Written by Chee-Hann Wu. This article shares the rise of Taiwanese BL comics, which increasingly portray ordinary, everyday same-sex relationships without much sexuality-related conflict. These works exemplify comforting, relatable stories that reflect a society where love is simply lived.
Written by I-Yun Lee. This article is an overview that traces Taiwanese comics from Japanese colonial to post-war Taiwan, the rise of rental comics, and the severe censorship that stifled creators from the 1960s to the 1980s. Shaped by colonial importation, market demand, and state control, Taiwan’s comic history emerges as a story of negotiation and constraint.
Written by Isis M. Lee. A landmark exhibition in Prague displays 100 masterpieces from Taiwan’s National Palace Museum — yet Taiwan itself disappears from the story. This erasure reveals how authoritarian pressure increasingly shapes cultural spaces far beyond China’s borders.
Written by Laura Bonsaver. This article proposes that Europe should move beyond threat-centric framings of Taiwan and recognise it as an innovative, democratic, and technologically advanced partner. It recommends de-hyphenating Taiwan from militaristic narratives, normalising its role in Indo-Pacific strategies, and reframing Europe-Taiwan relations as mutually beneficial collaborations rather than dependency or crisis management.
Written by Chien, Hung-yi. This article reflects on a National Day reception hosted by Taiwan’s representative office in a NATO member state on its eastern flank. Answering the question of what happened in Taiwan 114 years ago highlights two national-historical narratives of Taiwan. The author believes a Taiwan-centred view aligns more closely with lived reality and explains Taiwan’s complicated history to international friends.
Written by Ching-yuan (Joy) Hung and Mu-Chen (Jenny) Liu. This article tells the shared journey of two NTU graduate students who interned at the Kew Gardens. Immersed in diverse experiences, including seed imaging, herbarium tours, and a culture of scientific exchange, they found renewed purpose in research, which led both to reimagine their paths toward doctoral studies and global collaboration.
Written by Tzu-Li Yang. The author shares his engagement in specimen curation, trait data building, and cross-cultural learning while interning at Kew Gardens, which transformed his view of herbaria – from static collections to dynamic data systems supporting global botanical collaboration.
Written by Ni-Chen Lin and Chih-Wei Hsieh. Two NTU students, Ni-Chen and Chih-Wei, joined Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank through the NTU Overseas Internship Programme. Their experiences, studying seed survival and tree seed diversity, broadened their global perspectives on conservation. Returning to Taiwan, both apply Kew’s collaborative, research-driven values in academic and governmental roles.
Written by Ssu-Han (Evelyn) Chiu. This article recounts the author’s 2024 internship at Kew Gardens. Working with Kew’s Science Education Team, the author explored citizen science initiatives, attended the International Botanical Congress, and co-organised a workshop on public engagement, which reshaped the author’s understanding of collaboration, communication, and innovation in global plant science.
Written by Richard Gianfrancesco. This article introduces the collaboration between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the National Taiwan University (NTU) to train future biodiversity experts. Beginning in 2022, the partnership has provided NTU students with research placements in Kew’s collections and laboratories.
Written by Neeraj Mehra. This article examines the growing educational partnership between Taiwan and India as a strategic soft power tool. Nearly 1,500 Indian students now study in Taiwan, primarily in engineering and technology fields, facilitated by a 2010 MOU and Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy. This collaboration offers complementary benefits: Taiwan’s semiconductor expertise paired with India’s demographic dividend and emerging tech sector. While recent high-level delegations signal strong governmental commitment, challenges remain in administrative barriers, visa processes, and funding stability. The author argues that with proper institutional mechanisms, this partnership could become a major Indo-Pacific academic alliance serving both knowledge diplomacy and technological self-reliance.
Written by Meiyuan Kou. This article traces the history of the Kinmen Association (Fuji Temple) in Saigon-Cholon, established in the early 1970s as both a religious hub for Kinmen migrants and a channel of Taiwan’s soft diplomacy in South Vietnam. It examines how this small community institution fostered transnational ties, cultural continuity, and identity preservation across shifting political landscapes before and after 1975.
Taiwan Insight 