EPIC Loss For Anti-China Hawks In Taiwan. This Changes Everything. | Dr. Joanna Lei

Today I’m talking again to Dr. Joanna Lei, a former KMT lawmaker in Taiwan as well as a media executive in the US. Today is August 7th and only 10 days ago, on the last weekend of July we had a rather important extraordinary election in Taiwan. 24 KMT parliamentiarns were under the threat of being unseated in a mass-recall. Now, recalls are a proper constitutional measure in Taiwan to take down law makers before their mandate is over. It’s a bit like an impeachment for a president—sometimes if someone did something criminal or outrageous, you might wanna get rid of them before their time is officially over. However, what we have never seen is a coordinated attack on so many parliamentarians at the same time and all of them against KMT members, that is the party holding the majority in parliament but not the executive branch which is held by President Lai Ching-te, a DPP politician. Now, the recall failed epically, all 24 MPs were reaffirmed by their constituencies. What this means is what we wanna discuss today. Links: Timestamps: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:36 Interpreting the KMT Recall Outcome 00:03:33 Was the Recall an Attempt to Overturn Parliament? 00:10:48 Impact of Failed Recalls on Upcoming Votes 00:14:40 Law Changes and Recall Abuse vs. Democracy 00:16:07 Public Sentiment on Pro/Anti-China Politics 00:18:00 Voter Motivation & Possible Chinese Interference 00:23:11 Role of NGOs and Foreign Influence in Taiwan 00:29:45 Political Impact of the Second Recall Round 00:35:02 Can the KMT Build Ties with Mainland China? 00:38:36 Why Political Cooperation With Mainland Remains Difficult 00:41:23 Will the DPP Rethink Foreign & Economic Policy? 00:46:20 Current Political Balance in Taiwan