US-Taiwan relations and US-China relations will likely see no major shift after the results of American midterm elections. As such, the current status quo will remain, pending future political shifts...
It may be that the strategy adopted by Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen of calling back popular, high-profile DPP politicians to serve in her central administration is backfiring. Namely, Tsai’s actions threaten the ability of the DPP to develop and maintain political promising careers for its members for the sake of the party’s future and long-term sustainability...
The Taiwanese government continues its abysmal record of support for authoritarian regimes in the hopes that they will support Taiwan with congratulations issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recently elected Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on social media. Bolsonaro is a far-right wing firebrand and his election has raised concerns globally that Brazil will see resurgent authoritarianism under his presidency...
Migrant workers in Taiwan continue to push for improved conditions, as observed in demonstrations by migrant workers in late October calling for the separation of migrant worker dormitories and the factories they work in. Demonstrations took place on October 28th outside of the Ministry of Labor...
In a time in which efforts by KMT politicians to win over the youth vote have generally proven comical, the KMT’s Kaohsiung mayoral candidate, Han Kuo-yu, has proven unexpectedly successful in this...
It has emerged in the past week that anti-gay groups opposed to marriage equality such as the Protect the Family Alliance have taken to registering as pro-marriage equality groups to stand for televised debates which will be organized by the Central Election Commission before the planned referendum on marriage equality next month. This would be as a means of rigging the debate...
With three consecutive weekends in Taipei seeing demonstrations by civil society groups before local elections and national referendums next month, this repeats a familiar pattern of a wave of protests preceding elections in Taiwan...
Comments by KMT chair Wu Den-yih last week involved Wu making dubious claims about the past record of the Tsai administration in order to suggest that the Taiwanese electorate should turn over political power back to the KMT...
The 16th annual pride parade took place today in Taipei, drawing an claimed 140,000 participants, which would be a new record. This year’s pride parade would be a politically charged event, seeing as a referendum on gay marriage is set to take place next month during elections on November 24th, and this question loomed over the event...
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.
