A package of four laws that provide US$95 billion in security-related aid to Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific countries including Taiwan has been enacted by both chambers of the US Congress and signed into law by US President Joe Biden. Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan have voiced their gratitude, while E
The European Commission and associated national enforcement agencies conducted unannounced inspections of the Polish and Dutch subsidiaries of Chinese security scanner manufacturer Nuctech Co (同方威視) on Tuesday last week. The raids were carried out under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Rule (FSR).Former C
The great disconnectA Taipei Times article last week caused this habitual 24/7-minded employer/employee a bit of concern (“Employers reminded of the ‘right to disconnect,’” April 28, page 3).Granted, employees have an absolute right to “me time,” during which they are neither required nor expected t
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The US government has spent US$471 billion supporting academic research over the past decade. A troubling proportion of that work, recent reports suggest, is riddled with errors, plagiarized or fraudulent.In recent months, some of the nation’s most elite universities and research centers — including
The US and its ally Israel could soon get awkward tidings from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, and as in some previous cases, Washington would be tempted to do the convenient rather than the principled thing, dismissing the tribunal as irrelevant and thereby undermining one of t
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agri
While the South China Sea has remained a contested region for a long time, it has emerged as a major security flashpoint in the 21st century with the rise of China as an economic and military power. China’s recent moves against the Philippines are therefore seen as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近
Today, Poland celebrates its Constitution Day commemorating the ratification of the first written constitution of its kind in Europe and second in the world which took place in 1791. This reflected the Polish spirit of equality and democratic political tradition that enabled our nation to survive 12
I am in Taiwan on a mission on behalf of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law, a Rome-based association named after the late Marco Pannella, an Italian civil rights leader and member of the European Parliament. The committee is chaired by former Italian minister of foreign affairs, Senator Giuli
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Georgia faces more protests this week as lawmakers resume debate on a “foreign agents” bill that opponents denounce as a Russian-inspired tool to crack down on freedom of speech.The bill would force organizations receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agen
There has been a lot of debate about what the future holds for Europe and its neighborhood if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine succeeds. We already know at least part of the answer, because it is happening in Georgia.This is the small Caucasus nation where Russian President Vladimir Putin first made cle
South Korea has long punched above its weight as an industrial power. Facing a constant existential threat has strengthened its resilience, self-reliance and competitiveness.Until recently, the South Korean defense industry had not quite matched the export performance of the rest of the nation’s eco
President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to accede to the presidency this month at a time when the international order is in its greatest flux in three decades. Lai must navigate the ship of state through the choppy waters of an assertive China that is refusing to play by the rules, challenging the terr
With the impacts of extreme climate change, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ desert-ensconced host for the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), was inundated in one day with a deluge of rainfall that exceeded what it normally receives in an entire
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) on April 16 engaged in their first dialogue since 2022. During the videoconference, they delved into various topics, including US-China defense and regional issues, as well as global security, such as Russia’
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere.A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Ch
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