Afleveringen
-
In this 2024 Perspectives with Neilo Wrapped!, we rewind and revisit four episodes from earlier in the year, exploring a recurring theme that connects them.
In our first podcast back in January, we chatted with acclaimed journalist on contemporary China, Bethany Allen. We talked to her about her book "Beijing Rules" in which she discusses China's Authoritarian Economic Statecraft. In this revisit, we hear how the Chinese Communist Party has highly politicized the area of sister city twinning and the role of Confucius Institutes.
The topic of Confucius Institutes also came up in our second interview with Alexander Dukalskis, Associate Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin (UCD). Professor Dukalskis is the author of "Making the World Safe for Dictatorship" and he shared his thoughts on why he thinks Ireland needs to invest in "serious independent expertise" on China. We called this episode, Irelands Knowledge Deficit on China. We also talked about Ireland's position on Taiwan and Leo Varadkar's controversial comments after the Chinese Premier's visit to Ireland last January.
Taoiseach Varadkar's comments on Taiwan back in January not only caught the attention of academics and the media, they also raised concern among Irish people living in Taiwan. Fr Sean O'Leary is an Irish missionary priest who has been living in Taiwan for two decades and I talked to him about his letter to the Irish Times in the podcast episode, The Shepherd of Dongshih.
The subject of Taiwan and in particular, why Ireland does not have a trade office in Taiwan, unlike many of our EU counterparts, also came up in an interview with Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher when we spoke to him during his EU re-election campaign back in May. Billy shared his thoughts and insights with us.
I hope you enjoy this brief look back at some of the topics we covered in 2024. A big thank you to all my guests - MEP Billy Kelleher, Fr. Sean O'Leary, Professor Alexander Dukalskis and Bethany Allen. Indeed, a big thank you to all the guests who appeared on Perspectives with Neilo throughout 2024 - it would not have been possible without you!
Many thanks also to all our listeners - especially those of you who have subscribed or followed us on any of the podcast platforms! Your support is what keeps us going!
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Very Happy and Peaceful Christmas. We look forward to chatting with you again in the new year!
#Taiwan, #Taichung, #TaiwaneseIdentity, #Ireland, #DefendingDemocracy, #OneChina, #LeoVaradkar, #Vatican, #CatholicChurch, #ShepherdofDongshih #TaiwanIreland, #TaipeiIreland, #FiannaFail, #MEP, #EU2024, #EUElection, #EEAS, #CCP, #China, #ConfuciusInstitutes, #DefendDemocracy, #HumanRights, #Huawei, #Tiktok, #Zoom, #Prague, #Shanghai, #SisterCity, #SisterCityTwinning, #CPAFFC, #UnitedFront, #UnitedFrontWorkDepartment -
Two subsea cables, one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden and Lithuania were damaged in less than 24 hours on November 17th and 18th prompting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to say - he assumed it was sabotage.
The suspected culprit is a Chinese registered bulk carrier - the Yi Peng 3 - which was traveling through the area after departing the Russian port of Ust Luga west of St Petersburg on November 15th. Reuters news agency have quoted Western Intelligence officials from multiple countries as saying that they are confident the Chinese ship caused the cuts to both cables but, they have expressed different views on whether these were accidents or could have been deliberate.
This is not the first time a Chinese vessel has been suspected of damaging subsea infrastructure in this region and it raises concerns of a wider pattern of hybrid warfare.
My guest in this episode is Eoin McNamara who is a Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki. I spoke to him about recent events, the reactions in the region and the implications for countries like Ireland and the broader EU.
#Baltic, #YiPeng3, #Cablesabotage, #China, #Russia, #EU -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
Data Centres contribute significantly to Ireland's GDP. The Irish data centre market amounted to over 3 Billion Euros of investment in 2023 with key opportunities to capitalize on future growth being driven by the AI revolution. However, its a competitive industry and while Ireland may have once been the EU pioneer of data centres, planning hurdles and electricity supply issues are forcing global technology companies to reconsider Ireland's role as a data centre hub.
In this episode, we report from the Data Centres Ireland Conference which took place at the RDS in Dublin in mid November. This was the 14th year of the event and it featured over 70 leaders and experts as well as 120 exhibitors showcasing the latest in data centre technology products, services and information.
I am grateful to the following industry leaders and experts who graciously shared their insights with us.
Garry Connolly, Founder, Host in Ireland
Bobby Smith, Head of Energy Storage Ireland
Dermot Costelloe, Associate Director, Fingleton White
Mark Moloney, Sustainability Director, CyrusOne
#Ireland, #datacenter, #datacenters, #AI, #renewables, #windpower, #solar, #netzero, #EUgreendeal, #energystorage, #energystorageireland, #datacentresireland, #EU, #EED, #CSRD, #IDA, #sustainability -
Ireland's General Election will take place on Friday November 29th, 2024. Overall, 685 candidates are running across 43 constituencies for 174 seats in the next Dail or Parliament.
