Kao Yuan University proves the latest Taiwanese university accused of sending foreign students to work in factories under the auspices of a work-study program. As a result, the school has been banned from enrolling foreign students...
The KMT has sought to attack the Tsai administration over the issue of rapid tests as of late, taking advantage of public outrage over rapid test shortages. This follows a familiar script, seeing as the KMT has sought to use shortages of various medical supplies used to fight COVID-19 to attack the DPP throughout the course of the pandemic...
Even as daily reported domestic cases have not yet broken 50,000, Taiwan maintains efforts to transition away from COVID-zero. The past three days have seen over 40,000 cases, with 40,263 domestic cases reported today, 44,294 domestic cases reported yesterday, and 46,377 domestic cases reported the day prior...
Images and videos of the lockdown of Shanghai have proved shocking in Taiwan. While less widely reported on in pan-Blue media, stories about new incidents of brutality in the course of the lockdown circulate widely in the Taiwanese media and among the general public...
New measures that will allow migrant workers to obtain permanent residency will take effect from today. This takes place at a time in which Taiwan faces labor shortages, particularly in the electronics manufacturing industry, due to the effects of COVID-19...
Publicly-run CTS caused controversy late last month after an incident involving a televised news program broadcasting a ticker as though a Chinese invasion of Taiwan were underway. CTS is part of the government-operated Taiwan Broadcasting Systems. This took place on a morning news program on Wednesday, April 20th...
Backlash from pan-Green legislators has led the Mainland Affairs Council to suspend a plan to allow individuals from Hong Kong and Macau to obtain permanent residency in Taiwan after five years on a work permit. What the incident shows is the dynamics regarding perceptions of Hong Kong in Taiwan at present. Namely, as democratic freedoms continue to deteriorate in Hong Kong, it is increasingly possible that Taiwan simply comes to treat Hong Kong as part of China–and Hongkongers as Chinese. The issue continues to be contested over, with members of the pan-Green camp having not reached a consensus on the issue...
There has been a wave of condemnation from western countries after the Solomon Islands signed a security agreement with the Chinese government. In particular, some take the view that the security agreement raises the likelihood of conflict in the Asia Pacific...
Several hundred gathered in front of the Presidential Office today in order to commemorate International Workers' Day, also known as May Day. A color stage was set up on Ketagalan Boulevard for the occasion...
There was some pushback from academics earlier this month against the Tsai administration’s Bilingual 2030 policy, with criticisms that English has been focused on at the expense of local languages. As such, a petition was launched by the Taiwan Languages and Literature Society earlier this month, quickly gaining 1,700 signatories. This includes 400 educators that teach on college campuses and 400 elementary and middle school teachers...
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.