Courtney Donovan Smith 石東文

The Office of the Chairwoman of the KMT stated today that the Central Committee of the CCP and General Secretary Xi Jinping have invited KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun to lead a delegation on a visit to the mainland. Live video of her announcement (11 am): youtube.com/live/eEY0fV4Zd…

台北的朋友們！這週五我會在臺大國發所分享我的新書！有興趣的朋友歡迎報名！

This is a superb, must-read piece: laorencha.substack.com/p/stop-denigra…

I found this fascinating, but then I am super nerdy and Taichung is home (incidentally, Yang is my district's lawmaker, but never met her -- but I have met Chiang several times). taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…

I've been covering this story for ICRT, and it is a mess. Lol, Michael Turton is right about the MRT, extending Taichung's MRT to Nantou comes up every four years during election season, despite being a ridiculous plan: taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…

Tomorrow's column is on this subject, but some of the points are hit on in this TaiwanPlus report: facebook.com/reel/109177908…

What Taiwan needs, but will it get it? @michaelturton takes an insightful look: taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…

Hammer Lee took his time joining the race, and it cost him -- he's now neck-and-neck with Su after being 10-15% ahead not long ago: taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…

Lin Chia-lung narrowed the gap slightly and got punished in the polls because homeowners were upset, and renters (including me) saw rents go up as a result. taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch… 2/2

I can expand on the property taxes, they are handled by local govts, but the property value estimations they use to calculate taxes are waaayyy below actual market values. In Taichung, 1/2

@B58Husker Yeah, Jenna said he retweeted this piece, which I think reflects well on him. We all make mistakes, learning from them is the key. I can think of a few things I got wrong...

@donovan_smith Fortunately, Kristof noted it when someone shared with him. Hopefully he read and internalized!

Jenna nailed this one: laorencha.substack.com/p/when-it-come…

@24__N121__E Lol, definitely! Some follow sports, where the ultimate winners get a medal, trophy or ring. I follow politics where the ultimate winners get an entire government and standing military.

@donovan_smith it's nice you said about your obsession. You are profesional but with obsession, sure.

Here is a thread of election-related columns I've done so far this year. Good for getting up to speed on the subject: taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…

@michaelturton Always! Your work is superb, must-read stuff that is well-written and interesting. I think without your columns there would be a big hole in the ability of readers to really understand Taiwan.

@donovan_smith Thanks!

@michaelturton Turton has been doing some great historically relevant pieces recently: taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…

@michaelturton Turton shedding light on key systemic issues: taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…