The Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman election debates, which took place on the 12th, illustrate the party’s general lack of solutions for its internal crisis as it heads towards the decisive party vote on March 7.
Whereas most Japanese political parties, whether the ruling conservatives or the mainstream opposition, effectively have little in the way of fixed party policies, the Japan Communist Party, the nation’s oldest political party, is very different, taking its own platforms very seriously.
Observing the results of 2020 elections, the international media generally reported on the defeat of the Nationalist Party (KMT) in both presidential and legislative elections as though it were an overwhelming landslide, but a closer examination tells a more nuanced story.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of January 2020.
The priorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should be clear given its response to the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus. Namely, the CCP has not acted to protect the health of the Chinese people, but instead acted with its priorities on presenting the appearance of stability, so as to maintain political legitimacy.
Plans by Taiwanese company Formosa Plastics to build a US$9.2 billion plastics complex in the St. James Parish of Louisiana should once again call attention to Formosa’s blatant disregard for the environment and human life in other countries.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the first half of January 2020.
The results of Taiwan’s 2020 elections led to the reelection of incumbent president Tsai Ing-Wen and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) retaining its majority in the legislature.
In 2019, Japan’s involvement in the Russian energy sector increased significantly, most notably with the purchase by a Japanese consortium of a 10% stake in Russia’s Arctic LNG-2 project. The Abe administration evidently hopes that these new investments will bring benefits, both in terms of energy economics, and as a means of furthering Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ambition to settle Japan’s territorial dispute with Russia. In both respects, the Japanese leadership risks disappointment.
Yasuhiro Nakasone, who served as prime minister from 1982 to 1987 and died this past November 29, broke the back of Japan’s labor movement.
