A Not-Trump Post, catching up on the domestic side

It's a (tourist) trap!

Wow. Trump hasn't said anything about Taiwan in a couple of days. Almost afraid to say anything, in case I jinx that delightful streak.

Here in Taiwan domestic politics rolls on. KMT Chairman Hung is on a swing through SE Asia states, apparently to interact with the Chinese communities there. The go-south policy for the KMT always meant piggybacking on those communities, as a Keen Observer pointed out to me over Belgian beer and cheesecake at Panos the other night. Hopefully that will change with the new Administration.

I am not hearing things that make me happy about the NPP, the party to the left of the DPP. It really needs to get a party structure out there so it can compete, but people are observing that it looks a lot more like the personal fiefdom of Chairman Huang Kuo-chang at the moment, the way the PPP looks like the personal faction of James Soong. Freddy Lim has been urged to run for higher office but he wants to move on to other things at some point, which means that no one in the NPP will rival Huang. They may field more candidates in 2018, though, so we will see.

Oh yeah. Our tourism industry was so crushed by the drop in Chinese group tourists that it had a record-breaking year in 2016....

In 2015, Taiwan's foreign visitor arrivals totaled 10.44 million, up from 9.91 million a year earlier, according to government data.

With 20 days to go, 2016 is likely to see more than 10.66 million foreign tourist arrivals in Taiwan, according to Deputy Director-general Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰) of the Tourism Bureau.

Yep... rising tourism from elsewhere in Asia is offsetting the loss in group tourists; the government's efforts in SE Asia are paying off. Back in May the government was warning that Taiwan may not break the 2016 record.
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Daily Links:

• Brian H at New Bloom on how the KMT and anti-LGBT forces attempt to appropriate the language of public referenda
• Does The Guardian do any research before they write on how Taiwan is bearing the brunt of China's rage? The constant, inept media hype on tension would be hilarious, if it wasn't so serious. 
• My man Donovan on gay marriage: the battleground moves to Taichung. Gay pride parade tomorrow in Taichung.
• Don't Miss: Richard Bush with an open letter to Trump
• Don't Miss: The Economist observes that the KMT is out of money and in trouble. I believe this is the first piece in the major media to note this. 
• Don't miss: Interview in the Diplomat with Lung Chu-chen
• WaPo serves Beijing: Beauty Queen Anastasia Lin "causes tensions" with China by speaking. Hey WaPo, speech does not cause tensions. It's Beijing's desire to suppress speech that causes the tensions. 
• 1957 Atlantic piece in which John Fairbanks observes that most people in Taiwan wanted to be independent of China
• Annette Lu is calling for a neutral Taiwan. Stop reporting what she says, media, she's delusional.
• Global Taiwan Institute's latest

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