Much of the focus and discussion so far has been on what the mainstream media have dubbed 'Auction Politics' as politicians and their parties try to better each other with promises of various benefits if elected. Examples include, free university fees, child care benefits, dropping the USC charge, reducing the VAT rate on hospitality and so on.
While many of these areas are genuinely important, the relentless competition for votes between the different party candidates means that the conversation around a few core issues (cost of living, housing, healthcare) tends to dominate the media coverage at the expense of other topics.
In this episode, we take a closer look at the three main party's manifestos to see what they have to say about some of the other important issues. Specifically, defending Ireland's democracy, our values and our freedoms, the role of the Media and Press freedom, as well as the party's positions on Foreign Policy, supporting Ukraine, plus their positions on Defense and Security.
#GE24, #FiannaFail, #FineGael, #SinnFein, #Defenddemocracy, #AuctionPolitics, #CriticalThinking, #ETNC, #MERICS, #RSF, #Russia, #China, #Taiwan, #Vote, #Ukraine, #ForeignPolicy, #PressFreedom, #Security, #Defence, #Defense -
Earlier in August, we reported on China's Maritime Aggression against the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea and also on how China's aggression was uniting nations in the region. In the intervening months, this aggression has increased in frequency and severity and expanded further afield to include Vietnam and Japan.
In late October, I had the pleasure of meeting Ray Powell (@GordianKnotRay) who is the Director of SeaLight, a project of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University in California. We spoke about the background to the current tensions, the origins and validity of China's so-called 'Nine Dash Line', the role of China's maritime militia and deep sea research ships, why what happens in the South China Sea matters to the rest of the world and much more.
Image Credit: Facebook Online Maps Blog
#Taiwan, #Philippines, #SouthChinaSea, #SecondThomasShoal, #China, #CCP, #ChinaCoastGuard, #SierraMadre, #SCS, #Ninedashline, #BRPSierraMadre, #UNCLOS, #CabbageTactics, #LittleBlueMen, #SouthChinaSeaDispute, #ScarboroughShoal, #SouthChinaSeaConflict, #Russianspyship, #IrishSea -
Earlier in May and June of this year, we reported from Taipei on the massive street protests which became known as the Bluebird Movement. These protests were the largest Taiwan had seen in the decade since the 2014 Sunflower Movement.
The protests voiced the public’s concern with new amendments to the Law governing the Legislative Yuan or parliament's power and in particular, new investigative powers including the power to subject public officials to fines or jail time if they refused to attend hearings or provide information when asked to do so by Legislators.
The Democratic Progressive party or DPP subsequently took a case to Taiwan’s constitutional Court contesting these new legislative powers and in late October the court struck down most of the expanded powers sought by the KMT.
In this episode we report from a Nov 4th gathering of the Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California where we spoke to a number of the attendees as well as to the special guest Wang Yi-chuan (王義川) of the Democratic Progressive Party about recent political events in Taiwan as well as how the outcome of the US presidential election may affect US-Taiwan relations moving forward.
#Taiwan, #DPP, #KMT, #TPP, #TAFNC -
In today's digital age, data centers have become the backbone of our interconnected world. From streaming our favorite shows to conducting complex financial transactions, these high-powered facilities are the engines driving our digital revolution. But as our reliance on technology grows, so does the energy consumption of these data centers.
This increasing energy consumption is driving data center operators and tech entrepreneurs to explore new ways to power these energy-hungry facilities more efficiently and sustainably.
In this episode, we talk to Yuval Bachar, Founder and CEO of Edge CLoud Link. Yuval and his team are pioneering the development of off-grid sustainable hydrogen powered data centers - and they have created a proof-of-concept colocation site in Mountain View California.
#Datacenters, #Datacentre, #Hydrogen, #ECL, #Greenhydrogen, #Nuclear, #SMR, #AI, #ML, #Datacentrepower -
It's an exciting time for data centers not only because of the new technology developments in AI and ML, but also because of the parallel advancements in sustainability in the drive to net zero emissions.
In this episode, we report from this year's Open Compute Global Summit in San Jose, California. The Open Compute Project (OCP) was initiated in 2011 and its mission is to apply the benefits of open source and open collaboration to data center technology and to support the growing demands on compute infrastructure.
This year's summit contained many interesting topics and announcements including the Open Systems for AI strategic initiative, Sustainability (including Green Concrete), the opening of the Open Chiplet Economy in OCP Marketplace and lots more.
