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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Aug 16

Brookings just published my analysis of Taiwan politics after the first wave of recalls. The main point: the recalls have resolved some remaining political uncertainty, & all 3 political parties have some incentives to tack towards the middle.

www.brookings.edu/articles/tai...

Taiwan after the great recalls: Toward a new political equilibrium? | Brookings

After the recall vote, Taiwan’s political combatants now have an opportunity for a political reset. Let us hope that they seize it.

www.brookings.edu

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Classic Movies Today @classicfilms.bsky.social · Jul 7

81 years ago:
The Mummy's Ghost (US)
An Egyptian high priest travels to America to reclaim the bodies of ancient Egyptian princess Ananka and her living guardian mummy Kharis. Learning th...
1944-07-07
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/29243

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Lev Nachman @lnachman32.bsky.social · Jul 26

Three big takeaways from Taiwan's recalls:

1. Even though the pro-recall movement was highly mobilized, and the KMT efforts to recall DPP legislators flopped, blue voter networks are not dead or apathetic. KMT voters can and will still mobilize for their party when need be.

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jul 21

Finally wrote something about the Taiwan People's Party. Read to the end to find out why the TPP is the biggest reason most KMT legislators are going to face recall votes on July 26:

www.kharistempleman.com/blog/the-cur...

The Curious Case of the Taiwan People's Party, Part 1: Policy, Office, or Votes?

This post got so long I broke it into [two] --> [three] --> FOUR pieces. Part 1 is below. Part 2 is her e, Part 3 is here , and Part 4 is here .

www.kharistempleman.com

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jan 31

Huge loss. Mala Htun did pathbreaking work on gender representation. This is terrible:
provost.unm.edu/news-and-art...

In remembrance: Distinguished Professor Mala Htun :: Office of the Provost | The University of New Mexico

Mala Htun, author and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The University of New Mexico, died Friday at age 55.

provost.unm.edu

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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · Jan 24

Former Nantou county magistrate sentenced for charges totally 656 years and 4 months, it's confirmed he will serve 21 years and 2 months

國民黨前南投縣長李朝卿「98貪污罪判656年4月」關21年2月確定 - 社會 - 自由時報電子報

原國民黨籍前南投縣長李朝卿（已入獄），任內利用颱風修復或重建工程收回扣，無論大小工程都要拿一成回扣，連運動會買紀念品都要貪；李先後被依98個貪污罪判刑656年4月，後來檢方聲請定應執行刑時，李自稱是初犯，已潛修佛法、一心懺悔，請求合併應執行不超過17年6月，台中高分院仍對他裁定執行21月2月，最高法院駁回抗告確定。最高法院維持台中高分院裁定，指李朝卿所犯貪污罪，均與南投縣政府公共工程相關，犯罪時間...

news.ltn.com.tw

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · Jan 23

SoCal showers now likely Sun-Mon! Decent soaking (0.5+ in.) possible mtns; lighter (0.2-0.5 in.) elsewhere. This will be a cold/convective system (w/showers + t-storms). Enough to tamp down but not end fire season; t-storm downpours may risk fire zone debris flows. #CAwx #CAfire

Map of ECMWF ensemble average precipitation over the Western U.S. through Tuesday morning. Half an inch or more of liquid equivalent (locally snow) is possible in the SoCal mountains, with a few tenths of rain elsewhere.

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Foreigners in Taiwan 🇹🇼 外國人在台灣 @foreignersintw.bsky.social · Jan 21

I just got banned on Little Red Book 小红书, it was really easy. All you have to do is write the words “Tiananmen Square 1989” or even better “Taiwan is a Country” and you will break the glass hearts of 1.3 billion netizens.

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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · Jan 21

Stefanik has clearly done her homework—in line with her earned reputation as a quick study, she has clearly put in the time and learned a lot about the UN

Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · Jan 21

Jim Risch just said people from other nations were clogging up the New York streets around the UN, and invited Elise Stefanik to comment. She, to her credit, ignored the xenophobic part of his question and answered the substantive part

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Dr. Judith Hubbard @judithgeology.bsky.social · Jan 21

🧪⚒️ A M6 earthquake shook southwestern Taiwan earlier today, causing at least one building to collapse.

The faults in western Taiwan are mapped in detail - thrusts soling to a detachment at 5-6 km depth. So why did this earthquake occur several km deeper?

Read more on our blog:

Magnitude 6 earthquake shakes Taiwan

Thrusting within a complicated and mysterious tectonic collision

earthquakeinsights.substack.com

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · Jan 20

Just saw the Presidential Alert and felt a rather long earthquake up here in Taipei. Initial reports indicate M6.4 with an epicenter in Chiayi County, somewhere around Tsengwen Reservoir, where I was just a few days ago... www.cwa.gov.tw/V8/E/E/EQ/EQ...

【Earthquake Report No.007】 - Central Weather Administration

Origin time(Taiwan Standard Time: GMT+08:00): 2025/01/21 00:17, location: 37.9 km SE of Chiayi County Hall, focal depth: 9.7 km, magnitude(ML): 6.4

www.cwa.gov.tw

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Vasabjit Banerjee @vasabjit.bsky.social · Jan 19

Algeria, one of Russia's top 5 arms customers, just shifted a major naval order to China. In line with a broader shift to China, which has already displaced Russia as the top arms exporter to Sub-Saharan Africa.

dailywrap.ca/algeria-pivo...

Algeria pivots to China for naval strength, sidelines Russia

The Algerian Ministry of Defense has unveiled a plan to begin constructing Chinese Type 056 corvettes at local shipyard…

dailywrap.ca

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Nathan Attrill @nathanattrill.bsky.social · Jan 20

Taiwan's premier has said the government faced a crisis in day-to-day operations, including national security, because of large cuts to this year's budget proposed by opposition parties, who have cited a need to cut waste. www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-as...

