Brian Hioe

Rumors About Lee Teng-hui’s Death Show How Online Influencers Are a Weak Link for Misinformation

Rumors that former president Lee Teng-hui had died swept across social media late yesterday night, with many online influencers posting tributes to and eulogies for Lee. Although Lee's health is poor and he is currently hospitalized, such rumors were unfounded. However, as rumors regarding Lee's death were primarily amplified by social media influencers, this gestures toward how online influencers prove a weak link where issues regarding disinformation and misinformation in Taiwan are concerned...

Despite Stable Outlook, Taiwan Must Contend with Successive Global Waves of COVID-19

Taiwan marked one hundred days since the last case of domestic transmission of COVID-19 on July 17th, with the last case of local COVID-19 transmission having taken place on April 8th. It appears as though the COVID-19 situation is still under control in Taiwan, Taiwan having managed to avoid the expansive lockdowns that the rest of the world has seen. However, with the second and third waves of COVID-19 taking place globally and five new imported cases added today, Taiwan is likely to see an uptick in imported cases going forward...

After Jane Lee Scandal, Plagiarism Accusations Slung Between Pan-Green and Pan-Blue Camps

Following allegations that KMT Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidate Jane Lee, also known as Li Mei-jhen, plagiarized 96% of her master’s thesis, an unusual political spat has broken out between the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps. Members of the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps are now slinging allegations of plagiarism against members of the other political camp...

In DPP Congress, Tsai Emphasizes Constitutional Reform, Winning Kaohsiung By-Election

President Tsai Ing-wen signaled a renewed focus on constitutional reform for her second term earlier this week in public comments at the DPP’s national congress. Tsai gave these comments in her capacity as chair of the DPP. Likewise, Tsai emphasized that the next major electoral task ahead of the DPP was winning the Kaohsiung by-election, which she phrased as “restoring the glory of Kaohsiung”...
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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.

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。