The Fulbright Taiwan program is still accepting applications until September 15. Their applicant pool is down from past years, and the Taipei office has sent out a special appeal to potential applicants. I repost that call below.

I have a new commentary out today at the Brookings Institution's U.S.-Taiwan Quarterly Analysis series on the aftermath of Taiwan's recall elections and what it means for the next 2 1/2 years of politics. I didn't get this observation into the piece, so let me just say here that in 25 years of watching Taiwan elections, the complete defeat of the recall votes is one of the most surprising outcomes I can remember -- perhaps second only to Han Kuo-yu's stunning win in Kaohsiung in 2018. I was way off in my predictions about the recall outcomes, as were most of the other analysts I followed. It's a good reminder that Taiwan voters are a fickle bunch, and to approach our analyses with a healthy dose of humility.

Anyway, the opening paragraphs are below: 

For the last 18 months, Taiwan politics has been out of equilibrium. The sweeping defeat last month of the attempt to remove 24 Kuomintang (KMT) legislators in a “great recall” demonstrated at least one incontrovertible truth: divided government is not going away. Taiwan’s political combatants now have an opportunity for a political reset. Let us hope that they seize it.

Political Uncertainty Drives Partisan Conflict
Taiwan’s previous elections in January 2024 delivered an ambiguous verdict. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) retained control of the executive branch but lost its majority in the legislature, while its primary opposition, the KMT, won a plurality of 52 seats (plus two allied independents) to the DPP’s 51. Far from indicating a strong mandate from the voters, however, the KMT’s victory rested on close wins in marginal constituencies and significant electoral malapportionment: across all districts, the party’s candidates won only 40% of the vote to the DPP’s 45%. Complicating matters further, for the first time in Taiwan’s democratic history, the balance of power was captured by a centrist party, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), founded by former Taipei mayor and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je. This unprecedented situation injected additional uncertainty into Taiwan politics and contributed to the rapid escalation of partisan conflict over President Lai Ching-te’s first year in office.

​For the rest, see the Brookings website. 

Also, a side note: in putting this piece together, I was struck by how much good English-language coverage there is now on Taiwan politics. So much so, in fact, that I wasn't initially sure I had anything original to say after so many others got there first.

So here I just want to give a shout-out to the growing roster of outlets and people doing good work on Taiwan politics, including: 

• Journal of Democracy, which published an online exclusive by Raymond Kuo which I found especially thought-provoking. 
• The Diplomat has had a lot of good coverage of the recalls featuring a variety of perspectives. 
• Jamestown China Brief on the recalls and the stakes for the KMT. 
• GTI Brief -- including some great work by Ben Levine. 
• Taiwan Insight, which had a whole special issue on the recalls. 
• FPRI -- especially pieces by Brendan Flynn and Joshua Freedman. 
• Financial Times has regular original stories on Taiwan issues, thanks to Kathrin Hille's dogged reporting. 
• Bloomberg, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal now all have reporters based locally doing good work. 
• Foreign Affairs even published something on domestic issues in Taiwan for once, even if they did give it a troll-y title as is their habit. Excellent work Lev and Wei-Ting for surviving the FA editorial process! 

And on top of that, we've got Taiwan-based outlets that have expanded and deepened coverage too, including: 

• Taipei Times, which now has not one but two regular columns, by Michael Turton and Courtney Donovan Smith. 
• The inimitable Frozen Garlic blog by Nathan Batto.
• New Bloom and the extremely prolific Brian Hioe, who apparently never sleeps. 
• Domino Theory. 
• Commonwealth Magazine. 

And too many others to list...

I can remember back in the Ma Ying-jeou era when English-language coverage was maybe a tenth of what it is now, and quite a bit shallower. I was going through old notes of that period recently and they reminded me of the parlous state of commentary on, for instance, the Sunflower Movement. So I find myself marveling now at the richness and diversity of English-language writing on Taiwan. I know I learn a lot from you all, so...thanks, and keep up the good work.