Politics & Law
Taiwan Politics Review – Legislator recalls and LY vs EY battle
Significant developments over the past month: Executive and Legislative Yuans battle, Lai Administration worries about Trump tariffs, legislator recalls, politicians in trouble, and more…
By Ross Darrell Feingold
Core Pacific City / Ko Wen-je investigation
Following the indictment of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the former presidential candidate, former Taipei City mayor, and former TPP chairman, awaits the start of his trial. The first hearing in his trial is scheduled for 20 March 2025.
On 1 January 2025 when Ko was briefly out of jail on bail before bail was revoked following a prosecutorial appeal (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025) he resigned as TPP chairman, necessitating the need for a party chairman by-election which was held on 15 February 2025. Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) (At-Large) defeated the one other candidate, founding TPP member and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如), by a vote of 8,903 to 360.
Analysis: New party chairman Huang has emerged as the new face of the TPP during Ko’s incarceration. In the Legislative Yuan, he has led the TPP’s cooperation with the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) across a range of issues, most notably the series of laws that sought to expand the Legislative Yuan’s oversight of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led government.
Politicians in trouble again
On 4 February 2025, prosecutors said they have filed an appeal to have Yilan County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙), sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for giving a tax waiver to a Luodong Township landowner, retried on related corruption charges. Lin was convicted at trial last 31 December 2025 (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025).
On 5 February 2025, Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) (KMT - At-Large) was released on bail of NT$5 million (US$152,318) over alleged involvement in management of a hospital at which a fire last October resulted in nine deaths. Su is a former honorary director of Antai Tian-Sheng Memorial Hospital in Pingtung.
On 6 February 2025, the DPP legislative caucus called for an investigation into a potential conflict of interest by Legislator Wu Chun-cheng (吳春城) (TPP - At-Large) and his family through their winning of various government contracts. According to the DPP legislators, Wu and his family businesses have won NT$1.1 billion (US$33.5 million) of contracts from the central and local governments, many of which are related to the promotion of the term “strong generation”. Wu denied any conflict of interest, saying he had resigned from the relevant organisations.
On 6 February 2025, Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) (KMT – Taipei City 4th Constituency) apologized over a failure to disclose properties she owned in California; she said the properties were acquired in her name by her father decades ago. Lee refuted accusations that she has a “green card” (permanent residents in the United States) and said has never applied for one.
On 8 February 2025, the Constitutional Court rejected a High Court request to review the applicable law in the corruption conviction at the District Court of Hsinchu City Mayor Ann Kao Hung-an (高虹安) (TPP). The Constitutional Court said the law cited by the High Court was not the applicable law in making a final judgment as to the defendant's guilt or innocence. Kao is suspended following the guilty verdict (see Taiwan Politics Review, 20 August 2025). The High Court will resume Kao’s appellate trial.
On 12 February 2025, former legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) was indicted for violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (available in English and Mandarin) over allegedly helping China interfere in Taiwan's 2024 presidential election. Chang is accused of taking instructions from Chinese officials to promote the presidential candidacy of Terry Gou (郭台銘). Chang was formerly a legislator for the People’s First Party, was a deputy minister of the Mainland Affairs Council under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and more recently served as a deputy director of the KMT’s Central Policy Committee.
On 13 February 2025, Taipei City Councillor Chen E-jun (陳怡君) (DPP - Taipei City 4th Constituency) was released on bail of NT$1 million (US$30,476) after she was detained for suspected defrauding of the Taipei City Council of more than NT$3 million since 2019, according to prosecutors. Chen is accused of fraudulently claiming assistant salaries.
Analysis: The misuse, by legislators and city/county councillors, of funds available to pay staff salaries is a recurring issue that is endemic to all three of the main political parties (see Taiwan Politics Review, 30 October 2024). It’s unknown why the parties do not provide legislators and city/county councillors with sufficient education about the proper use of staff salaries in order to avoid such transgression.
