Written by Ting-Sian Liu and Yi-Ting Chung. This article reflects on the NATSA 2025 Closing Forum, honoring 30 years of community-building. Invited scholars offered critical feedback on NATSA’s history, its shift from politics toward decoloniality, queerness, and care, and the conference’s “otherwise” theme. The discussion emphasised activist-driven scholarship and collective labour as acts of care and solidarity for the future of Taiwan Studies.
Written by Yi-Yu Lai. This article examines how a roundtable at the 2025 NATSA rethinks Taiwan through the lens of Island Studies. Drawing on case studies from Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Palau, Lanyu, and Batanes, it explores how islandness complicates questions of identity, scale, and connection within and beyond Taiwan.
Written by the NATSA 2025 Programme Committee. This article shares the NATSA 2025 opening forum, “Otherwise Relations between Taiwan and Southeast Asia.” Adopting an “otherwise,” the forum challenges nationalistic views by centring Taiwan’s ongoing entanglements with Indigenous solidarity, migration, gender economics, human rights, and more, urging a new approach to Taiwan Studies.
Written by Dr Carla Figueira. This article reflects on the 2024 IJTS Open Access Award-winning paper, “Indigenous Peoples as Non-State Diplomatic Actors in the Public/Cultural Diplomacy of Taiwan: A Case Study of Dispossessions: Performative Encounter(s) of Taiwanese Indigenous Contemporary Art.” It highlights the value of engaging with the personal and social contexts shaping research outputs. It celebrates the growing academic focus on Indigenous Peoples and cultural diplomacy, foregrounding Taiwan’s unique position.
Written by Lin, Thung-Hong. This article introduces the 2023 IJTS Open Access Award-winning paper, “Subcontractors’ Dilemma: The Expansion of Taiwanese Firms 2002–2015”, and discusses a follow-up study examining how China’s autocratisation under Xi Jinping has impacted Taiwanese firms operating in China through 2022. Together, these studies provide a comprehensive view of the challenges Taiwanese businesses face amid globalisation and shifting geopolitics, offering crucial insights into corporate strategies and government policies.
Written by Andrew Morris. Reflecting on the 2023 IJTS Open Access Award-winning paper, the author revisits his path toward researching the Cold War-era defections from the PRC to Taiwan—stories once celebrated in Taiwan as “anti-communist righteous warriors.” This article shows how these largely forgotten stories offer a rare insight into a fervent hope once shared by millions in Taiwan.
