Taiwan Brief: KMT women own central Taiwan, transcript
The very first primary of the 2022 electoral season was just completed recently.Using opinion polling, the KMT chose sitting lawmaker Hsu Shu-hua as their candidate for Nantou County Commissioner, whose incumbent will be term-limited out.Unless you’re the Froze, you’re probably thinking who cares about Nantou, and who the heck is she?Hsu Shu-hua was frequently the […]
Taiwan Brief: 3Q Sacked, Freddy Lim next? (transcript)
So, Chen Po-wei (aka 3Q), the only legislator from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party got sacked in a recall vote in the Taichung 2 electoral constituency.This is the third of the so-called “revenge” recalls launched by the pan-blue camp following the successful recall of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu.Chen was very active in that recall campaign, and […]
Taiwan Brief, the KMT just got Chu’d up badly transcript
So, the KMT chair candidates battled it out down to the wire with their differing visions for the future of the party.The results are in, a new chair-elect is making moves while waiting to assume office and the future of the party is now looking…as grim as ever. But before we begin this look at […]
Taiwan Brief: The critical KMT chair race, part 5 transcript
Well, the race for KMT chair has been turned on its head.After the first debate, which I discussed in Parts 3 & 4, the situation was essentially that Eric Chu was the presumed frontrunner, but had been directing his attacks and energies towards heading off Johnny Chiang–who appeared to be nipping at his heels.Cho Po-yuan […]
Taiwan Brief: The critical KMT chair race, part 4, transcript
In our last show we took a deep dive on the KMT candidates, and in this show we’ll take a look at the state of the race, some intriguing hints of change in discourse and tone what the polling tells us, who has endorsed whom and what might be key to winning this thing–and who […]
Taiwan Brief: The critical KMT chair race, part 3, transcript
We now know the candidates for KMT chair. To spare you the suffering, I watched both candidate registrations and presentations, the debate and scoured local media and their social media accounts to bring you a deep dive on the candidates.
Taiwan Brief: The critical KMT chair race, part 2, transcript
Welcome to Taiwan Brief, an in-depth look at topics impacting Taiwan’s future. I’m Donovan Smith in Taichung. This is part two on the topic of the KMT chair race.Part one introduced why this race is a crucial one for not just the party, but the future of Taiwan’s democracy.We also looked at the four already […]
Taiwan Brief: The critical KMT chair race, part 1
This KMT chair race is hugely consequential, and will impact the future of not just the party, but Taiwan’s democracy. In part 1, we look at why it’s important, and the already declared candidates.
Taiwan Headlines, July 19: TPP closes in on KMT in polling
Neither the DPP nor the CEC are doing the KMT any favours. Polling shows DPP and KMT continue to lose support, but lost supporters aren’t to ‘no party’, but other parties–and TPP is now less than 3% behind the KMT.
Taiwan Headlines July 3, warring over elections transcript
The third “revenge recall” is set for Taiwan Statebuilding Party lawmaker Chen Po-wei for Aug. 28–but the Aug. 28 referendums were bumped to December. KMT continues to push for absentee ballots, and shockingly the Executive Yuan will propose a draft.