I spoke with Rob Coyle, Director of Technical Programs at the Open Compute Project Foundation about OCP's mission and some of the exciting announcements and topics at this year's summit as well as to Andy Gill, VP of Hyperscale for Rittal about his company's products and the impact of the recent advances in AI technology.
#OpenCompute, #OpenComputeProject, #AI, #datacenter, #OCP, #GreenConcrete, #NetZero -
Regular listeners to Perspectives with Neilo will be aware that China and the behavior of its government, the Chinese Communist Party or CCP, have been the subject of many of our past episodes, from their aggression against Taiwan and its neighbors in the South China Sea, to their questionable trade practices and the many dubious tactics they employ in their quest for global influence.
In this episode, we dig a little deeper into the background and hear the perspectives of Dr. Niall Duggan, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and Politics at University College Cork. We discuss the origins of the party, the political framework and institutions, and how things have changed under leader Xi Jinping, plus lots more.
#China, #CCP, #PRC, #XiJinping, #Mao, #DengXiaoping, #Wholeprocessdemocracy, #Nationalcongress, #CentralCommittee, #PLA, #BeltandRoad, #onebeltoneroad -
In this episode, we talk with award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Hope who shines an urgent spotlight on Taiwan as it fights for autonomy and freedom from fear in the gripping new documentary, Invisible Nation.
It tells the story of how Taiwan’s first female President, Tsai Ing-wen delicately balanced on the tightrope between the hopes and dreams of her nation and the colossal geopolitical forces of the US and China. The movie interweaves highlights from her time in office with Taiwan’s history and struggle to preserve its hard won democracy.
Invisible Nation premiered in Ireland at the 36th Galway Film Fleadh in July, and we went along to see the movie and talk with Director, Vanessa Hope.
#Taiwan, #InvisibleNationFilm, #China, #TsaiIngWen, #DPP, #GalwayFilmFleadh -
Following on from our previous episode, we review some of the key events since late July that appear to be contributing to increased tensions in the South China Sea. These include China's ongoing military exercises in the region as well as joint patrols carried out between the Philippines, its allies and its neighbors. These tensions reached a dangerous peak during an encounter between China's PLAAF fighter jets and a Philippines Air Force patrol plane on August 8th in the skies over Bajo De Masinloc (aka Second Thomas Shoal) during which the PLAAF dropped flares in the path of the Philippines' plane.
In this episode we share the official response from the Philippines to this encounter, as well as a statement from China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson. We also discuss how China's increasingly aggressive behavior is driving its neighbors to form stronger alliances as well as views from analysts on what might lay behind China's increased aggression.
Photo Credits: Armed Forces of the Philippines
#Philippines, #SouthChinaSea, #SecondThomasShoal, #China, #CCP, #ChinaCoastGuard, #BRPSierraMadre, #UNCLOS, #SCS, #Ninedashline, #CabbageTactics, #LittleBlueMen, #SouthChinaSeaDispute, #SouthChinaSeaConflict, #BajoDeMasinloc -
The Chinese state officially known as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and often likes to portray itself as a peaceful superpower - but there's also a saying that 'self praise is no praise'.
In past episodes we’ve covered China’s ongoing aggression against Taiwan which the PRC claims as its territory. In this episode we look beyond Taiwan to China’s other neighbors, particularly the Philippines. We talk to Dr Charmaine Willoughby from De La Salle University in Manila to hear how China is perceived there, and how recent clashes between vessels from the Philippines and China’s coast guard in the West Philippine Sea are affecting the local fishing community. We also discuss how these recent events are affecting the Philippines foreign policy approach.
#Taiwan, #Philippines, #SouthChinaSea, #SecondThomasShoal, #China, #CCP, #ChinaCoastGuard, #SierraMadre, #UNCLOS, #SCS, #Ninedashline, #PRC -
Perspectives with Neilo podcast brings you news and analysis on politics, sport, culture and technology from an Irish perspective.
#Podcast, #Defenddemocracy, #Taiwan, #Ireland
Music from TELL YOUR STORY music by ikson™
Voices: ElevenLabs.io, Neilo -
In this episode of Perspectives with Neilo, I chat with Fr. Sean O'Leary who is originally from Togher in Cork City but has been a missionary priest in Taiwan for the past 19 years. I visited him in his parish of Dongshih (東勢) near the city of Taichung and spoke to him about living in Taiwan, the similarities with Ireland, Taiwanese identity, the church in China and why he spoke out about Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's statement on Taiwan during the Chinese Premier's visit to Ireland back in January (2024).
