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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

China warns Czech leaders will pay 'heavy price' for Taiwan visit

Monday, August 31, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats National Preparedness

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/czech-china-taiwan/a-54764477

China called the 90-member Czech delegation trip to Taiwan "a despicable act" that would wreck bilateral relations. Prague later summoned its China envoy following remarks that meeting leaders would "pay a heavy price."

The president of the Czech Senate Milos Vystrcil led a 90-member delegation trip to Taiwan on Sunday, despite strong opposition from China. "The visit will be certainly fruitful and further deepen bilateral relations in various fields including economic and trade," Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told dpa on Sunday.

It is the largest-ever Czech delegation visiting Taiwan since the European country became democratic in 1989. Vystrcil has said his Taiwan trip was also symbolic in how it would fulfill the legacy of the late president Vaclav Havel, a dissident leader of the 1989 Velvet Revolution which toppled communism in the former Czechoslovakia.

Czech Senate Vice President Jiri Ruzicka and the chairs of major senate committees as well as Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib along with business leaders, university presidents, civic organizations and news media, traveled to the Asian nation.

Senate President Vystrcil is set to deliver a speech in Taiwan's parliament and meet President Tsai Ing-wen during the five-day trip. Taiwan described the Czech visit as standing up to "the intimidation of authoritarian China."

"Our nations share many core values and we look forward to furthering cooperation in all areas," Tsai wrote on Twitter after the delegation landed.

The Czech Republic does not have formal relations with Taiwan, but the Central European country is Taiwan's fourth biggest investment destination in Europe, behind Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK.

But the Czech visit has drawn strong condemnation from Beijing. Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949, but China views it as its own territory and has vowed to one day seize it by force if necessary.

Beijing regularly reacts with hostility to any attempts by foreign governments to recognize or conduct official exchanges with Taipei and this occasion was no different.  

''China condemns this despicable act and urges the Czech side to abide by the one-China principle and handle Taiwan-related issues in a prudent and appropriate manner,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, ahead of the visit.

China said the delegation's participants were acting out of ''their own interests.''

"His insistence to go to Taiwan to carry out this so-called 'visit' deliberately wrecks the political foundation of China-Czech relations," the Foreign Ministry added.

Prague summons Chinese ambassador 

The Czech foreign minister said he would summon the Chinese envoy to Prague after Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi denounced Vytrcil's trip, saying that he would "pay a heavy price" for his appearance. 

"The Chinese government and people will never let it go and sit back and watch, and must let him pay a heavy price for his short-sighted behaviour and political speculation," Wang said, according to a statement published on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website.

Wang added that the Chinese government and people will not tolerate such an "open provocation" by Vystrcil and the anti-China forces behind him, though he gave no details of how exactly Beijing would react.

Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said that although the government did not support the trip, he wanted an explanation for Wang's remarks and would summon the Chinese ambassador in response.

"I expect the Chinese side will explain them [Wang's comments] to us. The trip has of course an impact on relations with China, but I think that this has crossed the line," Petricek told reporters, according to the CTK news agency. 

"We are a free country seeking to have good relationships with all countries and I believe this will be the case in the future irrespective of the statement of the minister. And let me repeat again – this visit is by no means meant to politically confront anyone," said Petricek. 

Bilateral relations between China and the Czech Republic were already rocky, after earlier this year the city of Prague signed a partnership agreement with Taipei that prompted Shanghai to cut ties as a sister city.China has ramped up diplomatic, military and economic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power in 2016. Tsai, who won reelection on a landslide in January, views the island as a sovereign nation and has worked to expand ties with nations, in particular with those seeking to push back on China's growing influence abroad.

Photo: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/J. Amaral

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