Category: Politics

A Beijing official warned on Wednesday that China will take “drastic measures”  if Taiwan makes move towards Independence, adding that Taiwan’s provocations and outside meddling could intensify next year.

China claims that the democratically governed Taiwan is its own territory, and in the past two years has stepped up military pressure to assert its claim. China was willing to try its utmost to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but would act if any red lines on independence were crossed, said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office, in a media briefing.

Xiaoguang further added If separatist forces in Taiwan seeking independence provoke, exert force or even break through any red line, China will have to take drastic measures.

Beijing has sent repeated air missions over the Taiwan Strait to pressure Taiwan. It has said it will not give in to threats. Xiaoguang said that next year, the Taiwan Strait situation will become more complex and severe.

Taiwan has emerged as a key factor in strained relations between Taiwan and the United States, which recognises only one China.

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949, after losing a civil war with the Communists, who established the People’s Republic of China.

After a group of French parliamentarians visited Taiwan in October, six French lawmakers are now in the country on a five-day trip.

Francois de Rugy, the head of the Taiwan Friendship group in the National Assembly, the lower house of France’s Parliament, is at the helm of the visiting delegation. They will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior government officials.

Upon arrival at the airport, de Rugby told reports that the lawmakers wish to have exchanges on all dimensions of the relation between Taiwan, the EU and France on the economy and culture and all the issues at stake for their countries.

Earlier in October, another group of French lawmakers led by Sen. Alain Richard held meetings with Tsai, Taiwanese economic and health officials, and the Mainland Affairs Council. That visit was part of regular parliamentary exchanges that had been going on for years.

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its national territory, had tried to get the October meetings scrapped. Its embassy in France had said that it would not only damage China’s core interests and undermine Chinese-French relations, but would also impact France’s own reputation and interests.

Australia and South Korea signed a historic $1 billion defence agreement on December 13 when Prime Minister Scott Morrison and President Moon Jae-in held talks in Canberra. As per the agreement, Korean defence company Hanwha will provide 30 self-propelled howitzer artillery weapons, 15 ammunition supply vehicles and radars.

The deal, which is the largest ever between Australia and an Asian nation, also includes a new Centre of Excellence built jointly between the South Korean company and the Federal Government in the Victorian region of Geelong.

Speaking on the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Australia and South Korea, Mr Morrison said the two nations share a strong link with each other. “The contract with Hanwha demonstrates the value of industrial collaboration in supporting our countries in addressing mutual security challenges,” Mr Morrison said. He also said the deal would create a minimum of 300 jobs.

President Moon is on a four-day visit to Australia. Besides talking about the deal, he also confirmed that South Korea will not be joining hands with the U.S.-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. He also said that North Korea is making efforts to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Russia has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution which seeks to formally link climate change and global security. The resolution, drafted by Niger and Ireland, called for “information on the security implications of climate change” to be addressed by the Security Council. Also, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been asked to make climate-related security risks “a central component” of conflict-prevention and peacekeeping strategies.

The resolution won support from 12 of the council’s 15 members. India voted no and China abstained from voting.

Only the Security Council can ensure the security impacts of climate change are integrated into the critical work of conflict prevention and mitigation, peacekeeping, and humanitarian response, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, wrote on Twitter.

Greenfield also wrote about Russia voting no to block the resolution, saying that the country has let the world down by vetoing a resolution backed by a majority of UN member states.

Those who opposed the resolution argued that the UN already had bodies devoted to addressing climate change and the issue could become politicized at the Security Council.

While the Security Council has considered climate change in some of its work, this is the first time it has picked the subject for a resolution of its own.

As per several reports, Delhi is planning to invite leaders of five Central Asian countries as chief guests for the Republic Day parade and celebrations on January 26. While the diplomats of these five countries have already been informed informally, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to hold a dialogue with the foreign ministers of these five countries over the next weekend.

If the invitations are accepted and everything pans out as planned, five Presidents — Kazakhstan’s Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Kyrgyzstan’s Sadyr Japarov — will make a trip to Delhi on Republic Day.

Reports on Indian Express also state that India wanted to invite countries of the BIMSTEC group, which includes Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. But the plan didn’t go through.

The five Central Asian countries are all playing an important role in monitoring the current situation in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and Delhi has been keeping in touch with them over the same since the past few months. Recently, the NSAs of the five countries visited Delhi for the regional security dialogue on Afghanistan hosted by NSA Ajit Doval.

