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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.

Taiwan recalls ambassador from Honduras

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Categories: ASCF News

Comments: 0

By Jessie Yeung and Eric Cheung, CNN
Updated 4:39 AM EDT, Thu March 23, 2023

Honduran President Xiomara Castro (credit cnn.com)

Hong Kong
CNN

Taiwan announced Thursday it will recall its ambassador to Honduras as ties between the two worsen, with the Central American nation preparing to switch diplomatic recognition from the self-governing island to China.

In a statement, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it had recalled the ambassador to “express our strong dissatisfaction” over Honduras sending its foreign minister and a delegation to Beijing this week.

The move “ignores the traditional friendship” between Honduras and Taiwan, which stretches back more than 80 years, and “seriously hurts the feelings of the Taiwan government and people,” said the statement.

It added that Taiwan had “repeatedly reminded the Honduran government of the risk of trusting China’s commitment to establishing diplomatic relations.”

Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on March 15 that the country will establish diplomatic ties with China – a move that all but spells the end of its current relationship with Taiwan.

Only 14 countries, including Honduras, have official relations with Taiwan – with several countries in Central America and the Pacific having switched recognition to China in recent years.

El Salvador, Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic all cut ties with Taiwan in 2018. The following year, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands followed suit.

Last week, the Honduran foreign minister highlighted China’s economic standing as “second only to the United States,” and said he hoped diplomatic ties would bring investment and trade opportunities.

These economic benefits are particularly appealing to developing Latin American countries – and difficult for Taiwan or its supporters to counter, said Parsifal D’Sola, founder and director of the ABF China-Latin America Research Center.

“This is basically something that Taiwan and the US, frankly, cannot compete with,” D’Sola said. “When you talk about investment in infrastructure, investment in green development, these are the types of foreign direct investments that these countries are looking for in the international arena.”

He added that China is “gaining ground” in these regions because of a lack of options – for instance, economic assistance from the United States or European Union.

China has welcomed Castro’s announcement, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying Honduras was making the “right choice” that was “in line with the trend of historical development and progress of the times.”

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu warned Honduras not to “fall into China’s trap,” and said it was still working to maintain bilateral relations. It also met with Honduras’ ambassador to Taiwan, Harold Burgos, to express “grave concern.”

But by early Thursday, Wu admitted the situation was not optimistic.

“They have asked for a high price from us,” Wu told reporters in parliament, referring to the Honduran government. “Because we don’t compete with China in dollar diplomacy, so it has entered a very difficult stage. But all the colleagues at our embassy in Honduras are working hard and will work hard until the last moment.”

Wu added that China has been working to suppress Taiwan internationally, and said Taiwan would continue to expand its international presence.

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