| Sreemoy Talukdar brings you the essential cheat sheet on foreign affairs covering India and the world | .jpg) | | India has made first official visit to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover (pic above). Though New Delhi has sought to clarify that this engagement is solely focused on humanitarian assistance, many are reading between the lines. We also track China's Pacific adventures, why Beijing is angry with New Zealand, how Europe's oil embargo is reshaping global energy market and Sri Lanka citizens' continued suffering. | | TOP FIVE NEWS UPDATES | | Indian delegation reaches Kabul in first official visit as Taliban call for resumption of normalcy in ties | | In the first official visit since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 and evacuation of Indian embassy, New Delhi has sent a delegation of senior diplomats to Kabul led by JP Singh, joint secretary in charge of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (PAI). The Hindu reports, quoting Suhail Shaheen, chief of the Taliban's political office, that "during Thursday's discussions with the Indian delegation, the Taliban urged India to reopen its embassy in Kabul" and said that "Afghanistan government is committed to providing a secure environment for its normal functioning." India, however, played down the diplomatic overtures. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the "ongoing visit is solely focused on ensuring proper delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and did not amount to granting diplomatic recognition to the Taliban regime in Kabul," adds the report. In its report, The Indian Express says the Indian delegation visited a hospital, a school, and a power plant in Kabul during the day. And quotes Taliban foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi, as saying that "diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and India, bilateral trade, and humanitarian assistance were discussed" during Thursday talks with Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Mottaqi. "According to the spokesperson, Mottaqi stressed that India should resume its stalled projects, activate its diplomatic presence, and provide consular services to Afghans, especially Afghan students and patients." However, when it was asked if New Delhi now officially recognised the Taliban administration, Bagchi told reporters they were "reading far too much into the visit", adds Reuters. An MEA release stated that "in response to the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, India decided to extend humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. In this endeavor, we have already dispatched several shipments of humanitarian assistance consisting of 20,000 MTs of wheat, 13 tons of medicines, 500,000 doses of COVID Vaccine and winter clothing. These consignments were handed over to the India Gandhi Children Hospital, Kabul and UN specialized agencies including WHO and WFP. Furthermore, India is in the process of shipping more medical assistance and foodgrains to Afghanistan." | | China's big Pacific-deal attempts suffer a setback but Beijing notches up crucial small wins | | China's foreign minister Wang Yi is on a 10-day visit to the Pacific Islands to sign an elaborate security and trade deal, but Chinese plans seem to have run into a roadblock with several Pacific nations, being wooed by Beijing, have expressed concern about specific elements in the proposal. Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama said the Pacific island nations were united in their approach. "We put consensus first among our countries throughout any discussion on new regional agreements," he was quoted as saying in a press conference Monday with Chinese FM Wang. Samoa's prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, said that her country had been rushed by China, saying: "We have not made a decision [about the agreement] as we did not have enough time to look at it," reports ABC News of Australia. China, however, seems undeterred. It asked the Pacific nations not to be too anxious and quickly released a "position paper" where it proposed "appointing a Chinese government special envoy for Pacific Island Countries affairs", "injecting an additional $2 million into a COVID-19 fund, sending Chinese medical teams to Pacific countries, including Solomon Islands and Kiribati", holding seminars on agriculture, trade, technology, disaster mitigation, governance, as well as training diplomats, providing 2,500 government scholarships, and establishing a poverty reduction centre", but made no mention of "free trade or joint policing, and only a fleeting reference to cybersecurity cooperation, which were key features of the leaked draft deal." Associated Press says while "China may have fallen short on its plans for a grand multilateral agreement, it has been signing smaller bilateral agreements with the Pacific nations every day during Wang's tour." The geopolitical competition intensified in the region with Australia, that considers Pacific Islands as its backyard, rushing its new foreign minister Penny Wong to Fiji to counter China. | | China slams New Zealand after Ardern, Biden express worry over Beijing's Pacific moves | | New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who finished a 10-day tour of the US with a visit to the White House and a meeting with US president Joe Biden, has managed to incur China's wrath. In wake of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's tour of Pacific Islands, where China is trying to close a sweeping trade and security deal with 10 countries in the region, and in view of China's recent bilateral security deal with the Solomon Islands, Ardern and