Written by Hao-Hsiang Hsieh. This article examines Taiwan’s fisheries governance reforms through the lens of Taiwan–Europe connectivity. Challenging the assumption that EU market pressure alone drives regulatory change, he shows how normative power operates through institutional dialogue, supply chains, and civil society networks. Taiwan’s response to the EU’s IUU fishing framework reveals connectivity as a multi-layered process linking regulation, markets, and societal actors.
Written by Ai Ke. This article reflects on how questions of mobility, identity, and geopolitics travel across ethnographic and academic settings. Following younger Taiwanese professionals working in mainland China, she develops the idea of “contested proximity” to examine how geopolitical tensions permeate ordinary life. Her return to Tübingen shows how intellectual connectivity emerges through ideas that circulate, transform, and return through dialogue.
Written by Vo Thanh Hien. In this reflective essay, a Vietnamese doctoral student based in Taiwan shares how attending a week-long workshop in Tübingen, Germany, redefined their understanding of “connectivity.” Moving beyond formal International Relations theory, he describes how shared logistics, interdisciplinary feedback, and spontaneous moments transformed a room of researchers into a supportive academic community.
Written By Meng Kit Tang. This article examines what Taiwan’s Han Kuang 42 exercise and China’s expanding mock-Taipei training facilities reveal about how both sides are preparing for the opening hours of a Taiwan Strait conflict. It argues that both sides are preparing for the same strategic problem from opposite directions: Taiwan is trying to preserve time and China is preparing to compress that window.
Written by Wei-Chung Chen. This article examines Taiwan-Czech relations through the lens of geopolitical anxiety, identifying five periods in Czech political discourse on Taiwan. Taiwan has become a political symbol through which Czech actors negotiate tensions between liberal and authoritarian identities. The relationship’s future, however, remains uncertain amid renewed political divisions.
Written by I-Sheng Wang. This article argues that Tsai Ing-wen’s election marks a significant breakthrough for gender equality in Taiwan. The Tsai era changed the political meaning of gender equality by embedding it in Taiwan’s democratic identity and state governance. However, the progress was selective, and Tsai’s legacy of equality also becomes a political asset that remains contested and challenged.
