April 10, 2025

Taiwan's Controversial Budget Cuts — The KMT goes DOGE?

31 minutes

Taiwan is facing a range of challenges — from Donald Trump's threat of 32% tariffs on its crucial exports to the US, to massive Chinese military exercises off its coastline aimed at intimidating the island's leaders. If that weren't enough, the DPP administration, led by President William Lai, has seen its budget slashed by Taiwan’s legislature, which is now dominated by its main rival, the KMT, or Chinese Nationalist Party. It's resulted in months of protests and political wrangling. So how will Taiwan's economy and society cope with these challenges? In the latest episode of China in Context, Dr. Michael Reilly, senior fellow on the Taiwan Studies Programme at the University of Nottingham, and a former British diplomat who was previously the UK's senior representative in Taiwan, analyses the island's political and economic situation, in conversation with Duncan Hewitt.

Photo credit: 總統府 / CC BY 2.0

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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute.
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SOAS China Institute (SCI)