Opinions

Allgemein, Opinions 14. June 2024

Zoom and the EU Security

Last year, the “Big Brother Award”, a negative price for surveillance by the civil rights organization Digitalcourage in Germany, was given to Zoom in the “Communication” category. Based in the USA, Zoom is subject to the cloud act, the Patriot Act and the FISA Act, which means that it must pass on all data from non-US citizens to the US secret services. Zoom is therefore not legal in Europe. An online video conference platform established in 2011, Zoom enjoyed rapid increase of popularity during the pandemic years. Meanwhile, it has been found with severe security gaps like the undesirable penetration…

Allgemein, Interviews, Opinions, Technology 17. May 2024

The Strength of the Chinese Economy in 2024 and its Significance for the Future World

The Strength of the Chinese Economy in 2024 “China’s role in the world economy is substantial. It accounts for around 10% of world trade and stock market capitalization, around 18% of GDP (at market exchange rates), around 16% of world oil demand, and over a quarter of world broad money,” according to Oxford Economics. The robust growth in China is based on a cocktail of state-driven investment, supply-side stimulus, and a boost in “green” manufacturing, said its lead economist Sean Metcalfe. The continued government stimulus concentrated in green equipment and high-tech manufacturing is not only part of the economy’s shift…

Interviews, Opinions 7. May 2024

In the Year of the Dragon – Hungarian Chinese Cooperation at its Peak

 (Written by Dr. László Benedek FLAMM, Historian, foreign policy expert)    Since the beginning of this year, a number of meetings took place in Budapest and Beijing, giving further impetus to the bilateral cooperation between Hungary and China. From May 8 to May 10,  Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, will visit Hungary. The highest-level event also marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Hungarian-Chinese diplomatic relations.  This year there will be at least 17 direct flights between the two countries per week. This is the highest figure in the Central Europe that Hungary shows. Direct flights can…

Allgemein, Opinions 20. March 2024

Belgium and the European Union sign the “Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships”

Belgium and the European Union signed the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the “Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships”) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 14 March 2024. Belgium is the eighteenth State to sign the treaty. The European Union signs in accordance with Article 18(1) of the Beijing Convention on Judicial Sale of Ships which provides that a Regional Economic Integration Organization that is constituted by sovereign States and has competence over certain matters governed by the Convention may sign the Convention. Article 18(2) of the Convention…

Chinese Community in Vienna, Interviews, Opinions, Technology 2. January 2024

PASCO’s In-Depth Discussion on GPT-like Artificial Intelligence

Since the release of the application ChatGPT, which is based on the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) model, GPT-like generative artificial intelligence tools have become integrated into various aspects of our lives over the past year. This integration has synergized human intelligence with artificial intelligence, providing numerous conveniences. While benefiting from the advantages these AI tools bring, people are also contemplating and researching the future development of this technology, its impact on individuals and the society, as well as the coexistence of humans with artificial intelligence. (Fig.1:  Daily applications of ChatGPT – by courtesy of Dr. Shiyi Wang) Following the presentation and…

Allgemein, Chinese Community in Vienna, Culture & Literature, Opinions 25. November 2023

Book Presentation in Vienna with “Es Lebe der Sozialismus“ by Lijia Zhang 

Lijia Zhang worked as a teenager in a factory producing missiles designed to reach North America, queuing every month for the “”period police”” to give evidence that she wasn’t pregnant. In the routine of guarded compounds and political meetings, Zhang’s disillusionment with “The Glorious Cause”” drove her to study English, changing her life and career to finally become a world known journalist and writer which has been her dream all the way through.  Telling a personal story, this memoir is illuminating the sweeping historical forces at work in China after the Cultural Revolution as the country moved from one of…

Allgemein, Interviews, Opinions, Technology 24. November 2023

A Brief Review of the online Forum on EU-US Data Transfer

On 10. July 2023, the European Commission adopted its adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Based on this decision, personal data can flow freely from the EU to companies in the United States that participate in the Data Privacy Framework. The adequacy decision followed the adoption of Executive Order on ‘Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities’. These instruments introduced new binding safeguards to address the points raised by Court of Justice of the European Union in its Schrems II decision of July 2020, ensuring that data can be accessed by U.S. intelligence agencies only to the…

Allgemein, Culture & Literature, Opinions 9. November 2023

Book Recommendation: “The San Francisco Peace Treaty under the UN Charter Concerning the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute”

We are recommending a new publication by the 4-fold Nobel Peace Prize nominee Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sukru Guzel. The book is entitled as “The San Francisco Peace Treaty under the United Nations Charter Concerning the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute”. In his preface, Prof. Dr. Sukru stated that the main purpose of this book is to contribute to world peace and security by trying to find a clear legal answer to the dispute on the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan within the framework of United Nations’ Charter.  “The dispute on the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands has two different…

Allgemein, Interviews, Opinions, Technology 2. November 2023

Online Forum: Data Transfer Decision between EU and US – Is European Data Sufficiently Protected this Time?

Urban Forum and SINOPRESS proudly announce the upcoming online forum on “Data Transfer Decision between EU and US”. An open, insightful, and rewarding discussion with expertise on the topic is guaranteed. Save the date!  Time: 7pm-8.30pm (CET), 07, November 2023 Venue: ZOOM Conference (Meeting ID: 868 3301 7086, Passcode: 074595) Moderator: Marie Grüner, Communication Advisor Agenda: On 10. July 2023, the European Commission adopted its adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Based on this decision, personal data can flow freely from the EU to companies in the United States that participate in the Data Privacy Framework. The adequacy decision followed…