Kuomintang

Taiwan Reopens Borders, Even as COVID Policy Continues to Be Politically Contested

Taiwan is set for reopening, with visa-free entry reinstated for the US, Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia in mid-September. Other countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines were added in late September. Likewise, quarantines are to be phased out today, October 13th. Instead of three-day quarantines, followed by a four-day self-health management period, there will be a shift towards seven days of self-health management...

Mental Health Used for Political Attacks in Kaohsiung Race, Rather Than Discussed as a Significant Issue

Recent attacks on the DPP mayor of Kaohsiung, Chen Chi-mai, from the KMT’s Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en have hinged around the city’s suicide rate. Ko has pointed to the fact that eight bodies of Kaohsiung residents were found in Kaohsiung’s river in 37 days as a sign of Chen’s poor performance as mayor, insofar as it has affected the mental health of Kaohsiung residents. Ko has otherwise pointed to that there were 4,700 suicides in Kaohsiung in the past ten years, though Kaohsiung’s Health Bureau also responded that suicides were highest in 2019, during Han Kuo-yu’s brief tenure as mayor...

KMT Continues to Be Caught in a Bind Regarding 1992 Consensus

The KMT has experienced further controversy regarding the 1992 Consensus, following a recent interview by party chair Eric Chu with Deutsche Welle, as well as an article published by the CPPCC Daily, a Chinese state-run media outlet. It may not be surprising to note that both incidents have been leveraged on by the pan-Green camp for political ammunition, particularly given that the KMT’s unwillingness to swerve away from the 1992 Consensus continues to be a major weakness for the party...

Will Taiwan Be Able to Lower Its Voting Age From One of the World’s Highest?

Questions have been raised about whether an upcoming referendum to lower the voting age to 18 will pass. Concerns have been raised about whether the referendum will meet the referendum may not meet the 9.65 million votes necessary to pass constitutional changes. This means that young people can serve in the army, drink, and are able to vote in national referendums, seeing as changes to the Referendum Act in December 2017 lowered the age for voting in the referendum from 20 to 18, but they cannot vote for elected representatives in Taiwan currently...