Welcome to the fourth installment in our series on Taiwan’s Great Recall in which we aim to bring you perspectives from all sides of the debate at this important juncture in Taiwan’s democratic journey.
As we explained in previous episodes, this unprecedented KMT 中國國民黨 recall stems from a public backlash against months of legislative gridlock, budgetary obstruction, and interference with Taiwan’s highest court—including accusations of collusion with the Chinese Communist Party.
While the recall effort is mostly organized by civil society organizations, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 民主進步黨 has recently begun to engage more visibly as the first voting day approaches. Taiwan’s President and DPP leader Lai Ching-te 賴清德 has also been conducting a series of 10 speeches at various civic centers around Taiwan which media reports indicate is a likely effort to boost DPP turnout in the voting.
Clearly, if enough KMT lawmakers are unseated and the DPP can reclaim their seats in the follow-on election, it would dramatically shift the balance of power in Taiwan’s parliament.
One of the KMT candidates on the recall ballot for July 26th is Wang Hung-wei 王鴻薇. She is the deputy secretary general of the KMT legislative caucus and was last elected to the single seater District 3 in Taipei in 2024 with over 52% of the vote. Prior to becoming a national politician she was a Taipei City councillor and before that worked in Journalism.
While Wang Hung-wei is no stranger to controversy, people we spoke to say they are most concerned about her close ties to China. They cite her visit to Beijing in 2024 with KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-Chi 傅崐萁 and their meeting with top CCP politburo official Wang Huning 王滬寧 - a meeting for which they were not able to obtain any readout.
The reason many constituents worry about such meetings is because Wang Huning is credited with being the CCP’s leading ideologist since the 1980s and is also the leader of the organization tasked with what the CCP call the “peaceful reunification of Taiwan".
At the end of June, I went along to a neighborhood gathering at a small cafe in the Songshan district of Taipei. It was organized by the Wang Hung-wei recall group (Insta @wanghongwei2025gg).
I was interested to find out more about the group,
hear about the concerns that were causing them to recall Wang Hong Wei and
get their reactions to the questions and accusations from the anti-recall camp, and lots more!
Date of Recording: June 27th, 2025.
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| KMT lawmaker Wang Hung-wei 王鴻薇 who is up for recall vote on July 26th gives a speech during an anti-recall rally. |
DIVE DEEPER:
- Legislative Yuan votes to extend session to Aug. 31 - Taipei Times (July 19th, 2025)
- Taiwan set for historic recall that could tip legislative power - Taiwan News (July 18th, 2025)
- Recall Campaigns Reach Fever Pitch in Taiwan - Brian Hioe, The Diplomat (July 15th, 2025)
- 2025 Taiwanese recall votes - wiki
- Taiwan's 'Great Recall' a Historic Bid to Overturn the Opposition's Legislative Majority - Courtney Donovan Smith, China Brief Volume:25 Issue:13, The Jamestown Foundation (July 7th, 2025)
- Explainer: Mass slate of recall votes leaves KMT staring down disaster - Teng Pei-ju and Sunny Lai, Focus Taiwan (June 21st, 2025)
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Other episodes in Taiwan's Great Recall series:- Ep1 - Interview with Prof Chen Fang-yu (Soochow University, Taipei)