#Taiwan, #Taichung, #CatholicChurch, #China, #ChurchinChina, #LeoVaradkar, #Ireland, #TaiwanisTaiwan, #DefendDemocracy -
Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China, is situated in the West Pacific between Japan and the Philippines. It's a country about half the size of Ireland, but with a population of over 23 million. Taiwan has a history of strong earthquakes as the island is located within a complex zone of convergence between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
On April 3rd, 2024, a 7.2 (ML) magnitude quake struck close to Taiwan’s east coast city of Hualien. In this episode of Perspectives with Neilo, we traveled to Hualien to revisit the impact of the earthquake and talk to Hualien City officials about how the region is recovering.
#Taiwan, #Hualien, #Earthquake, #HualienEarthquake, #TarokoGorge, #CWA -
Earlier in June, following months of investigation, the European Commission announced new tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles in response to massive state subsidies in the forms of research and development grants, sales tax exemptions and supply chain support being provided to Chinese EV makers by Beijing.
Although countries such as the US and Turkey have already introduced tariffs on Chinese EVs, support among EU states for this move has been divided.
The EU's provisional duties (which have been revised slightly since out interview) are set to apply by July 4th, 2024, with the investigation set to continue until November 2nd when finalized duties could be imposed for up to five years.
In this episode, we welcome back Swedish journalist Jojje Olsson who shares his insights on the EV tariffs and the reactions within the EU. We discuss how Beijing is already finding ways to circumvent the tariffs, and we also examine how China's ongoing support for Russia in the Ukraine war is impacting EU decision making, and much more.
#EVs #ElectricVehicle #Tariff #EU #ChinaSubsidies #EUTariff #ChineseEV #BYD #SAIC #Tesla -
Previously in May, we reported on the large pro-democracy street protests in Taipei, Taiwan in opposition to new legislative reform bills being hastily pushed through the Legislative Yuan or parliament by the China-friendly Kuomintang Party or KMT and their smaller ally the Taiwan People’s Party or TPP.
The KMT-TPP combined majority was enough to carry the bills through parliament in May and onto the next step of review by the Executive Yuan or Cabinet. On the week of June 17th, the Executive Yuan vetoed the legislation sending it back to the Legislature for reconsideration.
As a result, the public protests which have become known as the Bluebird Movement returned to the streets around the parliament and on June 19th we went there to find out more. In this episode we talk to Chen Fang-Yu who is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Soochow University in Taiwan. He told us why the protests have returned and about additional bills being proposed by the KMT that are causing concern. -
Computex Taipei is often where new semiconductor chips and hardware devices are revealed to the world. This year was no exception, with keynotes from tech industry Titans like NVIDIA, Intel, ARM and Qualcomm and product announcements from Original Equipment Manufacturers (or OEMs ) like ASUS, Quanta, Inventec and many more. In all, there were over 4500 booths showcasing the latest breakthroughs and innovation from the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Communications and EV Technology, Manufacturing and Robotics, Gaming and much more.
In this episode we bring you a flavor of this event - we talk to entrepreneurs and innovators developing new tools and applications in the field of AI, and to the companies delivering the latest gaming, laptop and datacenter technology. -
On June 4th 1989, student-led demonstrations which had been brewing across China for a few months were violently crushed in Beijing by the Chinese Communist Party or CCP under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping in what became widely known as the Tiananmen Square massacre. From the outset, the Chinese government downplayed the significance of the event and suppressed any discussion of it inside China.
Commemorations however, still take place every year in multiple cities around the world and in this episode, we talk to some of the people who commemorated the 35th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square at a gathering in Liberty Square, Taipei on June 4th, 2024. -
In this episode we’re once again reporting from Taipei, on the growing protests against congressional reform legislation being pushed through Taiwan’s parliament or Legislative Yuan by the China-friendly KMT or Kuomintang and the smaller Taiwan People’s party or TPP.
In the previous episode of this podcast, we reported from the protests on Tuesday May 21st when an estimated 10 to 15 thousand protesters showed up to demonstrate about the disregard for procedural due process and the content of a new package of reform legislation which many feel would challenge the authority of newly elected DPP president, Lai Ching-te.
By midnight on Tuesday, the new legislation still lingered in the review process, so on Friday May 24th, the Legislature continued to debate the bills and the public returned to the streets around the parliament in Taipei. We went there to report on the action and hear people’s concerns.
By 9:00pm on Friday, organizers estimated that 100,000 people had come out to demonstrate against the package of new bills being pushed through Taiwan’s parliament by the KMT and TPP. According to local analysts, Taiwan hasn’t seen protests of this size since the 2014 Sunflower Movement.
On Friday, we spoke to a cross section of the crowd to hear their perspectives including former Taipei City councilor Miao Poya who, after a passionate speech to the assembled crowd, told us what her main concerns are with this new legislation. - Laat meer zien
