1/26(Tue) 2016 Election in Taiwan (Host:Sophie)

[Luis Ko]

my bad, in many aspects.

...secondly, i thought the numbers were kind of puzzle and assume it was, and it turns out to be "no, it's not. i'm just a bit too cocky"...

I understand the first and the last, but I don't get the second part. What do you mean you're cocky and the puzzling numbers?

[Iris Wu]

First, I want to say, I feel relieved after tonight's meeting.

A week ago, when I checked with Sophie about using these two topics, I wasn't sure what her reaction would be. I was surprised by her immediate reply in favor of the subjects. Initially I only promised Dan to co-host the second session with Sophie, but later I realized he went ahead to post a Meetup meeting and proposed the debate. At that time, Sophie has already come up with a list of thoughtful questions and write-up. I wasn't sure how it is going to play out: our conventional group discussion or debate? If debate, what would be the debate questions? And how are Dan and Sophie going to co-moderate the session? And most scary thing, the people from Meetup, we have no idea who they are and if they are radical and if our YoYo members get fair opportunities to express our ideas, and to practice our English as we always do in the group discussion and can we be on par with the native speakers in a debate? So, I didn't dare to make big announcement or advertise that we were going to team up with a Meetup group tonight.

But amazingly, we had a great turnout and we did not hesitate to express our ideas, and we even made native speakers silent in a few moments. To be honest, I am proud of the YoYo quality!

Sure, there is still room for improvement. Many of our comments may not hit the point, Sophie was asking if all the Chinese agree with Huang An (Q3 in Session I), but we seemed to focus on Huang An instead of what we think about how the majority of people in mainland think about this incident? It is not uncommon that when we are not so familiar with the subjects, we tend to beat the bushes when answering those questions.

[Rock]

... some might argue the case of Israel, but that's totally different story i would say...

Yes, it's between Jehovah and Allah, too.

[Rock]

...Sophie was asking if all the Chinese agree with Huang An...

I am pretty sure that some Chinese have never heard of him. Taiwan is not the center of China, and Taipei is not as holy as Jerusalem.

[Kooper]

Hi, Kooper, we talked about Singapore and Lee kuanyew today. It was an interesting discussion since the city state successfully overcame many crises and prospered. What do you think Lee would do if he were the leader of Taiwan? Would he do the same thing as our government does?

I guess he would do so differently.

Of course Lee would run Taiwan in a different way. Just look at how he and his government has made Singapore one of the most successful financial centers in the world and measures that Singapore has taken to effectively attract global talents. He had a proven track record, and the measures were tried and tested. There was no reason why Lee would not go with them.

In 1990s, our government pledged to turn Taiwan into an Asian-Pacific operations center, including finance, media, manufacturing, telecommunication, air and sea freight centers. In hindsight, these goals were just too impractical, pursuing too many directions at the same time and making us directionless and focusing on nothing.

[Kooper]

The article that Sophie provided (The formidable challenge facing Taiwan's first female president: http://www.economist.com/news/21688542- ... formidable) as reading material has many useful expressions for discussion of politics in Taiwan. Please allow me to list them here.

the 1992 consensus between KMT and the Chinese government: the two sides are loosely part of one China, but can interpret what that means in different ways

The mainland has not ruled out the use of force to retake the 23m-strong island should it ever declare independence 不排除武力對台一但台灣宣布獨立

the worries that Taiwan could again become a regional flashpoint: 區域火藥庫

In its state media, China downplayed the Taiwanese election: 官方媒體

Tsai: pro-independent president; DPP: an independence-minded party

Mr Ma will be the lamest of ducks until then: 跛鴨總統; Ma: the outgoing president 即將卸任的; the most China-friendly president in Taiwan's history

to end economic over-reliance on China by boosting ties with the rest of Asai.

The elections were mainly fought on bread-and-butter issues 民生議題

stagnating salaries: 停滯不成長的薪資; skyrocketing housing prices; to revitalize the ailing economy: 疲弱的經濟

party infighting: 政黨內鬥; a badly run campaign; The video went viral on polling day: 發酵

The ruling KMT loses control of parliament / loses their grip on parliament; The DPP won 68 of the 113 seats up for grabs, compared with only 35 for the KMT; The DPP has an outright majority in the parliament 失去國會多數席次 掌握國會多數席次

impose economic penalties on Taiwan by reducing the flow of Chinese tourists to the island; impose economic or diplomatic sanctions

end the so-called diplomatic truce 外交休兵

大勝: a landslide, DPP's sweeping wins

There are other expressions that are not limited to political topics.

play a waiting game; business as usual (this one was also introduced by Kat in one of her boot camps);

[Rock]

Of course Lee would run Taiwan in a different way. Just look at how he and his government has made Singapore one of the most successful financial centers in the world and...

So, is Taiwan better than Singapore because we have more freedom and democracy?

[Luis Ko]

Kooper you are really diligent about English. guess your diligence is second to none in YOYO, i would say.. ok, maybe Rock can be comparable. anyway, you two are champions when it comes to posting English studying information on the forum.

[Rock]

Me and kooper are not comparable. I'm still 1,000 posts behind him. How about you? Wanna catch up with him?

[Luis Ko]

@@

[Kooper]

Kooper you are really diligent about English. guess your diligence is second to none in YOYO, i would say.. ok, maybe Rock can be comparable. anyway, you two are champions when it comes to posting English studying information on the forum.

I am humbled by your generosity. So thank you Luis!

[Luis Ko]

what generosity? i just say what i think, a truth for which the number of your posts says it all, though i didn't notice it before haa~