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Lev Nachman Profile picture
Lev Nachman
@lnachman32
Political scientist. Assistant Professor @nccu1927. My book "Taiwan: A Contested Democracy Under Threat" is available here: https://t.co/5RjbCwCLL2
Jan 13, 2024 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Breaking: William Lai will be Taiwan's next president!

For the first time in Taiwan's history, the DPP won the presidency three times in a row. This win comes after an extremely difficult race, but in the end Lai won with a clear lead.

Here's how they did it and what it means: Image Lai's appeal to voters was that he would be Tsai 2.0 - he would not deviate from Tsai's foreign policy, Cross Strait / US relations, and doubled down on his support for the status quo. At the same time, he promised to make major improvements on social issue shortcomings.
Nov 15, 2023 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Whelp, Lai's odds of re-election just dropped.

It came down to the wire, but the pan-blue coalition has finally formed. It is by no means guaranteed to either side, Ko and Hou working together means that this just became a seriously competitive election. Initial polls will likely show a big bump of support for the Ko/Hou ticket, but after the dust settles, I think public opninion is going to be in flux.

A number of Ko voters will not support him working with the KMT, and a number of KMT voters will not support Ko on the ticket.
Mar 2, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
One of my most influential mentors Dr. Yang Su's new book on Tiananmen is finally out. Anyone interested in Chinese politics or social protest must read this book.

It is available online for those with academic access: cambridge.org/core/books/dea… The book is available in paperback for $29.99 here:
cambridge.org/us/academic/su…
Nov 14, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Why Taipei’s mayoral race matters:

1. If the DPP wins it'll be huge. It'll be their 1st Taipei mayor since Chen Shui-bian in 1998, and would compensate for other likely DPP loses. Would also validate Chen’s COVID leadership and boost DPP legitimacy.

2. But if the KMT win… …it's going to be non-stop “Is this the KMT’s big comeback?!” headlines till 2024. It would put them in their strongest position since 2018, but wouldnt guarantee a 2024 victory since the KMT still doesn’t know how to talk about stuff like 92 consensus during presidential races.
Aug 28, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Oh goodness so many where to begin...

1. Loves authoritarian Trump 🤝 loves authoritarian CKS - this "advocate" of democracy

2. Someone didn't finish reading Taiwan's wikipedia page on the plane ride over

3. Stunts like this are an insult to Taiwan's past, present, and future 4. Tell me again that Republicans are the ones who really "get" Taiwan:


5. Can't wait for deep-green conservative Taiwanese donors in the US to see this photo and shred their checks for her
Aug 27, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
So cool to see so much Ukraine-Taiwan solidarity at the Ukraine Independence Day Festival in Taipei today! Obsessed with this Ukraine-Taiwan solidarity cat print.
Jul 22, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
What good is "we were tough on China!" policy when Pottinger watched Trump actively erode American democracy?! What good is humble bragging about your own China hawkishness when you sat by and watched our president use the same authoritarian playbook you claim to fight against?! Genuinely I do not understand the cognitive dissonance with experts in our circles who celebrate Trump's China/Taiwan foreign policy for making America safer from autocrats while at the same time ignoring how Trump himself used authoritarian means to make the US less democratic.
Jul 19, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
This tweet led to the most bonkers targeted harrasment I've dealt with in a long time. Now that some time has passed, here's a few of the highlights and unfortunate reactions: It brought out a corner of conservative deep-green Taiwan twitter who immediately thought that me saying "I don't endorse Abe" meant all Taiwanese people have to hate Abe. I shared this response, but that only made things more bonkers:
Mar 5, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Scandals leaking from Pompeo's Taiwan visit: one leak shows that TECRO paid him $150,000 for his visit, the second showing he had a major investment agenda on behalf of a company called Anarock👀 Sources:

On the investment agenda:
udn.com/news/story/122…

On the Tecro payment / his full contract (copy/paste the full mandarin url):

cnews.com.tw匯流獨家贊助龐培歐15萬美金來台密件蘇貞昌/

^^Second one the URL requires you to copy paste the Mandarin text
Mar 4, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Whats facinating is he calls for the reocognition of Taiwan as the ROC. I don't think any US politicians who claim to be pro-independence has a nuanced unerstanding on the 華獨/台獨 difference but suddenly he does.

