Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Draft to bar convicts from elected office

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) yesterday proposed a draft amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) that would bar people who have been convicted of security breaches from running in national or local elections.

People convicted of offenses relating to organized crime, money laundering, firearms or drugs would be barred from election to civil servant positions if the amendments pass, Lo said on Monday, when the amendments were being drafted.

Fighting a fair or dirty campaign

Taipei Times Editorials

Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) has been nominated as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate for a legislative by-election in Taipei. The seat belonged to Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who was voted Taipei mayor last month. Her sole rival for the position is the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Enoch Wu (吳怡農).

Wang said she already knows how she would attack Wu. Wu said he would run a clean campaign, focusing only on the issues, and steering clear of gossip and smearing his opponent.

Fighting disinformation with votes

Taipei Times Editorials

Voters in the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 26 did not regard the China issue as the most important concern when casting their ballots, despite Beijing’s best efforts. The Information Operations Research Group uncovered a lot of disinformation spread by China this year in its attempts to sway voters with its rhetoric on “war” and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disinformation regarding war might be more effective in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. In a report released on Saturday based on a review of more than 8 million Facebook posts, 6,000 news articles from Taiwan, 2,000 official releases from China regarding Taiwan affairs, 800,000 posts on Chinese social media and 50,000 TikTok videos this year found that “war” and “pandemic” were the two top issues involved when information was manipulated.

India should speak out for Taiwan

Sana Hashmi 胡莎娜

India-Taiwan relations are at their strongest in history. The growing bonhomie between New Delhi and Taipei is a testimony to India’s increasing interests and stakes in Taiwan. Its keenness to engage Taiwan is noticeable.

Early last month, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) visited India, achieving several tangible outcomes. He was in India to participate in the annual deputy ministerial dialogue. He also addressed the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s India-Taiwan Industrial Collaboration Summit. His visit was well-received by the Indian government as well as by industry leaders.

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