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Angelica Oung

@AngelicaOung

19 May

Oh how the tides of politics turn. To tell the truth, I had kind of forgotten about the opposition KMT as they were so downtrodden. But given recent events, I decided it was time to have a chat with Ho Chih-Yung, their deputy director of international affairs. 🧵

TBH, the KMT has been brutally marginalized for being relatively pro-China. Especially amongst the young. As Ho himself joked, “I used to say of course there are KMT supporters aged 40 and below...me! But then I turned 41.”
BUT two blackouts in a week AND a COVID crisis?

I didn’t ask Ho about COVID. That didn’t happen on KMT’s watch. But I asked him how KMT’s policy on power differed from the DPP’s. “Taiwan is simply not ready to move away from Nuclear Energy,” was his short answer. In President Ma’s 1-2-3-4 formulation, Nuclear would be 20%

Read 20 tweets

Angelica Oung

@AngelicaOung

18 May

Another reason why the govt’s ”perfect storm” or “blame it on bob” excuses for recent blackouts is almost insultingly thin is...people predicted this. In fact, the 2014 Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh said “In 2021, Taiwan will face power crisis.”🧵
news.ltn.com.tw/amp/news/polit…

This was when Longmen, Taiwan‘s 4th nuclear plant, was about to be mothballed. Newly appointed Minister Duh predicted if N4 is mothballed/coal plants go offline, Taiwan will only have reserve capacity of 5.4 percent by 2021 and “will absolutely go short on power”

Now let’s remember, this man, who is now being raised up as a prophet, was being absolutely trashed by by anti-nuclear environmentalists as a fearmonger and a liar. No. Former minister Duh is neither a liar or a prophet...he was just a man who could do maths.

Read 6 tweets

Angelica Oung

@AngelicaOung

18 May

Looks like the prez herself and the premier are going to go live to address the nation in ten minutes:

It was a very short address. 5 minutes. Starting with how unacceptable it is to have two blackouts in one week. “We need to review our national electricity distribution in the wake of climate change and a booming economy.” I dislike how she keeps using the word “distribution”...

...when it is obvious to me we are not producing power and shuffling it around better will not help Taiwan but whatever. Onwards to COVID stuff: She focused on the domestic vaccines. 2 domestic productions now in clinical trials. Purchased vaccines also “on the way”

Read 4 tweets

Angelica Oung

@AngelicaOung

8 May

Are we about to see the Cultural Revolution 2.0 in China? This is what YouTube commentator Wen Zhao argues. While Xi has consolidated his power to an almost absolute amount, he still has to pay lip service to the party tradition of “respecting elders” 🧵

People forget Chinese leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and Wen Jiabao were themselves victims of the Cultural Revolution and they were determined not to have another Mao emerge in the CCP. The way Deng did this was provisional, creating a party culture where “elders” remain a force.

Wen Jiabao’s family suffered terribly under the Cultural Revolution. As soon as he became Premier, he was already thinking of how he was going to step down. While a political moderate, the one time he acted with resolute boldness was to take down Bo Xilai.

Read 8 tweets

Angelica Oung

@AngelicaOung

6 May

Survey finds working mother's in Taiwan are just about at their breaking point. How bad? Asked if they could have a do-over 1/3 would opt not to have kids. This is how we got the lowest birthrate in the world! (Thread)
taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archi…

Childcare is HARD WORK ppl, and while Taiwan can be proud of how accepting we are of women workers, even at the managerial level, the truth is it's because we need their labor. At home, patriarchy still rules.

The candle is burning at four ends: child care, elder care, salary pressure and work pressure. Btw more than 80 percent feel guilty they don't spend enough time with kids and more than half say they're paid less for same work as working moms.

Read 4 tweets

Angelica Oung

@AngelicaOung

19 Apr

Proof right here that one Otaku with a Facebook Group can change the world. meet Huang Shih-shiu, Taiwan's pro-nuclear Final Boss. Thanks to Huang, the odds are good Taiwan's mothballed 4th nuclear plant will be restarted (thread)

It all started with Fukushima. While everybody else was freaking out, Huang though “huh...huge nuclear disaster and nobody died. Is it really as dangerous as I thought?” In 2013 Huang started the FB group Nuclear Mythbusters. The group made a name for itself with “takedowns”

“We love taking down the anti-nuke groups with their own numbers” said Huang, who crunched a number from a document called “how the 4th nuclear plant is picking your pocket” to calculate the average cost from N4 would be a bargain at NT$1.4/kWh (about a nickel)

Read 16 tweets

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