| Sreemoy Talukdar brings you the essential cheat sheet on foreign affairs covering India and the world |  | | India assumes the G20 presidency at a challenging time. This edition kicks off with information on how India plans to shape the global grouping under its aegis. We also track unprecedented and gutsy Covid protests in China that has morphed into political dissent, the death of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (pic above), Canada's new Indo-Pacific strategy and news on ISIS — the terror group has chosen a new leader after the incumbent was anounced killed. | | TOP FIVE NEWS UPDATES | | India assumes G20 presidency as PM Modi calls for unity on greatest challenges and mindset shift | | The world must cooperate to tackle the greatest challenges of climate change, terrorism, and pandemics, prime minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday as India began its year-long presidency of the Group of 20 (G20). "Today, we do not need to fight for our survival — our era need not be one of war. Indeed, it must not be one," wrote Modi in an article that appeared in newspaper across the world. The prime minister added that India would aim to depoliticise the global supply of food, fertilizers and medical products, so that geo-political tensions do not lead to global disruptions, reports Reuters. He said India's G20 priorities will be shaped in consultation with not just our G20 partners, but also the fellow-travellers in the Global South — Asia, Africa and Latin America — whose voice often goes unheard, according to Economic Times. The newspaper adds that India's G20 presidency got off to a start with an event called 'G20 University Connect' where external affairs minister S Jaishankar and top government officials reached out to students of 75 universities in an interactive session to create awareness about the "watershed moment" in the country's journey. Marking the occasion, Jaishankar said the G20 brings together leading economies of the world and includes two-thirds of the world's population. India has invited Bangladesh, Mauritius, Egypt, Singapore, Nigeria, Netherlands, Oman, Spain, the UAE. He said apart from the summit, there will be around 200 events to mark India's presidency, according to The Hindu. "This is actually a gathering of extraordinary importance and one that is unparalleled in our history. But this is not the collective weight of the participants that you should take note of. The very process of holding the G20 itself is uniquely impactful. There will be the G-20 summit in September 2023 in New Delhi but in addition there are almost 200 meetings at various other levels to ministers and officials to domain experts, civil society and of course the youth. Given its significance, we would like G20 to be not a Delhi-centric event but one that is celebrated across the width and breadth of the country," said the minister. The Ukraine war has exposed the rifts within the G20 grouping with Russian president Vladimir Putin skipping the Bali summit. India on Thursday said it expects Russia to be part of all the processes since "Russia is a member of the G20," said ministry of external affairs spokesperson in a media briefing. | | China loosens Covid norms after widespread, rare public protests challenging Xi and CCP's rule | | China's ruling Communist Party has vowed to "resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces," following the largest street demonstrations in decades by citizens fed up with strict, ad-hoc, draconian pandemic restrictions and endless loop of mass testing. Over the past week, large protests erupted across several cities in China, including capital Beijing and business nerve centre Shanghai. Students from scores of university campuses joined in, raising slogans, demonstrating with blank sheets of paper, and calling called for democracy, political reform and the end of party rule. China hasn't seen such a show of generalized dissent since the 1989 Tiananmen incident. CNN reports that "after unprecedented protests swept China, several cities have taken steps to ease some Covid-19 restrictions and a top official has signaled a softer approach to virus controls. China's most senior official in charge of its Covid response told health officials Wednesday that a 'new stage and mission' in the pandemic response was due to 'the decreasing toxicity' of the Omicron variant, increasing vaccinations and the 'accumulating experience' of fighting the virus", quoting state news agency Xinhua. The report adds that "demonstrations were triggered by a deadly fire on November 24 in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province. The blaze killed at least 10 people and injured nine in an apartment building – leading to public fury after videos of the incident appeared to show lockdown measures had delayed firefighters from reaching the victims. The city had been under lockdown for more than 100 days." Reuters reports that less than 24 hours after violent protests in Guangzhou on Tuesday, authorities in at least seven districts of the sprawling manufacturing hub, said they were lifting temporary lockdowns. One district said it would allow schools, restaurants and businesses including