In recent weeks, several notable developments have taken place both in Taiwan’s domestic political arena and around the island, significantly complicating the position of the current leadership.

The Failure of the Campaign to Recall Kuomintang Lawmakers from Parliament

The ruling political faction in Taipei was stunned by the resounding failure of its attempt to recall several members of parliament from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT). The current rather complex structure of Taiwan’s governance, established in the early 1990s after the end of the open dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo, at least on paper contains several branches of power. At the top is the president, elected through universal suffrage. Crucially, members of Taiwan’s unicameral legislature are chosen through the same electoral process, Since 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), victorious in that year’s general elections, along with President Tsai Ing-wen, elected under its banner, has effectively governed all these branches in a de facto one-party system. This arrangement allowed the party, at the end of the last decade, to push through the legalization of LGBT values (banned in Russia) into the island’s legislation — despite Taiwan’s highly conservative society having expressed clear opposition to this issue in a 2018 referendum. Ignoring the popular will, however, fits neatly into the current version of “Western democracy” adopted (along with these “values”) by Taiwan’s ruling authorities.

Yet in January 2024, the well-oiled “democracy machine” broke down. In that year’s general elections, the DPP retained the presidency, now held by Lai........

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