May 24, 2021
In the run-up to this year’s World Health Assembly, Taiwan’s case for being granted observer status at the World Health Organization’s top annual meeting rested on the idea that it had much to share with the world in terms of public health, and that its limited role at the WHO prevented it from doing so.
An emerging Covid-19 crisis, however, has changed that message.
Taiwan is experiencing its worst outbreak yet. Despite being a Covid-free enclave for most of the pandemic thanks to a swift and stringent response early on, Taiwan saw more than 1,000 new cases of Covid-19 last week. Now Taiwan faces a full lockdown for the first time.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Graham: It’s a day that started with yet another UK-China incident.
Quartz: Yes. How do you feel about the fact that several of your colleagues were sanctioned by the Chinese last night?
Graham: I don’t think it’s a clever move by China because it doesn’t achieve anything. None of those individuals have got properties in China, and I’m not sure any of them have been there for a long while. All of them will wear it as a badge of honor. The sanctions [China] put on the members of the European Parliament have probably blown up the possibility of the EU-China investment agreement being approved. And in our Parliament, whatever anyone’s individual thoughts on what Tom [Tugendhat], Nus [Ghani], and others have said, the perception of an authoritarian state trying to close down elected voices is not a good one.
May 13, 2021
Consumer prices, from used cars to airline tickets, shot up in the US last month. But some economists think policy makers in Washington can and should ignore seemingly eye-popping inflation data, and worry instead about the recovery in the labor market.
The consumer price index (CPI), which measures what people pay for goods and services like clothing and restaurant meals, soared 4.2% in April from a year before, the biggest increase in more than a decade, according to a Labor Department report yesterday. The so-called core price index, which excludes prices on food and energy, and can be more volatile, jumped 3% in April from a year before.
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