Robin Cook made himself available to lead the non-Blairite left in UK parliament Sunday as he told questioners "I'm not going away" in his first interviews since his dramatic resignation from the cabinet over the war a week ago.
"I'm a [House of] Commons man, I'm going to carry on being in the Commons and I hope play a part as a senior figure in the Commons," he said. "There are a lot of issues that I would wish to address there ... I want to make sure that we continue to develop a radical, progressive agenda."
Cook was careful not to criticize British Prime Minister Tony Blair, praising the efforts he and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had made to secure a second resolution at the UN, but he did not offer direct support.
There had been speculation that Cook might be offered a lucrative European job. He became an enthusiastic Europhile during his time as foreign secretary and is currently president of the Party of European Socialists.
But he seems to have dismissed such plans for the immediate future, sounding confident that he has a future in British politics.
Cook said he had made up his mind that he would have to resign if Britain went to war without a fresh UN resolution while spending three days walking in Norfolk with his wife Gaynor.
It has emerged that Cook's resignation was carefully negotiated with Downing Street. His statement was delivered to the Commons the night before last Tuesday's critical debate on Iraq, when 139 Labour MPs rebelled, rather than during the debate itself when he might have swayed more backbenchers -- apparently in return for an agreement that there would be no top-level Downing Street briefing against him.
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),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese