The appointment of Chen Chu and 27 other individuals to the Control Yuan was confirmed today, putting an end to weeks of protracted struggle between the pan-Green and pan-Blue camps within the legislature...
News that semiconductor manufacturing giant TSMC intends to switch to 100% renewable energy has been welcomed by environmentalists. However, this has also seen controversy, given plans by TSMC to construct a solar farm in Pingtung by clearing reforested land...
The issue of whether the Tsai administration will allow a visit by the Dalai Lama to Taiwan has again become a political issue, following the reformation of the Taiwan Parliament Group for Tibet. Although the group existed in the past, it has been restarted by independent legislator Freddy Lim for the new legislative session. The Taiwan Parliament Group for Tibet has called on the Tsai administration to invite the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan...
A little less than two weeks after new national security legislation passed by China’s National People’s Congress took effect in Hong Kong, the chilling effects on Hong Kong’s political freedoms are already self-apparent...
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s recent book, which was published in late June, has made waves internationally because of the revelations it purports about the Trump administration. It may not be surprising that the book has also provoked strong reactions in Taiwan...
Human rights groups and civil society groups opposed to the death penalty have sought to call attention to the Chiou Ho-shun case in past weeks. Chiou has served a total of 31 years behind bars for two murder cases that took place in 1987 and 1988, having been on death row since 1989...
The expulsion of two Chinese reporters from Taiwan proves a rare incident in which the Taiwanese government has taken action against Chinese media operating in Taiwan...
In an unexpected move, the Taiwanese government announced last week that it would be exchanging representative office with Somaliland, a move toward possible formal diplomatic relations. Taiwan and Somaliland have signed an agreement for future cooperation. Somaliland's first representative to Taiwan will be academic Mohamed Omar Hagi Mohamoud...
Pingtung city mayor Lin Hsieh-sung and Pingtung city council speaker Hsiao Kuo-liang were detained and searched by prosecutors and law enforcement earlier this week, with plans for charges of corruption to be filed against both. A total of nine locations were searched and nineteen people questioned...
A report by AP earlier this week stated that China has been conducting the forced sterilization of Uighurs in Xinjiang. It is thought that upward of one million Uighurs are currently detained in “reeducation” camps in Xinjiang, where it is alleged that many of the sterilizations are taking place...
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.