Biden came out swinging. The Pacific Islands are considered the strategic backyard for Australia and New Zealand. The US is worried that China, whose "fishing fleets already dominate the seas between the area's roughly 30,000 islands, seizing huge hauls of tuna while occasionally sharing intelligence on the movements of the US Navy", may add "ports, airports and outposts for satellite communications" through the deal and eventually intercept communications, block shipping lanes and engage in space combat, as the New York Times observes in a report. The A joint statement after the Ardern-Biden meeting stated: "We note with concern the security agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Solomon Islands. In particular, the United States and New Zealand share a concern that the establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values or security interests would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region and pose national-security concerns to both our countries." China was obviously not amused. China's Ambassador to New Zealand, Wang Xiaolong, said in a speech posted late Wednesday on the Embassy's website: "In China, there is widespread cognizance of New Zealand as a green, clean, open and friendly country… This very positive national branding… arguably the most potent marketing tool for all products and services from New Zealand," he said, adding, both countries should "make sure it will not be squandered," reports Bloomberg. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in Beijing that "the hype-up of relevant issues in the joint statement by the US and New Zealand is out of ulterior motives to create disinformation and attack and discredit China." | | India benefits as Europe's partial ban on Russian oil overhauls global energy market | | European Union leaders have agreed an embargo on Russian crude oil imports that will take full effect by end-2022, but Hungary and two other landlocked Central European states secured exemptions for the pipeline imports they rely on, reports Reuters. The ban, agreed overnight after weeks of wrangling, aims to halt 90% of Russia's crude imports into the 27-nation bloc by year-end. It is the toughest sanction yet on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and one that will itself affect the EU, where energy prices have spiked and inflation is running at close to a double-digit clip, says the report. BBC adds that the ban "is part of a sixth package of sanctions approved at a summit in Brussels, which all 27 member states have had to agree on. Russia currently supplies 27% of the EU's imported oil and 40% of its gas. The EU pays Russia around €400bn ($430bn, £341bn) a year in return." New York Times observes that "European Union's embargo on most Russian oil imports could deliver a fresh jolt to the world economy, propelling a realignment of global energy trading that leaves Russia economically weaker, gives China and India bargaining power and enriches producers like Saudi Arabia." The report adds that "China and India could be protected from some of the burden of higher oil prices because Russia is offering them discounted oil. In the last couple of months, Russia has become the second-biggest oil supplier to India, leapfrogging other big producers like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. India has several large refineries that could earn rich profits by refining Russian oil into diesel and other fuels in high demand around the world." Reuters reports, quoting Refinitiv Eikon data, that India has received 34 million barrels of discounted Russian oil since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24, more than trebling the value of total imports from Russia, including other products, compared with the same period of 2021. Meanwhile, global oil producing cartel OPEC and its allies on Thursday "agreed to accelerate oil production in July and August, as the cartel's linchpin Saudi Arabia bowed to US pressure to cool a crude price rally that has threatened to stall the global economy. OPEC said it would increase output by almost 650,000 barrels a day in both months, up from planned increases of about 400,000 b/d," reports Financial Times. | | Sri Lanka reels from sky-high inflation, food shortage as India sends more diesel, promises fertilizers | | To revive its economy that has been dealt crushing blows by COVID-19, misguided agricultural policy and wrong economic decisions resulting in its worst economic crisis since Independence, Sri Lanka is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to borrow at least $3 billion via the lender's extended fund facility (EFF), according to a Reuters report. Sri Lanka expects expects another round of technical talks with the IMF in early June and hopes to reach to a staff-level agreement as soon as the end of this month, says the report quoting two anonymous sources. