The ongoing wave of recalls throughout Taiwan has been causing a stir, as observed by scholar Yuan Hongbing, a visiting researcher from Australia. He has praised this movement as propelling Taiwan into the “Anti-Communist 2.0 era.” Yuan also revealed that senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are extremely anxious about the situation in Taiwan and are particularly concerned that after the recall of certain “CCP agents as legislators,” young pro-Taiwan individuals will enter the legislature through by-elections. There are already orders to intensify smear campaigns in the next stage of propaganda.
In the lunar New Year of 2025, a recall wave swept Taiwan. This was triggered by the results of the 2024 legislative elections, where the Kuomintang and the People First Party gained a majority in parliament, making the ruling Democratic Progressive Party a minority, leading to political gridlock and hindering the government’s policy implementation. Civil groups and the DPP Legislative Caucus convener Ke Jianming have called for recall elections of Kuomintang regional legislators to end the chaos in parliament.
The first stage of recalling most legislators reached its target in February, and the second stage of recalls is currently underway.
On April 27, the Chinese state media outlet “China Youth Daily” published an article claiming that the “big recall” is not good for Taiwan.
Yuan Hongbing, who has been observing the situation in Taiwan, told Epoch Times on April 27 that the recall action in Taiwan is targeting the CCP’s infiltration of the Taiwanese legislature, primarily against legislators who are pro-CCP and betray Taiwan. They aim to weaken the governance abilities of the Lai Ching-te government through legislative chaos, sparking anger in Taiwanese society. This Taiwan recall movement has garnered widespread support from democratic countries’ public opinions. The core force behind this recall is not a political party; it is a great democratic movement by Taiwanese citizens to resist the CCP’s infiltration.
“The emergence of the big recall showcases a completely different political force than before. I call it Taiwan’s Anti-Communist 2.0 era,” he said.
Yuan Hongbing noted that it is widely anticipated that after completing the second stage of the big recall, at least more than 20 legislators will enter the next stage of recall procedures. It is known that the CCP’s high-level officials are extremely anxious about Taiwan’s big recall situation.
According to Yuan Hongbing, he has received information from conscientious individuals within the CCP system that the CCP’s Central Taiwan Affairs Leading Group, chaired by Xi Jinping and vice-chaired by Wang Huning, issued a recent document to the Taiwan Affairs system a week ago, including directives from Xi Jinping. This document was submitted by a think tank under the Fujian Provincial Taiwan Affairs Office.
Yuan Hongbing elaborated on the content of this document. Firstly, it evaluates the CCP’s response to the Taiwan recall movement, suggesting that around 15 pro-CCP legislators in the Taiwanese legislature may be recalled, a trend that is difficult to stop. Secondly, after the recall of existing legislators, new legislators will need to be elected, and the CCP aims to prevent prominent figures from citizen groups leading the movements from being elected as new legislators.
Yuan Hongbing stated that the leaders who emerged from this big recall citizen movement have core values centered around anti-Communism in protecting Taiwan. This is a situation that has not been seen before and is thus highly detrimental to the CCP. Furthermore, there has been a unification of deep blue and green camps in the recall movement, transcending traditional party divides. This may further weaken the social foundations of the blue camp, causing some deep blue forces to turn against the CCP.
“This new force that emerged from the big recall is a completely new and different political power. I call it Taiwan’s Anti-Communist 2.0 era. The CCP currently finds it difficult to infiltrate and influence this new emerging force in the short term,” said Yuan Hongbing.
Yuan Hongbing also disclosed that the document submitted by the Fujian Taiwan Affairs Office of the CCP believes that if this core power focused on anti-Communism succeeds in becoming legislators, it will disrupt the CCP’s strategy of unifying Taiwan, leading them to lose control over the situation in the Taiwan Strait. Therefore, there is a focus on dividing the relationship between the DPP and citizen groups. The document specifically mentions preventing the election of tech entrepreneur Cao Xingcheng, especially young figures like social media influencer Bajiong and Minnan Lang (Chen Baiyuan) as legislators, and proposes a series of concrete methods, including utilizing various propaganda means to destroy them on a personal level.
On April 19, the “Reject United Front, Safeguard Taiwan” conference took place at the Ketagalan Boulevard, featuring social media influencer Bajiong, tech entrepreneur Cao Xingcheng, and several DPP legislators speaking for about 5 hours.
On April 24, the “Refuse United Front, Safeguard Taiwan” Volunteer Alliance, who initiated the recall of KMT legislators with an anti-Communist agenda, held a press conference urging people to participate in the second stage of recalls that will end around mid-May.
On the other hand, on April 26, the KMT held a “Counter Green, Fight Dictatorship” event on the Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office of the Republic of China, attempting to counteract the big recall movement. The standoff between the blue and green camps has led to recall actions across Taiwan.