Following the second failed recall elections on Aug. 23 against seven Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and the nuclear power referendum, 19 Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) local councilors called on President William Lai (賴清德) to win back public support.
The appeal came as a recent My Formosa poll showed that the KMT’s favorability rose to 36 percent, surpassing the DPP’s 33 percent. Most of the councilors are in their 30s, representing a younger generation of leaders who are concerned about the party’s direction.
Keelung City Councilor Jiho Chang (張之豪) said that he hoped their five proposals help secure Taiwan’s long-term safety, sovereignty and economic prosperity.
The first proposal urged Lai to seek bipartisan cooperation on Constitutional Court appointments, even if he has to compromise. They said that an independent and credible court is essential to safeguard sovereignty should political power shift, ensuring that acts undermining democracy or statehood could be overturned.
The second focuses on economic security, which the councilors said is central to regaining the confidence of younger and swing voters. With China’s intensifying military pressure, economic coercion and disinformation campaigns, public perception is critical. The public needs to feel that their voices are not taken for granted, they said.
Housing affordability also loomed large. Chang said that many of his supporters view their inability to buy a home as their greatest bereavement.
He suggested expanding public housing and encouraging real-estate development in less populated areas east of Taipei. For example, Keelung to Xinyi District (信義) only takes 20 minutes by car or bus when traffic is light. Other New Taipei City districts, such as Jinshan (金山) and Wanli (萬里), could also be included in housing projects.
Such development should be paired with expanded public transportation. Bold, visible measures that tangibly improve livelihoods are crucial. Policies that deliver broad benefits would also leave the opposition with less incentive to oppose them in the legislature.
The most persistent issue is income. When the KMT proposes cash handouts, the DPP should avoid dismissing them outright as unconstitutional. Instead, it could respond with more tailored subsidies or programs based on urgent public needs, perhaps using progressive, adjustable amounts tied to income. A successful precedent was former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) TPASS program, which proved widely popular by offering unlimited rides across Taipei for just NT$1,200 per month.
The third and fifth proposals — on green energy and party reform — called for Lai and the DPP to act with greater agility, responsiveness and decisiveness. The councilors said that if nuclear power could be incorporated safely into a hybrid energy strategy, the administration should take the option seriously.
In last week’s referendum, the public voted in favor of nuclear energy — although the measure failed to clear the threshold. The councilors also called for stronger, clearer messaging to accompany future policy initiatives, along with fresh, more diverse leadership in the party and the Cabinet.
Whether these younger voices would be heeded remains to be seen. The DPP has traditionally resolved internal differences through dialogue and unity ahead of elections. The question is whether that spirit of cohesion would hold true in the lead-up to next year’s polls and in 2028.
Rath Wang is a senior policy fellow at consulting firm Safe Spaces. He is a producer and host of political talk shows and podcasts, and has worked on political campaigns and advocacies in Taiwan and the US. He can be reached at rathwang@safespacesllc.com.
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
RSS