In 2023, Taipei-based NGO Doublethink Lab hosted more than 320 attendees at the fifth annual summit in Taipei, Taiwan, from December 5th to December 7th, 2023. The event included a one-day closed-door meeting, a three-day summit comprising 82 sessions, a media launch, and an Indo-Pacific policy forum that was open to all participants. Many attendees were visiting Taiwan for the first time, and thus had the opportunity to see for themselves the direct threat the PRC poses to life here, to its freedoms and democracy. The event made tangible what is at stake in the research and activism to which so many CITW network members have dedicated their lives and careers, thus spurring renewed motivation in what can so often be a difficult and dangerous endeavor. Being in Taiwan also underscored the motivations behind Doublethink Lab’s work as an organization, and as coordinator of the China in the World Network (CITW) itself. CITW annual summits are historic occasions that bring together a unique cross-section of researchers whose work is often intriguing and inspiring, and often rarely available outside the confines of the CITW summits themselves. Over the last few months, Doublethink Lab has reached out to CITW 2023 delegates to seek permission to share recordings of their presentations online. Many of those in the community have agreed to upload videos of their presentations to Doublethink Lab’s YouTube channel.
The Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella” participated in the Taipei summit with a presentation by Secretary General Matteo Angioli, entitled “EU-China-Italy: detect and deter”. The project outlined how in March 2019 Italy became the first and only member of the G-7 to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The signing of a MoU between Rome and Beijing kicked off a number of projects which were supposed to strengthen the economic, cultural relationship between Italy and the People’s Republic of China. Five years later, the Italian withdrawal from BRI is on the horizon. However, Chinese influence is not ebbing especially with looming EU elections.