With increasing talk in America of the possibility of impeaching Donald Trump, it may be due time for Taiwan to consider what course it should take in the case of a Trump impeachment. What Taiwan should not do at all costs is, for whatever reason, to irrationally hitch its wagons to the Trump administration...
With Emirates cabin crew from Taiwan ordered by the company to remove their ROC pins from their uniforms and to replace them with PRC pins, as well as ordered to follow "One China Policy," it is not surprising that this has led to outrage in Taiwan. But what can we learn from this incident, in terms of how international companies handle cross-strait issues, and how Taiwan can leverage on such incidents to raise awareness of its international plight?...
New Bloom presents the fourth installment of our podcast, Radio New Bloom! For this installment, we spoke with members of Indivisible Taiwan regarding the formation of their group after the election of Donald Trump, and actions of theirs such as the Women's March, March for Science, and other coordinated group actions...
With the recent landmark ruling of the Council of Grand Justices’ in Taiwan that preventing same-sex couples from marrying is unconstitutional, some question whether China will be soon to follow in Taiwan’s footsteps in legalizing gay marriage. But this seems highly unlikely...
The Council of Grand Justices' Interpretation 748 as realizing marriage equality is supposed to be a milestone, if we are to do or say the appropriate thing. But in reality, if we read the interpretation a bit more carefully, we can raise several important issues which have been neglected to date. The importance of these issues lay in that this article cannot be seen as merely concerning marriage equality, but have broad effects on sexual freedoms, marriage and even the Civil Code itself in Taiwan...
International media outlets have sometimes referred to Taiwan as the first “country” in Asia to legalize gay marriage by court ruling. More commonly, Taiwan has been referred to as an “island,” “place”, or without any reference to what kind of polity Taiwan is altogether, but still stressing the historic nature of the event as a first in Asia. This is revealing of the hypocrisy of international media...
After the ruling of the Council of Grand Justice’s yesterday, the legislature will need to amend Taiwan’s Civil Code to allow same-sex marriage within two years. But this opens the way for backsliding by a DPP legislature which has already proven recalcitrant on the issue. The DPP has already shown early signs of backsliding in its reactions and so means will need to be found of putting pressure on the DPP to live up to past promises...
The Tsai administration has vowed to step up the war on drugs in recent times. But does the Tsai administration's war on drugs raise concerns for personal privacy in Taiwan, particularly for young people? Namely, social attitudes in Taiwan sometimes skew towards seeing young people as dangerous drug users, even when this is not backed up by statistics, and there is the possibility that the Tsai administration's war on drugs may disproportionately target young people. More broadly, as with elsewhere in the world, one suspects that the Tsai administration's war on drugs masks systemic inequalities in society...
