The DPP retakes Kaohsiung
DPP candidate Chen Chi-mai won the mayoralty of Kaohsiung last Saturday after attaining 70 percent of the votes, easily beating the KMT’s Li Mei-jhen and the TPP’s Wu Yi-jheng. This election to choose a new mayor was held after previous mayor Han Kuo-yu was recalled in June. Han had defeated Chen in the 2018 election.
The loss prompted a KMT official to proclaim that the “Han wave” was over, referring to the popularity of Han Kuo-yu that propelled him to the Kaohsiung mayoralty back in 2018.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar visited Taiwan last week, becoming the highest-ranking US official to do so in several decades. According to CNN, this risks increasing tensions with China and puts Taiwan in a more precarious position.
Taiwan has been excluded from RIMPAC, an annual multilateral naval military exercise for Pacific Rim countries that kicked off on Monday. Despite China being excluded from this year’s RIMPAC, Taiwan was likely also not invited in order to avoid angering China.
Taiwan has six opportunities to boost its soft power, including boosting its development spending and applying to join multilateral institutions like the IMF, according to this The Hill op-ed. The suggestion to create a national media broadcaster like Al-Jazeera is a good one.
Taiwan legislators have formed parliamentary friendship groups aimed at boosting relationships with the Czech Republic and Spain, weeks after a similar group was formed for the US.
Taiwan will increase its military spending by 10 percent in 2021, a major increase driven by the need to defend against any potential Chinese military attack.
Taiwan and the US have formally agreed the purchase of 66 new F-16 fighter jets by Taiwan. However, it could take a few years before the aircraft are delivered.
SCMP looks at how Taiwan and Somaliland came to become “friends.”
Chinese government-backed firms have hired 100 Taiwanese chip engineers from TSMC since last year, luring them with up to over twice their annual pay and benefits.
Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for 2020 has been lowered to 1.56 percent by the government’s DGBAS after worsening private consumption.
In more positive business news, Taiwanese bicycle-maker Giant and its chairwoman are featured by the NY Times.
Taiwan will ban Chinese companies Tencent and iQiyi from providing their streaming services in Taiwan from September.
Hong Kongers earning residency status in Taiwan jumped by 116 percent in the first half of this year compared to 2019.
Taiwan will screen residency applicants from Hong Kong and Macau who are originally from China.
Two prehistoric burial sites in Taiwan reveal a lot about the lives of the ancestors of aboriginal people in Taiwan .