July 2026

Tibetan Activist Who Self-Immolated Outside UN Headquarters Memorialized at Liberty Plaza

Brian Hioe
A mourning ceremony was held in Liberty Plaza on Wednesday night, to memorialize the self-immolation of Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen. Rangzen self-immolated outside of the United Nations headquarters earlier this month. It is thought that Rangzen’s self-immolation was timed to take place one day before China’s new ethnic unity law went into effect, with Rangzen–a well-known Tibetan activist–calling friends by video call shortly before he set fire to himself...
EnglishJuly 2026Self-DeterminationSocial Movements4 min read

History First as Tragedy, Then as Blob: The Taiwan Labor Party on Taiwan’s History in the Tricontinental Institute

Brian Hioe
In the wake of a letter by a Taiwanese academic that claimed Taiwan and China were part of the same polity…based on a land bridge that connected the two during the Ice Age, Vijay Prashad’s Tricontinental Institute has now followed up with a lengthy piece by Zang Ruxing. Zang is the director of the International Department of the Taiwan Labor Party. The piece, entitled “The Taiwan Question: From Civil War to External Intervention,” proves remarkable for many reasons, least of which is that the piece is dead on arrival from the first paragraph. Zang writes...
EnglishJuly 2026Politics16 min read

The Legal Architecture Behind the Conviction of Dr. Mahrang Baloch

Jan Baloch
On June 22, 2026, a Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, sentenced Dr. Mahrang Baloch and fellow members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) to life imprisonment. Dr. Baloch is a medical doctor from Balochistan and a leading figure in the province's non-violent movement against enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. Her sentence is considered at the centre of one of Pakistan's most fiercely contested political trials in recent years....
EnglishJuly 2026Politics29 min read

Attack on Akio Yaita Shows China’s Extraterritorial State Violence

Brian Hioe
Political commentator and former journalist Akio Yaita was attacked earlier this week by a Chinese man. The attack occurred while Yaita was speaking at a conference organized by the Spring Rain Culture and Education Foundation, which was occurring at a hotel in Taichung, the Tempus Hotel. Yaita was speaking on Indo-Pacific security and cross-strait relations. The attack occurred in the hotel lobby...
Cross StraitEnglishInternationalJuly 2026Politics4 min read