Close to 19.5 million Taiwanese citizens will be eligible to vote in Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, January 13, 2024. The three main parties contesting the election are the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The DPP is seeking to make history by becoming the first party to win a third consecutive presidential term. The stakes are high and observers will be watching how China responds. Turnout in the last elections in 2020 was around 75%. Two long-term experts on Taiwan will share their analysis of the election outcomes, key takeaways and implications for Taiwan’s relations with China, the United States and the world.
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Time: 9:30 pm (Taipei). 7:00 pm (New Delhi). 8:30 am (Washington, DC)
Event Type: Virtual (YouTube and Facebook)
Participants:
| Martin Williams Journalist |
Tsuni-I Cheng Human Rights Worker |
Moderator:
Sakina Batt
Host, Freedom Hour, AFI
Streaming Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsiaFreedomInstitute/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AsiaFreedomInstitute/streams
BIOGRAPHIES OF PARTICIPANTS
Dr. Martin Williams
Martin Williams is a Taipei-based journalist covering gaming compliance and markets for London-based VIXIO, and has been living in Taiwan since 1994. Martin previously served as Taiwan correspondent for Kyodo News in Japan and before that as a chief copy editor and editorialist for the Taipei Times newspaper. He served as the president of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club from March 2012 to April 2014. He has worked as an election commentator for International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT), a prominent English-speaking radio station in Taiwan. Martin is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and holds a doctorate in Taiwanese indigenous political history.
Tsuni-I Cheng
Tsuni had been a human rights worker with international human rights organizations as well as local institutions. She’d also worked on transitional justice issues in Taiwan. She served as a Presidential Aide at the Office of the President of Taiwan from 2002-2008 where she advised the President on foreign affairs and human rights related issues, drafted speeches, and accompanied the President on his international trips. She served as a Deputy Director at the Taiwan Premier’s Office from 2016-2017. Tsuni has been working in the renewable energy industry since 2017, focusing on regulatory and governmental affairs. She has a MA from the Catholic Louvain University in Belgium and a BA from the National Taiwan University.
Sakina Batt
Sakina Batt is a producer at Meeting Point, a leading audio visual production house and buying agency in Nepal. She directs promotional videos, does voice overs, writes scripts and copywriting for the videos in Meeting Point. Sakina worked for Tibet TV at the Central Tibetan Administration in India for four years (2017-2021) where she served as a news presenter and an interview host. She also made short documentaries for the channel, wrote scripts, conducted research, edited videos and anchored the show In Conversation with Tibet TV. Sakina has a Masters in Mass Communication from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and a bachelors from Delhi University.
