Taiwan's 2020 Presidential Race2020/01/10 , Opinion

The News Lens
Date: 2020/01/10
By: Rath Wang

Rath Wang fiddles with numbers during the day but writes and advocates for Taiwan’s identity and other progressive causes in his free time. 

What you need to know

Taiwanese youth are mobilizing voluntarily to increase voter turnout in the 2020 elections.

Taiwanese voters will elect their next president on Saturday, along with legislators and political party votes, a deciding factor on the funding political parties receive and the allocation of party-list seats. 

A sense of despair echoing similar sentiments from the 2014 Sunflower Movement has permeated Taiwan’s younger population. Taiwanese youth are worried about their freedoms being stripped away by Beijing’s coercion, exacerbated by the months-long Hong Kong protests. 

In Taiwan, the generations born after 1980 are often referred to as “naturally independent” (天然獨). Many of them are supporters of incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, who has been very vocal about defending Taiwan’s democracy and freedoms. On the other hand, they perceive the opposition candidate Han Kuo-yu as having the power and intention to “sell” Taiwan to China for short term business gains. 

In light of that sentiment, various youth groups across Taiwan have organized as savvy online fact-checkers and street canvassers, attempting to convince the elderly voters who support China-friendly Han to “wake up.” Youth volunteer groups have formed a social media alliance, from Facebook groups to LINE chatrooms, as well as official youth initiatives such as “Go Home to Vote” sanctioned by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.    [FULL  STORY\]