Showing posts with label #TaiwanElection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TaiwanElection. Show all posts

Taiwan's Great Recall - July 26th Results

On July 26th, nearly one-third of Taiwan’s electorate were eligible to vote in the first wave of what’s being called Taiwan's Great Recall (大罷免) — a rarely used mechanism allowing voters to dismiss nationally elected lawmakers midterm. This marks the first time the process has been deployed on such a large scale with 24 lawmakers from the Kuomintang (KMT) or Chinese Nationalist Party on the ballot.

The vote result is being closely watched as it has the potential to alter the balance of power in Taiwan’s parliament, which has seen months of political deadlock between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the opposition KMT and their allies.

In this episode we dive into the outcome of that vote. We break down the results, highlight the key takeaways, discuss the reactions and review how these results are likely to shape the remaining term of Taiwan’s current administration.


Date of Recording: July 26th, 2025




The title Taiwan's Great Recall - July 26th Results sits in front of a backdrop of a picture of protesters and campaigners gathered on a street in Taiwan late in the evening as they all pay attention to a speaker on a stage in the distance.




DIVE DEEPER:


Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:


YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Other episodes in Taiwan's Great Recall series:


#Taiwan, #GreatRecall, #KMTRecall, #DPP, #ChinaInfluence, #Taiwanelection, #RecallVote2025, #TaiwanDemocracy, #PoliticalPodcast, #Geopolitics, #ProDemocracy, #DemocracyInAsia, #TaiwanVotes, #CivicEngagement, #GreatRecall2025, #ProtectDemocracy, #大罷免

Taiwan's Great Recall - Ep1 - Interview with Prof Chen Fang-Yu

In this episode, we kick off the first part in a series of podcasts on Taiwan's Great Recall (大罷免) in which we aim to bring you perspectives from all sides of the debate at this important crossroads in Taiwan's democratic journey.

As we explained in our previous episode on President Lai's first year in office, while his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential vote in January of 2024, they failed to maintain a majority in the Legislative Yuan or parliament. As a result, the parliament has been controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their smaller ally, the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) who according to opponents have sought to block the DPP's agenda, freeze budgets, undermine Taiwan's constitutional order and weaken efforts to bolster defense capabilities against growing Chinese military threats.

According to a report by Citizen Congress Watch (CCW), a Taiwanese NGO engaged in parliamentary monitoring, in the first session of the current parliament, only a fraction of legislative proposals successfully passed the readings, reflecting low legislative efficiency as a result of the divisive partisan infighting that has taken precedence over advancing policies for public benefit.

The KMT insist that they are seeking to strengthen and protect Taiwan's democracy and say these recalls are politically motivated. They accuse the ruling DPP of using recalls to eliminate the opposition. However, not all of the electorate would appear to agree and a mass recall effort led by civic groups has been underway for months.

On June 20th, Taiwan's Election Commission announced a recall vote for 24 KMT lawmakers - that's around one quarter of the parliament's members - all from the main opposition party. The date for the recall has been set for July 26th.

In this first episode in our series on Taiwan's Great Recall, we talk to Professor Chen Fang-Yu 陳方隅 (X:@FangYu_80168) from the Department of Political Science at Soochow University (東吳大學) in Taipei to understand:

  • The history of recall elections in Taiwan and the recall process,
  • What factors have led to this latest and unprecedented mass recall effort,
  • How Beijing's military pressure on Taiwan and relationship with individual lawmakers are influencing attitudes on the recall
  • Plus much more!

Date of Recording: June 6th, 2025.





