Former US House of Representatives speaker Tip O’Neill once said: “All politics is local.” The statement, in short, underscored the importance of local elections to national development.
As Taiwan’s local elections approach, the ballots in our hands will soon determine the nation’s position in the global community and the continuity of its vibrant democracy.
The Nov. 26 nine-in-one elections would not only affect the local political landscape. As the US-led democratic alliance doubles down on countering China and supporting Taiwan, Taiwan’s elections — whether presidential or local — have come under global scrutiny.
If a large number of politicians who endorse a pro-China, anti-US ideology were elected — such as those who promote narratives like “small nations should know their place” or “the US will not defend Taiwan” — it could mislead the nation’s allies into thinking that Taiwanese have chosen to identify with China, and therefore weaken their support for Taipei.
As Beijing steps up its threats and intimidation, the public should use their vote to convey to the global community that Taiwan stands firm with its allies in pushing back against China. In this way, if Beijing were to wreak havoc in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan would not be left alone to fend off its bellicose neighbor.
Furthermore, the elections would determine if Taiwan can shake off the ghost of corruption. In Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, released at the beginning of this year, Taiwan ranked 25th out of 180 nations and territories, marking a new high and showing that the government’s crackdown on corruption has started to take effect.
However, reports of the involvement of local election officials and civil representatives in controversies involving corruption and other illegal acts continue to make their way into the news, showing that local politics has become a loophole for clean politics and transparency.
The public has long sought to abolish corruption and bribery during political campaigns. Amendments to the Act on Property-Declaration by Public Servants (公職人員財產申報法) — which the Legislative Yuan passed on June 22 — broadened the scope of public servants who need to declare their property to cover not only central government and publicly elected officials (from the president to legislators, city mayors and county commissioners), but also to include city and county councilors (incumbent and new candidates).
By inviting the public to scrutinize public servants’ properties, along with the law enforcement’s clampdown on bribery, the government is stepping up its supervision of elections.
Nonetheless, the most effective way to counter corruption is for the public to use their ballot and cast out those officials who have been exploiting their positions for profit. As local politics is the foundation of democracy, how can there be decent, fair public governance when transparency is lacking?
In a little more than a month, the public is to determine Taiwan’s future through the votes in their hands. As the result carries significant and long-lasting consequences, every citizen should bear in mind: Think before you vote.
Wang Yu-pei is an ethics official.
Translated by Rita Wang
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) last week announced that the KMT was launching “Operation Patriot” in response to an unprecedented massive campaign to recall 31 KMT legislators. However, his action has also raised questions and doubts: Are these so-called “patriots” pledging allegiance to the country or to the party? While all KMT-proposed campaigns to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have failed, and a growing number of local KMT chapter personnel have been indicted for allegedly forging petition signatures, media reports said that at least 26 recall motions against KMT legislators have passed the second signature threshold
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday announced that recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) have been approved, and that a recall vote would take place on July 26. Of the recall motions against 35 KMT legislators, 31 were reviewed by the CEC after they exceeded the second-phase signature thresholds. Twenty-four were approved, five were asked to submit additional signatures to make up for invalid ones and two are still being reviewed. The mass recall vote targeting so many lawmakers at once is unprecedented in Taiwan’s political history. If the KMT loses more
Taiwan’s unconditional support “for all legitimate and necessary actions taken by the government of India to safeguard national security and fight terrorist forces that cross borders to attack innocent civilians” marked a monumental shift in the relationship between Taipei and New Delhi. At a time when the Indian government sent several delegations of parliament members to convey to the rest of the world Pakistan’s role in sponsoring terrorism against India, Taiwan became one of the few nations that unequivocally supported India’s military operation, “Sindhoor.” Sure, this change in bilateral ties did not happen in a vacuum. Over the past decade,
RSS