English

“Taiwan Agreement” Comments by Biden Lead to Confusion

Brian Hioe
US president Joe Biden raised eyebrows today after stating that he and Chinese president Xi Jinping had “agreed to abide by the Taiwan agreement”, following a phone conversation about China’s recent military actions with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Namely, there is no agreement between the US and Taiwan known as the “Taiwan agreement,” though Biden’s comments could be misleading, nor do the US and China share agreement on Taiwan’s status...
America and the Asia PacificEnglishInternationalOctober 20216 min read

Flag Removal in Swimming Competition Latest Incident Regarding Taiwan’s Participation in International Sporting Events

Brian Hioe
Many in Taiwan were surprised by a wave of support from international countries after the ROC flag was removed from the livestream of a swimming competition on Wednesday. This took place because of displeasure from Chinese authorities, who blocked the livestream because the ROC flag is not allowed to be shown in China...
EnglishOctober 2021Politics6 min read

Rally in Support of Hongkongers, Other Groups Facing Oppression from China Held to Mark Chinese National Day

Brian Hioe
Groups rallied today in front of the legislature to call attention to the Chinese government’s authoritarianism and to call on the Taiwanese government to take stronger action for Hongkongers in need of assistance. The rally took place today because October 1st is Chinese National Day...
EnglishOctober 2021Self-DeterminationSocial MovementsYouth Movements7 min read

Manichaeism with Chinese Characteristics: A Look Back on the “China and the Left” Conference

Brian Hioe
The Qiao Collective, Monthly Review, and People’s Forum came together to hold a conference on the topic of “China and the Left” on September 18th in New York City, an event featuring such luminaries of the tankie left ranging from Max Ajl to Mark Tseng Putterman and Vijay Prashad. Reportedly around 150 were in attendance, though many hundreds more attended online by livestream, and videos of the event accumulated thousands of views in the days afterward...
EnglishSelf-DeterminationSeptember 2021Social MovementsYouth Movements46 min read

Sentencing of Pingtung Mayor Another Example of High-Level KMT Corruption

Brian Hioe
Pingtung mayor Lin Hsieh-sung and Pingtung city council speaker Hsiao Kuo-liang, both KMT members, were sentenced on corruption charges earlier this week by the Pingtung District Court. Lin was sentenced to seven years in prison, while Hsiao was sentenced to four years and two months in prison. Lin and Hsiao, who were both found guilty of violating the Anti-Corruption Act, will also be deprived of civil rights for the next three years, with Lin found guilty of 180 corruption-related charges...
EnglishPoliticsSeptember 20216 min read

Eric Chu Wins KMT Chair Race, With Chang Ya-Chung as Runner-up, Johnny Chiang Distant Third

Brian Hioe
Former New Taipei mayor and previous party chair Eric Chu was the winner of the KMT chair elections today. Chu was the clear winner, with 83,027 votes, or 45.96% of counted votes, at press time. However, what proves significant is that after Chu, Sun Yat-Sen School head Chang Ya-chung won the second highest number of votes, with 58,980 or 32.65% of votes. After Chang was current chair Johnny Chiang, who was running for re-election, with 33,604 or 18.6% of counted votes, and in last was former Changhua county magistrate Cho Po-yuan, with 5,037 votes, or 2.79%...
EnglishPoliticsSeptember 20219 min read