The last time when Republic Day invitations were sent out was in 2018, when 10 leaders from ASEAN were chief guests.

On Monday, December 13, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was received by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan at his private palace in Abu Dhabi during his historic visit to the United Arab Emirates.

At the airport, Mr. Bennett was received by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed and an honour guard. For the uninitiated, Bennett has become the first Israeli prime minister to visit the gulf nation after diplomatic ties were established last year. Earlier in June, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also visited the UAE to inaugurate the nation’s embassy in Abu Dhabi. 

The prime minister said he appreciated the very warm hospitality and was excited to be in the UAE as the first official visit of an Israeli leader.

Earlier in a video, Mr. Bennett had said that the relations between the two states were “excellent and extensive, and we must continue to nurture and strengthen them, and build  warm peace between the people”. Before his visit, his office had informed that the dignitaries will discuss deepening the ties between Israel and the UAE, especially the economic and regional issues. 

The visit is also important as it comes at a time when world powers’ try to renew a nuclear deal with Iran.

When G7 foreign ministers met in Britain on Saturday, Russian sabre-rattling against Ukraine and assertive China were top of the agenda. The two-day gathering of top diplomats from the world’s richest nations in Liverpool is the last in-person gathering of Britain’s G7 presidency, before it hands over the baton to Germany.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said that the world needs to come together to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy. However, she did not mention any specific countries.

Discussions at the meeting were focused on Russia’s build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border, confronting China and addressing the crisis in military-ruled Myanmar.

Truss held talks on the sidelines of the summit on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as Germany’s new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) joined the G7 summit for the first time ever on Sunday.  Some of the countries took part in the summit virtually due to the pandemic. This includes India.

Truss said before the meeting that she wanted deeper ties between G7 nations in trade, investment, technology and security so that they can defend and advance freedom and democracy across the world.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Qatar on Wednesday, marking his first visit to the country after the two sides severed ties four years ago. For the uninitiated, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut all links with Qatar in June 2017, saying the country backed radical Islamist groups and was a close ally of Riyadh’s rival Tehran. Doha had denied all these allegations but the neighbouring states sealed their airspace to Qatari flights, shuttered Qatar’s only land border and also expelled Qatari citizens.

The relations were restored in January after a landmark summit in the city of Al-Ula. Crown Prince Mohammed was greeted by the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, with whom he will hold talks. The talks are aimed at fortifying the kingdom’s alliances as rival Iran resumes nuclear negotiations with world powers.

Prince Mohammed’s visit to Doha comes only days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went there for two days of talks. Relations between Turkey and Qatar went south after the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Earlier, the Saudi Prince visited the UAE, and will conclude his tour with a visit to Bahrain and Kuwait.

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are suing Meta Platforms Inc, formerly known as Facebook, for over $150 billion over allegations that the social media platform did not take action against anti-Rohingya hate speech that led to violence.

The complaint filed in California by law firms Edelson PC and Fields PLLC, states that the company’s failures to police content and its platform’s design contributed to the violence faced by the Rohingya community. British lawyers have also submitted a letter of notice to Facebook’s London office.

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement that they are shocked by the crimes committed against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. They have built a dedicated team of Burmese speakers, banned the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military), disrupted networks manipulating public debate and taken action on harmful misinformation to help keep people safe. They have also invested in Burmese-language technology to reduce the prevalence of violating content.

In 2018, a UN human rights investigation said the use of Facebook had played a key role in spreading hate speech that aggravated the violence.

A Reuters investigation that year found more than 1,000 examples of posts attacking the Rohingya and other Muslims on the social media platform. Almost all were in Burmese. The posts called Rohingya or other Muslims dogs or rapists.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be making a work trip to Indonesia and Malaysia next week as the Biden administration ramps up engagement in Southeast Asia. Blinken is the third and most senior U.S. official to visit the region in two months. He will visit Jakarta on December 13-14, and Malaysia on December 14-15. The trip to Malaysia will be his first-ever.

When in Indonesia, Blinken is due to deliver a speech on health, investment, and infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific. He will also participate virtually in the Bali Democracy Forum on December 9. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo had also visited the region in mid-November to promote economic ties.

At a meeting with Southeast Asian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September, Blinken had said that Washington will be releasing a new strategy for the wider Indo-Pacific region. The strategy will build on their shared vision for a free, open, interconnected, resilient and secure region.

Top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink said last week in Thailand that Washington was not asking its allies to choose between it and China, promoting instead a shared vision of a rules-based order “where large countries don’t bully the weak.”