Presidential Office and Executive Yuan versus the Legislative Yuan
On 7 January 2025, the Legislative Yuan passed the 2025 central government budget with an approximately seven percent (7%) reduction from the Executive Yuan’s request. The Legislative Yuan approved the budget of NT$2.92 trillion (US$89.15 billion) for 2025 after eliminating and freezing NT$207.5 billion from the Executive Yuan’s proposed budget. At a news conference the same day, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) criticized the KMT and TPP for making "extremely absurd" proposals to cut the budgets of various agencies. The KMT issued a short statement on X in English defending the cuts, while the DPP issued a lengthy English statement explaining its opposition to the cuts (note, the DPP statement incorrectly alleged that the amount of the defense budget frozen is US$24 billion; the DPP subsequently issued a correction).
On 23 January 2025, with much reluctance but no veto power President William Lai (賴清德) signed into law the changes to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) (unamended law is available in English and Mandarin) (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025). On 2 January 2025, the Executive Yuan submitted a request to the Legislative Yuan for a new vote (Taiwan’s version of a veto). The reconsideration vote was held on 10 January 2025 with all KMT and TPP legislators voting once again to approve the revisions.
On 24 January, the Executive Yuan said will ask the Legislative Yuan to hold a revote on revisions to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act that passed the legislature on 20 December 2024 (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025). The Executive Yuan said in a statement (available in Mandarin) that the revisions were "difficult to implement" because it raised the thresholds for recall petitions, thus "exceedingly restricting" the public's right to recall an elected official and "significantly increasing the burden" of local electoral authorities. On 11 February 2025, the revote once again passed the revisions into law.
On 27 January 2025, President Lai issued a pre-recorded Lunar New Year address (available in English and Mandarin). On relations with the opposition parties, Lai said “I look forward to the ruling and opposition parties being in harmony and our society uniting. Let's work together to help our nation continue to make great strides". Lai also expressed gratitude to military personnel, the coast guard, police, firefighters, medical personnel and other first responders working during the holiday; Lai has recently made much effort to build his relationship with the military (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025).
Analysis: With regard to the budget, generally, the KMT and TPP, just like the DPP, support Taiwan’s social state, including government spending and/or subsidies in areas such as childcare, education, health care, and housing support. The opposition was especially eager to cut or freeze spending on media outreach, such as public service announcements, viewing such spending as merely propaganda for the central government.
DPP and KMT duelling efforts to recall legislators
As of 10 February 2025, groups campaigning to recall legislators submitted first stage signature petitions to the Central Election Commission that target a total of 44 legislators, including 31 KMT lawmakers and 13 DPP legislators.
Under applicable law, for a recall proposal to be put to the voters, in the first stage more than 1% of the total number of eligible voters in the constituency must sign a petition, and after verification, signatures from at least 10% of eligible voters in the constituency must be collected within 60 days. After verification of the second stage signatures, the recall will be put to the voters.
One KMT activist also sought to lead an effort to recall Legislator Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) (DPP - Taipei 2nd Constituency) but the chairperson of the KMT Taipei City chapter vetoed the effort as Wang is the rare DPP legislator who opposed the efforts to recall KMT legislators.
There is no mechanism to recall at-large legislators, thus, the TPP’s eight legislators are immune from recalls.
The revisions to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act will not apply to these recall efforts, as the efforts commenced prior to the act’s promulgation.
Analysis: Generally, efforts to recall DPP legislators are organized by younger KMT activists including some who might seek to run for city/county council seats in the 2026 local elections. For the recalls that target KMT legislators, civil society organisations are leading the recall effort though the KMT generally views such civil society organisations as working on behalf of the DPP.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds to statements about Taiwan’s status
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has recently issued a series of denunciations with regard to joint statements issued by China and visiting foreign heads of government or heads of state. MOFA’s objection arises from wording in such statements that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China. Examples in the past month include Brunei (available in English and Mandarin), Kyrgyzstan (available in English and Mandarin), Pakistan (available in English and Mandarin), and Thailand (available in English and Mandarin).
