Ketagalan Media: Save the Sinking Ship: Can the KMT Reform?
By all measures, the January 2020 election was a blowout re-election for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). She set a record for the most votes ever received in a presidential election in Taiwan, and increased her margin of victory over her opponents from 56.1% to 57.1%–a remarkable feat for an […]
Ketagalan Media: The Race Is On: The Next Chairman of the KMT
… The KMT is a financial disaster, they have lost the support of younger voters by decisive margins, are far out of the mainstream on the key national sovereignty issue and seem bereft of new ideas. They are in need of radical reform and a new vision in order to secure a future (see parts […]
Podcast: Current Affairs Taiwan (CAT) 台灣時事 01-28-2020 Episode 30
This week Michael Turton (麥哲恩) is on vacation (but still is with us this week with a new article on Report.tw), so Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) is joined by Scott Ellinger (陳鷹), former US military and AIT official. Dragonslayer Jessica Drun took on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the World Health Organization over […]
Video: Current Affairs Taiwan (CAT) 台灣時事 01-28-2020 Episode 30
This week Michael Turton (麥哲恩) is on vacation (but still is with us this week with a new article on Report.tw), so Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) is joined by Scott Ellinger (陳鷹), former US military and AIT official. Dragonslayer Jessica Drun took on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the World Health Organization over […]
A Fifth of Column: A few comments on the 2020 Taiwan Election
The dominant narrative of Tsai’s comeback makes great copy but it is the wrong framing. We all know the story. A popular challenger comes out of nowhere to challenge the President, who is down in the polls. The KMT candidate, persistently down in the polls, takes action to suppress and distort embarrassing poll data, which […]
Podcast: Current Affairs Taiwan (CAT) 台灣時事 01-20-2020 Episode 29
Hosts Michael Turton (麥哲恩) and Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) tackle the KMT chair race and the many calls for reform of the party, many of which are quite sensible–such as scrapping the 1992 consensus and bringing the party’s China policies in line with mainstream public opinion–but will the party enact them. Only two candidates for […]
Video: Current Affairs Taiwan (CAT) 台灣時事 01-20-2020 Episode 29
Hosts Michael Turton (麥哲恩) and Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) tackle the KMT chair race and the many calls for reform of the party, many of which are quite sensible–such as scrapping the 1992 consensus and bringing the party’s China policies in line with mainstream public opinion–but will the party enact them. Only two candidates for […]
The Diplomat: James Soong: The End of an (Authoritarian) Era in Taiwan
Amid the coverage of Tsai Ing-wen’s resounding victory and re-election as president of Taiwan last week, scant attention was given to political veteran James Soong’s showing. The former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweight finished a distant third place with just 4.25 of the vote. This represented a drop of more than 8.5 percent from his […]
Current Affairs Taiwan (CAT) 台灣時事 12.30.2019 Episode 26
This week, hosts Michael Turton (麥哲恩) and Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) discuss the presidential debate, the future of the KMT, polling and how youth have turned away from the KMT. The “anti-infiltration” bill proposed by the DPP causes concerns, as does the infiltration itself–but it’s a tricky line to balance if freedoms are to be […]
Current Affairs Taiwan (CAT) 台灣時事 12.30.2019 Episode 26
This week, hosts Michael Turton (麥哲恩) and Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) discuss the presidential debate, the future of the KMT, polling and how youth have turned away from the KMT. The “anti-infiltration” bill proposed by the DPP causes concerns, as does the infiltration itself–but it’s a tricky line to balance if freedoms are to be […]
