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“Taiwanese people are heart-
broken about what happened in
Hong Kong. I think it is inappro-
priate for him to do so,” Lo says.

Han, who was then the mayor
of Taiwan’s southern city of Kaoh-
siung, became the first Taiwanese
mayor to visit the Liaison Office of
the Central People’s Government
in Hong Kong, in 2019.

Han’s actions sparked contro-
versies. The visit was interpreted
by political commentators as a
“political act that falls under the
One Country, Two Systems frame- KMT’s Youth League’s leader Lo Yung-sheng (right) at the KMT campaign rally.
work.”
The number of young peo- defiance.
ple aged under 40 joining KMT’s
Despite his disagreements with young league has been increasing Chiang adds that Ko Wen-je, a
Han’s stance on Hong Kong, Kang since 2020, from 3676 in 2020 to presidential candidate for the 2024
admits Han has merit regarding 6236 in 2022, showing a growth election, has helped encourage
stabilizing support from older citi- rate of around 69 per cent, accord- more young people to participate
zens and protecting national secu- ing to KMT Organisational Devel- in politics.
rity in Taiwan. opment Committee’s statistics.
“Ko Wen-je has made use of
Regarding his peers’ cold atti- Meanwhile, nearly 85 per cent young people’s dissent regarding
tudes towards politics, Lo insists of TPP’s members are under the the economy to gain support in the
on voicing out. age of 45, according to TTP’s offi- presidential election. He has also
cial statistics. successfully gained support from
“If you do not care about poli- the young with social media tac-
tics, you do not care about your “Young people became very ac- tics,” Chiang says.
own life. If you do not care about tive in political participation dur-
your own life, what you desire will ing the Sunflower Student Move- “Most young people are inter-
be taken away by politics,” he says. ment in 2014,” Chiang says. ested in politics now, even those
who are too young to experience
Young People Lining Up to In 2014, students protested the Sunflower Movement,” he says.
Join Political Parties against the passing of the Cross-

Strait Service Trade Agreement by
Jeremy Chiang Huai-Che, an the then ruling KMT at the legis- Edited by Kamun Lai
associate research fellow of the lature without a clause-by-clause Sub-edited by Charlotte Wu
Foundation for Future Generation review. The youngsters perceived
points out young people usually the agreement with the People’s
are the group that has little inter- Republic of China would harm
est in politics in most democratic Taiwan’s economy. They occupied
countries. the Legislative Yuan as an act of