Separately, on 2 February 2025 MOFA issued a statement (available in English and Mandarin) to criticise South Africa for its renewed attempt to force Taiwan’s representative office to move from the capital Pretoria to the business centre, Johannesburg, and to change its name to “trade office”. Members of the United States Senate criticised South Africa over this. As part of the China-South Africa-Taiwan dispute, on 13 January 2025 China sanctioned South African Democratic Alliance Federal Chairperson and Western Cape Member of the Executive Council for Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism Ivan Meyer over a recent visit he made to Taiwan.
Analysis: Such statements by MOFA will not change the wording in joint statements issued by China and the leaders of countries friendly to China. The statements might be more for the consumption of the international community, so that Taiwan friendly countries issue statements that support Taiwan when their leaders meet (see below).
Poll shows support for dialogue with China, Lai’s approval falls
On 14 February 2025, the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) published a summary of recent poll results on Taiwan identity issues. Taiwan independence (52%) continues to be the most popular political future preference among Taiwanese public, while maintaining the status quo is second (24%) and unification with China a distant third (13%). Most people identify as Taiwanese (76%) and small numbers identified as both Taiwanese and Chinese (9%), or as only Chinese (10%).
However, a majority (64%) agree with the statement that "Taiwan should maintain cordial relations with China", while a small number (24%) disagree.
Separately, a TPOF poll published on 21 January 2025 showed President Lai’s approval at 48.4%, and disapproval at 40.2%. This is a fall from the poll published on 17 December 2024 in which Lai’s approval rating was 51.3%.
The TPOF periodically publishes English summaries of its polls; sign up via an email request.
Analysis: One takeaway from the data point that a majority agree with the statement that Taiwan should maintain cordial relations with China is that it is nearly consistent with the vote in the January 2024 presidential election when President Lai received 40% of the vote and the KMT and TPP candidates combined to receive 60% of the vote. Thus, notwithstanding Lai’s generally high approval rating during his first nine months in office, the public appears to diverge with Lai when it comes to how to approach the relationship with China.
President Lai Valentines Day press conference
On 14 February 2025, President Lai convened a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC); the impetus for the meeting was President Donald Trump’s executive order to conduct investigations into tariffs charged by other countries as well as non-tariff market access barriers among trading partners so that the Trump Administration can levy appropriate tariffs on goods from those trading partners entering the United States. Following the NSC meeting, Lai gave a short speech (available in English and Mandarin), after which he took questions from the media.
President Lai pledged to “talk with the United States about President Donald Trump's concerns over the chip industry and to increase US investment and buy more from the country, while also spending more on defence”.
Analysis: President Lai deserves credit for his willingness to take questions from the press. Questions came from both domestic and foreign media. By comparison, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, former President Tsai Ing-wen went 700 days without holding a press conference, which brought her some criticism over a perceived reluctance to take tough questions.
With regard to the measures pledged by Lai to manage the risk from higher US tariffs, these are the obvious choices for Taiwan (see below) however unlikely they are to mollify President Trump.
Significant developments in US-Taiwan relations
On 27 January 2025, President Donald Trump, speaking at a meeting with Republican Members of the House of Representatives, said he plans to impose tariffs on imported semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the United States. This set off a chain reaction in Taiwan, with statements from the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Executive Yuan holding an “emergency meeting”
On 2 February 2025, Taiwan's representative to the United States Alexander Yui (俞大㵢) said that the Trump Administration is currently reevaluating all of its foreign aid projects, including those related to Taiwan, and that the current suspension is “not an elimination or a cancellation”. In recent years, Taiwan has received military aid from the United States under “Presidential Drawdown Authority”.
On 3 February 2025, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) issued a press release (available in Mandarin) to announce the formation of a working group to respond to the possibility of higher United States tariffs on Made in Taiwan (MIT) products, and to assist Taiwan manufacturers with establishing onshore operations in the United States, and said that the MOEA plans to set up an investment and trade centre in Texas.
