also highly possible that Han voters will simply disregard Han’s debate performance...
In a time in which efforts by KMT politicians to win over the youth vote have generally proven comical, the KMT’s Kaohsiung mayoral candidate, Han Kuo-yu, has proven unexpectedly successful in this...