Picture shows the Republic of China flag and a pro-Taiwan Independence flag flying side by side against a partially cloudy sky at a recall rally in Taipei in April 2025. The crowds at the rally can also be seen in the background.
Republic of China flag (left) and Taiwan pro-Independence flag (right) appear side by side at a recall rally in Taipei on April 19th, 2025.
Photo credit - double_lucky_ (Instagram)




DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:

  • Citizen Congress Watch report (December 2024)



    #TaiwanPolitics, #TaiwanRecall, #GreatRecall2025, #大罷免, #TaiwanDemocracy, #TaiwanElections, #RecallVote, #TaiwanLegislature, #TaiwanParliament, #LaiChingTe, #KMTvsDPP, #TaiwanVotes, #China, #CCP, #KMT, #TrojanHorse, #Geopolitics, #PoliticsPodcast, #TaiwanPodcast, #StandWithTaiwan, #CivicEngagement, #RecallMovement

    Taiwan Inauguration Preview - Interview with Brian Hioe

    May 20th, 2024 marks the inauguration of the 16th-term President and Vice-President of the Republic of China, Taiwan.

    In the January election, Lai Ching-te (賴清德), also known as William Lai, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and his vice-presidential running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) won the popular vote. Their appointment to the presidential office means a third consecutive term for the DPP as Lai's predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Taiwan's first female president, concludes her two terms in office.

    This is a delicate time for Taiwan-China relations as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping has explicitly made taking Taiwan by force if necessary, part of his plans to "rejuvenate" China. However, the Taiwanese people are less interested than ever in unifying with the mainland.

    In this episode, I'm delighted to welcome Brian Hioe (丘琦欣) back to the podcast. Brian (@brianhioe) is one of the founding editors of New Bloom Magazine and a non-resident Fellow at the University of Nottingham's Taiwan Studies program. I caught up with him in Taipei to talk about the upcoming inauguration, China's increasing gray zone tactics and over-reach, the role of the China-friendly KMT party in the new administration and much more.

    Date of Recording: May 15th, 2024.




    President elect Lai Ching-te and Vice President elect Hsiao Bi-khim hold hands in victory to the backdrop of the presidential office in Taipei
    Taiwan Inauguration Preview



    DIVE DEEPER:

    Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:

    • New Bloom Magazine (link)

    Taiwan Election 2024 - Results

     On Saturday January 13th, Taiwan went to the polls to vote in their 8th direct presidential election, an election that received unprecedented international attention and has been called the most consequential election in the country's history. While the presidential election grabbed the spotlight, citizens also voted in the legislature elections.

    In this Perspectives with Neilo Taiwan 2024 Election Results Special, we present a short update on the election outcome, the acceptance speech of the winning presidential candidate as well as a sample of the international reaction.

    Date of Recording: January 13th, 2024



    Winning Democratic Progressive Party candidates Lai Ching-te and (VP candidate) Hsiao Bi-khim raise their arms in victory in front of a crowd of their supporters
    Lai Ching-te and Hsiao Bi-khim of the DPP win Taiwan's 2024 Presidential Race


    DIVE DEEPER:

    Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

    Safeguarding Taiwan's Democracy from China's Disinformation Deluge

     With Taiwan's presidential election taking place in early January, the island's future relation with the neighboring People's Republic of China (PRC) occupies pole position on the ballot.

    The PRC who claim Taiwan as their sovereign territory despite having never occupied or controlled it, have historically launched extensive disinformation campaigns to dissuade voters from supporting the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

    According to a 2022 report by the Digital Society Project, part of the Swedish institute Varieties of Democracy, Taiwan has ranked as the biggest target for foreign disinformation in the world for the last decade. Taiwanese politicians and researchers say the majority of those attacks originate from China.

    In recent months, Beijing has been amping up its campaign of intimidation, disinformation and cyber attacks sending ever-increasing numbers of fighter jets into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, as well as exploiting Taiwan's free speech and open internet to manipulate politics and influence public opinion. Among their more popular disinformation tactics are inciting fear of a possible war of invasion and sowing skepticism about the sincerity of the support from Taiwan's allies, most notably the United States.

    Disinformation actors also use current international events, such as the ongoing war in Gaza, to remind audiences of the dire consequences of war, sending the message that avoiding war with China is the best option for Taiwan. Beijing aims to convince Taiwanese people that unification is inevitable and irresistible, while balancing its deployment of coercive measures with incentive-driven approaches. 