On 4 February 2025, media reported that Taiwan has asked the United States to sell it six E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft to replace the E-2K AEW aircraft Taiwan currently uses.
On 4 February 2025, a bipartisan group of House of Representatives members introduced the Taiwan Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 910) a bill to support Taiwan’s participation in the International Monetary Fund. The bill demands Taiwan’s admission into the IMF as a member, Taiwan’s participation in the IMF’s regular surveillance activities relating to Taiwan’s economic and financial policies, employment opportunities at the IMF for Taiwan nationals, and, Taiwan’s ability to receive IMF technical assistance and training.
On 4 February 2025, Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a woman who “shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower Movement student protest in 2014”, was listed on a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website as having been arrested for overstaying a visa. ICE said Liou will remain in custody until her "removal" from the US. Notably, Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau said its US liaison provided ICE with the information on Liou. Liou earned the nickname "Sunflower Queen" during the 2014 Sunflower Movement but was later alleged to have introduced women in Taiwan to a ring that enlisted females for prostitution in the US. Liou is alleged to be involved in crimes in Taiwan that include embezzlement, fraud and drugs, and she became wanted in 2023 for failing to appear in court.
On 6 February 2025, members of the United States House of Representatives reintroduced a resolution (not a bill), calling for the United States to end its "one China" policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and negotiate a bilateral US-Taiwan free trade agreement.
On 7 February 2025 the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed that Chairman of the Board Laura Rosenberger had left her position shortly before the inauguration of President Trump (media coverage in English and Mandarin).
On 7 February 2025, President Donald Trump and Japan Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru (石破 茂) reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement issued after their summit in Washington DC. The statement called cross-strait stability an "indispensable element of security and prosperity for the international community", opposed any unilateral attempts to alter the status quo by force or coercion, and expressed support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations. MOFA issued a statement (available in English and Mandarin) expressing its appreciation.
On 8 February 2025, this author published a commentary (available in English and Mandarin) in the China Times newspaper on Taiwan’s possible responses to higher US tariffs.
On 8 February 2025, MOEA officials disclosed that Deputy Economics Minister Cynthia Kiang (江文若) and Deputy Director General of the MOEA's Industrial Development Administration Chen Pei-li (陳佩利) would visit Washington DC to meet Trump Administration officials in an attempt to reduce higher tariffs on MIT goods entering the United States.
On 9 February 2025, Taiwan's representative office in Los Angeles and the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce jointly donated US$1 million to firefighting units in Los Angeles to support wildfire relief efforts.
On 9 February 2025, an MOEA official said that “Taiwan is preparing to expand purchases of United States natural gas to reduce its trade surplus with the country in an attempt to avert potentially higher tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump”.
Between 10 February 2025 and 12 February 2025, two US Navy ships the USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) and USNS Bowditch (T-AGS-62) sailed north to south through the Taiwan Strait, the first United States warship passage in the Taiwan Strait under the Trump administration.
On 15 February 2025, Taiwan media noted that a Taiwan-United States relations fact sheet published on the United States State Department website has recently updated its contents to remove a line indicating United States opposition to Taiwanese independence.
On 15 February 2025, a joint statement issued after the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea met with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio included a section in support of stability in the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations. MOFA issued a statement of appreciation.
Analysis: At the time of writing, it appears that the Lai administration is making a great effort to delay or reduce the impact of the inevitable higher tariffs on MIT goods entering the United States. Taiwan hopes that the near universal, bipartisan support in the United States Congress, recent attempts to purchase more weapons or natural gas, and efforts to persuade Taiwan companies to invest more in manufacturing facilities in the United States, might sway President Trump’s decision-making.
With regard to Rosenberger’s departure, the chairman of the AIT board is typically a political appointee and not a currently serving foreign service officer, thus, this was an expected development and it in no way indicates the future trajectory of US-Taiwan relations.
