Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Foreign correspondent for @Guardian in Taiwan. Via @guardianaus covering immigration and the Pacific and 3 wild years as NT corro [email protected]
Really interesting piece from @KathrinHille about the KMT's soul-searching amid the massive recall. “Advocating cross-Strait peace has not given us any advantage,” a senior KMT official said. “So we have to conclude they do not trust us with that.” ft.com/content/49a1be…
Total recall? Campaigners employ quirk of Taiwan’s political system to turn on ‘pro-China’ candidates theguardian.com/world/2025/jul…
FEATURE: A movement seeking to recall KMT legislators has stunned #Taiwan’s political establishment with its momentum, crystallising protest at KMT attempts to challenge Lai’s administration that have affected govt budgets, defence programmes, judiciary and foreign policies. 1/4
Important and well-reported story from @EricCheungwc Poor treatment of migrant workers in Taiwan is a serious issue that is routinely brushed aside by authorities cnn.com/2025/07/12/asi…
Super interesting read about a key political figure of Taiwan's current domestic storm, an unprecedented battle to unseat dozens of opposition legislators.
Hsu Chiao-hsin is definitely a colourful character, but that puts her at serious risk of being recalled. Correction to the text that got edited, she is from a Hakka and 49er family, not just 49er. taipeitimes.com/News/feat/arch…
The U.S. is imposing a 25% tariff on Korea because of trade deficits that it claims are "engendered by Korea's Tariff and Non Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers." But Korea has a free trade agreement with the U.S. It charges zero tariffs on nearly everything.
I really enjoyed writing this story, and it is very outside all of the current bad news. Cramps, fatigue and hallucinations: paddling 200km in a Paleolithic canoe from Taiwan to Japan theguardian.com/world/2025/jul…
What a weird way to say they killed starving Palestinians. I can’t even fix this, it’s barely English.
EXCLUSIVE Wang Yi told Kaja Kallas that China cannot afford for Russia to lose the war in Ukraine, otherwise the US will divert its full focus to Beijing scmp.com/news/china/dip…
US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza. apnews.com/article/palest…
There's a national firestorm over @BobbyVylan's chants about a genocidal army. Rather than about the mass butchery of innocent people. It is depraved, it is grotesque, it is beyond shameful. New column about the world turned on its head 👇 theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
"Today, independence is everywhere in Bougainville. The rhetoric of “sovereignty” and “freedom” features in everyday conversation. What is less clear is exactly what that independence looks like, and how it could work." By @BenDohertyCorro theguardian.com/business/2025/…
“We’d rather be ashes than dust.” Hong Kong's last active opposition party falls, in a grim marking of the success of the national security law, almost five years to the day since it was imposed theguardian.com/world/2025/jul…
Aus & NZ bosses at the helm of PNG's first anti-corruption agency suspended after accusing each other of criminal offences. tinyurl.com/37yd54n4
While the world’s attention turns away, Israel’s genocide in #Gaza continues. Earlier today, Israel carpet bombed Shati refugee camp, killing dozens Palestinian civilians, including many children. These cowardly attacks against innocent people sheltering in tents must stop.
به عنوان انسان چه کاری می توانیم انجام دهیم جز محکومیت جنگ و همدردی با غیر نظامیان بی گناه، کودکان، و انسان هایی که درون این تراژدی به سر می برند. گفته های بی مصرفی که در برابر واقعیت هیولای جنگ صرفا رتوریکی اخلاقی ست. جنگ ولی کار خودش را می کند، مطلقا ناشنوا، مطلقا تاریک.
Pro-Palestine protesters beaten by Egyptian police on ‘march to Gaza telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…
I spent two days observing tabletop wargames in Taiwan by senior US, JP, and TW ex-military. What stood out for me was how wide the gap is now between the military strategies being prepared, and the reliability of governments to actually order them. theguardian.com/world/2025/jun…
Israel kills 56 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them desperately seeking aid. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk says Israel’s warfare methods are ‘inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians’. aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/16…
"I’ve seen toddlers, teenagers, adults and the elderly alike. Profusely bleeding mothers were rushing in with their children injured by shrapnel." ‘A bloodbath’: doctors describe carnage at Iran’s hospitals after Israeli strikes theguardian.com/world/2025/jun…
