The legislative election resulted in none of the smaller parties winning a legislator-at-large seat, which could be harmful to Taiwan's environmental awareness, members of the Green Party Taiwan (GPT) said.
The party received a mere 0.6 percent of votes.
"Taiwan's political polarization between the two main parties squeezes out smaller parties," said former policy advisor to the president Peter Ng (
However, environmentalists and political analysts said that although amid the political mud slinging important topics like environmental protection are largely neglected, there are signs that these issues are receiving increasing public attention.
One reason for the GPT's disappointing performance was its relatively recent formation, analysts said.
metropolitan
"The GPT is a `metropolitan party' -- while its ideology is impressive, it is only supported by people in cities," Academia Sinica political scientist Lin Jih-wen (林繼文) said.
Liao Da-chi (廖達琪), a National Sun Yat-sen University political science professor, said that, "the GPT appeals mostly to young people; however that group may have low levels of voter participation."
But despite the current situation environmentalists did not think the outlook for GPT and other "small parties with a mission and passion" was bleak.
GPT secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said the fact that many people asked for the party's campaign flyers showed that fighting climate change and saving the environment were receiving increasing attention.
starting small
"While it is true that the GPT is a `city party,' one must bear in mind that all alternative parties -- including the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -- started in cities with small groups of supporters," Ng said.
Ng said that while he was not worried by the GPT's fate, since parties took time to mature and be accepted, it was worrying that the KMT had won by such a big margin.
System reform may be necessary to remove institutional barriers for small parties to enter the legislature and widen the nation's narrow political spectrum, he said.
"The 5 percent benchmark is high for starting parties; the 60,000 people who voted for the GPT had their votes unfairly represented, unlike, say, Aboriginal voters or those in smaller counties like Kinmen, which has fewer than 30,000 voters," he said.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS