| Sreemoy Talukdar brings you the essential cheat sheet on foreign affairs covering India and the world |  | | Globetrotter is back after an inadvertent week's break. We kick off this edition with India's decision to abstain from voting on two draft resolutions at the UNHRC — a decision that has triggered some controversy. We also cover EAM Jaishankar's trip to New Zealand, repercussions of OPEC's move to cut oil production, Iranian protests and presidential elections in Brazil. | | TOP FIVE NEWS UPDATES | | India abstains at UNHRC on draft resolutions against Sri Lanka and situation on China's Xinjiang | | China has won a vote to narrowly stop the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) from discussing a UN report that allegedly found evidence of Beijing's abuses against its Muslim Uyghur minority. Those atrocities may constitute "crimes against humanity", says the UN report released by former UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet last month." Financial Times says "Thursday's vote was a diplomatic victory for China, which has rejected criticism of its actions in Xinjiang as unfounded. The US, UK, Germany and other allies had proposed holding the debate, but 19 members of the council voted against the motion, with 17 countries in support and 11 abstentions." Among those who abstained were India, along with Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Brazil, Gambia, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico and Ukraine. This has sparked a controversy at home since the allowing of a debate on Xinjiang would have humiliated China on a global stage and present an unwelcome event for Xi Jinping just ahead of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which begins on October 16. Explaining India's abstention, Hindustan Times reports, quoting '"people familiar with the matter" that "India has traditionally voted against or abstained on such country-specific resolutions at the UNHRC. It is understood that China's presence within the UNHRC was a factor in the decision since any backing for the Xinjiang issue by India could have led to similar moves by China on other issues." India on Thursday also abstained from voting on a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, "while observing that Sri Lanka's progress in implementing commitments on the 13 th Amendment, meaningful devolution, and early provincial elections remains 'inadequate'," reports The Hindu. Indian Express adds that "while abstaining, India stressed that it will work with Sri Lanka and the international community to attain the related objectives of legitimate aspirations of Tamils of Sri Lanka and prosperity for all Sri Lankans." Meanwhile, Indian MP Manish Tewari from Congress party has questioned New Delhi's decision to abstain from voting on the draft resolution against China, asking "why there is so much diffidence when it comes to China?" | | Jaishankar discusses Ukraine conflict, Indo-Pacific, students' visa issue during visit to New Zealand | | External affairs minister S Jaishankar, the first Indian foreign minister to visit New Zealand in over 20 years, called on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday and the two leaders agreed on encouraging greater business collaboration and people-to-people exchanges. During the October 5-11 visit to the region, Jaishankar will also visit Canberra and Sydney, which will be the EAM's second visit to Australia this year, reads an MEA readout on trip details. Economic Times reports that "iIn a separate meeting with his counterpart Nanaia Mahuta, Jaishankar raised the concerns of several Indian students struggling to reach New Zealand to pursue their studies due to visa delays. India is the second largest source of overseas students pursuing higher education in New Zealand in various disciplines such as information technology, hospitality, science, engineering and architecture." During a joint presser, Mahuta described India as "one of the most important partners" for New Zealand. "There was a very open discussion on how India and New Zealand together will shape the Indo-Pacific region," said Jaishankar. You can read the EAM's opening remarks at the presser here. Later, addressing the Auckland business community on Thursday, the external affairs minister said "India is willing to do whatever it can to facilitate a solution to the Ukraine crisis" and highlighted how "India pressed Moscow on the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine when the two countries stepped up fighting near the highly sensitive facility," reports Outlook. In Wellington, Jaishankar will inaugurate the newly constructed building of the High Commission of India. | | US furious, Europe's recession fears deepen as Saudi, Russia-led OPEC+ announces cuts in oil output | | Europe's fears of recession just grew deeper with major oil producing countries announcing a steep cut in production to jack up falling prices. According to Washington Post, "European economists worried about a heightened risk of recession and a bolstered Russia on Thursday, after OPEC Plus, the coalition of oil-producing nations led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, announced that it will slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day. The coalition's plans prompted a blistering reaction from officials at the White House, which had aggressively lobbied the consortium to continue production at current levels or higher." Bloomberg says the "move was a blow to US president Joe Biden, who visited Saudi Arabia in July in search of higher production and lower pump prices for Americans." The report quotes White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as saying, "It's clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia with today's announcement". Bloomberg further adds, "White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese hinted in a statement at the potential for further releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve" and "opened the door to legislation the White House previously expressed concerns over that would seek to rein in the oil cartel's power." In a statement, Biden said he is "disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin's invasion of Ukraine." CNN has a report on "White House's failed effort to dissuade OPEC from cutting oil production". It says, "the Biden administration launched a full-scale pressure campaign in a last-ditch effort to dissuade Middle Eastern allies from dramatically cutting oil production, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. But that effort appears to have failed… On Wednesday morning, OPEC+ oil ministers meeting in Vienna agreed to an even larger production cut than the White House had feared." | | Death of a teenager adds fuel to fire as women-led nationwide Iranian protests refuse to die down | | Protests in Iran, led by its fearless women, refuse to die down and the theocratic is looking increasingly unsure on how to tackle it. Sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by morality police, the nationwide protests in Iran have entered their third week and they show no signs of slowing down, says