KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi proposed to lower the military draft earlier this week, suggesting that the draft should again be lowered to four months. The military draft was re-extended to one year by the Tsai administration in December of last year, with the draft having been lowered to four months by the Ma administration...
Ahead of elections next year, the Tsai administration has announced a flurry of plans aimed at improving subsidies for education at the high school and college level. As such, it may not be surprising that the pan-Blue camp has criticized the Tsai administration for only announcing such plans to pander to voters...
In a surprise, former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, who is the presidential candidate of the TPP, has expressed support for passing the CSSTA. Since this came to light, the KMT and presidential candidate Hou You-yi has also come out in support of reviving the CSSTA, though the KMT would be playing catch-up with Ko...
An incident involving a teacher drugging students with sleeping pills in Banqiao, New Taipei, has become a scandal for New Taipei mayor Hou You-yi. Seeing as Hou is running for president as the KMT’s presidential issue, the scandal could prove an issue for his campaigning...
The political narratives that the KMT will lean into for the next election is increasingly clear, as the KMT seeks to frame the DPP as a warmonger seeking conflict with China, while positioning itself as a party of peace. That is, the KMT seeks to frame the DPP as provoking China into hostilities by seeking Taiwanese independence...
Although it is not likely to become the key issue to be voted on, seeing as presidential elections traditionally revolve around the issue of cross-strait relations, the issue of nuclear energy will be an important substrate of the Taiwanese presidential elections. It proves unsurprising, then, that the issue of nuclear energy has again come up as a contentious issue–as it has long been in Taiwan, given Taiwan’s nature as an island country...
The KMT officially announced that its 2024 presidential candidate would be New Taipei mayor Hou You-yi today, putting an end to months of speculation and confusion. Namely, the KMT decided on its choice of presidential candidate through a closed nomination process, rather than an open primary...
In comments made earlier this week, New Taipei mayor Hou You-yi expressed opposition to both Taiwanese independence and Beijing’s “One Country, Two Systems.” This is among the clearest articulation of a cross-strait stance by the New Taipei mayor to date, with Hou angling for the presidential nomination of the KMT. Otherwise, Hou committed to the defense of the ROC, which includes Matsu, Kinmen, and Penghu...
Ahead of elections, one notes that pan-Blue politicians are suddenly changing their tunes on cross-strait relations. This is particularly true with regard to how they articulate Taiwan’s relationship with the US. Such moves take place, however, at a time in which the pan-Blue camp’s cross-strait policy has been overshadowed by former president Ma Ying-jeou’s historic trip to China, as the first former Taiwanese leader to visit China in 70 years, in a similar timeframe to stopovers in the US by current president Tsai Ing-wen in which she met with US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy...
