Taiwan News:

• In January of 2024, Taiwan held free and open elections with a voter turnout of over 70%. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te (former Vice President) won the presidency. The election of his running mate Hsiao Bi-Khim to the vice presidency was widely celebrated in Presbyterian circles as Hsiao is the daughter of the late Rev. Ching-fen Hsiao, a Presbyterian pastor, seminary professor, and important advocate for democracy and human rights. The DPP win in this presidential election represents the third consecutive presidential term for the DPP, after two terms with Tsai Ying-Wen.
  
  
• In May of 2024, more than 50 civil organizations and groups, led by the Economic Democracy Union (EDU), and in cooperation with the PCT’s Church and Society Committee, started a social protest movement, later named the “Bluebird Movement.” Coming a decade after the Sunflower Movement, the Bluebird Movement highlighted issues around legislative process. Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the January election, no party dominated in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan. In order to consolidate power and gain leverage over the DPP, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the emerging Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) joined forces to try to achieve legislative dominance. In May, 2024 the joint KMT/TPP coalition pushed through bills that threatened the checks and balances system of Taiwan’s government, which led to concerns for Taiwan’s democracy and the “Bluebird Protests.” More than 120,000 people showed up to a single event in late May at the height of the protests. Although the Bluebird Protests ultimately were unable to stop the bills from being passed, the protests show the commitment to democratic process in Taiwan.


• China sends military aircrafts and warships to harass Taiwan on a daily basis, routinely entering the island’s Air Defense Identification zone (ADIZ).


• In April of 2024, Taiwan was struck by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. This was the largest earthquake in a generation, and the east coast and especially Hualien were very hard hit. The earthquake resulted in 18 deaths and over 1100 injuries. Churches rallied to help raise funds and send workers to respond to the aftermath.

• The PCT is finishing up the “21st Century New Taiwan Mission” project (2000-2025). During the past two years, a series of Mission Study Workshops have been held, modeling ecumenical perspectives on church and mission described in the booklets “The Church: Towards a Common Vision” (Faith and Order Commission) and “Together Towards Life” (Commission on World Mission and Evangelism), with the hope that a new mission project will be formulated by next year.


• 2025 will be a busy year for PCT, with the 160th anniversary celebration in June as a focal point. Two major anniversary celebration events have been planned: a service of Thanksgiving during the Annual Meeting of the General Assembly in Taipei from April 22 to 24; and a national celebrative event in Kaohsiung in June. Other celebrative events, such as concert and sports competitions, will also be held.
• Next year will also be the 40^th anniversary of the adoption of the Confession of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.

• On March 28-29, 2024, TEF hosted the Ecumenical Forum for Korea (EFK) sharing gathering at the historic Chè-lâm (Chi-nan) Presbyterian Church in Taipei. The sharing gathering involved presentations by EFK representatives Rev. Shin Seung Min and Rev. Kurt Esslinger, who spoke about the founding of EFK, the campaigns of the EFK, as well as current goals and activities. At this gathering, Ms. Nancy Lin also introduced the history and structure of TEF, Rev. Dr. Huang Po-Han described the TEF’s current situation, and Rev. Dr. Cheng Yang-En spoke about TEF’s relationship with various ecumenical and mission-oriented organizations. Fruitful question and answer sessions and time for discussion were also a part of the TEF/EFK meeting.


• The TEF task force has interviewed possible candidates to serve as TEF support staff, with no success so far.


• After the change of leadership in the Theological Reflection Working Group (TRWG), TRWG is planning to hold a mixed dialogue meeting with the Global Kairos Asia-Pacific Solidarity for Palestine (GKAPS).