Politics

Fistfighting lawmakers and protests mar start of Taiwan's new administration

Published

1 month ago

May 25, 2024

Fistfighting lawmakers and protests mar start of Taiwan's new administration

TAIPEI, Taiwan —

Thousands protesting outside parliament, lawmakers tackling and punching each other inside — it’s not the peace and unity Taiwan’s new president called for when he took office this week.

The democratic, self-ruled island, facing growing pressure from China, is roiling over a controversial bill that critics say could make it easier for Beijing to interfere with Taiwan’s domestic affairs.

The impassioned reaction highlights the tense political atmosphere in Taiwan as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, enters an unprecedented third term in the presidency. Some fear the party’s confrontational stance toward China could provoke an attack, while its supporters argue that close collaboration with Beijing could cede too much power to the Communist Party.

Beijing considers Taiwan a part of its territory and has vowed to reunify it with the mainland and to achieve that goal by force if necessary.

On Friday, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliamentary building for a third time, objecting to the bill that would subject government officials and private companies to questioning by legislators — or fines or imprisonment.

The bill, if passed, would significantly curtail the power of President William Lai, who would also be subject to an annual policy report by the legislature.

Proponents of the proposal, backed by two opposition parties — the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party, also known as the KMT and TPP — say it is necessary to improve government accountability.

Critics argue that the bill is being rushed through without proper procedures and that forcing sensitive disclosures would be unconstitutional and could undermine national security. One fear is that those targeted by China will have their private information exposed.

“This sets the tone for how Taiwan’s domestic politics are going to look like under a Lai administration,” said Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “It’s going to be chaotic, and there’s going to be very little that the DPP is going to be able to do.”

Lai, the former vice president also known by his Chinese name, Lai Ching-te, won election in January with 40% of the vote. His predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, held office for the maximum of two four-year terms. But the DPP lost its majority in the legislature, signaling growing discontent among Taiwanese citizens with the previous administration.

Under Tsai, Taiwan grew closer to the U.S. and increasingly at odds with China, which on Thursday launched two days of military drills around the island in a show of displeasure with the new president.

At his inauguration Monday, Lai called on China to cease its military and political intimidation, and said neither side was subordinate to the other.

He emphasized his goal to maintain the status quo but also stressed Taiwan’s autonomy, prompting an angry rebuke from Beijing.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office denounced Lai for promoting “separatist fallacies” and for advocating Taiwanese independence. The country also sanctioned three U.S. defense contractors for providing weapons to Taiwan.

Growing fears of military conflict have heightened political divisions within the island of 23 million.

As China ratchets up military drills and courts the friendship of opposition lawmakers, that’s increased concerns that the bill could be used to benefit the Chinese government by revealing private information, said Ming-sho Ho, a professor of sociology at National Taiwan University.

“For many Taiwanese people, you see China pressuring Taiwan both from without and also from within,” Ho said. “People are genuinely worried.”

On Friday, protesters chanted their disapproval from the street while legislators reviewed the bill. Some demonstrators waved signs that said “no discussion, no democracy,” while others sported yellow-and-black headbands printed with demands to increase transparency and reevaluate the bill point by point.

Chen Chun-xia, a 60-year-old retiree, said she was concerned that the reforms would enable legislators to interrogate her family over their manufacturing business in Taiwan. It was her first time at the protests, and she was expecting a dozen more family members to join her in the evening after work.

“I knew I had to be here when I saw the news,” she said. “This is for my family, for the next generation.”

Calvin Lin, 37, and Monica Chen, 34, who arrived at Friday’s demonstration together, met a decade ago during Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement, a massive protest against a bill to boost trade with China. At that time, the KMT held the presidency and the legislative majority but withdrew the bill after student protesters physically occupied the national legislature for three weeks.

This week’s protests have been more organized, Lin said, and he doesn’t expect the legislature to recall the bill. However, he hopes the demonstrations will encourage more dialogue around reforms. He wore a strip of cloth around his arm that said, “Taiwan can only improve without the KMT,” the same slogan he remembers from 10 years ago.

“The most important thing is that the process and the system are fair and healthy,” said Lin, who plans to return to protest with his friends in the coming days. “At least open up the dialogue. That’s the bare minimum.”

“Of course, the parliament can reform, but it’s important to have proper proceedings and discussions,” Chen added.

The first round of discussions, on May 17, turned violent as some lawmakers tried to stop the proceedings. People punched, shoved and tackled one another; five legislators were sent to the hospital.

This week, a group of 30 academics, former U.S. officials and other critics of the reforms released a joint statement that said the proposal grants the legislature excessive power compared with other constitutional democracies and has not been allowed sufficient review by the public or DPP lawmakers.

