Kuomintang

Qi Dongtao reads into signs of change in President Tsai Ing-wen’s second term inauguration speech, sussing out that compared to four years ago, the president is placing greater emphasis on the idea of Taiwan as a national entity on its own. Such fateful steps augur potential clashes in the next four years as Taiwan runs the risk of being an unwitting pawn in US-China competition.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration speech yesterday delved into various areas concerning the future direction of Taiwan, but the most important aspect was the strong tone she set regarding the handling of cross-straits relations. Chuang Hui Liang and Edwin Ong analyse the nuances of her speech and gather reactions from Taiwan and mainland China.

All eyes are on Johnny Chiang, the 48-year-old who was elected the new chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang. Chiang won all the elections he stood for in 2012, 2016, and 2020, and was the KMT Legislative Yuan member with the most votes in the 2020 general election. Political scientist Zhu Zhiqun says Chiang is, without a doubt, the most suitable candidate to be KMT chairman right now. But what are the challenges faced by the ailing party under new leadership, and the implications these may have on cross-strait relations?

Not even the shared threat of Wuhan coronavirus can bring Taiwan and mainland China closer together. Zhu Zhiqun says recent developments do not bode well for cross-strait relations in the years ahead.

On Saturday, Taiwan voted in its presidential election, with incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party returned to office with a resounding 57% of votes, defeating the Kuomintang’s Han Kuo-yu. Ng Soon Kiat analyses the results and what it means for Taiwan politics.

​​The 2020 Taiwan presidential elections can be said to be one of the most elusive ones yet. Incumbent Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen’s opinion poll ratings may be miles ahead of the Kuomintang’s presidential candidate, Han Kuo-yu, but the latter’s overwhelming support at rallies suggest that he is still very much in the game. Only the ballots cast on 11 January 2020 will determine if Tsai or Han will emerge victorious.

With less than two weeks before Taiwanese head to the polls on 11 January 2020 to elect their next President, generational divides have become more apparent: while the younger generation tend to support Tsai Ing-wen and her progressive reforms on issues such as LGBT rights, the older generation look to Han Kuo-yu for a sense of stability and keeping things as they used to be. Ng Soon Kiat looks at what each generation says about the other, and what the green and blue camps are doing to woo young voters.

Between October and December 1911, fierce fighting broke out between the revolutionaries and the Qing troops. And by early 1912, China's 2,000 years of imperial rule was history. The Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen had successfully united the Chinese people against the imperial system, and built the first Republic in Asia, changing the fate of China and East Asia. Hsu Chung-mao takes us on a visual journey through that period of chaos and upheaval.

With the 2020 Taiwan elections approaching in January, one-third of voters are still undecided. Who will be the next President? What do the opinion polls say? Taipei correspondent Ng Soon Kiat opines that Tsai Ing-wen’s edge over Han Kuo-yu may not be as stable as it seems.