Eighteen-year-olds are considered too young to vote, but are defined as adults by the Civil Code, subject to full criminal responsibility and required to perform military service to protect Taiwan and its people. Those aged 16 or older can legally work and pay taxes.
Based on the principle of symmetry of rights and duties, the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18 should not be delayed any longer. It is time to allow young people aged 18 or older to have rights in line with their duties.
Among the 230 or so countries in the world, only nine still have a voting age above 18. Most lowered their voting age to 18 in the 20th century. In the 21st century, some countries are even discussing lowering it to 16.
Other nations in East Asia have amended their laws in the past few years so that 18-year-olds can be granted full citizenship rights.
Japan made the amendment in 2015, Malaysia in 2019 and South Korea in 2020.
So why does the public not support the constitutional amendment in Taiwan?
Many Taiwanese doubt that young people understand politics, or are capable of taking care of themselves and making independent decisions. Those who oppose referendums held alongside elections are also concerned about political interference on campus.
The truth is that the younger generation has become more mature in thinking about public participation and their civic literacy is higher than ever. They pay more attention to public issues such as environmental protection, gender equality and human rights.
The referendum is to be held alongside the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 26.
Although Taiwan is a democratic model for Asia, it is the only democracy in which 18-year-olds cannot vote.
Hopefully, there will be a successful amendment to the Constitution that keeps up with the global trends of democracy and allows the younger generation to decide their future with older Taiwanese.
In addition to encouraging young people to cherish their rights, the support of the older generations should be sought.
Wei Si-yuan works in the information technology industry.
Translated by Sylvia Hsu
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
With the manipulations of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), it is no surprise that this year’s budget plan would make government operations difficult. The KMT and the TPP passing malicious legislation in the past year has caused public ire to accumulate, with the pressure about to erupt like a volcano. Civic groups have successively backed recall petition drives and public consensus has reached a fever-pitch, with no let up during the long Lunar New Year holiday. The ire has even breached the mindsets of former staunch KMT and TPP supporters. Most Taiwanese have vowed to use
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future. A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press