    Thankfully, there are a number of expert organizations in Taiwan that work full-time to investigate and debunk disinformation. One of those is the Taiwan Fact Check Center (@taiwantfc). According to their website, they are a non-profit NGO established by the Association for Quality Journalism and Taiwan Media Watch Foundation. Their mission is to fact-check claims related to public interest issues to promote reliable information, digital literacy, and to make Taiwan a better and stronger democratic society.

    We met up recently with their CEO, Eve Chiu (邱家宜) to talk about the organization, examples of their debunking work, China's wumao disinformation army (五毛黨) and much more.


    Date of Recording: November 16th, 2023.



    Disinformation visualized by a flow of 1's and 0's from a hidden faced character in a hoodie with a CCP government crest in front of his face
    Main image courtesy of Pixabay and Taiwan News (see link below)


    DIVE DEEPER:

    Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

    • Seeing is not believing - deepfakes and cheap fakes spread during the 2024 Taiwan presidential election - Wei-Ping Li, Ph.D., Taiwan Fact Check Center (December 25th, 2023)
    • Additional Fact Check Organizations in Taiwan
    • Shadow Play [pdf download] - Jacinta Keast, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2023) - see graph below
    • Wumao - 50 Cent Party - wiki

    • Title graphic image courtesy of Pixabay and Taiwan News


    Graph of YouTube China propaganda video posting versus China Standard time
    From Shadow Play by Jacinta Keast, ASPI, 2023 (see link above)

    Taiwan Election 2024 - Interview with Brian Ting, KMT

     In this episode of Perspectives with Neilo, we bring you Part 3 in our mini-series on Taiwan's 2024 Presidential Election as we focus on the Kuomintang (中國國民黨) or KMT Party and their presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜). 

    As we mentioned previously, this election outcome will likely have profound implications for Taiwan as it will set the tone for how authoritarian China, who claim Taiwan as their sovereign territory, will advance their expansionist agenda in the future.

    The KMT or Blue Party, originally held power in China in the early 1900's but retreated to Taiwan in 1949 under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek following defeat by the communists in the civil war. Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law and retained authoritarian rule over Taiwan until democratic reforms were enacted in the 1980's. The KMT's primary political rival in Taiwan are the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or Green Party whom we have covered in the previous election episode.

    Under the KMT presidency of Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) from 2008 to 2016, the KMT significantly loosened restrictions on cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and in general are known to favor closer relations with the People Republic of China (PRC). In fact Hou Yu-ih in his election campaigning has recently talked of reviving the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) negotiated with China under Ma Ying-jeou. However, the CSSTA was never ratified in Taiwan due to widespread public protests in what became known as the Sunflower Movement.

    Our guest in this episode is Brian Ting. He is a Republic of China (RoC) Legislator-at-large candidate and KMT Young Leadership Committee member. He is also a National Policy Foundation Sun Yun-suan (孫運璿)  (KMT Think Tank) scholar and former special assistant at the KMT USA representative office. We met him on November 22nd just prior to the conclusion of the KMT-TPP alliance discussions to talk about Hou Yu-ih's background, his policies on energy, foreign relations and much more.

    After our interview, the KMT and TPP failed to form an alliance by the registration deadline and Hou Yu-ih officially named Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) as his vice presidential running mate. Jaw is a conservative talk show host and media tycoon and previously participated in Taiwan's politics in the 80's and 90's.

    We have included additional information on the candidates and the topics covered in this episode as well as the latest polling data from Courtney Donovan Smith's Poll of Polls published in the Taiwan News (Dec 10th) in our DIVE DEEPER section below.

    Date of Recording: November 22nd, 2023.



    KMT Presidential Candidate Hou Yu-ih shakes hands with his vice presidential candidate Jaw Shaw-kong in front of KMT poster
    KMT Presidential Candidate Hou Yu-ih (Left) and Vice Presidential Candidate Jaw Shaw-kong


    DIVE DEEPER:

    Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

    • Jaw Shaw-kong - wiki
    • The Sunflower Movement - wiki



    Important Note:
    In our efforts to include as many points of view as possible in this election mini-series, we reached out to the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) for an interview. We visited their office and exchanged several emails, but eventually they declined. 
    We also reached out to Terry Guo's campaign but received no response.

