Written by Brian Hioe. A SIGNIFICANT labor struggle may be upcoming for Taiwanese railways workers. Namely, the Taiwan Railway Labor Union has announced that it may strike next month in response to plans by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to corporatize the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) as a state-owned enterprise.
Written by Brian Hioe. There have been some suggestions that Ko might next seek to run for mayor of Taoyuan or Kaohsiung if a presidential bid seems remote. Beyond Ko’s Taipei mayoral term, however, it is a question as to whether the TPP’s politicians are sufficiently well-known for the party to continue without Ko fronting it in one of Taiwan’s most powerful local government positions.
Written by Brian Hioe. Taiwan may have a long way to go with regards to this before achieving anything like the successes of the Taiwanese New Wave some decades back. This ultimately returns to issues that exist on multiple levels, all the way from within the film industry to government promotion of Taiwanese films.
Written by Brian Hioe. According to Kaohsiung deputy mayor Lin Chin-rong, the building had been inspected four times since 2019, though access to the upper levels of the building was blocked to inspectors. Kaohsiung city council speaker Tseng Li-yen has called for inspections of old buildings regarding lacking safety equipment, as well examining electric wiring.
Written by Brian Hioe. Eric Chu was the winner of the KMT chair election that took place on Saturday, September 25th, triumphing over incumbent chair Johnny Chiang and Sun Yat-Sen School director Chang Ya-chung. Chu was the undisputed winner, taking in close to half the vote share. At the same time, Chang Ya-chung took in 32.59% of votes to Chu’s 45.78%, while Chiang trailed far behind with 18.86% of votes.
Written by Brian Hioe. It is not out of the question that such young people will eventually take the reins of power. Indeed, they will once older politicians depart the political scene. But all appearances to the contrary, this may be a premature assessment. It may not be, in fact, that young people have come of age in Taiwanese politics, and instead of that, they remain subject to the larger established forces that have remained dominant for decades in politics. Whether this changes is to be seen.
