“Covid refugees” in Taiwan: Identity, aspiration, and friction in diasporic return

This study investigates the phenomenon of temporary diasporic return migration during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing specifically on Taiwanese Americans who returned to Taiwan—a group we conceptualized as “COVID refugees.” Drawing from eighteen qualitative interviews conducted with Taiwanese American returnees, this research explores how Taiwan’s effective health governance, heightened geopolitical tensions, and rising anti-Asian racism in the United States collectively shaped their migratory decisions and identity renegotiations. Introducing the theoretical framework of the space–time–health nexus, this article analyzes the intersecting roles of perceived health risks, temporal mobility opportunities, and geopolitical anxieties, reshaping Taiwan not merely as a nostalgic homeland but as a pragmatic and aspirational refuge. The findings reveal a nuanced typology of returnees, differentiated by their motivations, which range from health-related pragmatism to sociocultural and geopolitical considerations, and their identity affiliations, which span from firmly established to fluid and evolving. This article emphasizes that pandemic-era returns constituted not merely logistical decisions but deeply affective and politically significant acts, prompting critical re-evaluations of diasporic identities, belonging, and homeland imaginaries within broader transnational mobility and identity politics.