Taiwan’s premier says opposition’s budget cuts would cripple key government functions

The opposition has proposed a record NT$214.7 billion (S$8.94 billion) in cuts to the budget. Read more at straitstimes.com.

www.straitstimes.com

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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · Jan 20

KMT really wants that submarine budget cut, hm?

news.ltn.com.tw/news/politic...

潛艦國造預算藍改凍結50％專報後可動支 - 政治 - 自由時報電子報

立法院國民黨團提案凍結今年度潛艦國造預算18億元，海軍司令部昨表示，原型艦正在持續進行各項測試，預算若遭大幅凍結，恐會延宕後續艦籌獲期程，加劇敵我戰力失衡，籲請立法院支持後續艦20億元預算全數照列。對此，國民黨團書記長林思銘今日受訪表示，國造潛艦海鯤號預算，國民黨團原本要凍結18億，通過2億，經過與民眾黨團、跨部會溝通協調說明，最後底定版本是凍結50%，國防部到外交及國防委員會專案報告以後就可以動...

news.ltn.com.tw

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Jeffrey J. Hall @mrjeffu.bsky.social · Jan 20

During the recent election in Hyogo, supporters of Governor Saito spread defamatory information about a local politician who was investigating the governor. The politician was found dead yesterday from an apparent suicide, and he is still being defamed online.
news.goo.ne.jp/article/yomi...

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jan 20

www.kharistempleman.com/blog/taiwan-...

Taiwan Is on the Brink of a Constitutional Crisis

And maybe a fiscal one, too. And no, it has nothing to do with China.

www.kharistempleman.com

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jan 20

Taiwan is on the brink of a constitutional crisis. I detail how it got so bad, so fast, here:

www.kharistempleman.com/blog/taiwan-...

December 20, 2024, in the Taiwan legislature: The DPP party caucus tries and fails to blockade the speaker's podium to prevent a final vote on three controversial bills.

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jan 12

E.g.: the constitutional court members serve 8-yr terms. So the court that struck down the KMT-TPP power-grab bills last summer was entirely appointed by Tsai Ing-wen and approved by a DPP LY. Not hard to see why the opposition now wants to paralyze the court unless they get nominees they like.

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Pierre-Yves Baubry 博磊 @pybaubry.bsky.social · Jan 7

KMT and TPP legislators just passed bill raising income replacement rate to 80% for pensions of retired police officers and firefighters. DPP government officials & legislators opposed the move, explaining it will only increase generational conflicts and exhaust the pension fund early.

警察年改三讀　所得替代率80％、退警月領7.4萬「比部會次長高」 | ETtoday政治新聞 | ETtoday新聞雲

立法院上周五院會原定處理「警察人員人事條例修正草案」，要將退休警消所得替代率提高到90%甚至95%，因在野陣營尚未凝聚共識，改到今（7日）院會處理，昨朝野協商時，國民黨將所得替代率改為提高到80％，八成退休基層警察月退休金可領到74544元。稍早院會表決，贊成60位、反對49位，綠委伍麗華棄權，該提案三讀通過。銓敘部指出，大部分警察人員月退俸比常務次長還多，一般文官公務員無法接受，還會衝擊現有警力...

www.ettoday.net

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Roy Ngerng 鄞義林 @royngerng.bsky.social · Jan 8

KMT/TPP passed a law to divert central government funds to local governments but allocated funds to cities/counties with more businesses instead of based on demographics (like areas with more elderly/children). TPP has again gone back on promises of supporting young families.

tinyurl.com/5d44ej5k

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jan 12

Taiwan has been on a path towards a constitutional crisis since last summer. One root problem is that its institutions aren't designed to handle divided goverment. A lot of the political pathologies of the Chen Shui-bian era have reappeared.

thediplomat.com/2025/01/taiw...

Taiwan’s Constitutional Crisis Threatens Its Democracy

The Constitutional Court has been effectively sidelined through a legislative gambit – and the biggest losers are the Taiwanese people.

thediplomat.com

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Bonnie Glaser @bglaser.bsky.social · Jan 11

JOB OPENING: I'm seeking to hire a deputy director, program administrator to work with my fantastic team in GMF's Indo-Pacific program. This is primarily a managerial and admin/budget position in either Berlin or DC. Apply here: www.gmfus.org/about/careers

Careers

www.gmfus.org

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Kharis Templeman @kharist.bsky.social · Jan 11

This coming Wednesday -- Hoover Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific will host Weitseng Chen for a talk on national security investment screening in Singapore vs Taiwan. Details here:

www.kharistempleman.com/blog/ptip-we...

PTIP - Weitseng Chen on National Security Investment Screening in Taiwan and Singapore

The Hoover Institution Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region and the Program on the US, China, and the World invite you to Guardians of Economic Sovereignty: How Taiwan and Singapore Navigate.....

www.kharistempleman.com

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Ben @benjaminqiu.bsky.social · Jan 5

JF Books, been around just a year, at DuPont Circle, the DC reincarnation of an influential intellectual hub back in Shanghai before being shut down there by the gov, is shaping up to be an important salon for ideas on China’s past and future.

Jeff Wasserstrom @jwassers.bsky.social · Jan 5

If in DC and interested in Chinese art &/or in World War II, this should be excellent, a very engaging speaker with a great well researched tale to tell…

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Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · Jan 2

After reading these two articles, I am even more skeptical about the usefulness of the concept of "far right" in Latin America - beyond describing a generic "reactionary" position.

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