The Lay Judges Act is set to become effective on January 1, 2023. The Legislature passed the third reading of the bill on July 22, the last day of the summer’s extraordinary session, after around 30 hours of struggle.

Taiwan’s highest judicial body, the Judicial Yuan, had long been mulling a plan that would allow the public to participate in reviewing and ruling in criminal cases. However, views about what kind of system should be put in place differ across the political spectrum. The ruling DPP and opposition camps such as the KMT, the New Power Party, and the Taiwan People’s Party all have their own visions.

At a national meeting on judicial reform in 2017, the DPP government promised to introduce citizen participation in criminal trials. The decision was in response to public outcry over several rulings involving egregious crimes. Some said the rulings are too lenient and unsatisfactory, while others said that presiding judges are out of touch with the public. Without the participation of ordinary citizens, supporters of the Lay Judges Act say, public trust in the judiciary could falter amid growing doubts about whether certain rulings are fair enough and whether justice has been served.

The Taipei Zoo’s panda cub has been given the name “Yuanbao.” That’s according to an announcement the zoo made on Sunday. The name Yuanbao received over 8,700 votes in a naming contest, beating out the runner-up, “Rourou.”

The Taipei Zoo has tried breeding pandas every year during the short mating window of Yuanbao’s parents, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, as well as artificial insemination. They have failed six times. Now, on their seventh attempt this year, the zoo has finally welcomed a newborn cub.

Former President Ma Ying-jeou has been in the news recently because of comments he made at a forum held by his foundation last Saturday. The forum was called “National Insecurity: How can Taiwan make itself safe in a dangerous situation?"

Speaking at the opening, Ma said he will do everything he can to prevent an outbreak of war in the Taiwan Strait. Ma said it’s true that China has posed a threat to Taiwan, and that the island must be well-prepared for a worst-case scenario, as it is the people who will suffer the most should a war break out.

Kaohsiung Mayor-elect Chen Chi-mai is set to take office next Monday. Last week, Chen won a mayoral by-election with 70% of the vote. Opposition KMT candidate Li Mei-jhen secured just 26% of the vote, followed in third place by the Taiwan People’s Party’s Wu Yi-jheng, with just 4%.

Chen’s landslide win is hardly surprising given that he is more experienced than the other two and went into the election armed with vast political resources. However, the ballots he received 70,000 fewer ballots last week than he was able to muster back in 2018, his first attempt to win the mayor’s office. Voter turnout, at 42%, was disappointing too.

In his victory speech, Chen promised to build a strong team and emphasize economic structural transformation. That’s because the southern port city has long focused on manufacturing industries such as petrochemicals, iron, and steel-making. Chen hopes to turn Kaohsiung instead into a high-end manufacturing center, as well as an advanced center for processing semiconductors, with an emphasis on the 5G and the semiconductor industries.

Former Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, will take on two opponents in Kaohsiung mayoral by-election on Saturday. The by-election is being held to decide on a replacement for the city’s former mayor, Han Kuo-yu, who lost a recall vote in early June.

Chen is widely considered a shoo-in as his two rivals -- Wu Yi-jheng of the Taiwan People’s Party and Li Mei-jhen of the KMT -- are thought to be relatively weak and inexperienced by comparison. A survey released by TVBS in early July shows Chen supported by 54% of those polled, followed by Li at 23% and Wu at 5%.

Still, the by-election is crucial for Chen. It gives him an opportunity to stage a comeback after his humiliating defeat in the city’s 2018 mayoral race. At the time, Chen received just 44.8% of the vote, trailing far behind the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu. The by-election is important for Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party as a whole, too. Kaohsiung has long been one of the party’s strongholds, and the party is eager to regain control after the defeat of 2018.

To show that Chen has strong public support, several Democratic Progressive Party heavyweights, including President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President William Lai, have urged supporters to canvas for Chen in order to secure as many votes for him as possible. The party’s goal is to get around 930,000 votes, which is higher than the number of votes that removed the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu from office in the June recall election.

At a campaign rally last month, President Tsai said she has confidence in Chen because of his vision and extensive experience. She called him the only candidate in the race that is well-prepared for the job. But despite Chen’s backing from big names and his vast political resources, his campaign may struggle to overcome voter fatigue. That’s because this will be the third time this year that Kaohsiung residents will have gone to the polls, after the presidential election back in January and the June recall vote.

Another potential problem is political baggage, which Chen, like most politicians, carries with him. Family ties are a primary sore spot. In 2014, his father, a former lawmaker and government official, was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of corruption. Chen’s opponents have used the scandal against him, but Chen has said that he won’t cut his relationship with his father and that he will simply put up with whatever attacks may come as a result.

