This Week in Taiwan 1224-1230
December 25: Kuomintang (KMT) legislators accused Cho Jung-tai, campaign supervisor of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai, of creating a chat group to ask managers of publicly-owned banks to back DPP campaign activities. Critics question the DPP's use of public banks to support its election campaign. Cho responded that the members joined the group voluntarily; the group is not involved with fundraising and is definitely not a form of DPP-friendly corruption.
December 25: The Ministry of Audit investigated the procurement of military aircraft and warship engine materials and found that the winning bidder provided parts from unknown sources, which did not meet the regulations but still passed inspection. The major financial misconduct also endangers aviation and navigation safety. The Ministry has proposed to correct the Air Force Command and Naval Command.
December 25: The customs in Xiamen, Fujian Province, announced that it will relax the quantity limit of Taiwan kaoliang liquor carried by passengers on the Xiamen-Kinmen and Quanzhou-Kinmen routes. The Taiwan Affairs Office of mainland China's State Council stated that it supports exchanges between Xiamen and Kinmen, as well as between Fuzhou and Matsu, to deepen integration and development and create living circles meeting the demands of the people in Kinmen and Matsu.
December 26: Speaker Chou Tien-lun of the Pingtung County Council was detained on suspicion of violating the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act by collecting petition signatures for Hon Hai Precision Industry Company (Foxconn) founder Terry Gou. The KMT questioned that the detainment was politically motivated to not only suppress campaign activities led by Chou in Pingtung but also to threaten Gou not to support the KMT's presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih.
December 27: President Joe Biden of the United States signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, which requires expanded U.S.-Taiwan military cooperation in accordance with the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act, establishment of a comprehensive training program for Taiwan's military, regular reporting to the Congress on the progress of arms sales and delivery to Taiwan, as well as China's military operations in Taiwan and the South China Sea.
The Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of mainland China's State Council urged the United States to abide by its political commitment to Taiwan, embody its non-support of "Taiwan independence" with concrete actions, immediately stop arming Taiwan, and stop its actions of "destroying" and "harming" Taiwan.
December 28: According to Reuters, China pressured Taiwanese band Mayday to make pro-China statements ahead of Taiwan's election on January 13, according to anonymous sources and internal Taiwan security documents seen by the news agency. The TAO responded that the rumors deliberately created by the DPP authorities are completely false news. According to the TAO, the maneuver is both insidious and vicious.
December 28: In an open letter, former Vice President Lien Chan emphasized that the people of Taiwan have given the DPP another chance to govern for eight years, but what the DPP has given to Taiwanese society are constant partisan struggles, shortage of workers in all walks of life, and either short supplies or rising prices. Wrong energy policies and paranoid anti-China, pro-independence policies have escalated tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Coupled with frequent corruption cases involving important DPP members, it is no wonder that support for unseating the DPP remains high. Lien reminded the importance of cross-strait peace, and that young people should fight in the workplace instead of going to battle for Taiwan independence.
December 29: Taiwan stocks closed for 2023 at 17,930 points, setting a new closing high this year, just one step away from the 18,000 mark. Trading in the foreign exchange market was relatively calm, with the New Taiwan dollar closing at 30.735 against the U.S. dollar, depreciating 1.7 cents, the lowest closing price in the past seven years. According to investment advisory analysis, Taiwan stocks will still see a bullish trend in 2024, supported by strong fundamentals and abundant capital.