According to Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, the next-generation Taiwanese indigenous fighter plane is under development. This, in Tsai’s words, is to continue her administration’s defense policy...
Energy policy remains a highly controversial policy arena in Taiwan after democratization, given its importance for Taiwan’s security, environmental sustainability and economic development. Under the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen, the agenda of “Nuclear-free Homeland 2025” (2025非核家園) proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016 has been subject to political challenges, which involved the debates about the use of nuclear energy beyond 2025 and the reduced capacity of coal-fired electricity plants for air pollution mitigation. The policy strategy to replace nuclear energy with rapid solar energy development has also faced enormous social challenges as its large-scale installation conflicts with the existing land uses...
The KMT has begun leaning into political attacks on the national text alert sent out by the Ministry of National Defense yesterday. These attacks have increasingly taken the tenor of alleging that the text message alert was not a mistake, in that the English wording of the alert referred to the satellite launch as a "missile" launch, but a fake incident entirely concocted by the DPP for the sake of elections. The KMT has focused attacks on this rather than criticizing the substance of the text message alert, which led to confusion, or the Tsai administration itself’s apparent confusion. The incident takes place mere days before the presidential election is to take place on Saturday...
The KMT called on Premier Chen Chien-jen to report to the legislature about Medigen contracts yesterday. Chen emphasized that there was nothing illicit about the deal during his report...
The 2024 legislative election represents a pivotal struggle for the NPP’s survival. They must not only safeguard the crucial 5% threshold of party votes but also aim for a breakthrough in geographical constituencies amidst competition from other parties. To sustain themselves, they need to ensure at least three legislators remain in their party caucus. The outcome of this election will be decisive for their future...
A text message alert sounded this afternoon in Taiwan shortly after 3 PM, alerting that a rocket had been fired over Taiwan. What ensued, however, was significant confusion between the English and Chinese. The Chinese stated that a “satellite” had been fired over Taiwan by China. By contrast, the English stated that a “missile” had been fired over Taiwan...
For decades, Taiwan has lived under Beijing’s constant military threat of “reunification.” However, Taiwan is often portrayed by Chinese propagandists as a “troublemaker” capable of destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region or making China “upset about everything we [Taiwan] do, about our existence,” as Taiwan’s ex-ambassador to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim noted. Taiwan’s independence, be it a political appeal or an objective reality, is provocative to the CCP. The CCP’s mouthpieces have effectively convinced numerous international observers to discourage Taiwan’s quest for independence and characterized Taiwan’s autonomy as an affront to the Chinese people....
Taiwan's domestic submarine program has again become an object of political contestation between the pan-Green and pan-Blue camps. In particular, this occurred after the indictments of two South Korean engineers on charges related to leaks of South Korean submarine technology...
Recent KMT rallies have had an interesting refrain–calling on voters to not vote for Ko Wen-je. This occurs even as the KMT sought to keep the door open for future collaboration between the two parties in other messaging, such as the presidential and vice presidential debates...