    Taiwan Election 2024 - Interview with Vincent Chao, DPP

     In this episode of Perspectives with Neilo, we bring you Part 2 in our mini series on Taiwan's 2024 Presidential Election and we focus on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (民進黨) and their candidate, William Lai or Lai Ching-te (賴清德)

    As we mentioned in our previous episode, this election outcome will likely have profound implications for Taiwan as it will set the tone for how authoritarian China, who claim Taiwan as their sovereign territory, will advance their expansionist agenda in the future.

    The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were founded in 1986 a year before the end of martial law. They are one of the two major political parties in Taiwan, the other being the Kuomintang (KMT). We will focus on the KMT's presidential candidate in the next episode.

    The DPP has traditionally been associated with economic innovation, safeguarding human rights as well as promotion of Taiwanese nationalism and identity. Their insistence that Taiwan is a de facto sovereign state infuriates China.

    The incumbent DPP president, Tsai Ing-wen, is the country's first female president and was re-elected for a second term in January 2020 with a historic 8 million plus votes, the largest number of votes for a presidential candidate in the country's era of direct presidential elections.

    Presidential candidates in Taiwan are not allowed to run for a third term, so current Vice President William Lai has been unanimously selected by the DPP as the party's 2024 presidential candidate.

    Our guest in this episode is Vincent Chao (@vyctw). He is the Director of International Affairs for the DPP as well as a Taipei City Councilor and Spokesperson for William Lai's campaign. We met him on November 14th to talk about William Lai's background, his policies on energy, foreign relations and much more.

    After our interview, on November 20th William Lai officially named Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) as his running mate for the 2024 election. Hsiao has been Taiwan's representative to the United States since 2020. 

    We've shared more information on the candidates and the topics covered in this episode as well as the latest polling data from Courtney Donovan Smith published in the Taiwan News in our Dive Deeper section below.

    Date of Recording: November 14th, 2023.



    DPP Presidential Candidate Lai Ching-te and Vice Presidential Candidate Hsiao Bi-khim


    DIVE DEEPER:

    Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

    • Democratic Progressive Party - website


    Taiwan Election 2024 - Interview with Courtney Donovan Smith

     Taiwan's 2024 Presidential Election is likely to have profound implications for Taiwan itself and the entire world. It's a race between the China-skeptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) versus the China-friendly opposition parties of the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP). The election outcome will likely set the frame of reference for how authoritarian China, who claim Taiwan as their sovereign territory, will advance their expansionist agenda in the future.

    As the world's 16th largest trading economy and supplier of 90% of advanced semiconductors, a blockade on Taiwan by the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) would have significant impact on global trade, never mind the effects of a potential conflict in the region.

    In this, the first episode of our series on Taiwan's 2024 Election, I'm delighted to welcome back Courtney Donovan Smith (@donovan_smith). He's a regular contributing columnist for Taiwan News as well as the Central Taiwan correspondent for ICRT FM Radio and a Political Analyst at the Taiwan Report. We first spoke to Donovan back in March about a number of topics, including the upcoming election in our episode entitled Visits and Vanishing Acts.

    I sat down with Donovan in early November in Taichung in advance of the November 24th election registration deadline to review the leading presidential candidate line-up and hear his insights on their policies and polling performance.

    Date of Recording: November 13th, 2023.



    Picture shows leading candidates for the Taiwan 2024 Presidential Election
    Taiwan Election 2024 - Leading Candidate Line-up


    DIVE DEEPER:

    Additional Information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

    • Taiwan Report - link
    • Inciting anxiety about the looming war - the disinformation narratives about the possible Taiwan Strait crisis during the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election - Wei-Ping Li, Taiwan Fact Check Center (November 27th, 2023)
    • 1992 Consensus - link
    • Chinese Expansionism - link

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