STELLINA CHEN
Taiwan is about to have a presidential election in two days. Voters in Taiwan are widely expected to deliver a victory on Saturday (1.11) to President Tsai Ing-wen, in defiance of China’s pressure campaign against the island democracy.
Before Taiwan’s 2020 elections, get to know these fun facts about these Taiwanese politicians’ nicknames to add to your election chit-chat.
The U.K. is about to hold a general election in one of the most charged political climates anyone can recall. Almost everything about this vote is unusual and unpredictable.
Taiwan lost another ally in one week as Kiribati cut ties after Solomon Islands. This leaves Taiwan with four allies in the Pacific region, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu.
The Solomon Islands’ government has voted to sever its longstanding ties with Taiwan and take up diplomatic relations with Beijing, which leaves Taiwan with 16 allies left.
Taiwan’s president Tsai accused China of engaging in “dollar diplomacy” in the region in order to undermine Taiwan.
Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee Hon. Peter Kenilorea Jr (FRC) says, “I am concerned because we are not marching to our own beat on this matter. We are in fact marching to China’s beat. We are being dictated by China already – even before we switch.”
Pro-democracy protesters were attacked by what opposition politicians suspected were gang members wearing white t-shirts.
Hong Kong police were criticized over failure to stop the attacks. Instead of responding to calls from the demonstrators to take action against gangster assaults, the police retreated into police stations and let gangsters off easy. No one was arrested.
It sure will maintain as a trending topic in Taiwan till 2020 January – who are you voting for?
The populist mayor, Han Kou-yu, was picked to run against President Tsai Ing-wen. Han, the mayor of southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, beats Terry Kou, Taiwan’s richest man, the founder of the world’s largest iPhone assembler Foxconn in the KMT primary.
Last month, there was a rally against pro-China Taiwanese media held in Taipei. People called on the government to take action against pro-Beijing media in Taiwan.
The rally intends to influence the country’s legislature to introduce and pass relevant bills. The co-host of the rally, the New Power Party legislator, Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), also called on the National Communications Commission (NCC) to take effective action.
Read more about ”The Cans and the Cannots of the NCC”: In the Era of ‘Red Infiltration by CommonWealth Mag
and Red Media and CCP’s Influence Operations: How Taiwanese Media Became Beijing’s Proxy by Milo Hsieh
Taiwan’s legislature approved Asia’s first same-sex marriage law. Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the rainy streets of Taipei.
