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Ashish Valentine

@ashishval.bsky.social
486 followers 736 following 73 posts

Journalist covering Taiwan for NPR, National Geographic, and several other outlets. Often writing about social issues, culture, and politics in Taiwan and Asia. DM for email and Signal. www.npr.org/people/901980555/ashish…

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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
My latest piece for @foreignpolicy.com takes a look at how the ancient sea goddess Mazu, worshipped by millions on both sides of the Taiwan strait, became a focal point of China's pro-unification influence campaign in Taiwan. foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/17/c...
foreignpolicy.com
Beijing Is Trying to Turn Taiwan’s Sea Goddess Into a Chinese Agent
China wants to use the ancient deity Mazu to push unification narratives.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Learned a lot from @yilingliu95.bsky.social 's latest op-ed on AI anxiety in China, which reveals the US-China race to build more advanced AI models is often seen by working people on both sides as a race to the bottom. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Shared Feeling of Being Harvested by the Future
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Jennifer Pak @jpak25.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
China's Xi Jinping held a rare meeting with Cheng Li-wun, the leader of Taiwan's opposition KMT party. It comes ahead of a summit with President Trump, where Xi is likely to bring up his opposition to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan ... w/ @ashishval.bsky.social www.npr.org/2026/04/10/n...
npr.org
China's Xi meets Taiwan opposition leader ahead of key summit with Trump
Xi Jinping and the KMT's Cheng Li-wun agreed to pursue peace, but Taiwan's ruling party worries it will enable Beijing to undermine its democracy.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
My latest for @npr.org alongside @jpak25.bsky.social : Taiwan's opposition leader Cheng Li-wun may meet Xi Jinping later this week. She says the safety of Taiwan is her priority, though Taiwan's government doubts her visit will lower tensions. www.npr.org/2026/04/07/n...
npr.org
Taiwan's opposition leader arrives in China for a 'Journey of Peace'
The visit takes place ahead of President Trump's own summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month, where Taiwan is expected to be a top agenda item.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
My latest for @npr.org : A report by the US director of national intelligence assessed China likely does not plan to invade Taiwan in 2027. It's reignited partisan divisions in Taiwan as lawmakers debate $40 billion in defense spending to counter China. www.npr.org/2026/03/31/n...
npr.org
Taiwan reacts to U.S. intelligence report about China's intentions
A recent U.S. intelligence report reignited an already contentious debate in Taiwan over China's intentions and how Taipei should reasonably defend itself against its powerful neighbor.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
I joined @cnnipr.bsky.social's One World with Zain Asher to discuss the impact of the Iran war on Asian economies. Highlights: China is relatively secure. High-income East Asia is stressed but surviving. Lower-income nations like Pakistan and Bangladesh are especially hard-hit. Here's a clip:
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NPR @npr.org · 14/03/2026
Despite rising tensions between the world's two largest economies, a growing number of young Americans are becoming captivated by China, as seen in the online trend "Chinamaxxing." n.pr/4sIOpGg
n.pr
Some Gen Z Americans can't stop 'Chinamaxxing'
Despite rising tensions between the world's two largest economies, a growing number of young Americans are becoming captivated by China, as seen in the online trend "Chinamaxxing."
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
My latest for @npr.org : Why are Gen Z Americans obsessed with China? Livestreamer Hasan Piker told me life in the US "is just getting worse... then I turn on TikTok, and I see a video of Chongqing. They've got trains everywhere and it's this fascinating city." www.npr.org/2026/03/13/n...
npr.org
Some Gen Z Americans can't stop 'Chinamaxxing'
Despite rising tensions between the world's two largest economies, a growing number of young Americans are becoming captivated by China, as seen in the online trend "Chinamaxxing."
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
My latest for @npr.org : In China, the year of the horse has taken on an uncanny association with Draco Malfoy. Take a listen to find out why: www.npr.org/2026/02/18/n...
