Easing Restrictions for Foreign Labor Met With Resistance
On January 21, the Ministry of Labor temporarily withheld a plan to lower thresholds for foreign talent to legally work in Taiwan. The proposed changes would have allowed for more foreign lower-tiered white collar workers to enter Taiwan’s workforce.
Lame Duck President Makes Waves in South China Sea
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson Sonia Urbom said that “we are disappointed that President Ma Ying-jeou plans to travel to Taiping Island. Such an action is extremely unhelpful and does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.”
Travel, and the New Taiwanese Identity
In the last decade, new forms of domestic tourism, coupled with the routinization of travel abroad, have enabled the young to confront their land and their position in the world at a younger age than previous generations.
Taiwan on the International Stage, But How?
As recent events point out, Taiwan has a long way to go towards changing its views about its own standing in the world. Becoming globally relevant is not only a matter of the economy and diplomacy, but it is a matter of identity.
What Happened to the Votes for the Minor Parties?
Nearly 2 million people voted for parties that were left out of the final makeup of the legislature. Though some of these 14 unsuccessful parties attracted meaningful levels of support, none surpassed 5% nationally, so at the end of this process, their supporters’ votes would appear to be discarded.
Tsai’s Victory Speech Hails in New Era of Democracy
On Saturday 16th January, more than 20,000 ardent supporters crammed outside DPP headquarters in Taipei to hear Tsai Ing-wen’s first speech as Taiwan’s President-Elect.
8 Reasons the DPP Fell Short in Taipei
The DPP would be better off running its own city councilors or famous and charismatic pan-greens in Taipei’s districts from now on…Not only would these candidates with closer ideological affinity be much easier to cooperate with after taking office, they may even be more electable.
Not the Third Force, But the Third Society
What we need is not one small party after another calling themselves the Third Force. What we need is to build Taiwan’s new post-war political society, what I call the Third Society.
Why I’m Willing to Bet Big and Bold
There is a sea change going on in Taiwan’s politics and the country is looking for a new paradigm. I think a higher percentage of the population will opt for a new party over the two old, tired ones, than most people expect.
The Third Force in the Super Weekend
It is difficult to project whether the political landscape will dramatically change, but what we can say now, is that young voters are no longer considered apolitical in the Taiwan voter spectrum.
10 Bold Predictions for the Legislative Yuan
I’ve had the good fortune to meet some of the best and brightest in analyzing Taiwan. For fun, I threw out a bet challenge to 29 of them on predicting Taiwan’s Legislative elections outcome.
台灣立委選舉十大指標區域戰
這次的立委選戰關鍵在哪裡？台灣政權的轉移會導致什麼樣的結果，以及哪一些地區會因為藍綠的鬥爭而爆冷門？台灣政治評論家 Solidarity 與 Donovan Smith 告訴你本週最矚目的十個件事關於這次立委選舉。