cinemas to reopen. Cities including Chongqing and Zhengzhou also announced relaxations. The report says China Dissent Monitor, run by US government-funded Freedom House, estimated at least 27 demonstrations took place across China from Saturday to Monday. Australia's ASPI think tank estimated 51 protests in 24 cities. The Economist writes, "How Xi handles these trade-offs will define him. Nobody knows how much Chinese people blame him and the central government for what has gone wrong, or whether the system of surveillance and control that the party has laboured to create is able to withstand mass dissent." | | Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin dies at 96, heightening political risk for Xi Jinping | | Jiang Zemin, who led China out of isolation after the army crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989 and supported economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth, died Wednesday. He was 96. Jiang, who was president for a decade until 2003 and led the ruling Communist Party for 13 years until 2002, died of leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai, reports Associated Press. South China Morning Post reports that prominent Chinese websites and social media platforms were turned to black and white on Thursday by way of homage to the departed leader. Homepages of almost all mainland-based news sites, social media platforms, official government sites, and university sites were turned black and white, following official instructions to lower flags to half mast at key official buildings and all Chinese embassies until after Jiang's funeral, which is set to take place Tuesday. In another report, SCMP says an official obituary published by official news agency Xinhua hailed him as a "highly prestigious and outstanding leader". It continued: "Comrade Jiang Zemin's passing is an insurmountable loss to our party, our military and our people." President Xi Jinping described Jiang as a "great Marxist", a "socialist warrior" and an "outstanding leader" during a meeting with his Laotian counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith. Jiang's death comes at a tumultuous time in China, where authorities are grappling with rare widespread street protests across several cities among residents fed up with arbitrary and endless Covid curbs nearly three years into the pandemic. Bloomberg says the death of the former Chinese leader poses yet another challenge for Xi Jinping, providing a potential rallying point for people disillusioned by stringent Covid measures and a flagging economy. On Thursday, Xi led dozens of top officials in receiving the body of Jiang, after the casket was flown from Shanghai to Beijing. State broadcaster CCTV showed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan standing to attention on the lawn of Beijing's Xijiao Airport as they waited for the plane. | | China hits back as Canada unveils Indo-Pacific strategy that calls Beijing a 'disruptive force' | | Canada launched its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, outlining spending of C$2.3 billion ($1.7 billion) to boost military and cyber security in the region and vowed to deal with a "disruptive" China while working with it on climate change and trade. The plan, detailed in a 26-page document, said Canada would tighten foreign investment rules to protect intellectual property and prevent Chinese state-owned enterprises from snapping up critical mineral supplies, reports Reuters. "China is an increasingly disruptive global power… Our approach... is shaped by a realistic and clear-eyed assessment of today's China. In areas of profound disagreement, we will challenge China," said the report, prompting Chinese foreign ministry to say that Canada's new strategy was "full of ideological bias, exaggerating and speculating the so-called China threat, and making groundless accusations and attacks against China". The strategy, according to a report in The Hindu, called India a "crucial partner", and said "Canada will seek new opportunities to partner and engage in dialogue with India in areas of common interest and values, including security, and the promotion of democracy, pluralism and human rights. Based on five inter-connected strategic objectives, it announced an ambitious plan, beginning with an investment of almost $2.3 billion over the next five years." Speaking to the Guardian after her government released its long-awaited "Indo-Pacific Strategy", Mélanie Joly said that Canada will "promote and defend" its national interests in a region where nations are jockeying for influence and power. Heightening the tension between the two countries, China lodged "stern demarches over Canada's hostile 'Indo-Pacific strategy,' reports Chinese state media Global Times while Canada has summoned Beijing's ambassador following reports of a network of illegal Chinese "police stations" in the country, after warnings that Ottawa is prepared to take more action if China refuses to "cease and desist" from its alleged activities. | | Terror group ISIS says its leader has been killed, names a successor | | Terror group Islamic State (ISIS) on Wednesday said that its leader Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi