The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will be breathing a collective sigh of relief today after a sustained period of electoral repudiation ended last night with its best performance since the 2004 presidential contest.
DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chu (
Chen ran a more vibrant campaign than Huang and defied pundits who predicted a grave fate for the DPP in the south over the conduct of the Presidential Office and MRT construction woes in Kaohsiung. Voters ignored Chen's invisible performance as a Cabinet minister and reconnected with her in a city that seems to expect more energy from its candidates than Taipei.
Taipei City provides a more interesting picture, however. DPP mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh's vote is respectable enough for him to stay in contention for the DPP nomination for president in 2008. Last night Hsieh's supporters were chanting "President Hsieh" in consolation and as a boost for his next campaign. And despite Hsieh lifting the DPP's vote by 5 percent on its 2002 result, the election was more notable for the ennui that cut into Hau's potential vote, despite Ma's backing, and the obliteration of People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Indeed, the most important thing to come out of these contests is the crippling of the minor parties. Soong and his party are history. Humiliated after securing barely more than 4 percent of the vote, last night he said he would leave politics. His party's legislators, without their godfather and financier, can only return to the KMT fold or act as a temporary spoiler for the DPP until the next legislative election more or less wipes them out.
With a dysfunctional ex-candidate in Taipei and a dreadful performance in Kaohsiung, the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) unraveling is another demonstration of the marginalization of minor parties -- as well as the fact that former president and TSU "spiritual father" Lee Teng-hui's (
Even before the introduction of the new electoral system, it is clear that voters are tiring of clusters of splinter candidates with no coherent voice eating into the vote of major parties. After a period of extremes, Taiwanese are firming toward the center.
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to