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I regularly offer advice to aspiring journalists from marginalized communities on navigating the industry. The Washington Post layoffs are just the latest in a series of events that have genuinely left me wondering what to say to these people today.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 03/02/2026
Incredible graphic from NYT showing the depth of Xi Jinping's purge of China's military leadership in recent years: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Taiwan is home to over 400 butterfly species, 55 of which are found nowhere else in the world. For National Geographic, I reported on the migratory purple crow butterflies, which gather in the tens of thousands in valleys like Maolin in southern Taiwan every winter.
nationalgeographic.com
Inside Taiwan's 'butterfly kingdom,' a rare natural wonder takes place every year
Every winter, a marvelous spectacle occurs as hundreds of thousands of butterflies travel south across Taiwan in one of the world’s most rare migrations.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
My latest for @npr.org : Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te has promised billions in additional defense spending to counter escalating military threats from China. But his ambitions have stalled in the legislature, where opposition parties have blocked his special defense budget eight times so far.
npr.org
The Taiwanese president's proposal to hike defense spending faces gridlock at home
Opposition parties are slamming the brakes on billions in defense funding as the China escalates military pressure.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Latest for @npr.org : Based on today's economic data "China hasn't just survived the trade war with the US, it has in fact thrived," says @eurasiagroup.net analyst Dan Wang. But that strength isn't reflected in Chinese consumer spending. www.npr.org/2026/01/19/n...
npr.org
China's economy is rising, but many citizens are left behind, analysts say
China's National Bureau of Statistics released data on its 2025 GDP growth Monday. Analysts say it reveals strong economic growth for the country, but ordinary people still face deep challenges.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Migrant workers marched to the Legislative Yuan in Taipei this afternoon, calling for an end to the 12-year time limit to how long they can live in Taiwan. They dressed up as expired meat and bombs with 12-year fuses, arguing that the time limit treats their bodies and labor as disposable.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Weeks after deadly floods, many Amis Indigenous residents of Hualien held a rally outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest disaster recovery measures currently being discussed by KMT lawmakers that they worry could force them to relocate from their homes.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
My latest for @npr.org : Doxxing, death threats, and detentions are becoming routine threats for journalists across Asia. Here's a look at how reporters from the Philippines, Indonesia and other places adjust to the new realities - and even start to fight back. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...
npr.org
'Like ice melting': Journalists warn press freedom is in decline across Asia
China's jailing of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan highlights a deeper press freedom crisis across Asia.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Nepal's prime minister KP Sharma Oli is now the second South Asian leader to be driven out of office by youth-led protests in just over a year. He joins neighboring Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country on a helicopter amid mass protests last August.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Taiwan’s opposition KMT scored big today: early results show that all remaining 7 lawmakers who faced recall challenges have kept their seats. President Lai Ching-te faces an uphill battle on pledges to raise defense spending to 3.32% of GDP next year and 5% by 2030. focustaiwan.tw/politics/202...
focustaiwan.tw
KMT lawmakers claim victory as recall vote count continues - Focus Taiwan
Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office Saturday, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
My latest for @npr.org : With hours left on the clock, the US and China extended a truce that limits tariffs between the world's two largest economies by a further 90 days. Analysts expect further talks and a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Xi later this year. www.npr.org/2025/08/12/n...
npr.org
U.S. and China extend tariff truce deadline for another 3 months
President Trump's executive order extends a reprieve from the threat of rising tariffs between the world's two largest economies.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Heavy rains that caused dozens of injuries, power outages and 5 deaths in southern Taiwan have led to an unexpected result: a surge of wild mushrooms. Authorities are removing them from roadsides and warning that toxic mushrooms are hard to tell apart from edible ones. taiwannews.com.tw/news/6172548
taiwannews.com.tw
Taiwan warns of toxic wild mushrooms | Taiwan News | Aug. 6, 2025 09:53
Food and Drug Administration says 33 poisoned over 5 years as rain spurs new mushroom growth | Aug. 6, 2025 09:53
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
My latest for @npr.org : Today is the deadline for thousands of Chinese immigrants in Taiwan to prove they gave up household registration in China, or potentially face deportation. Many immigrants feel they've become victims of worsening cross-strait tensions. www.npr.org/2025/06/29/g...
