Taiwan's presidential candidates with TJ Ting

The Strait Up Podcast

Hello and welcome to the Strait Up Podcast, a show about international affairs with a focus on East Asia and of course Taiwan. That focus on Taiwan will be much tighter in the next several episodes including today, as I take a look at several issues that affect Taiwan, but which have an international component. And today, that topic is Taiwan’s upcoming 2024 presidential election.

The election will see current president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reach her term limit which means there will be new blood in the Presidential Office one way or the other. Tsai’s vice president Lai Ching-te (賴清德) appears to be the front runner looking to carry on the legacy of Tsai’s presidency and keep her Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, in power. But there are a few others in the running splitting the opposition vote, including a sitting mayor, a former mayor, and the founder of one of Taiwan’s largest companies.

To discuss the candidates, I’ll be speaking with the Senior Editor at the online news outlet The News Lens, TJ Ting. TJ writes in both English and Chinese about Taiwanese politics and has some interesting insights into the election. As I mention during the interview, my original plan for this episode was to serve as an introduction to the candidates for an international audience, who might otherwise not be that familiar with a lot of these characters. However, in the end this became a slightly more casual conversation with TJ providing plenty of interesting takes on the election.

[Note: This episode was recorded on September 21, 2023. Some events related to the election may have changed by the time of release]