This Week in Taiwan 0607-0613
June 9: A Boeing C-40 Clipper of the United States took off from Japan’s Ryukyu and flew into Taiwan’s air space from Keelung through the island's west coast. Then, the executive aircraft exited through Tainan on its way to Thailand. This is the first time in four years that a U.S. military aircraft has crossed Taiwan. At the same time, Taiwan also detected several Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircrafts of the People’s Liberation Army. They briefly entered the southwestern part of Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone but were warned and driven away.
June 11: Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture intends to change the administrative division of the Diaoyutai Islands from Tonoshiro (登野城) to Senkaku, Tonoshiro (登野城尖閣). The Yilan County Council also passed a provisional resolution, recommending that the Yilan County Government rectify the administrative name of the Diaoyutai Islands to Diaoyutai, Toucheng (頭城釣魚台), in order to defend local jurisdiction of the islands. The county government responded that it would review and implement and proposal.
June 12: The Central Election Commission officially confirmed the recall of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu and announced August 15 as the date of the mayoral by-election. Mayoral candidates must complete registration by June 24, quite a tight timeline in terms of campaigning. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has decided to field incumbent Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai as its mayoral candidate. Chen will resign from his current post to participate in the by-election. Caught off guard, the Kuomintang (KMT) must find its candidate within 12 days. With the dismissal of Han, the Executive Yuan appointed Yang Ming-jou as acting mayor effective June 13. Yang was previously a counselor in the Kaohsiung City Government and a close confidante of former Mayor Chen Chu.
June 13: Student representatives of National Taiwan University (NTU) recently proposed establishing a group to promote transitional justice to deal with campus planning, removal of authoritarian symbols, and a reconstruction and review of the school’s history, stirring controversy. Some NTU alumni formed an alliance defending campus autonomy, criticizing in a press release that the NTU Student Association is attempting to translate partisan politics onto campus and denouncing the late university President Fu Ssu-nien and incumbent President Kuan Chung-ming. Other NTU alumni also launched an online petition to rescue the Fu Bell, which symbolizes the school’s spirit. The case was discussed at an official university meeting. After 50 minutes of heated debate and vote of 24 to 109, the case failed to pass.
June 13: The implementation of a fee cap on self-funded medical supplies triggered a backlash in the medical profession, prompting President Tsai Ing-wen to come forward and urge consultation between the premier and minister of health and welfare. The National Health Insurance Administration invited medical professionals to meet. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung announced that the new policy which had been scheduled for August would be postponed. The halt defused a crisis which has hit the Tsai administration.