(I am also pretty convinced the DPP wrote this thread for him) As someone who follows what Pompeo says really closeley, I've never seen him talk this nuanced on anything Taiwan or Chian related ever. Meanwhile, the language used feels straight out of a MOFA tweet.
Feb 28, 2022 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
2022 updates: The wonderful people at @taiwanplusnews have made a series of videos that are all wonderful resources, starting with this primer on the event itself:

I especially apprecieat their video with @Cheng_yi_Huang on 228's relevence today:

Feb 7, 2022 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
🚨New survey data🚨

Why do people in Taiwan want nothing to do with the PRC? Our data shows that what unites Taiwanese people is not a rejection of Chinese culture, but a rejection of the PRC’s political system.

My team's lateset for @BrookingsFP:
brookings.edu/blog/order-fro… When it comes to culture some interpretet Taiwanese identity in a ethnonationalist way - a full rejection of Chinese culture in favor of a uniquely Taiwanese culture. But we find that most Taiwanese people have a more complex relationship with Chinese culture - even young people!
Feb 6, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Boston’s “Boycott Beijing 2022” protest organized by local Tibetan, Hong Konger, Uyghur, and Taiwanese diaspora organizations. Photos from the march. Didn’t run into any Trumpers or tankies today, and everyone was focused on the same message.
Feb 4, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Xenophobic nationalism does nothing to help Uyghurs Don't get me wrong, I think the Olympics are morally bankrupt and I'm not watching them. But to see US politicians use aggresive anti-Chinese language to "stick it to Communist China" in the name of Uyghur oppression helps absolutely no one.
Oct 3, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Hong Konger, Uyghur, Tibetan, and Taiwanese diaspora activist groups held two anti-CCP protests in Boston over the last week. It was my first time observing explicitly anti-CCP protests in the US and I have a few reflections:

🧵/n One protest coincided with a local anti mass incarceration protest by local Boston organizers. There was a strange irony that both groups were protesting mass-incarceration, but the two groups were very separate. Both were polite to each other, but it felt like strangers passing.
Aug 5, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
🚨New survey data🚨

How do Taiwanese actually feel about Hong Kongers? Taiwan supports Hong Kong symbolically, but when it comes to support for policies towards Hong Kongers, opinions become complicated.

🧵on my team's new research for @ForeignPolicy: foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/05/tai… These two graphs best show the stark contrast between symbolic and substantive support for Hong Kongers. Taiwanese support the protesters, but largely do not feel a responsibility to help Hong Kongers.
May 28, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Had a fun time chatting with @lcrhsiao about the upcoming referendum vote, which despite the COVID outbreak are still scheduled to happen August 28th!

Even though they're referendums, they'll have big implications for Taiwan's current political landscape and the 2022 election. .@brianhioe and I wrote about the upcoming referendums, what the issues are, which party support what, and why these topics all matter for the future of Taiwanese politics.

thediplomat.com/2021/03/taiwan…
May 28, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Unlike the US, the pandemic in Taiwan was not politicized. People supported basic prevention measures like wearing masks or quarantine regardless of political party.

But the recent spike and vaccine politics has busted that wide open, and now pandemic politics are polarized. It's not super surprising, the KMT has looked for ways to attack the DPP over the last year and largely failed because the DPP pandemic response was so strong. But now that there are cracks everyone is drawing blue-green lines about how we should feel about TWs current situation.
May 26, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Since entering academia its been interesting to see how different disciplines refer to Taiwan. Some are perfectly fine referring to TW as a country or state in shorthand with an explanatory * like Paul wrote. Some go way out of their way to not use any country-like terminology. Personally when writing I refer to Taiwan as a state, albeit a contested one (I spend a lot of time in my dissertation talking about it). I think it is neutral & accurate, but I know plenty of political scientists disagree.
May 26, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
This story is so frustrating.

There are *so* many real examples of disinfo in Taiwan, it was incredibly irresponsible of a pan-green commentator to "make up" a source and even more irresponsible of the DPP to boost it.

FFS it was a PTT post...

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ar… PRC disinfo is a serious problem, but silly moves like this give opposition parties unnecessary ammo to dismiss the work that scholars and researchers are spending tons of time on.
May 25, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Barbara Streisand not backing down after tweeting in support of Taiwan while John Cena sheepishly apologizes for suggesting Taiwan exists is proof Barbara is the stronger fighter. I would pay good money to watch Barbara Streisand fight John Cena.