has been killed in battle and announced the name of his successor. The group's media affiliate al-Furqan published an audio message by an ISIS spokesman announcing the death of its leader who was appointed in March. "I announce and mourn for the Islamic state and the fighters of almighty Islamic state, (the absence) of the Amir of believers and the Calipha of the Muslims Abu al-Hasan al-Hashmi al- Qurayshi… he was killed while struggling against the enemies' of God," spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer said in the message released Wednesday. ISIS didn't make it clear who killed the group commander or where, reports CNN. US Central Command (CENTCOM), however, in a media release Wednesday said "the death of Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in mid-October is another blow to ISIS. This operation was conducted by The Free Syrian Army in Dar'a province in Syria. ISIS remains a threat to the region. CENTCOM and our partners remain focused on the enduring defeat of ISIS." New York Times says "the leadership transition, announced through a voice message on Telegram, came at a time of extreme weakness for the group, which has been reduced in only a few years from the world's most fearsome terrorist network to a low-level insurgency struggling to maintain its relevance in mostly rural parts of countries torn by conflict." | | | | | | | | | | TOP ANALYSES OF THE WEEK | | As G20 president, India will be a voice for Global South: PM Modi | | As India assumes presidency of G20 grouping, prime minister Narendra Modi in an article penned for newspapers across the world, writes, "during our G20 presidency, we shall present India's experiences, learnings and models as possible templates for others, particularly the developing world." | | G20 presidency allows India to exhibit global leadership | | India has the chance to shape the global agenda and advocate for its vision of multilateralism, Harsh V. Pant and Sameer Patil of ORF write in Foreign Policy. | | Think20 will address key areas of G20's policy focus | | The Think20 (T20) group of think tanks and scholars, an official engagement group that forms the 'Ideas Hub' of the G20, will address key areas of policy focus—from Digital Public Infrastructure and Macroeconomics to Climate Finance and Sustainable Lifestyles, writes Samir Saran, ORF president and chair of T20 secretariat. | | Chinese people have put Xi and the party on notice | | Events in China over the last few days shows how inherently fragile Xi Jinping's authoritarian power grab is. At his most powerful since he became the party general secretary and president in 2012, Xi is now paradoxically also at his most vulnerable, Sreemoy Talukdar writes in Firstpost. | | Xi has two choices to stop protests, both will hurt him | | Faced with simultaneous public protests in several cities, Xi Jinping has a choice between using force to quell protests or lose face by relaxing Covid rules, writes former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale in Times of India. | | Xi has violated a time-tested CCP rule to defuse social tensions | | Politically, Xi Jinping has violated a time-tested technique his predecessors used to defuse social tensions: divide and conquer, argues professor Yasheng Huang in New York Times. | | How to stop Xi Jinping from getting what he wants | | Putin once declared the Soviet Union's collapse to be the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century. Less well understood is the extent to which the Soviet collapse also haunts Xi and how it functions as a fundamental guide to the Chinese leader's actions, Matt Pottinger, former US deputy NSA, Hoover Institution fellow Matthew Johnson and David Feith of the Center for a New American Security write in Foreign Affairs. | | Jiang Zemin's death comes at an inopportune moment for Xi Jinping | | Jiang Zemin's death spells trouble for Chinese ruler Xi Jinping. The risk is that a new generation of malcontents will latch on to Jiang as a symbol of opposition to Xi's more repressive rule, argues Jamil Anderlini in Politico. | | Sunak doctrine takes Britain closer to a Cold War posture | | British prime minister Rishi Sunak's doctrine, the Integrated Review, takes Britain closer to a Cold War posture than it has had in many years, writes James Rogers, Co-founder and Director of Research at the Council on Geostrategy. | | Anwar is Malaysia's best bet for navigating challenges | | Anwar Ibrahim, the new prime minister, is Malaysia's best bet for navigating its challenges, argues hankaran Nambiar is a senior research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research in Nikkei Asia. | | PODCAST | | What does one make of the protests in China? | | What does one make of the wave of protests that engulfed China's many cities, including Beijing and Shanghai? Were these only about the brutal Covid related lockdowns or did it have wider political implications? Taiwan-based scholar Shikha Aggarwal, a research fellow at National Chengchi University, discusses these questions with host Surya Gangadharan in The Gist podcast of Stratnews Global. | | | | Copyright © 2022.Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. | |