Europe relations in focus
On 21 January 2025, the Taiwan Pavilion design for the Venice Architecture Biennale was unveiled by the Ministry of Culture (MOC). According to the MOC, an island installation made of honeycomb paper embodying Taiwan’s topography will be situated in the pavilion’s centre. The Taiwan Pavilion will run from 10 May 2025 through 23 November 2025 at Palazzo delle Prigioni in Italy.
On 21 January 2025, Taiwan donated two unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) command vehicles to Istanbul, Türkiye to help boost its disaster preparedness given the high risk of earthquakes.
On 26 January 2025, Italy’s Corriere della Sera published an interview with Deputy Foreign Minister François Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) (available in Italian). Wu likened Taiwan to Czechoslovakia in 1938; i.e., just as Nazi Germany coveted Czechoslovakia’s industrial assets, China covets Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing industry. Taiwan media reports about the interview were published in English and Mandarin.
On 30 January 2025, the 52nd Angoulême International Comics Festival (France's largest comics event) began, with the works of artists from Taiwan featured at a Taiwan pavilion.
On 31 January 2025, the Presidential Office published President Lai’s letter to Pope Francis to mark 2025 World Day of Peace (available in English and Mandarin) which occurred on 1 January 2025. The Holy See and the Republic of China (Taiwan) continue to have diplomatic relations, though on 22 October 2024 the Holy See announced a four year extension of the “Provisional Agreement on the appointment of Bishops” with China.
On 4 February 2025, Taiwan companies Motex Healthcare and Taiwan Comfort Champ Manufacturing donated one million medical face masks to Ukraine and 110,000 to Estonia. At a ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister said that MOFA has allocated more than US$130 million for infrastructure projects such as bridges, hospitals, churches, and schools in Ukraine, while private donations by people in Taiwan have exceeded US$32 million.
On 8 February 2025, the MOEA said that Taiwan continues to expand its semiconductor supply chain in Europe, forming strategic partnerships with Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. The expansion, driven by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s (TSMC) 10 billion euro (US$10.33 billion) investment in a new fabrication plant in Germany, aims to solidify Taiwan's role in Europe's semiconductor ecosystem. MOEA Minister Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) visited Germany and the Czech Republic in December 2024 (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025).
On 10 February 2025, new United Kingdom representative to Taiwan Ruth Bradley-Jones took up her new post, following the departure of her predecessor in early January (see Taiwan Politics Review, 21 January 2025).
On 15 February 2025, Ukraine based media Counteroffensive published an interview with Deputy Foreign Minister Wu (available in English).
Analysis: Taiwan’s central government agencies such as MOEA and MOFA are committed to assisting technology industry companies, such as those in TSMC’s supply chain, to establish an onshore presence in central Europe. The long-term impact on Taiwan’s relations with the European Union, and/or European political support for Taiwan (such as Taiwan’s substantive participation in international organisations) remains to be seen.
Other political issues to monitor
Among the other issues we are monitoring is a ban on public sector employees from using recently released made in China artificial intelligence model DeepSeek due to concerns over data leaks to the Chinese government, the proposed creation of a “Personal Data Protection Commission”, a Ministry of Environment proposal to allow foreign labour in the waste treatment and recycling industries, Mahmoud Adam Jama Galaal, the new representative from Somaliland took up his post in Taipei following Somaliland’s recent presidential election (in a post on X in 2022, Galaal criticized Taiwan-Somaliland relations saying the move is a form of what he termed as "short-term megaphone diplomacy for local consumption only"), a new effort by the Ministry of the Interior to punish persons holding Chinese ID cards, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) decision to deny visas requested by the Taipei City government for a delegation of officials from Shanghai to visit Taiwan for the Taipei Lantern Festival (which came amid an ongoing dispute between China and Taiwan as to how to restart the entry of tour groups from China into Taiwan), a meeting President Lai organized with the presidents of the five “yuan” (Executive Yuan led by Premier Cho, Legislative Yuan led by Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Judicial Yuan led by Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋), Control Yuan led by Chen Chu (陳菊), and Examination Yuan led by Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲), a significant increase in criminal cases brought against currently serving members of the military, and the Lai administration disagrees with a KMT proposal to make cash handouts of part of the tax collection surplus,
Analysis: The creation of a Personal Data Protection Commission could potentially add to the corporate world’s compliance burden in addition to the existence of the Personal Data Protection Act (available in English and Mandarin), and thus should be of concern to businesses operating onshore in Taiwan, including the Taiwan operations of foreign companies. The early stages of the bill drafting process are the time for industry to make its views known to the Executive Yuan and/or the Legislative Yuan.
