Brian Hioe

Chiang Wan-an Comes Under Fire Over Nepotism Allegations in Connection to Son’s Exchange Program

Brian Hioe
Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an has been criticized over a scandal involving his son. Specifically, his eldest son was found to have been awarded a subsidy for a student exchange program with the US. This raised questions, however, about privilege and nepotism, seeing as not only is Chiang’s son the child of the mayor of Taipei, but also an American citizen...
EnglishPoliticsSeptember 20263 min read

Legislative Aide of May Chin Disappears While Under Investigation for Corruption

Brian Hioe
An aide of pan-Blue legislator May Chin has disappeared while under investigation for corruption charges. Specifically, Chin’s legislative aide, Chang Chun-chieh, was found to have disappeared after authorities detected a low-battery alert on his monitoring bracelet. Chin is an independent but caucuses with the KMT and is generally understood to be a pan-Blue politician...
EnglishPoliticsSeptember 20263 min read

Taiwan’s Eswatini Science Park Investment Not Likely to Entail Any Scrutiny of Human Rights

Brian Hioe
The Taiwanese government has proposed funding a science and technology park in Eswatini at a cost of 1 billion NT, the Taiwan Industrial Innovation Park. The science park would be to shore up relations in what is Taiwan’s sole remaining diplomatic ally in Africa, with the aim of expanding the footprint for Taiwanese businesses in Africa. President Lai Ching-te and Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung previously visited the site of the proposed science park during a visit to Eswatini earlier this year...
EnglishFeaturedInternationalPoliticsRegional TensionsSelf-DeterminationSeptember 2026Social Movements5 min read

Removal of “Chainsmoker Cat” Shows When Government Violates Free Speech in the Name of Anti-Drug Policies

Brian Hioe
An investigation launched by the Health Promotion Administration has resulted in the removal of the anime Chainsmoker Cat from streaming platform Bahamut Animation Crazy. This occurred after complaints by the John Tung Foundation, the Taiwan Anti-Smoking Alliance, and other groups that the anime promoted smoking...
August 2026EnglishFeaturedPoliticsSocial MovementsYouth Movements3 min read

Prashad Again Leaps to Defense of Mass Murderers in Effort to Delegitimize Open Letter on Iranian Political Prisoners

Brian Hioe
In a typical course of action, Vijay Prashad has hit out at a letter by a number of prominent left intellectuals in The Guardian criticizing both the Iranian government and the forces of Western imperialism, which calls instead for solidarity with Iranian political prisoners. Prashad is, of course, predictably an apologist for the Iranian regime–which killed tens of thousands earlier this year under the cover of Internet blackouts to little international reporting...
August 2026EnglishFeaturedPolitics5 min read
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Brian Hioe

Brian Hioe is one of the founding editors of New Bloom. He is a freelance journalist, as well as a translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018 and is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the University of Nottingham's Taiwan Studies Programme, as well as board member of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents' Club.

丘琦欣，創建破土的編輯之一，專於撰寫社會運動和政治的自由作家偶而亦從事翻譯工作。他自哥倫比亞大學畢業，是亞洲語言及文化科系的碩士，同時擁有紐約大學的歷史，東亞研究及英文文學三項學士學位。