“Natural independence” is a term often used to describe young Taiwanese, particularly those born after the lifting of martial law in 1987, who harbor a strong Taiwanese national identity.

The term was coined by former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), who, in a series of articles published in 2014 titled “The Natural Independence of the Younger Generation,” said that unlike elderly Taiwanese who formed their ideas of independence after an intellectual struggle against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) China-centric brainwashing, young people are growing up in a democracy and have naturally come to identify themselves with Taiwan.

Criticizing National Taiwan University for failing to resolve the controversy over its president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), the National Taiwan University Student Association yesterday said it would propose a motion to review the school’s regulations at next month’s council meeting.

The Ministry of Education on April 27 said that Kuan was unqualified for the post because he had violated regulations by illegally serving as an independent director and a member of the salary and auditing committees at Taiwan Mobile, and that his election had been flawed due to a conflict of interest in the process.

As China engages in a military, economic and diplomatic total war against Taiwan, the international community has not stayed on the sidelines, but has paid close attention to the spillover effects of the Chinese threat.

In connection to the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), the US, Japan, Germany and the EU have expressed their support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO. It is reported that even if Taiwan is not invited to the WHA this year, bilateral talks between the US and Taiwanese health ministers are still to take place on the event’s sidelines.