2022 Year in Review
The Year in Review is YDS’ biggest and most exciting publication of the year - featuring analysis that covers the most significant and impactful events that have shaped our world. The 2022 Year in Review explores key events in all regions, from the overturning of Roe v Wade, the war in Ukraine, and the UK leadership crisis, this year’s edition is not one to miss! Read it now !
The Year in Review is YDS’ biggest and most exciting publication of the year - featuring analysis that covers the most significant and impactful events that have shaped our world.
The 2022 Year in Review explores key events in all regions, from the overturning of Roe v Wade, the war in Ukraine, and the UK leadership crisis, this year’s edition is not one to miss!
Read it now !
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awkward international position and a price to pay for participation. However, it is
unusual and alarming that such considerations have permeated into the bounds
of human rights and other fields that are typically unassociated with Beijing.
As the first nation in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, Taiwan, a bright beacon
of liberalism and human rights, stands as an almost antithesis to its cousins on
the mainland. Although no place is free of discrimination, Taiwan has served as a
long-standing haven for LGBTQIA+ persons in East Asia, whilst nearby
democracies in Seoul and Tokyo are flailing in their obligations to offer adequate
legal protection to their respective LGBTQIA+ communities.
On top of censorship and surveillance issues faced by all Chinese citizens, China’s
LGBTQIA+ community is subject to societal prejudice, healthcare discrimination,
and intimidation and detention by law enforcement. Despite the nudge towards
openness and acceptance in the late 2000s, recent years have seen Xi Jinping
mould China into a more conservative, nationalist, and conformist society. In
2021, LGBTQIA+ student societies at several Chinese universities saw their social
media accounts closed and censored for unspecified violations, and cracked
down on non-masculine “sissy” celebrities.
Yet when it comes to WorldPride 2025, China has used its influence and
pressured InterPride to cancel Taiwan’s hosting rights. Industries conducting
business on the mainland understandably conform to Beijing’s demands vis-a-vis
Taiwan and other designed “touchy” issues.
As an example, the NBA drew the ire of Chinese nationalists in 2019 when
Houston Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the Hong
Kong protests. NBA broadcasting, advertising and other activities in China were
immediately halted.
In the wake of InterPride’s cancellation of WorldPride Taiwan 2025, international
organisations must acknowledge and understand that Beijing has a strategy
towards Taiwan and other human rights issues that are the inverse of what these
organisations stand for.
Organisations should take an indispensable moral stance and ensure their
policies and activities do not peddle China’s official line, furthering China’s foreign
policy aim of isolating Taiwan from the international community.
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