December 2020

American Meat: Through the Overton Window Darkly

On Christmas Day 2020, after much contention, the lifting of limits on American pork imports was passed by the Legislative Yuan, with KMT lawmakers vowing to continue to oppose pork imports, possibly by way of referendum. More broadly speaking, media coverage and political discussions around the issue of ractopamine and American pork imports to Taiwan have reached the point of absurdity in past weeks...

Floating Hells: Forced Labor of Migrant Workers on Taiwan’s Fishing Vessels

Efforts by the European Union, specifically under its illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing regulations in 2015, have brought a sharp focus on the employment conditions on Taiwanese fishing vessels and the climate of illegality that enables unsustainable fishing and labor abuses. This has shone a harsh light on the labor exploitation of migrants working on fishing vessels with a connection to Taiwan...