The Central Epidemic Command Center reported another day of zero new COVID-19 cases in Taiwan today. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan remains at 441, with 415 of those cases having recovered...
Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen took to Facebook yesterday night to issue a statement regarding the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. While Tsai expressed support of Hongkongers, it proves hasty to assume that Tsai was proposing any concrete measure to aid Hongkongers out of a sense of solidarity. In fact, if it proves to be more than a vague statement that Tsai has no real intention of acting on, Tsai’s statement could be interpreted as aimed at putting further distance between Taiwan and Hong Kong more than anything else...
Protests involving clashes between demonstrators and police broke out today in Hong Kong, in the apparent resumption of what was a familiar pattern in the last year. The demonstration today was against plans by China’s National People’s Congress to pass security legislation circumventing the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Police did not wait for long to use tear gas, firing tear gas at demonstrators around 1:30 PM...
Between one hundred fifty and two hundred people gathered in the main hall of the Taipei Main Station today in protest against new regulations by the Taiwan Railways Administration that would prevent individuals from sitting or congregating in the main hall...
The second inauguration ceremony for president Tsai Ing-wen was held today, marking the start of Tsai’s second term as president after her January 2020 election victory. William Lai was also sworn in as vice president, replacing Chen Chieh-jen, as were members of Tsai’s cabinet...
The death sentence for 41-year-old Hsieh Chih-hung was overturned last week by the Tainan High Court, with opponents of capital punishment hailing the decision as one that corrected a longstanding miscarriage of justice in Taiwan...
Outrage has broken out in Hong Kong after Starry Lee was re-elected as chair of the House Committee of the Legislative Council. The House Committee reviews bills before their second reading in LegCo and has the power to decide whether a Bills Committee is formed to further review a bill...
In a surprise, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced earlier today that it would be withdrawing Taiwan’s bid to participate in the World Health Assembly as an observer. Notably, the opening remarks for the World Health Assembly summit, which will be held in Geneva and online today and tomorrow, were delivered by Chinese president Xi Jinping...
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.