The KMT has defended the bill as a way to curb corruption and improve checks and balances within Taiwan’s government. At a Thursday news conference, party members said the proposed measures have nothing to do with cross-strait relations and lambasted the DPP for “fearmongering.”

Despite the protests, the KMT and TPP, which make up the majority of the legislature, have enough support to pass the bill when the session continues Tuesday.

“I think the opposition party has made it known that it is going to use its majority for its political purposes,” said Ho, the National Taiwan University professor, “and this is only the beginning.”

Yang is a Times staff writer and Wu a special correspondent.

Politics

Mike Kennedy advances past crowded GOP primary to secure nomination for open Utah House seat

Published

5 hours ago

June 25, 2024

Press Room

Mike Kennedy advances past crowded GOP primary to secure nomination for open Utah House seat

Mike Kennedy on Tuesday won the Republican nomination for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District to replace outgoing Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, becoming the immediate favorite to win the seat in November.

Kennedy beat fellow Republicans JR Bird, John Dougall, Case Lawrence and Stewart Peay in a packed primary pool for the district. Curtis is vacating his seat to run for U.S. Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney.

Kennedy, a state senator, had won the party’s nomination for the seat in April but faced challenges from other candidates who gathered signatures to be on the ballot. Peay had won the endorsement of Romney, who is also Peay’s wife’s uncle. Kennedy had won the endorsement of Sen. Mike Lee, who said he was needed to “fight against the Uniparty and help get this country back on track.”

‘SQUAD’ MEMBER FACES OUSTER FROM CONGRESS AS NEW YORK, COLORADO AND UTAH HOLD PRIMARIES ON TUESDAY

From left, JR Bird, John Dougall, Mike Kennedy, Case Lawrence and Stewart Peay, candidates in the Republican primary for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, take part in a debate at the Eccles Broadcast Center in Salt Lake City on June 12, 2024. (Spenser Heaps/Deseret News via AP/Pool)

Bird, a mayor, emphasized his experience of running a small town as well as the importance of the energy sector and agriculture, according to the Deseret News.

Dougall, the state auditor, had run as an anti-MAGA candidate and had slammed some GOP legislation, including what he saw as an overly aggressive bill that tasks him with enforcing a ban on transgender-identifying individuals using restrooms that are inconsistent with their sex.

WATCH: THIS HOUSE PRIMARY IS MOST EXPENSIVE IN CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY

He has also been deeply critical of former President Trump. On Tuesday on X, he also questioned the “cavalier manner” of any official who swears to uphold the Constitution “then endorses Trump following January 6th.” He has advertised himself as “mainstream, not MAGA.”

At a debate this month, candidates split on the question of military funding to Ukraine as well as whether the federal government should explicitly ban abortion. Peay, Dougall and Case Lawrence – a trampoline park entrepreneur – had called on Congress to keep sending weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off the ongoing Russian invasion.

Bird and Kennedy disagreed, arguing that it was not beneficial to the U.S. to keep funding the Ukrainians, with the two calling for stronger sanctions and the seizure of Russian assets.

HEAD HERE FOR LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE PRIMARY CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Sen. Mitt Romney (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Kennedy will go on to face Democrat Glenn Wright in the November election, but the Republican is favored to win comfortably in a district that has voted Republican since 1997.

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Elsewhere in the state, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, a major GOP Trump critic, held off a primary challenge from Phil Lyman, another 2020 election denier who easily won the state party convention.

The Associated Press and Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.

He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.

Politics

Will Google strike a deal with California news outlets to fund journalism?

Published

5 hours ago

June 25, 2024

Press Room

Will Google strike a deal with California news outlets to fund journalism?

SACRAMENTO —

California news publishers and Big Tech companies appear to be inching toward compromise on a controversial bill that would require Google and huge social media platforms to pay news outlets for the articles they distribute.

After stalling last year, Assembly Bill 886 cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday when it passed the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Several lawmakers described the legislation as a work in progress aimed at solving a critical problem: The news business is shrinking as technology changes the way people consume information.

“I do believe the marketplace is the best mechanism to regulate industry,” Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange), the committee chairman, said during a hearing on the bill.

However, he said, the demise of journalism harms democracy: “Thus, we have an obligation to find a way to support reasonable, credible journalism.”

The legislation, known as the “California Journalism Preservation Act,” would require digital platforms to pay news outlets a fee when they sell advertising alongside news content. It calls for creating a fund that the tech firms pay into, with the money being distributed to news outlets based on the number of journalists they employ. Publishers would have to use 70% of the money they receive to pay journalists in California.

Umberg noted that the bill does not specify an amount for the fund. He said it would be “a very elegant solution” for the parties involved to agree on what amount that should be.

Sen. Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) described talks as being “closer and closer to the place where we could actually land some kind of deal.”

