Prague-based think tank the European Values Center for Security Policy on Tuesday said that it would open an office in Taipei as part of a program focusing on Chinese influence operations, even as Taiwan drew criticism for allegedly financing the plan.
The center revealed its plan to establish a footing in Taiwan during the Stratcom Summit in November last year, which was also attended by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) amid warming Taipei-Prague ties.
The planned Taipei office would open in the second half of the year as part of the think tank’s Red Watch Program, which focuses on Chinese influence operations, the center said in a news release on Tuesday.
Photo: Screen grab from the Czech Senate Web site
Representative to the Czech Republic Ke Liang-ruey (柯良叡) signed a partnership agreement with the center regarding the Taiwanese government backing the opening of the office, the center added.
“Taiwanese institutions have much to say about Chinese interference activities and how to deal with them. They have studied and resisted the Chinese communist regime for decades, which is something that Europeans need to learn as well,” center director Jakub Janda was quoted as saying in the news release.
Richard Kraemer, who would head the Taipei office, joined the center last year as senior analyst for the Western Balkans and is president of the US-Europe Alliance’s board, it said.
The center, established in 2005, has 24 employees and is one of the largest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on foreign interference in Europe, the center added.
While the central government has welcomed quality NGOs to establish local offices, it would be unusual for it to sign such an agreement with an organization.
Separately, a source familiar with the matter said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would subsidize the center, including the salaries of its personnel in Taiwan.
In the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, the center only ranked No. 118 out of 141 organizations in western Europe, while the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy ranked ninth in Southeast Asia, the person said on condition of anonymity.
If the ministry courts a foreign think tank with “dollar diplomacy,” it is questionable whether the think tank would produce credible reports, the person added.
Asked for comment, the ministry said that it needed time to deliberate over the matter. It had yet to respond as of press time last night.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS