Written by Ian Murphy. This article introduces TAIDE, the Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine. TAIDE is Taiwan’s domestic project to build a large language model. It examines how, by investing in AI technology, Taiwan is not only aiming to reduce its reliance on external sources but also to protect itself from potential threats, particularly from China.
Written by Donna Wang Su. In this article, the author connects to the book Island X through her own journey as a second-generation Taiwanese American whose family lived through the era explored in the book. This article shares a personal story and invites conversation and participation in building a stronger community.
Written by Alex Yong Kang Chow. This article offers insights into the anti-imperial struggles of the Taiwanese and Hong Kong diasporas through the book Island X. This article contextualises the diaspora experiences historically through Cold War geopolitics and left-leaning activism since the 1970s.
Written by Wen Liu. This article highlights three major contributions of Wendy Cheng’s historically grounded book Island X, including the understanding of Taiwan through the US-China-Taiwan stance, the need for Asian American studies to incorporate geopolitical analysis and situating Taiwan in Asian American studies.
Written by Leona Chen. This article is republished from Taiwaneseamerican.org. It explores how Island X brings important conversation to different generations of Taiwanese Americans, and the meaning of the book as an opening and invitation for people to rethink about the diaspora community’s history and lived experiences.
Written by Wendy Cheng. This article introduces Cheng’s 2023 book Island X: Taiwanese Student Migrants, Campus Spies, and Cold War Activism. The book tells the political history of a generation of Taiwanese who migrated to the US as students from the 1960s to the 1980s during the late Cold War and KMT martial law, and who became politically active in struggles for democracy, human rights, and Taiwan independence.
Written by I-Lin Liu. This article provides a critical analysis of the Oscar-nominated short documentary Island in Between, asking who the film is for and what lies beyond the representations. The author traces the history of when and how nonfiction films became a medium for intercultural communication, which resonates with the director’s experiences and goals for the film. Despite the film’s deliberate distance from forms of government-produced propaganda, connections can still be seen, particularly that government-sponsored or produced films, in fact, dwindled from the Best Documentary Short Film category decades after its establishment. In addition, the depiction of Kinmanese in the film, in conversation with national identities and boundaries, remains contested through the director’s lens.
Written by Chee-Hann Wu. This article argues that the Oscar-nominated short documentary Island in Between highlights the liminality and in-betweenness of both the island of Kinmen and the director’s diasporic identity. Rather than emphasizing its geopolitical significance and constant military presence, the short documentary focuses on the director’s personal journey and narrative, growing up in both Taiwan and the US, moving back to Taiwan in 2017, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, being drawn to Kinmen where his father served in the military. Through the director, the audience sees how he re-experiences Kinmen as a way to reconnect with a part of his identity, and is also able to reimagine Kinmen’s past and present.
Written by An-Ru Chu. This article explores the performative nature of the cannon drill demonstration at the Shishan (Mt. Lion) Howitzer Front, a popular tourist attraction in Kinmen, in conversation with Island in Between. Unlike the drill or military-related actions performed at other sites, the cannon drill at Kinmen is unique in that it is not performed by soldiers, but exclusively by performers. In addition, the multilayered identities of the performers further complicate people’s engagement with a contested land like Kinmen. The author traces the history of such a performance and argues its linearity in conversation with Kinmen’s Cold War memories.
Written by Russell Sherrard-Smith. This article compares Taiwan’s DPP with the Liberal Party of the Philippines, focusing on party institutionalisation and how it contributes to our understanding of the quality of democracy. The author looks at the two parties’ systemness, centralisation, leadership stability and other factors that significantly influence the countries’ democratic development.
Written by Yi-hsiang Shih. On May 10, 2023, a construction crane fell from a construction site of Highwealth Construction Corporation and entered the metro tracks in Taichung, resulting in one death and 15 injuries inside the train. This article aims to review the incident and shed light on the persistent structural problems with the outsourcing of construction projects, lack of staff training and inadequate emergency procedures.
Written by Tran Thi Mong Tuyen. Since the 1990s, Taiwan’s government has championed the “Go South” and “New Southbound” policies, catalyzing Taiwanese entrepreneurship across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vietnam, boasting a stable economy, ample labour force, a youthful demographic, and rich natural resources, has emerged as a prime destination. This article focuses on the recent cooperation between Taiwan and Vietnam in different industries, and proposes potential future collaborative opportunities between the two.
Taiwan Insight 