8kbet

The Russia-Ukraine conflict, now in its third year, continues to be a focal point of attention for the people of Taiwan. This is because, at the time of the Russian invasion, many were concerned that the Taiwan Strait was another geopolitical hot spot where war might erupt.

After the general election in early 2024, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan formed a situation of "the government is small and the opposition is large". The Blue and White opposition parties and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have clashed many times over legislative amendments and budget reviews. Recently, civic groups supporting different camps have launched recall campaigns. In response, BBC Chinese visited the streets of Taipei to understand people's views. In May 2024, physical conflict broke out in the Legislative Yuan over the "Congressional Reform Bill"; at the end of the year, disputes broke out again over the Kuomintang and the People's Party's promotion of amendments to the election and recall law and the constitution. Recently, the opposition party's move to cut the government's annual budget has further intensified political confrontation.

A 2022 survey conducted by Austin Wang at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas suggested that TikTok had no marked influence on supporters of the DPP or the KMT opposition, which supports closer ties with China. But among people who supported the smaller Taiwan People’s party, which benefited from younger swing voters’ distaste for traditional partisan politics, “whether or not they use Douyin has a significant impact on political attitudes," Wang wrote.

U.S. policy toward Taiwan is mainly affected by how the United States evaluates the following four levels: China's ambitions and capabilities toward Taiwan, China's political and economic development, Taiwan's attitude toward China, and its evaluation of Taiwan's political economy.