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, said on Thursday that the ongoing IMF negotiations concluded by the end of this month, reports PTI via Business Standard. Wickremesinghe said on Thursday that debt restructuring had begun, following the appointment of financial and legal advisors. This was a prerequisite for an IMF programme, adds the report. Bloomberg reports that Sri Lanka's headline inflation has surged to a record 39.1% in May from a year ago. Food inflation surged 57.4%, while prices of non-food items jumped 30.6%, the data showed. Meanwhile, India on Tuesday said it has delivered one more consignment of 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel to Sri Lanka to help ease the acute fuel shortage in the debt-ridden island nation which is grappling with its worst economic crisis, reports Economic Times. The Hindu reports that Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has assured Sri Lanka of immediate supply of fertilizer as the island braces for a food crisis amid a crushing economic meltdown, quoting a statement from Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. | | | | | | | | | | TOP ANALYSES OF THE WEEK | | Quad, China and intriguing chess moves in the Indo-Pacific | | The Quad is stepping in the right direction, but China is a formidable competitor and the grouping must manage expectations better. In Firstpost, we explore the intriguing chess moves in Indo-Pacific. | | Modi govt's diplomacy has delivered at home and abroad: Jaishankar | | In his column for Times of India, external affairs minister S Jaishankar takes stock of Narendra Modi government's eight years. He argues that Modi government's "diplomatic achievements must be appreciated against a volatile and uncertain world. It has addressed long-standing issues effectively while responding to emerging challenges. And all this while harnessing diplomacy more for development at home and for meeting the expectations of ordinary citizens." | | India's engagement with the Taliban is inevitable | | ORF fellow Kabir Taneja writes in Hindustan Times that India's engagement at certain levels with the Taliban is inevitable and a need of the hour for its own geopolitical and strategic interests, as it was in the 1990s. | | Key military lessons for India from Russia's Ukraine invasion | | Harsh V. Pant, vice president, ORF, and his colleague Kartik Bommakanti write in The Hindu that the "key takeaway for India from Russia's unimpressive military performance is to invest more in sensors, electronic warfare, greater digitisation, satellite communications and unmanned systems not just for reconnaissance and surveillance, but also attack missions." | | China made a wrong bet on Russia, says Shyam Saran | | In conversation with Indian Express, former Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran argues that "China made a wrong bet in that declaration that they signed on February 4, in Beijing (with Russia). Because I believe that whichever way you look at it, Russia has lost this war." | | Russia, not China, is America's biggest threat | | Assessing US secretary of state Antony Blinken's recent speech on China, Zachary Karabell writes in New York Times argues that "rather than cast China as our next great enemy, American security would be better served by the realization that Russia's behavior only highlights the ways that China and the United States remain bound to each other despite their tensions. We should nurture rather than endanger these ties, which are crucial for both countries to remain prosperous, stable and secure." | | Erdogan explains why Turkey is blocking Finland, Sweden's route to NATO | | Writing in The Economist, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan explains why his country is blocking Sweden and Finland from joining. He writes, "Turkey maintains that the admission of Sweden and Finland entails risks for its own security and the organisation's future. We have every right to expect those countries, which will expect nato's second-largest army to come to their defence under Article 5, to prevent the recruitment, fundraising and propaganda activities of the pkk, which the European Union and America consider a terrorist entity." | | India may end up hurting own cause if it refuses to condemn Russia | | Lisa Curtis, former US national security official, writes in Foreign Affairs magazine that India's approach to Ukraine war is "shortsighted and risky. It ignores the dangerous precedent that Russia's reckless behavior is setting in other parts of the world… And although criticizing the invasion might worsen relations with Russia, refusing to take a stand could alienate an even more powerful country: the United States. | | Reconciling Kissinger and Soros's contrasting views on Ukraine war | | In Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead summarises and contrasts the views of billionaire George Soros and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's views on Ukraine war at the recently held at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Kissinger made a virtual appearance to urge against attempts to defeat or marginalize Russia, calling on Ukraine to accept the territorial losses of 2014 to end the war while Soros, in person at the forum at age 91, warned that victory in the war against Putin's Russia was necessary to "save civilization". Mead says that though their prescriptions are "radically different, but their perceptions have much in common." | | West must hold its nerve to defeat Russia | | In Financial Times, Gideon Rachman wonders if the Ukraine war finally turning Vladimir Putin's way. He argues that "to prevent Russia achieving a semblance of victory, the western alliance backing Ukraine has to hold its nerve and increase its support for Kyiv. The momentum in the war must shift back towards Ukraine before there is any prospect of an acceptable peace settlement." | | PODCAST WATCH | | India is best placed to push back against China | | In this edition of Stratnews Global's podcast The Gist, Cleo Paskal of Foundation for the Defence of Democracies speaks to Amitabh P Revi on Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's island-hopping blitz across Pacific Island and says India is "the most successful in pushing back on Chinese political warfare in third countries" and being "well placed" to help the Pacific islands in what they want —means it is the biggest threat to the CCP's plans. | | | | Copyright © 2022.Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. | |