To deflect criticism, however, Chen has said that he will “work harder than other people and subject himself to the highest standards.” And, Chen can say that since he entered politics at the age of 30, he himself has maintained a clean record, without any accusations of wrongdoing.

Chen has been frank when it comes to the challenges the city of  Kaohsiung is facing. Besides an aging population and an exodus of young people in recent years, the city is also plagued with air pollution and economic woes. Kaohsiung is NT$300 billion (US$ 10 billion) in debt. Chen has acknowledged the difficulty of borrowing more money. Transforming the economic structure and boosting the local economy will not be easy for him either. And since whoever wins the election will only be serving out the final two years of Han’s term, they won’t have much time to turn all of these problems around.

Chen Chi-mai is also a champion of freedom and democracy. Earlier this week, he accused China and the Hong Kong government of gravely harming democracy, the rule of law, freedom, and human rights in the former British colony. Chen said he stands firm with Hong Kong’s people. He also promised to offer personal safety and humanitarian assistance, and make Kaoshiung a second home for those Hong Kongers who need one.

Chen is a graduate of  Chung Shan Medical University. He received a master’s degree in public health from National Taiwan University.

He worked as a physician before he entered politics. He then served as a lawmaker for 14 years. He has also held several government posts, including Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office and Minister without Portfolio.

Despite not practicing medicine anymore, Chen’s medical experience has not gone to waste. In May, he and eleven other Taiwanese scholars published a paper in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The paper is entitled “Containing COVID-19 Among 627,386 Persons in Contact With the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Passengers Who Disembarked in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics.” Chen is credited as the paper’s lead author, He says the paper could be the world’s first big data analysis of the over 620,000 who have come into contact with passengers on the infected cruise ship.. He says this will help ensure public health and prevent community spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan. 

Former President Lee Teng-hui has died at the age of 97. Lee passed away last Thursday at Taipei Veterans General Hospital due to multiple organ failure. He had been in hospital for nearly six months prior to his death.  

Lee is Taiwan’s first democratically-elected president, earning him the nickname “Mr. Democracy”. He was hand-picked in 1984 by former President Chiang Ching-kuo to serve as his vice president. Lee became president when Chiang died, four years later. Then, in 1990, Lee was elected president by the now-defunct National Assembly. But while Lee was appointed early on, his popularity ensured his victory in Taiwan’s first direct presidential election, held in 1996. Lee won the race with 54% of the vote. He stepped down in May, 2000, after twelve years in office.

Lee was expelled from his party -- the KMT -- in 2001, for his role in helping found the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union after he had left office. This small political party is an ally of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Though Lee was never an official member of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, the party has long considered Lee its spiritual leader. 

Yuanzai, the beloved giant panda born at Taipei zoo, has turned seven this year.

To celebrate her seventh birthday, the zoo threw a birthday party for her on July 6. They prepared a feast for Yuanzai, featuring her favorite fruits and vegetables shaped to look like Taiwanese delicacies. There was “stinky tofu”,” bubble tea”, and “Taiwanese sausage”. 100 loyal fans joined her at the zoo for the event, while more fans celebrated online by watching a webcast of the party. One die-hard fan even swapped shifts with his colleagues just to attend the party in person, bringing a big homemade birthday card for her.

Yuanzai doesn’t just see crowds going crazy over her when it’s her birthday. She’s been a sensation from the start. When she made her first public appearance at just six months old, more than ten thousand people waited in line just to catch a glimpse of her. Over the years, fans have been chronicling Yuanzai’s every move and sharing new video footage featuring her tree-climbing skills, acrobatic talent, and other antics on social media. Thanks to these fans, we can see how Yuanzai has grown from a little pink cub weighing 183 grams to a 110 kilogram lady today. From the videos, we can also see that her playful nature hasn’t changed. For example, she still likes to run away from the enclosure where her fans can see her to another room, all so that zookeepers have to come sweet-talk her into going back out in front of her adoring public again.

Why can’t people get enough of Yuanzai? One reason is her personality. She won the title of “best panda personality” at the Giant Panda Zoo Award in 2013 and 2014, beating panda competitors from around the world two years in a row. Also, according to her keeper, Yuanzai is a people’s panda who loves to be around the zoo staff. She often approaches the keepers for a hug.

Under the good care of her keepers, Yuanzai has grown into a healthy, mature panda. The Taipei Zoo now plans to help Yuanzai find a breeding partner. According to zoo’s spokesperson Eric Tsao, panda experts will hold a meeting in November to discuss a plan that would let Yuanzai pick her own mate from potential matches in China. However, as it is difficult to arrange for Yuanzai to travel, the most feasible alternative would be to artificially inseminate her in Taiwan.