Guardian. It adds, "Iran's well-honed state apparatus for repressing dissidents has not been able to quell demonstrations or diminish the morale of protesters." CNN says "slogans against the clerical leadership echo throughout the city. Videos of schoolgirls waving their headscarves in the air as they sing protest songs in classrooms have gone viral, as have images of protesters fighting back against members of the formidable paramilitary group Basij… These are scenes previously believed to be unthinkable in Iran, where the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei rules with an iron fist. But experts say that these protests transcend Iran's many social and ethnic divisions, breaking a decades-old barrier of fear and posing an unprecedented threat to the regime." The death of an Iranian teenager Nika Shahkarami's has added fuel to the fire. According to Guardian, "Nika Shahkarami's death has become nearly as totemic as that of Amini herself, with photographs of her circulating on the internet, and conflicting accounts provided by the family and the state as to how she died." Washington Post reports that "Shakarami disappeared in Tehran on September 20 after burning her headscarf in protest and being followed by security forces, her family told BBC Persian, citing the account of a friend who was with her at the time. The government then refused to disclose her whereabouts, stole her body for a secret burial and pressured relatives to make false statements about how she died, the family alleges." Meanwhile, "a host of French actresses, among them Oscar award-winning Juliette Binoche and Marion Cotillard, as well as human rights activists and a European lawmaker, have been cutting locks of their hair in solidarity with protesters in Iran." Financial Times says "for the first time in years, Iran's universities have re-emerged as a central focus of protests… Students in one institution, Ferdowsi University in the city of Mashhad, have called for a referendum on whether Iran should be run by an Islamic establishment." | | President Bolsonaro bounces back against rival Lula as Brazilian elections head for runoff | | Western media outlets had written off Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's prospects in ongoing elections, but it seems that celebration was premature. The right-wing leader's popularity was apparently underestimated in opinion polls. Reuters reports that "Brazil's presidential election is headed for a run-off vote after Bolsonaro's surprising strength in the first round spoiled rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's hopes of winning outright. With 99.7% of electronic votes counted, Lula was ahead with 48.4% of votes versus 43.3% for Bolsonaro, the national electoral authority reported. As neither got a majority of support, the race will go to a second-round vote on October 30. Several opinion surveys had shown the leftist Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, leading the far-right Bolsonaro by 10-15 percentage points ahead of Sunday's vote… Bolsonaro had questioned polls that showed him losing to Lula in the first round, saying they did not capture enthusiasm he saw on the campaign trail." Pollsters received a lot of flak after the first-round vote for greatly underestimating support for Bolsonaro. In another report, Reuters says Bolsonaro on Thursday announced a debt pardon for some consumers and a tax on dividends to pay for welfare spending, shifting the focus of a his re-election campaign to the economy as polls tightened. His leftist challenger, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has also proposed a debt forgiveness program for Brazilian consumers. The Bolsonaro government, meanwhile, has announced plans to accelerate this month's welfare payments to the needy, reports CNN. "Payments of R$600 ($120) under the Auxilio Brasil program will be sent to over 20 million families between October 11 and 25, as well a gas voucher for over 5.5 million Brazilian families." Why is support for Bolsonaro perennially underestimated in western press? This column seeks an answer. | | | | | | | | | | TOP ANALYSES OF THE WEEK | | Ukraine conflict reshapes perspectives | | Former rear admiral in Indian Navy Raja Menon writes in Indian Express that the Ukraine conflict reshapes battlefield, challenges understanding of victory and defeat. | | China wants duopoly with US, not multipolarity | | Former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale writes in Times of India that "in reality China considers only America as its equal. It looks at the rest of the world through the prism of balance-of-power politics." | | China has lost India | | Tanvi Madan of Brookings Institution argues in Foreign Affairs that Beijing's aggression has pushed New Delhi to the west. | | India's SCO, G20 leadership calls for a balancing act | | As India assumes the leadership of SCO and G20 — two groupings with divergent goals — New Delhi will need to ensure that the concerns of developing nations are not ignored, argue ORF president Samir Saran and associate fellow Jhanvi Tripathi. | | India is rich and evil, says Pak FM Bilawal Bhutto | | In an interview with Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia, Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari calls India "rich and evil". | | How Xi plans to consolidate power at party congress | | In this Council on Foreign Relations blog, Ian Johnson elaborates on how Xi Jinping will consolidate power at Chinese Communist Party's upcoming 20th party congress and what that could mean for his control of China and the party. | | Why China won't abandon Russia | | Hiroyuki Akita writes in Nikkei Asia that western democracies need to devise their strategies on the assumption that the China-Russia axis is unlikely to break down easily. | | Iran's women haven't been this angry in a generation | | Azadeh Moaveni, a writer and journalist who has written extensively on Iran, says in New York Times on the ongoing Iranian protests that the women in Iran are fighting pre-emptively against a future where their bodies will continue to be controlled by the Islamic Republic. | | Bolsonaro is no accident of history | | Andre Pagliarini, a historian and commentator on Brazil, writes in New York Times that the first-round election results in Brazil showed "beyond any doubt that president Jair Bolsonaro is no accident of history… Underlying his vague appeals to 'God, fatherland and family' is a bedrock of support, spread across the country and encompassing a wide cross-section of society." | | Decoding 'India out' campaign in Maldives | | Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, junior fellow with ORF's strategic studies programme, writes on the 'India Out' campaign run by the Opposition in Maldives. | | PODCAST | | What are China's interests and role in Central Asia? | | We recommend this episode of GMF's China Global podcast where host Bonnie Glaser speaks to Vina Nadjibulla of the University of British Columbia on the SCO as well as China's interests and role in Central Asia. | | | | Copyright © 2022.Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. | |