With regard to the “peace meeting” President Lai held with the presidents of the five yuan, this author is not optimistic it will result in better relations between the Presidential Office and Executive Yuan on the one hand and the Legislative Yuan on the other. The combined KMT and TPP majorities are more likely to continue to seek to exercise oversight over the executive branch and otherwise propose bills or hold hearings that the executive branch objects to.
Travel by Taiwan politicians
On 8 February 2025, Lienchiang County Magistrate Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘) (KMT) led a delegation to a lantern festival in Fuzhou’s Mawei District in Fujian Province. Media reports cited academics and government officials as being critical of the visit although it has occurred in past years.
On 13 February 2025, Audrey Tang (唐鳳), Taiwan's ambassador-at-large for cyber affairs and the former Minister for Digital Affairs, attended the Munich Cyber Security Conference.
On 18 February 2025, a delegation of KMT officials, led by Deputy Chairman Andrew Hsia Li-yan began a visit to Washington DC. The delegation included three former deputy ministers of national of defense.
Analysis: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday during the last week of January, less travel by Taiwan politicians was reported compared to other months of the year.
Notable foreign visitors to Taiwan
During the week of 3 February 2025, Kristo Enn Vaga, chairman of the Estonia-Taiwan Support Group of the Parliament of Estonia, joined by parliamentarian Kalle Laanet (a former defense minister), led a group of defense company representatives to Taiwan and called for closer defense technology cooperation with between Estonia and Taiwan.
During the week of 10 February 2025, Japan House of Representatives member Suzuki Eikei (鈴木 英敬) visited Taiwan, during which he met Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴)
Also during the week of 10 February 2025, Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla visited Taiwan, during which she met with President Lai (the Presidential Office issued a statement in English and Mandarin).
During the week of 17 February 2025, a United Kingdom parliamentary delegation led by Sarah Champion visited Taiwan and their agenda includes a meeting with President Lai. Champion is the cochair of the British-Taiwanese All Party Parliamentary Group.
Also during the week of 17 February 2025, former United States Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger visited Taiwan again, and met with President Lai (the Presidential Office issued a press release in English and Mandarin).
Analysis: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday during the last week of January, less travel to Taiwan by foreign politicians occurred compared to other months of the year. Members of the United States Senate were unable to travel overseas due to confirmation votes of President Trump’s nominees to senior positions, and for United States House of Representatives members travel is only possible during recesses, as members must be present for all votes owing to a slim Republican majority.
Ross Darrell Feingold (@RossFeingold) is a lawyer at Titan Attorneys-at-Law and political risk analyst in Taipei.
Disclosures:
1. Mr Feingold is a senior adviser to the Asia Pacific Youth Association (亞太青年協會, APYA) a Taiwan non-government and non-partisan organisation that encourages youth in Taiwan to be more involved in public policy issues. The honorary chairmen of the APYA are Mark Ho (何志偉, DPP and current Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office), Charles Chen (陳以信, KMT and current Head of the KMT Overseas Department), and Andy Chiu (邱臣遠, TPP and current Acting Mayor of Hsinchu City); Ho, Chen and Chiu are all former members of the Legislative Yuan. The APYA periodically receives grants from the DPP, KMT and TPP to underwrite the cost of APYA events.
2. Mr Feingold recently received an honorarium to appear on a YouTube program about geopolitical issues hosted by the TPP Foreign Affairs Department.