npr.org
Deadline nears for Taiwan's Chinese immigrants to prove no China household registration
Amid a wave of national security measures, immigrants from China must prove they've given up their household registration in China by June 30. Many are Chinese women married to men from Taiwan.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
🧵 1/8 My latest for @theworld.org: Taiwan's birthrate is among the lowest in the world. Fewer babies means fewer kids going to school, and fewer still onwards to university. 15 colleges have closed here in the past decade as a result - four of them just last year. theworld.org/segments/202...
theworld.org
Taiwan's colleges closing amid dropping enrollment - The World from PRX
Due to Taiwan’s falling birth rate, enrollment at many universities and colleges has been declining for years, forcing many higher education institutions to shut their doors or merge with other univer...
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The World @theworld.org · 29/05/2025
On The World 🌎 today: 🌐 @orlabarry.bsky.social: Poland votes this weekend in an election seen as a test for democracy 🌐 @ashishval.bsky.social: Taiwan colleges closing amid enrollment drops 🌐 The rush to buy metal detectors in Syria, as search for gold heats up Tune in 📻 bit.ly/3xyRRfD
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Record numbers of pilgrims are accompanying a figure of the goddess Mazu on a roughly 400-km route through western Taiwan. I stopped by on the goddess's return journey to the home temple in Baishatun, Miaoli, as her carriage rested in a rice farming village in Yunlin.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Very sad to see Brilliant Time books is closing. More than a bookstore, a space for Southeast Asian communities and anyone who wanted to learn about them. They often hosted talks on Southeast Asian literatures and free classes for Bahasa Indonesia and other languages. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqej...
youtube.com
Southeast Asian Bookstore in New Taipei Closes After a Decade|TaiwanPlus News
YouTube video by TaiwanPlus News
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Latest for @npr.org : Taiwan's premier music festival, Megaport, draws tens of thousands of fans each year to the southern port city of Kaohsiung. This year, several artists used their platforms to share concerns about an escalating threat from China. www.npr.org/2025/04/05/n...
npr.org
Musicians protest through song at festival in Taiwan
At Taiwan's premier music festival, artists went political with their tunes and lyrics.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Hip hop artist Yang Shu-ya 楊舒雅 takes the stage at Taiwan's premier independent music festival, Megaport 大港開唱. She's performing her single "2045", about the fears of a potential Chinese invasion and Taiwan's uncertain future.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
My latest for @npr.org: TSMC's $100 billion investments in the US have some in Taiwan worried that their global advantage in semiconductor manufacturing could be compromised. And with it - the "silicon shield" that many believe helps deter a Chinese invasion. www.npr.org/2025/03/12/g...
npr.org
Taiwanese chip giant's investments in U.S. stir 'silicon shield' security worries
TSMC's plan to invest $100 billion into U.S. production facilities raises concerns that its leverage in securing protection from China may be weakened.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
My latest for @npr.org: The recent Oval Office showdown between Trump and Zelensky has many in Taiwan worried that one day, US support for their own self-defense may make a similar U-turn. www.npr.org/2025/03/03/g...
npr.org
Seeing Washington change course on Ukraine, Taiwan ponders its own fate
Developments in the Ukraine-U.S. relationship have regularly made headline news in Taiwan lately. Many in Taiwan compare Ukraine's fate to its own, as China continues to threaten an invasion.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
My latest for @theworld.org: Every two years, the Saisiyat Indigenous community gathers to apologize to the spirits of a people their ancestors killed long ago. Combined with recent discoveries, this story may be key to understanding the early human settlement of Taiwan. theworld.org/stories/2025...
theworld.org
New discoveries shed light on some of the earliest humans to settle in Taiwan - The World from PRX
A combination of ancient knowledge and modern research techniques may be closing the gap between who some of the earliest people to settle in Taiwan could have been and its current residents. The key ...
