As votes determining the next US president were being counted, people gathered yesterday morning at a bar in downtown Taipei to follow live updates of a race that was clearly moving in former US president Donald Trump’s favor.
At a watch party in Taipei hosted by Democrats Abroad’s chapter in Taiwan, visual artist Laura Hobson was enjoying her breakfast with a male friend while occasionally casting a glance over the table to check the vote count on a big screen.
Hobson, who is a registered Democrat and has always voted for the party’s candidate, told Central News Agency that she believed a US Vice President Kamala Harris presidency would be better for Taiwan than a second term for the Republican Party’s Trump.
Photo: CNA
“Trump has said that he will cut off any protections on Taiwan, so I think Kamala will do a little bit better, at least trying to negotiate with our allies to do better for the world,” Hobson said.
Apart from continuing the foreign policy of US President Joe Biden, she highlighted Harris’ background as a prosecutor, saying that her good negotiation skills and the ability to hold people accountable might enable her to “push [her agenda] further.”
Alan Sicher, who has lived in Taiwan for 16 years and works in the computer industry, echoed similar views in a room full of attentive and nervous Democrats.
Many of them wore T-shirts printed with Harris’ face, and they cheered and waved their cardboards when it was announced that Harris won a state or that a Democrat won a down-ballot race.
“If Harris gets elected, I think we can expect some continuation of the last four years,” Sicher said, referring to the prospects for US-Taiwan relations and Washington’s engagement with other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
A Harris administration would be “more stable, more alliance-based,” he said.
On the other hand, Trump has demonstrated his admiration for authoritarian leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) while expressing skepticism over US alliances with other countries in Asia, he said.
“He’s very anti-democratic,” he said of the Republican Party’s candidate, expressing concern over what he called Trump’s pro-Russia stance and his desire to withdraw funding for Ukraine in its fight against Russian troops.
If Trump is elected and he allows Moscow to maintain the land in Ukraine that it has conquered, it would send “a positive signal to Xi Jinping,” he said.
Leo Chen, a Taiwanese wearing a T-shirt with an image of Trump being shot while campaigning, disagreed.
Chen, who works in the security sector, said he believed Trump was more capable of addressing what he called Beijing’s unfair international trade practices.
Chen said he noticed Trump’s recent comments that Taiwan should pay for US protection, but did not consider them to be a shift in attitude.
Trump has also asked European countries to shoulder more financial responsibility for NATO, he said.
Taiwan’s strategic location made it less likely for Washington to easily walk away from its commitment to the nation, he said.
Sicher and Hobson also mentioned their attachment to social issues such as women’s rights, immigration and race as well as the economy.
“I feel like my position is more aligned with the Democratic Party than the far-right,” Sicher said. “The Republican Party nowadays is really the Trump party... All their positions are crazy to me.”
Hobson, who has lived in Taiwan for 11 years, said medical care matters most for her.
“We need universal healthcare. And living in Taiwan, I just want all this stuff that we have here [also] in America,” she said.
Although the participants were hopeful, the results yesterday were showing that Trump was doing well in the southern swing states.
Hobson said she was nervous and a little frustrated.
“I can’t wrap my head around anyone that can support someone that doesn’t want to give more freedom and independence to people,” she said.
As more results came in, the crowd thinned.
Democrats Abroad is the official Democratic Party arm for the millions of Americans living outside of the US.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS