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Fists and guts in Taiwan’s parliament
Representatives of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the KMT, have clashed with other members in a terrible parliamentary dispute with geopolitical dimensions.
Demonstrators with an inflatable pig during a protest in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 22 against the decision to allow the importation of US pork from pigs fed a growth hormone that is banned in the EU and China.
The background is a decision by the President of Taiwan to allow, among other things, the importation of pork from the United States that contains a growth hormone that is banned in the EU and China.
Washington has welcomed the decision, described as a step toward a future free trade agreement with the United States. But the KMT’s criticism in favor of China has been harsh and has been supported by the concerns of many Taiwanese about food safety after several food scandals in recent years.
The KMT has protested the decision by preventing Prime Minister Su Tseng-Chang from speaking in parliament. During Friday’s meeting, the DPP in power tried to ensure that Su could speak by forming a protective human wall around her.
The KMT members responded by harassing him with various forms of noise and throwing pig elves at the Prime Minister. For a short time, there was also a fight.
The DPP calls the increase “disgusting” and notes that the guts have spread the stench in parliament.
But KMT defends its methods.
“To protect human health and ensure basic food security, the opposition party can only resist,” said a statement.
China and taiwan
Taiwan consists of a main island and several smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean, east of mainland China. The nation functions in practice as an independent state, but that statement has only been approved by a few countries around the world. China sees Taiwan as a separatist region that will meet with China.
The country has been governed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2016, with President Tsai Ing-Wen. The DPP advocates for formal independence, while the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) says not so much about independence as about unification with China.
A survey conducted by the American research center Pew in the spring of 2020 showed that few Taiwanese want to see close political ties with Beijing. Opinion weighs especially heavily on the younger generation.
Taiwan is economically well developed and in many ways progressive. In 2019, it became the first East Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.
