Ko Wen-je supporters rallied yesterday at Liberty Plaza in support of the embattled TPP leader. Organizers claimed that 150,000 attended the event, though there are allegations that the crowd count was wildly inflated and closer to 15,000...
Union groups have called for civil servants to be allowed to have International Workers’ Day, which is commemorated on May 1st and known as May Day in other parts of the world, off as a holiday...
The Ministry of Labor has released new guidelines on the rights of female migrant workers. Nevertheless, it is to be seen whether the guidelines rectify a longstanding problem in Taiwanese society. One issue of note facing female migrant workers is that many have their work terminated after becoming pregnant. 6,000 female migrant workers become pregnant in Taiwan each year, but 78% of migrant workers who receive maternity benefits end their contracts and return to their home countries...
The KMT has hit out at funding for the Kuma Academy, the best-known of Taiwan’s civil defense initiatives. In particular, the KMT has accused fundraising efforts for the Kuma Academy–which took place on a public welfare fundraising platform run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare–as being an effort to fund political activities. Laws forbid political activities from fundraising on public welfare platforms...
DPP legislative caucus leader Ker Chien-ming has called for recalling all 39 pan-Blue KMT legislators, as well as two independents that normally vote together with the KMT...
A Chinese-owned vessel has been accused of cutting a submarine cable near Keelung Harbor. The vessel in question was initially reported as the Shunxin-39, which is flagged to Cameroon and Tanzania. However, the name of the vessel is self-evidently Chinese, which is an immediate tell that the vessel is Chinese-owned....
A video by anti-CCP influencer Pa Chiung and former pro-CCP rapper Chen Po-yuan released late last month once again drawn public attention to Chinese United Front activity directed at Taiwan...
In his New Year's address, President Lai Ching-te touted Taiwan’s accomplishments on the international stage, such as the Olympics victories in badminton by Wang Chi-lin and Lee Yang, as well as in boxing by Lin Yu-ting. Lai also brought up Yang Shuang-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue winning best work in translation at the United States National Book Award, as translated by King Lin. Likewise, Lai touted Taiwan’s economic growth, including in high-tech industries, and increases in wages...
Taiwan People Party chair Ko Wen-je faces up to 28 years and six months in prison, but has since been released on bail. Ko’s release last Friday saw the Taiwan District Court deny a motion by prosecutors to keep Ko behind bars...
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.
