mobility – Taiwan Insight

Islands as Breathing Infrastructures: Why Are More Visitors Making Livelihoods More Difficult in Today’s Kinmen?

19 August 2026 NGA Shi Yeu

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.

From Poppies to Tea Gardens: How Taiwan’s Tea Took Root on Thailand’s Northern Borderland

13 July 2026 NGA Shi Yeu

Written by Po-Yi Hung. Taiwan’s tea is often associated with its mountain landscapes, but its influence extends far beyond the island. This article traces how Taiwanese tea varieties, cultivation techniques, and agricultural expertise transformed the former opium-growing borderlands of northern Thailand. It reveals tea as more than an agricultural commodity, as a vehicle of diplomacy, territorial governance, and cross-border mobility that quietly reshaped the Golden Triangle.

Who Gets to Move? Activating Tayal Ethics in International Collaboration from Taiwan

25 June 2026 NGA Shi Yeu

Written by Wasiq Silan. This article invites us to rethink individualistic academic mobility and advocates for a decolonial approach to international collaboration. Drawing on journeys to New York and Panama with Taiwan’s Millet Ark team, the author introduces Indigenous methodologies such as lmuhuw (singing map/weaving) and qutux niqan (kinship bonds). The author argues that meaningful collaboration requires moving collectively with Elders and youth, transforming travel from knowledge extraction into relational accountability.