| Sreemoy Talukdar brings you the essential cheat sheet on foreign affairs covering India and the world |  | | Apologise to the readers for not being able to send the newsletter last week due to some health-related issues. In this edition, we start with the iceberg lettuce that outlasted British PM Liz Truss (pic above), Sino-Indian ties, CPC's 20th party congress, Russia-Iran entente on Ukraine and Imran Khan's disqualification by Pakistan's election commission. | | TOP FIVE NEWS UPDATES | | Liz Truss quits after just 44 days in office as British PM, Rishi Sunak leads the race in succession battle | | The week marked extraordinary turn of events in Britain that left the UK without a prime minister and its politics in doldrums. First, British home secretary Suella Braverman resigned on Wednesday "over the use of a personal email address that breached ministerial rules. Her resignation letter was also scathing of Truss's leadership and indicated deep fissures in the heart of her government." At 43 days, she became the shortest-serving home secretary in modern political history. While Braverman claimed in her resignation letter that she quit over "technical infringement" of rules speculation was rife in India that British prime minister Liz Truss had sacked Braverman for her comments "that Indians were the worst visa overstayers" that "torpedoed" UK's hopes of an early trade deal with India. But that wasn't the end of the story. Soon after, Jason Stein, one of Truss's most senior advisers, was suspended from Downing Street pending an investigation. As clouds gathered over her future, Truss said "she will fight on and told her top ministers she wanted to level with the public that there were tough times ahead" amid calls for her resignation. On Thursday, Truss announced that she is resigning as PM after just 44 days in office. In a brief speech (full text here) she offered no apology but said the Conservative Party had elected her on a mandate to cut taxes and boost economic growth, but given the situation: "I recognise that I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party." BBC says her move was the consequence of her own party members revolting against after "after a series of U-turns on her economic plan sapped her of authority." In the end, a lettuce in a blonde wig, was crowned "the winner of a bizarre competition after outlasting Truss's tenuous grip on power." Guardian reported that "seven days ago the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. To add to Truss's humiliating resignation, the lettuce won." As succession battle began for race to become the next PM, Boris Johnson, holidaying in the Caribbean islands, rushed home to throw hat in the ring, again, but Rishi Sunak seems to be ahead in the race at this stage. | | China again blocks India's move to sanction LeT terror leader Shahid Mahmood at UN | | Sino-Indian relationship continues to be challenging. In the latest instance of China's strategy of waylaying India, Beijing "has blocked a joint move by India and the United States to sanction Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Shahid Mahmood at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the fourth time it has resorted to such an action since June this year" using a "technical hold" as a permanent member of UNSC. According to Hindustan Times, "Mahmood was declared a 'specially designated global terrorist' by the US treasury department in December 2016, and India and the US had proposed his listing under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. According to US authorities, Mahmood has had a significant role in LeT's overseas operations, including in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Syria and Turkey." The Hindu reports that the "moves came even as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the memorial site for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and called for 'global cooperation' on terror. Next week, India will host all members of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the UNSC, including China's UN Ambassador, in Mumbai, where they will also visit the 26/11 memorial, as part of a number of events planned by the government to highlight India's counter-terrorism efforts." Meanwhile, in a blunt message to China, India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said peace and tranquillity in the border areas remain the basis for normal ties between India and China and "new normals of posture" will inevitably lead to "new normals of responses". The minister was delivering an address on the theme "China's foreign policy and international relations in the new era" at a conference organised by the Center for Contemporary China Studies (CCCS). According to Indian Express, Jaishankar said, "the last few years have been a period of serious challenge, both for the relationship and for the prospects of the continent. The continuation of the current impasse will not benefit either India or China. New normals of posture will inevitably lead to new normals of responses." | | Xi Jinping is set to equal Mao and seal another term as president as CPC's 20th party congress nears end | | The most important meeting in the calendar of Communist Party of China that comes once every five years where leadership shakeups are announced to the public, started last Sunday. The 20th edition wraps up this weekend. Reuters says Xi Jinping poised to clinch his third five-year stint in charge — a mandate that would secure him as the country's most powerful ruler since founding leader Mao Zedong. Xi opened the week-long session on Sunday reading from his work report submitted to the party congress. He touted China's fight against COVID-19, the party's safeguarding of national security, maintaining social stability, protecting people's lives and taking control of the situation in Hong Kong, which was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019. He also called for accelerating the building of a world-class military. Bloomberg has the official translation of the speech delivered by Xi. From foreign policy, development model, austerity measures 'common prosperity', to Xi's Covid-zero policy, here are the key takeaways of Xi's speech. The Hindu reports that "minutes before Chinese leader Xi Jinping ascended the stage at Beijing's Great Hall of the People to open China's party congress on October 16, the screens at the venue played a video showcasing the country's major achievements in the past decade. Among the expected visuals of China's space programme and its new home-grown passenger jet, the C919, was an image from Galwan Valley on the India-China border. The image showed the PLA Commander Qi Fabao, standing with his arms outstretched facing Indian soldiers, an image that Chinese military propaganda has widely circulated since the Galwan clash." Meanwhile, according to US secretary of state Antony Blinken, China is planning to annex Taiwan on a "much faster timeline" under president Xi Jinping than previously thought. Blinken's comments came Monday at an event at Stanford University in California, days after Xi said during his party congress speech that the "wheels of history are rolling on toward China's reunification" with Taiwan and "we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary." | | Iran is providing technical support to Russia in pounding Ukraine with drones, alleges US | | The Joe Biden White House has said Iran is "significantly" helping Russia in its invasion of Ukraine by providing "technical support". According to Reuters, that quoted US State Department spokesman Ned Price Thursday, Iranian military trainers were in Crimea helping Russian forces operate Iranian-made drones to attack targets in Ukraine. "We can confirm that Russian military personnel based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs and using them to conduct kinetic strikes across Ukraine, including in strikes against Kyiv in recent days," Price told a daily briefing with reporters, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, says the report. "We assess that... Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations… we do have credible information" said Price, but he did not provide any evidence. Meanwhile, "Russian missiles are grinding away at Ukraine's electricity networks, causing frequent outages of up to four hours at a time across the entire country, grid operator Ukrenergo said Thursday—one day after an official said that nearly half of the country's networks have already been destroyed," says a report in Defense One. "According to new data, about 40 percent of the total infrastructure is seriously damaged," Oleksandr Kharchenko, advisor to Kyiv's energy minister, told Ukrainian television. "Repair and connection work is ongoing, but outages are expected today and tomorrow," he said. BBC says "Russia's predicament in Ukraine has prompted Moscow to turn to Tehran for stocks of precision-guided weapons. Its own arsenals are fast running out. There have been a number of instances where coastal defence and air defence missiles have been used by the Russians to strike at land targets in Ukraine — a role for which they are not best suited." | | Imran Khan disqualified as lawmaker, barred by EC from holding public office for hiding assets | | Pakistan's Election Commission on Friday disqualified former prime minister Imran Khan from holding public office. According to a report in Bloomberg, Khan "was disqualified as a lawmaker and barred from holding public office after the country's Election Commission found him guilty of hiding his assets. Khan will challenge the order in court. The commission's five-member panel headed by chairman Sikandar Sultan Raja on Friday issued its order after the case was referred to it by the speaker of the lower house of parliament, state-run Pakistan Television reported. Khan's spokesman said the ex-cricket star will appeal the order. The election body said in its statement that Khan committed "corrupt practices" and didn't properly disclose the money he earned from selling gifts given to him by various foreign dignitaries, Geo TV reported. Pakistani law does not bar lawmakers from selling such gifts but hiding the transactions is illegal." Faisal Chaudhry, a lawyer in Khan's team, said the Election Commission tribunal had no jurisdiction in the matter, and said a challenge would be lodged in the high court. "The election commission doesn't have a legal authority to give a ruling in such cases," he told Reuters. "We will challenge it." Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports that "Khan on Wednesday submitted a reply to the election commission in the Toshakhana case against him wherein he admitted to having sold at least four presents he had received during his tenure as the prime minister of Pakistan. The former premier maintained that the sale of the gifts that he had procured from the state treasury after paying Rs21.56 million fetched about Rs58 million. One of the gifts included a graff wristwatch, a pair of cuff links, an expensive pen and a ring while the other three gifts included four Rolex watches." | | | | | | | | | | TOP ANALYSES OF THE WEEK | | US can't lead semiconductor race without India's help | | Dhruva Jaishankar, executive director of ORF America, writes in Hindustan Times that though the Joe Biden administration has decided to pump in billions of dollars for leadership in global semiconductor race, the success of the US semiconductor industry will depend on acquiring the requisite human capital almost overnight. This is where India comes in. | | China will remain India's most complex challenge | | Former NSA Shivshankar Menon writes in The Week that "the relationship with China is likely to remain the most complex external challenge that India is likely to face. How it is handled will determine the effectiveness of Indian foreign policy." | | Biden's new National Security Strategy will be welcomed in Asia | | Writing on Joe Biden administration's recently released National Security Strategy, C Raja Mohan of Asia Society Policy Institute argues in Foreign Policy that Washington's continued commitment to the Indo-Pacific despite a major war in Europe will be welcomed by Asian allies and partners. | | Xi's policies have left China globally isolated | | As CPC holds its 20th Party Congress, Japan-based Asia Nikkei newspaper writes in its editorial that "surging nationalism and heavy-handed policies have left Beijing isolated. No country has enjoyed the benefits as much as China, and Beijing cannot live in isolation from the rest of the world. Xi should first recognize this." | | Reading the tea leaves in Chinese elite politics | | In the Xi Jinping scheme of things, the fine line between allies and foes is often breached and the career trajectories of these men hold clues to the future course of Chinese politics, writes Shikha Aggarwal, Taiwan-based scholar of Chinese elite politics in Firstpost. | | CPC party congress will show China's game of balance | | As the world watches, 20th Party Congress will signal how China balances development, stability, epidemic control, writes former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale in Indian Express. | | US-China tech decoupling is truly worrying | | A blanket ban on products that use US technology being sold to China would not just affect China's tech development and hurt US companies with Chinese business. | | Strong authoritarian states have core weaknesses | | Francis Fukuyama of Stanford University writes in The Atlantic that supporters of liberal democracy must not give in to a fatalism that tacitly accepts the Russian-Chinese line that such democracies are in inevitable decline. | | Private players finally get a chance to operate in India's defence space sector | | Writing on India's recently launched Mission Defense Space (DefSpace) at the annual Defense Expo, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan of ORF's Centre for Security, Strategy & Technology writes in The Diplomat that the most remarkable thing about India's Mission Defense Space is its goal to provide the private sector an opportunity to finally operate in India's defense space sector. | | Imran won't be able to change how Pakistan functions | | Husain Haqqani of Washington-based Hudson Institute writes in Foreign Policy, that "I am not sure Imran Khan's agitation (against the army) will truly change how Pakistan functions. The country is likely to witness some more chaos." | | PODCAST | | Deciphering Xi Jinping's work report | | We recommend Stratnews Global podcast 'The Gist', where Namrata Hasija, a specialist on China's foreign policy with focus on Taiwan, sifts through Xi Jinping's work report to the party congress to find clues to his thinking. Could the reunification deadline be closer than one thinks, 2027 as some believe? And what could be sacrosanct about that date. | | | | Copyright © 2022.Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. | |
