Reports earlier this week suggested that US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy intends to visit Taiwan sometime in the spring. Consequently, the Pentagon is preparing for a possible McCarthy visit...
In one of the last outgoing acts of Premier Su Tseng-chang’s cabinet, the Ministry of the Interior announced that restrictions on transnational gay marriages would be lifted last night. This took place through the Ministry of the Interior issuing a letter to the Department of Household registration asking it to amend relevant procedures. It is expected that the changes will be implemented after the Lunar New Year...
Political contention continues over the Tsai administration’s proposed 6,000 NT tax refund. Namely, the proposal has come under fire from opposition lawmakers. Although it was originally expected that the tax fund would be issued as early as next month or possibly in March, because of the failure of the proposed refund to clear the legislature, now the refund is not expected until April...
Control Yuan members Wang Mei-yu, Wang Yu-ling, and Upay Radiw Kanasaw held a press conference late last month to call attention to the lack of pathways for migrant workers to work in the agricultural sector. Namely, compounded with the agricultural sector’s shortage of workers, this has resulted in a “symbiotic” relationship between the agricultural sector and migrant workers that have fled their workplace, commonly referred to as “runaway” migrant workers...
William Lai was confirmed as the DPP’s next chairperson during chair elections yesterday. Lai ran uncontested, as a result of which he won with 99.65% of votes...
New legal changes that have cleared the legislature aims to deter speculation on property prices, at a time in which real estate has become unaffordable in Taiwan for all but the wealthy. This is particularly the case for young people, with it currently requiring one to not eat or drink for sixteen years in order to purchase real estate in Taipei. Likewise, as with many other places in the world, there are many empty housing units in Taiwan because they are held by developers or wealthy individuals hoarding properties. 11.94% of homes, consisting of 876,000 units, were empty in 2020...
COVID cases are again on the rise in Taiwan, with cases expected to be on the rise over the winter. In particular, a number of cases are due to travel from China, According to the Central Epidemic Command Center, which coordinates Taiwan’s fight against COVID-19, 17.2% of cases among arrivals from China earlier this week tested positive for COVID-19...
The National Human Rights Commission has called on the government to take action regarding two undocumented siblings who are stateless, but have spent their entire lives in Taiwan...
Comments made by former president Ma Ying-jeou over the new year are indicative of the line that the KMT may take going into the upcoming set of elections...
The Tsai administration announced 6,000 NT in cash rebates to taxpayers last week. This would be in light of more than 180 billion NT in tax surplus this year, with President Tsai Ing-wen touting that this would be sharing the government’s economic windfall with the people. This could potentially take place as soon as February...
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.