In Canada, Google is paying $74 million annually into a fund for the news industry under a law similar to the one proposed in California.

Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice president of global news partnerships, testified against the California proposal during a hearing in which news executives from across the state lined up to express support for the bill, while tech industry lobbyists lined up in opposition. The bill is sponsored by the California News Publishers Assn., of which the Los Angeles Times is a member.

“The bill would … break the fundamental and foundational principles of the open internet, forcing platforms to pay publishers for sending valuable free traffic to them,” Zaidi said.

“It puts the full burden of support on one or two companies, while shielding many other large platforms who also link to news from California publishers.”

He said Google had shared a proposal for a different way to support journalism “through targeted programs” that would be funded by more companies than just the very largest platforms. The current version of the bill would apply only to Google and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.

“We hope this can serve as a basis for a workable path forward together,” Zaidi said. “We remain committed to being here and constructively working towards an outcome.”

The bill’s author, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), said she is “aggressively trying to engage” with companies that oppose the bill in the hopes that the sparring sides can reach an agreement that will allow the news industry to thrive.

“At the end of the day, I want the best solution to the problem,” Wicks said.

She closed the hearing by talking about the role journalism has played in exposing problems that lawmakers wind up addressing in the Capitol, such as crafting new laws to extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits after The Times’ investigation revealed a pattern of allegations against former USC gynecologist George Tyndall.

The bill now advances to the Senate Appropriations Committee. It will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom if it clears both houses of the Legislature by Aug. 31.

Politics

Fox News Politics: Trump Ungagged…Kinda

Published

12 hours ago

June 25, 2024

Press Room

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail.

FACE OFF: Don’t miss the Fox News Simulcast of the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. Stay in the know for more updates here.

What’s happening…

-Calls for Biden to fire official for past anti-Israel tweets

-Trump urges drug test for Biden

-Whistleblower who exposed NPR bias finds new job

What can he say?

Judge Juan Merchan has partially lifted the gag order he imposed against former President Trump – weeks after the jury found him guilty on all counts.

Trump and his legal team have been fighting the gag order since it was imposed upon him at the start of the trial, but had ramped up their efforts when it concluded last month. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee’s legal team had argued the gag order should be lifted before the June 27 presidential debate.

Merchan’s gag order barred Trump from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

Merchan on Tuesday partially lifted the gag order because the trial has concluded.

Trump is now able to speak about protected witnesses and jurors.

Trump is still blocked from commenting about individual prosecutors, court staff and their family members. That portion of the gag order will remain in effect until Trump’s sentencing on July 11.

Judge Juan Merchan imposed over Donald Trump (AP)

White House

‘JUST HORRIFYING’: Watchdog group calls for Biden to fire WH official for past anti-Israel tweets …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘OBSCENE’: House GOP lawmaker rips State Dept ahead of vote on U.S. dollars going to Taliban …Read more

U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks to the crowd while he campaigns in the Bronx borough of New York City, U.S., June 22, 2024. REUTERS/Joy Malone (REUTERS/Joy Malone)

Tales from the Campaign Trail

‘THEATER OF CONFLICT’: Democrat challenger slams Bowman tirade, says profanity-laced rally jeopardizes party ‘unity’ …Read more

JUST SAY ‘NO’: Trump urges drug test for Biden, says he’ll do same screening …Read more

EPIC CLASH: How to watch the CNN Presidential Debate Simulcast on the Fox News Channel …Read more

‘SUGARCOATING’ CONTROVERSY: California city keeps charged ballot language for non-citizen voting measure …Read more

CALL TO THE BULLPEN: Obama again serving as Joe’s closer ahead of 2024 Trump rematch …Read more

Trials and Tribulations

DAY 3: US v Trump: The afternoon public hearing ended with no decision from Judge Cannon Read more

Across America

NO ABORTIONS FOR MINORS: Tennessee sued over law banning adults from helping minors get abortions without parental consent …Read more

MOVING ON: Whistleblower finds new gig after exposing alleged liberal bias at NPR …Read more

NEW YORK PAYS PRICE FOR NAIVETY: Cuomo scorches Dems for migrant crisis: ‘We’re finding out, 200,000 people later, you needed a plan’ …Read more

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER: This blue city that ‘Defund Police’ supporters call home has over 1,000 unsolved homicides …Read more

KENYAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE: Kenyan police depart for Haiti to tackle rampant gang violence …Read more

ALL MUST SERVE: Israel’s Supreme Court rules ultra-Orthodox men must serve in military in unanimous decision …Read more

HUGE POPULATION: Houston area, an immigration hot spot, reeling from murder of Jocelyn Nungaray …Read more

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This article was written by Fox News staff.