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Visited a shelter for children of migrant workers in Taiwan (most of their mothers are Southeast Asian domestic workers). Many of their mothers can't house them because they live full-time with the Taiwanese elder they're taking care if, or they are undocumented.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
So tricky to speculate, but some interesting ideas about why troops were late getting to the National Assembly after President Yoon declared martial law, which enabled lawmakers to rush in and repeal the declaration so quickly while legislative aides and protesters blocked the soldiers.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Booted up Half-Life 2 again in honor of its 20th anniversary. I'm struck by the cleverness of its level design and art direction - placed somewhere between Eastern Europe and the Pacific Northwest, occupied by an alien society that feels otherworldly yet convincingly real. It hasn't aged a day.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 03/12/2024
Breaking News: South Korea’s president said he would reverse his martial law order, bowing to pressure hours after the National Assembly voted to halt it.
nytimes.com
South Korea's President Says He Will Lift Martial Law, After Protests: Live Updates
President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would pull the order hours after South Korea’s National Assembly voted to halt it. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Seoul, demanding that the president re...
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Heesoo Jang @heesoojang.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
#BreakingNews #SouthKorea The South Korean military government plans to establish a media control office to oversee and censor the press following President Yoon Suk-yeol's declaration of martial law. n.news.naver.com/article/002/...
n.news.naver.com
계엄사, 언론 통제 기구 보도처 설치한다
계엄사 공보 및 언론 통제·검열 기능 담당…언론단체 "언론자유 역사 부정하는 반자유 폭거" 계엄사령부가 언론 통제용 기구인 보도처를 설치할 계획으로 알려졌다. 에 따르면, 계엄사는 4일 국방부 및 정부 대변인실의 기
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Benjamin A. Engel @benjaminaengel.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Ministry of Defense saying it will maintain martial law until it receives an order rescinding it from the president
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Hard-core parkour: Lawmaker and opposition party head Lee Jae-myung livestreams himself vaulting over a wall to enter the National Assembly. 190 lawmakers out of 300 made it inside and voted unanimously to lift martial law.
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Anton Hur @antonhur.com · 03/12/2024
Office of the Speaker of the National Assembly declares martial law declaration invalid 2h48m after declaration Helicopters seen moving toward National Assembly, crowds outside chanting "IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT"
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Restrictions on media and social gatherings announced right after South Korean president Yoon declared martial law in a televised address today
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Hyunsu Yim @hyunsuinseoul.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
🚨 South Korean President Yoon declares martial law. Follow Reuters coverage www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
reuters.com
South Korea President Yoon declares martial law
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Tonight outside the Legislative Yuan, where several civil rights groups called a rally to protest KMT-TPP bills advancing through the legislature. These would impose tighter requirements on recall elections and raise the threshold for judgments from the Constitutional court.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Learned a lot from this article on the history of Taiwan's National Health Insurance. Many (myself included) thought Taiwan developed NHI in 1995. But the KMT actually started similar programs in the 50s on a discriminatory basis favoring the migrants who left Mainland China along with their regime.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Spent the weekend visiting the Saisiyat Indigenous community to observe the Pas Ta'ay: a ritual held every two years to apologize to the spirits of the Koko Ta'ay, a people their ancestors killed a long time ago.
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Ashish Valentine @ashishval.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Hello! I'm a journalist reporting on Taiwan, formerly at @npr.org. Let's connect if you're interested in social issues, climate change, Indigeneity, migration, culture and identity in Taiwan, Asia and beyond. I also frequently post about South Asia and the US, as well as history, film, and tea.
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