Trouble in Taiwan;
Mass Protests Challenge Pro-US Leader
CaptainCool07 / YouTube
TAIPEI (May 4, 2025) — It is quite amazing and frightening at the same time how easily information can be controlled by the powers that be. In Taipei, Taiwan, earlier last month, something like 100,000 people marched against the current ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the current leader Lai Ching De.
To this day, not a single English language Western media source published any report on this event. If I go to the search engine and search up in English the key words, “Taiwan anti-DPP protest,” or “Taipei protest,” only the South China Morning Post and Global Times reported on this. SCMP reported the number incorrectly. They said 10,000s. But in Taiwan media, the number was 100,000s.
Also at one point, the protesters actually surrounded the legislative building and entered the chambers. The DPP is actually quite unpopular in Taiwan. Actually, Lai Ching De received less than 40% of the votes in the previous election. The only reason why he won was that his opposition split each other’s votes because they could not decide who should be runner-up.
After securing power, Lai’s party, the DPP, has repeatedly participated in revenge politics, including throwing a prominent critic, Ke Wenzhe, in jail. A retired General Gao Ankuo (another critic) was also prosecuted. While at the same time, the DPP has repeatedly allowed its own party members to evade legal consequences.
One prominent example involves a convicted party member for whom the police failed to issue a warrant until lawmakers from the opposition party raised the matter. In addition, the DPP’s time in power has been marked by a series of scandals. For instance, the government awarded a NT$1.75 billion subsidy to a company that had only NT$5 million in capital and a single employee, to handle egg imports. The purchase price was nearly four times and the eggs imported had safety issues, leading to all of the product being destroyed.
Then you have the submarine scandal. Taiwan, starting in 2020 or so, launched a very expensive submarine construction program. The project ran behind schedule and over-budget. Taiwan’s indigenous submarine began sea trials earlier this month and it is trash.
Taiwan’s first domestically produced military submarine.
A Taiwan officer reported that just getting the submarine out of the harbor and 20 nautical miles offshore — with personnel boarding and the vessel traveling at an average speed of 7 knots — took three hours. The return trip took another three hours. Then another two hours of waiting around for commercial shipping to pass first and coordinating with the dock facilities. Altogether, the round trip consumed about eight hours.
Also, there was no running water onboard. Personnel on the test mission had to bring their own bottled water and packed meals. Also the three toilets on board didn’t work. So imagine you are stuck in a tin car at sea, with no water, and no toilets going at snail pace.
Oh, actually, three days ago, the sub flooded. What are we doing?
