Brian Hioe
Annette Lu Unexpectedly Enters the Presidential Race, While Gou and Ko Withdraw
FoxConn CEO Terry Gou surprised yesterday with an announcement that he would not be running in 2020 presidential elections, with Taipei mayor Ko wen-je stating earlier today in the wake of Gou's announcement that he also would not be running. Today, September 17th, was the deadline for registering with the Central Election Commission as an independent candidate. In the meantime, in the pan-Green camp, the Formosa Alliance has unexpectedly announced plans to run Annette Lu as their presidential candidate...
Triad Attacks Take Place over the Weekend in Hong Kong, with Police Turning a Blind Eye
Protests continued in Hong Kong over the weekend, with a large march drawing tens of thousands on Sunday despite police refusing to approve the march beforehand. The weekend also saw clashes between pro-Beijing protesters and pro-democracy demonstrators and incidents of pro-Beijing triad members attacking demonstrators to little action from Hong Kong police...
Concerns Regarding Chinese Influence in Australia Lead to University Election Ban
Recent events in Australia caused by anxieties over Chinese influence should also prompt concern regarding xenophobia toward Chinese students and other minority groups...
As the NPP’s Internal Crisis Continues, the DPP Takes Steps to Promote Young People Within the Party
The internal crisis of the NPP continues, with elements of the party leadership seemingly still uncommitted to endorsing Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP in 2020 presidential elections and continuing to flirt with the idea of nominating former chair Huang Kuo-chang as the NPP’s presidential candidate. These primarily seem to be older members of the NPP, suggesting an inability to overcome generational inertia in the NPP. In the meantime, the DPP is increasingly taking steps to run young candidates in 2020 elections and appointing young people to high positions within the party...
Taiwanese Citizen Detained in China After Participating in Protests in Hong Kong
China confirmed yesterday that it is currently detaining Morrison Meng-chu Lee, a Taiwanese citizen, on charges of “endangering national security”. Lee disappeared after entering Shenzhen from Hong Kong on August 18th for a business meeting...
Anger Against Ko Wen-je on Facebook After Misogynistic Comments
Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je has received a great deal of blowback in the past week, as most visible in a sharp decline in the number of “Likes” Ko has his Facebook page. Ko’s Facebook page has now lost 150,000 “Likes” in a matter of days, bringing his total “Like” count to less than two million. Ko originally had around 2,100,000 “Likes” on Facebook. Ko provoked ire after comments referring to Presidential Office secretary-general and former Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu as a “fat version of Han Kuo-yu” and claiming that he had heard that Taiwanese actress and model Lin Chi-ling was pregnant on the basis of rumors that he had heard...
Despite Joshua Wong Visit, the DPP Remains Adamant on Refusal to Set up an Asylum Process for Hong Kongers
The DPP has still made no moves to establish any formalized process for applying for asylum in Taiwan, despite a high-profile visit in the last week to Taiwan by key protest figures from Hong Kong such as Joshua Wong, Lester Shum, and Eddie Chu...
Protests Again Take Place over the Weekend in Hong Kong, with Clashes in MTR Stations
Clashes with police in Hong Kong took place again this weekend, with clashes taking place in Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, Tai Po, Sha Tin, and other locations from Friday to Sunday. Many clashes involved police deploying in MTR stations, indiscriminately targeting both demonstrators and civilians...
Recent Incidents Point Toward Need for Stronger Protections for Migrant Workers in Taiwan
A number of recent incidents over the past few months point to the need for stronger protections for migrant workers in Taiwan. The first incident involves the death of a migrant worker after a hydrofluoric acid spill in a factory, the second incident involves the death of a migrant worker in a hospital in Nantou under mysterious circumstances, and the third incident involves the sentencing of a police officer involved in the shooting death of a migrant worker in 2017...
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。