Taiwan’s Constitutional Court is set to rule on whether the archipelago should abolish the death penalty, a key test of its reputation as one of the most progressive societies in Asia.

This afternoon, the Constitutional Court is to determine whether to abolish the death penalty, but legal experts believe that the court is likely to choose a “middle ground” given the contentious nature of the issue.

Taiwan could be on track to abolish the death penalty if the island’s top court rules it violates its constitution.

Taiwan’s defence minister has warned that China’s growing military activity will make it more difficult to spot harbingers of an attack on his country. Wellington Koo said Taiwan needed to test its ability to respond to “a potential sudden contingency” and that his country’s reaction time to an emergency “cannot be as long as we would have imagined in the past”.

WASHINGTON - The Navy is taking lessons from its combat in the Red Sea over the past year and what Ukraine has done to hold off the Russians in the Black Sea to help U.S. military leaders prepare the service for a potential future conflict with China.