2024/11/15 New Bloom Newsletter
the Trump issue
Hi all, Yo-Ling here with another New Bloom Newsletter. I know that many of our readers have been having a rough month and are on following closely the multiple crises happening around the world, especially as they will be exacerbated by Trump’s reelection… For this Newsletter, I’m going to be sharing some additional resources/readings on this topic. Also, New Bloom is going to be hosting a panel on “What the Trump Re-election Means for Taiwan” tomorrow evening at DAYBREAK starting at 7PM — this panel will be recorded, so please be on the look out for that link if you can’t make it in-person!
New Bloom News and Selected Readings
Photo credit: NATO/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Trump’s second presidential term spells deep uncertainty for Taiwan’s future, as he has made various statements in recent memory lashing out at Taiwan with accusations of stealing US semiconductors, or suggesting that Taiwan should pay the US for its defense. Some have suggested that Taiwan will emphasize arms purchases from the US to placate Trump, even as the KMT has sought to cut provisions for civil defense in the name of taking a stance against war. Taiwan may soon have to deal with interference from SpaceX and X owner Elon Musk, who may take up a position in the Trump administration. As readers here are contending with Trump’s re-election, I wanted to share a few resources/readings that I have found helpful this past week on Trump and Taiwan:
Albert Wu and Michelle Wu over at A Broad and Ample Road have a wonderful personal essay on “Taiwan and the Trump Win” that is both cathartic as much as it is analytically incisive.
For some thoughts on what the future might hold, Lev Nachman recently published an article for Nikkei Asia on “Will Trump take the Musk path or the Rubio path on Taiwan?”
Now also seems like an apropos time to reshare a short American Quarterly article that Funie Hsu, Brian Hioe, and Wen Liu authored in the aftermath of the Trump-Tsai phone call in 2016: “Collective Statement on Taiwanese Independence: Building Global Solidarity and Rejecting US Military Empire.”
In the meantime, in terms of domestic politics, TPP chair Ko Wen-je’s detention has been extended. A political firestorm is expected to erupt once Ko is freed. Likewise, energy issues became a point of contention between the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps in November. The DPP has suggested a willingness to embrace nuclear energy, even if this may upset the party’s traditional base, while the KMT alleges that Nvidia sought a secretive deal with the Lai administration over power to build a research center.
Where sexual freedoms and reproductive justice in Taiwan are concerned, in a surprise move, the government sought to increase legal penalties for abortion. This was quickly withdrawn after pushback from women’s and LGBTQIA+ groups. Moreover, Taiwan saw a wave of transphobia online that ran throughout the latter half of October and into the beginning of November. This wave of online hate reflects pushback against rulings that set new precedents on gender marker changes on National ID Cards; some anti-gender groups in Taiwan have been celebrating Trump’s victory and attempting to graft his xenophobic politics domestically.
DAYBREAK Events
(Please see our Facebook page for all upcoming and past events)
For this issue of the Newsletter, we will do summaries of all of our November events at the end of the month. In the first half of this month, New Bloom hosted an Mandarin-English language exchange event, as well as the 11th edition of the Stories from Taiwan: Short Story Club. For now, we wanted to highlight the events that we have coming up in the second half of the month:
Coming up
2024/11/16 | “Paying for Protection”?: What the Trump Re-election Means for Taiwan - This New Bloom panel will feature New Bloom editor Brian Hioe, Taiwan Economic Democracy Union board member Chen Fang-yu, and US Taiwan Watch editors Jasmine Lee and Jenny Li. As I mentioned previously, this talk will be recorded, so be on the lookout for that link soon if you can’t make it in-person!
2024/11/18 | “Yoga for a Chaotic World: An Evening of Meditation and Yoga” - Our friend and yoga instructor Sophia is back with another session! This will be a matless yoga and meditation session, so no need to bring your own mat.
2024/11/20 | “Giving Burmese Voices an Outlet to the World: A Conversation About Insight Myanmar” - We are honored to host Insight Myanmar podcast founder Joah McGee for a talk on the current situation in Myanmar, as well as the challenges of running independent media at this time.
2024/11/24 | 跨性別紀念日紀錄活動 [Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil] - New Bloom will be hosting a TDOR vigil with the Intersex, Transgender and Transsexual People Care Association and Trif Trans Bar.
And of course, our regular programming:
Wednesday nights | Community movie nights from 6PM to 9PM.
Friday nights | Trif Trans Bar weekly trans bar pop-up open from 7PM to 11PM.
Saturdays | Coffee hours from 2PM to 6PM.