Recent events in Singapore provide a negative object lesson for Taiwan, with public suggestions that the question of whether to decriminalize homosexuality triggered after India moved to decriminalize homosexuality. This invites a number of comparisons to Taiwan...
Recent comments by American vice president Mike Pence at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC have made waves in Taiwan, with the perception that such comments are made as the articulation of a stronger pro-Taiwan and more anti-China stance by the US. However, this would be yet another indication of a strong disconnect between Taiwan’s perception of the United States and what is political reality in the United States...
On August 18th, New Bloom editor Brian Hioe interviewed artist and writer Ho Rui An during his visit to Taipei to perform in the Taipei Arts Festival...
Recent dilemmas faced by the Central Election Commission point again to the challenges of holding a political referendum in Taiwan. Namely, in response to the issue that the KMT seems to have forged a large number of signatures for a referendum against a petition to gradually to phase out thermal power plants that the party has been pushing for, the commission has decided to allow the referendum to pass, but to possibly impose criminal penalties on the KMT for forging signatures...
Recent comments by American president Donald Trump lashing out at what he claims are Chinese attempts to interfere in American midterm elections are ironic...
Taiwan again proves that it is far from a liberal country on drug policy with the controversy following the arrest of Taiwanese independence advocate Lo Yi on charges of using cannabis...
It may be ironic to note that the Epoch Times, the multilingual newspaper run in over 30 countries by the Falun Gong, has been put on edge by the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America. However, perhaps an instructive parable lies in there, somewhere...
The proposed banning of a Marxist book club at Peking University, one of China’s most prestigious and elite universities, is ironic. Namely, as part of its drive towards centralizing authority and advancing its version of Chinese nationalism, the current Chinese government under Xi Jinping purports to return to Marxist fundamentals rather than destabilizing western influences...
On August 11th, New Bloom editor Brian Hioe interviewed theatre/performance maker and music composer Jaha Koo, during his visit to Taipei to perform in the Taipei Arts Festival. The following is a transcript of their conversation, which has been edited for clarity...
Recent controversy regarding the demolition of a Changhua temple dedicated to the Chinese Communist Party demonstrates some of the challenges regarding freedom of speech in Taiwan. Namely, the existence of the temple points to some of the paradoxes of freedom of speech in Taiwan...
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.
