Taiwan

| ASIA – PACIFIC

The latest data on international arms transfers over the past five years come from Sweden-based SIPRI. India is the world's top importer, while the United States, for the first time in 25 years, is Asia’s largest supplier. Driving rearmament, experts explain, is the perception of a Chinese threat (which continues to boost its war production).


The Pacific archipelago is one of only 12 countries in the world to diplomatically recognise Taiwan and is now caught in the middle of the growing rivalry between the US and China.

| 27/01/2024
| TUVALU

Until now, citizens from the southern African kingdom could travel to Hong Kong visa-free for up to 90 days, like for many other countries. No official reason has been given, but the measure comes a few days after Nauru gave in to pressure from Beijing and dropped Taipei.

| 26/01/2024
| HONG KONG – CHINA

Today's news: China tries to push Iran to curb Houthi attacks in the Red Sea; Under threat of going underwater within the next 25 years, elections are held in Tuvalu;Taiwan initiates compulsory conscription extended to one year in response to the Chinese threat; The earth continues to shake on the border between Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China; The precision landing of its space lander on the Moon boosts the ambitions of Japan's space programme.

| 26/01/2024
| ASIA TODAY

Today's news: progress on the ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, but Hamas wants an end to the war; In Islamabad, a Belucian garrison was removed and protesters were booked; As Beijing forges alliances in the Pacific, Taiwan asks Biden to join the US-led 'Indo-Pacific economic framework'; Modi's India expels French journalist Vanessa Dougnac, correspondent of the Catholic newspaper La Croix.

| 24/01/2024
| ASIA TODAY

Today's news: Taiwan says it has detected six more Chinese spy balloons flying over the island; In May, construction will begin on a new mosque in Ayodhya, India; Putin says he plans to visit Pyongyang soon; Israeli Foreign Minister Katz and his Palestinian counterpart al-Maliki will attend the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels separately: Tajikistan continues the work of "de-Russification" of its civil code.

| 22/01/2024
| ASIA TODAY

Today's news: Two of the three hostages featured in the Hamas video dead; North Korean hackers share clandestine money laundering networks with fraudsters and traffickers in Southeast Asia; An Iranian court handed down an additional 15-month sentence to Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi; Tajikistan and Uzbekistan 'do not recognise' the outcome of the vote in Taiwan.

| 16/01/2024
| ASIA TODAY
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“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”