TOP NEWS

China-Taiwan relations
No Chinese fighter jets around Taiwan for a week

The Chinese air force's presence around Taiwan has been significantly reduced in recent weeks, Reuters reports.

Last week, not a single fighter jet was sighted, which is unusual. This year alone, about 460 flights of drones and fighter jets have been recorded in Taiwan's identification zone.

This could be a sign that China is recalibrating its pressure on Taiwan.

Two Taiwanese sources told Reuters that they suspect the reduction could be a tactic by Xi Jinping to create a "false image" ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump at the end of March.

- Beijing may be trying to create the impression: I am peaceful, I am moving towards peace, so you should stop selling arms to Taiwan, said one of the sources.

China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory. As recently as his New Year's speech, Xi Jinping said that "reunification with the motherland is unstoppable".

Security in Europe
Finland wants to relax nuclear weapons restrictions

The Finnish government wants to remove the total ban on nuclear weapons that currently exists in the country. This was announced by Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen at a press conference according to SVT Nyheter.

– Such a total ban is quite unusual among NATO member states, he says.

Today's ban applies to the manufacture, import, storage and transport of nuclear weapons. To lift it, amendments to the Nuclear Energy Act and the Criminal Code are required.

Exactly what legal changes are planned is unclear. The government will submit a proposal to the Riksdag next week.

The future of the EU
Iceland to hold referendum on the EU

Iceland will hold a referendum on whether the country should continue negotiating EU membership, reports the Icelandic Rúv.

According to Rúv, the Foreign Minister will present a parliamentary decision to resume negotiations tomorrow. The government's governing agreement stipulates that a referendum must be held by 2027 at the latest. It is likely to take place in the autumn.

Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009, and negotiations began the following year. However, when the Progress Party and Independence Party government came to power, the negotiations were suspended, and in 2015 they were officially concluded.

Elections in Denmark
Danish party campaigns against Greta Thunberg

The Danish right-wing party Denmark Democrats is coming out hard against activist Greta Thunberg in its election campaign, reports TT.

Party leader Inger Støjberg wants to introduce an entry ban on foreign activists who participate in illegal demonstrations. She accuses Thunberg of living in an “activist fantasy world”.

“These are exactly the types of people that she and our campaign are targeting. Ill-mannered young people who only have the purpose of causing trouble”, writes Støjberg to TT.

Greta Thunberg responds by calling the party racists and urging them to focus more on the “climate crisis, genocide and neocolonialism”, writes Berlingske.

The Danish parliamentary elections are held on March 24.