On November 29, Taiwan’s ruling KMT suffered a historical defeat in nation-wide local elections, losing 9 of 16 county and metropolitan level executive positions, and losing 6.2% of local council seats overall.
The Taipei mayor’s race is highly idiosyncratic, and about the last place to look for insight into fundamental shift in Taiwan politics and elections. Instead, look for these three things on election night.
We ask Mike Lee, the founding chairman of Entrepeneur+, a non-profit helping startups, about the state of entrepreneurship in Taiwan today, and how they see the current economic debates going on there.
We review this week’s news from the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Beijing, including the China-Korea FTA, US-China climate deal, and steps towards a FTA of the Asia Pacific. Also, the new metro line opening in Taipei.
Leaders at last week’s APEC summit in Beijing also concluded a range of agreements and understandings, including the US-China emissions targets, a declaration towards an Asia Pacific FTA, and more.