While Yuanzai’s mating plan still has a long way to go, the panda family at the Taipei Zoo has recently got a new member. She is Yuanzai’s little sister, born a few days before Yuanzai’s birthday this year. This is perhaps the most special birthday gift that Yuanzai has ever received, and the birth is a remarkable achievement for the zoo, as well. The Taipei Zoo has tried breeding pandas every year during the short mating window of Yuanzai’s parents, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, as well as artificial insemination. They have failed six times. Now, on their seventh attempt this year, the zoo finally has welcomed a newborn cub.

The cub has been given the nickname Rou Rou, which sounds like “gentle” or “chubby” in Mandarin, depending on the tone used to pronounce the characters. This also implies the differences in personality between the sisters — while Rou Rou is gentle and quiet, Yuanzai is a rough-and-tumble panda that has been vocal since she was small. The zoo will hold a naming contest to collect input from the fans and decide on Rou Rou’s official name.

Yuanzai’s parents, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, have been living in Taiwan since December 2008; they were gifts from China given  as a gesture of goodwill.

The panda family of four are given the utmost care by zookeepers. According to Tsao, the family currently has four keepers taking care of it. The keepers have to closely monitor the pandas for changes in appetite and changes in the amount of feces they discharge every day. This is in order to provide optimal care for them. In addition, they have to design new toys and settings for the pandas, allowing them to stretch their minds and bodies from time to time. For example, they will hang the pandas’ favorite food up high to make the pandas exercise a little bit before they eat. This is known as behavioral enrichment, and it is vital to keeping pandas in captivity healthy.

Today, there are only about 2,000 pandas around the world. While keepers across the globe devote tremendous efforts and abundant resources to taking care of pandas, they are also trying to deliver an important message. That is, we need to take action to protect the planet’s endangered animals. It’s not without reason that the panda has been chosen as the global ambassador for wildlife conservation: conservationists hope that the fluffy cuties’ star power will help raise global awareness about the issue.

Former Presidential Office Secretary General and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu is set to take up the post of Control Yuan president on August 1st. Last week, the Legislature approved her nomination in a vote, with 65 in favor, 3 against and 2 other votes invalid. The Control Yuan is Taiwan’s highest government watch-dog body and is one of the five branches of Taiwan’s central government.

Given that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party holds the majority in the Legislature, the overwhelming support for Chen’s nomination was hardly surprising to anyone. That includes the opposition KMT, which was strongly critical of her nomination. As a matter of fact, the Chen’s nomination was marred by scuffles between Democratic Progressive Party and KMT lawmakers. 

Chen stepped down from her post in the Presidential Office and withdrew from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party after learning that she was to be nominated. But while she has officially cut ties with the party, critics still question her impartiality. They also say they doubt her suitability for the job. 

Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, celebrated his 85th birthday on July 6 in Dharamshala, India. The previous day, the Dalai Lama had spoken with over 1,300 Buddhists in Taiwan through a video chat platform. He said that his birthday wish is to visit Taiwan again. He also talked about how to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertain global situation.

After learning about the Dalai Lama’s birthday wish this year, the foreign ministry said that he is welcome to visit Taiwan. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou said the government would welcome a visit by the Dalai Lama at a time convenient to him so that he can share his Buddhist teachings. Ou also said, however, that Taiwan has yet to receive an application to visit from the Dalai Lama. 

With his moral teachings and sense of humor, the Dalai Lama has attracted a large following in Taiwan. He has visited Taiwan three times - in 1997, 2001 and 2009, during the administrations of former Presidents Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian, and Ma Ying-jeou respectively. His most recent visit was at the invitation of then Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu. He gave blessings and held prayers for nearly 700 victims who had died when Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan in August that year. 

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung, one of Taiwan’s most popular politicians, has been in the spotlight over the past few months. Since the first case of COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China late last December, Chen has been charged with containing the viral pneumonia outbreak in Taiwan. Thanks to his efforts, the government has succeeded in keeping the novel coronavirus at bay. To date, Taiwan has reported 449 confirmed infections in total, of which only seven have been fatal. 

Before the outbreak was brought under control in early June, Chen and his team gave a press conference every day, updating the public on the latest developments. The dentist-turned-politician was on TV, in the newspapers, and on social media as well. He went weeks on end without a single day off. Chen’s tireless efforts have not only won him praise from the public, but have also turned him into a rising political star. 

A poll done on behalf of Taiwan Brain Trust, a group with ties to President Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party, showed in early May that Chen is the most popular government minister, with a 94% approval rating. The public views him favorably because of his work containing the COVID-19 pandemic.