On the 77th anniversary of the 228 Massacre, usually remembered as the start of the White Terror, it proves important to remember the long path that remains for transitional justice in Taiwan...
Ukrainians in Taiwan, joined by others supportive of their cause, rallied today to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, tens of thousands have perished as a result of Russia’s military aggression, and the war seems far from over...
Taiwanese civil society groups held a press conference in the legislature on February 2nd to call attention to the third anniversary of the coup in Myanmar, which overturned the democratically elected government and instituted a military regime...
A few months before the presidential elections, I gave a talk in Taipei on the responsible recruitment of migrant workers, where they do not bear the cost of their job recruitment and begin their employment saddled by debt. Afterwards, a participant came up to ask me which presidential candidate I thought would stand the best chance to reform Taiwan’s labour recruitment system towards the Employers Pays Principle, where the costs of recruitment are borne by the employers...
Strikes for EVA Air and the Taiwan Railways are off ahead of the Lunar New Year, following negotiations by unions in both EVA and the Taiwan Railways Corporation with the management of both companies. If the strikes had gone ahead, this would have posed significant disruption to travelers seeking to return home for the holidays...
Energy policy remains a highly controversial policy arena in Taiwan after democratization, given its importance for Taiwan’s security, environmental sustainability and economic development. Under the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen, the agenda of “Nuclear-free Homeland 2025” (2025非核家園) proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016 has been subject to political challenges, which involved the debates about the use of nuclear energy beyond 2025 and the reduced capacity of coal-fired electricity plants for air pollution mitigation. The policy strategy to replace nuclear energy with rapid solar energy development has also faced enormous social challenges as its large-scale installation conflicts with the existing land uses...
In the past three months, transgender issues have gained unprecedented attention within third party politics in Taiwan, with the Taiwan Solidarity Union rebranding itself as the only political party against abolishing compulsory surgery for changing one’s legal gender and Green Party Taiwan putting forward Taiwan’s first transgender woman to run for office, Abby Wu, as an at-large legislative candidate. This is the first time in Taiwan’s history that transgender issues have been explicitly incorporated into party campaigning. While transgender issues have yet to become a campaign issue in mainstream party politics, the current standoff between the two parties offers a first look into how such politicization would likely play out as the struggle for transgender rights in Taiwan continues...
The corporatization of the Taiwan Railways Administration, changing it from an agency of government into the state-owned enterprise of the Taiwan Railways Corporation, puts an end to a long-run labor struggle by workers. The struggle went on for many years, but the inability of workers to stop the corporatization reflects the weakness, in many ways, of Taiwanese labor...
The Taiwan Railways Administration was recently fined 300,000 NT for allowing unlicensed staff to drive vehicles used to repair tracks. This is the first time since 2021 that the TRA has faced such fines. Since the incident, the TRA claims that the staff members who were allowed to test the vehicles will undergo the licensing process...
