Written by Eric Siu-kei Cheng. This article explores how maritime education in Taitung turns Taiwan’s eastern coastline into a living classroom. Drawing on fieldwork, community collaboration, fisheries, food education, and Green Island’s White Terror heritage, the author shows how students engage with environmental sustainability, Indigenous knowledge, local livelihoods, cultural preservation, and democratic memory through the ocean.
Written by Ming-hui Tang. This article analyses how Beijing combines maritime patrols, AI-generated propaganda, and legal framing to create an illusion of administrative control around Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. To counter this strategy of jurisdictional enclosure, it argues that Taiwan must leverage its strategic position to build a public regional evidence network with its neighbours. By standardising real-time data verification, authenticating media, and clarifying international law, Taiwan can convert individual incidents into collective security.
Written by Chengyu Yang. This essay examines how Kinmen’s surge in cross-strait transit passengers strains local livelihoods and infrastructure without delivering proportional economic benefits. As a passage between Taiwan proper and mainland China, Kinmen acts as a “breathing infrastructure”, a delicate sea-air system easily desynchronised by weather disruptions. Consequently, high passenger volumes exhaust finite transport resources, fuelling tensions between stranded travellers and residents who depend on those same domestic flights for daily life.
Written by Shao-Yun Chang, Vanny El Rahman, and Beatrice Zani. This article (part 2) continues to illustrate how the US-Taiwan Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) and its mandatory “zero-fee” recruitment policies impact Taiwan’s fishing industry. While designed to protect foreign migrant workers from predatory debt bondage, the policy places heavy financial strain on small-scale vessel owners already facing declining yields and rising costs.
Written by Shao-Yun Chang, Vanny El Rahman, and Beatrice Zani. This article (part 1) examines how the US-Taiwan Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) and its mandatory “zero-fee” recruitment policies impact Taiwan’s fishing industry. While designed to protect foreign migrant workers from predatory debt bondage, the policy places heavy financial strain on small-scale vessel owners already facing declining yields and rising costs. Ultimately, the piece highlights how these sweeping regulations risk driving illicit practices without solving systemic supply-chain issues.
Written by Chikara Yanome Toda. Geographically distant but democratically aligned, Taiwan and Mexico both navigate the complex challenge of indigenous political representation. While Taiwan uses identity-based, nationwide reserved seats, Mexico relies on territorial districts requiring community recognition. This article explores how Taiwan’s stable national presence and Mexico’s localised accountability offer vital, cross-regional lessons for modernising minority representation in both democracies.
