Protest Scenes, Inauguration

An intense two weeks in Taiwan

Hello dear readers,

A lot has happened in Taiwan since we last wrote. On May 20, William Ching-te Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party was sworn in as Taiwan’s new president. Inauguration ceremonies are always a moment for a country to take stock of its past, present, and future; they’re also an opportunity for the country to present itself to the rest of the world. In this wonderful thread on Twitter/X, Ian Rowen called the inauguration “exuberant and eclectic,” and we heartily agree. Read his whole thread to understand how it differs from President Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration in 2016, whose self-serious narrative of Taiwanese history gave a condescending and anachronistic view of indigenous people, while also attempting to recreate the 2-28 massacre.