The Debrief, 9/30/14

• On Monday, Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-jeou, who is also the chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), spoke to reporters from Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Allgemeine Zeitung and Le Figaro. According to a report that later appeared in German state media Deutsche Welle (DW), President Ma said he “wanted to learn from the way West and East Germany handled bilateral relations,” but that the framework of “One Germany, two states” was not applicable to Taiwan…(see here)
• The Indonesian parliament voted early Friday morning to scrap direct voting for regional leaders, including governors, mayors, and district chiefs, despite fierce protest outside the building by thousands of demonstrators since Thursday afternoon. Instead, the country’s lawmakers decided by a margin of 226 to 135 to have regional executives appointed by regional councils…(see here)
• After a week of peaceful marches led by student groups protesting China’s plan for Hong Kong’s 2017 election, by Sunday outraged Hong Kongers have occupied and shut down streets in Central and Mongkok in one of the largest showing of civic unrest recently seen in Hong Kong…(see here)
• The civil group known as Taiwan Citizens Union (TCU, 公民組合) formally announced its incorporation on Sunday in Taipei, and announced that it will field candidates for legislative elections in 2016 as a new political party…

(Feature photo of protester in Hong Kong, by Dan Garrett)