Hundreds of protesters took the streets of Taipei on Sunday for a march in support of animal rights. The march was organized by more than 70 different civil society groups and took place despite one of the coldest days in the year, as well as rain...
A recent scandal regarding a melon tea store in Kaohsiung broke out after photos circulated online of dead mice and bee corpses in pots in the factory area. The tea store in question is over sixty years old, is located in the Cianjin District of Kaohsiung, and also operates as a factory, selling ingredients for melon tea to a number of beverage stores in the area...
The Tsai administration announced new plans to allow residency from blue-collar migrant workers earlier this week, with the Executive Yuan signing off on a plan that would allow migrant workers to secure residency if they are classified as “intermediate skilled manpower” by their employers...
A report by the Executive Yuan on the Asia Cement mine on Indigenous land in Taroko Gorge has led to backlash from Indigenous community representatives, after the findings of the report were that there was not any illegal activity in the land leases for mine. The report’s conclusions have been criticized as reflecting a certain political viewpoint, as well as being contradictory to the report itself. Issues have also been raised with the writing process for the report. Asia Cement is a subsidiary of Far Eastern Group, one of Taiwan’s largest conglomerates...
In an unusual incident, Chinese state-run media has lashed out at KMT legislators Lin Wei-chou and Charles Chen as secretly being advocates of Taiwanese independence. In particular, it was claimed that Lin and Chen were part of a “covert” faction of Taiwanese independence advocates, distinguished from individuals openly supportive of Taiwanese independence...
A significant labor struggle may be upcoming for Taiwanese railways workers. Namely, the Taiwan Railway Labor Union has announced that it may strike next month in response to plans by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to corporatize the Taiwan Railways Administration...
As reported on by international media, it has emerged from US foreign lobbying records that Taiwan is paying for Guatemala to lobby the US government, to the tune of 900,000 USD. In particular, what raises eyebrows is that this is taking place through the lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which was close to the Trump administration. Notably, Guatemala is one of Taiwan’s fourteen remaining diplomatic allies...
The tense situation in Ukraine, given the Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s borders, have led to a string of comparisons with Taiwan. Some commentary has drawn parallels between the two contexts...
As may be unsurprising, Taiwan’s participation in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has led to some political contention, particularly regarding Taiwan’s status vis-a-vis China. As should go without saying, China takes the view that Taiwan is an integral part of its territory. Moreover, as a result of Taiwan’s lack of international recognition, Taiwan participates in the Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei,” the name by which Taiwan participates in a number of international sporting organizations and international organizations...
After months of speculation, the Tsai administration announced the lifting of a longstanding ban on food imports from the Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Chiba prefectures of Japan. The ban lasted for eleven years and was enacted after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, which took place after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, as the five provinces were affected by radiation from the ban...
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.
