London, Sep 20,2021: A meeting between UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and his French counterpart Florence Parly was cancelled because of the diplomatic row over the AUKUS deal between Australia, the US and the UK that stole away the $66 billion contract Paris had signed with Canberra, The Guardian reports.
Peter Ricketts, the co-chair of the Franco-British Council that the defense ministers had planned to address, told the newspaper on Sunday that the gathering had been “postponed to a later date.”
The ministers were also due to hold a bilateral meeting in London, but it has also been cancelled, according to The Guardian.
This past week, Paris recalled its ambassador from Canberra and Washington after Australia gave up on a $66 billion defense deal with France to enter a new trilateral strategic partnership with the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS).
The Guardian said on Saturday that US talks on the issue went on for months in utmost secrecy and that during the G7 summit in Cornwall in June, French President Emmanuel Macron was given no hint that the Australians were about to scupper the deal.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has described Australia’s withdrawal from the deal as a “stab in the back.”
Sept 16,2021:The International Criminal Court (ICC) has formally authorised an official probe into alleged crimes against humanity in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”, dealing a moral victory to human rights defenders and families of victims killed, including innocent children.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Hague-based tribunal said there was “reasonable basis” to proceed with the probe noting that “specific legal element of the crime against humanity of murder” has been met in the crackdown that left thousands dead.
The ICC’s pre-trial chamber also said that while it recognises the Philippines’ duty to fight drug smuggling and addiction, the “so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign cannot be seen as a legitimate law enforcement operation, and the killings neither as legitimate nor as mere excesses in an otherwise legitimate operation”.
The order to investigate was signed by Judges Péter Kovács, Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and María del Socorro Flores Liera.
The court said that its judges considered the evidence presented on behalf of at least 204 victims, and what they found suggested that a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population took place pursuant to or in furtherance of a state policy”.
The ICC also noted that they have reviewed supporting materials that indicate that Philippine authorities “failed to take meaningful steps to investigate or prosecute the killings.” It also noted that that perpetrators of the killings were even offered “cash payments, promotions or awards for killings in the so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign.”
Former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda filed the request to investigate just before her retirement in June, alleging that “state actors, primarily members of the Philippine security forces, killed thousands of suspected drug users and other civilians during official law enforcement operations.”
Bensouda’s successor, Prosecutor Karim Khan, will now oversee the actual probe and possible trial of the case.
When Bensouda’s recommendation was announced in June, Duterte dismissed the news saying it was “bulls**t” while threatening to “slap” the ICC magistrates.
In an interview with DZBB, a Manila-based radio station on Thursday, Salvador Panelo, the president’s legal counsel repeated previous statements staying that the Duterte administation will not cooperate with the investigation.
Panelo also said that ICC investigators would not be permitted to enter the country to conduct the probe.
Washington,Sept 16,2021:The United States announced a new alliance Wednesday with Australia and Britain to strengthen military capabilities in the face of growing rivalry with China.
The announcement of the alliance — made in a video meeting by President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his British counterpart Boris Johnson — is sure to raise hackles in Beijing.
It also met with swift pushback from France, which has been negotiating a multi-billion-dollar sale of conventional submarines to Australia.
Biden said the work to enable Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines would ensure that they had “the most modern capabilities we need to maneuver and defend against rapidly evolving threats.”
The submarines, stressed Biden and the other leaders, will not be nuclear armed, only powered with nuclear reactors.
Morrison later announced Australia would also acquire long-range US Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The three leaders did not mention China in unveiling the partnership, dubbed AUKUS, but their intent was clear.
New Delhi, Sep 15,2021: Delhi Police on Tuesday said it had arrested 6 terrorists, including two trained in Pakistan, and averted Pakistan-orchestrated terror attacks planned in various parts of the country, including Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, during the upcoming festival season.
Delhi Police’s Special Cell, which is the anti-terror unit of the force, said it busted the terror module in a multi-state operation over the last several days following inputs from the central intelligence agencies.
Special Commissioner of Police Neeraj Thakur told a press conference that it was a Pakistan-orchestrated terror module, which was a nexus between Pakistan’s ISI and the underworld. The accused were receiving instructions from across the border.
Thakur said the module was planning to target crowded areas in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra during Navratri, Ramleela and Diwali celebrations.
He added that it could not be ruled out that they had plans to carry out blasts during political rallies during the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.
The arrested persons have been identified as Jaan Mohammad Shaikh (47) alias Sameer Kaliya of Maharashtra, Osama (22) of Delhi’s Okhla, Moolchand (47) of UP’s Rae Bareilly, Zeeshan Qamar (28) of Allahabad in UP, Mohd Abu Bakar (23) of Bahraich in UP and Mohd Amir Javed (31) of Lucknow in UP.
Sheikh, an underworld operative, was apprehended near Kota in Rajasthan while he was on his way to Delhi. Osama was nabbed from Okhla and Bakar from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi, Zeeshan from Allahabad, Javed from Lucknow, and Moolchand from Rae Bareilly.
Among those arrested, Osama and Zeeshan were trained in Pakistan, and were working under the instructions of spy agency ISI. They were tasked to conduct the reconnaissance of different suitable locations in Delhi and UP for placing the IEDs.
According to the police official, the accused had been assigned specific tasks to execute the plans.
An underworld operative – Shaikh, a close contact of Anees Ibrahim, brother of Dawood Ibrahim, was tasked by a Pakistan-based person connected with the underworld to ensure smooth delivery of IEDs, sophisticated weapons and grenades to different terror groups across India.
Police had received input from a central agency that a Pakistan-abetted and sponsored group of terrorists was planning to execute serial IED blasts in major cities in India. For this, the group had got multiple IEDs arranged from sources across the border. Inputs further indicated that an Okhla-based group was an important part of the module.
The police said Osama had associates based in various parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Tokyo, Sep 14,2021: High-ranking diplomats of Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed, during a trilateral meeting in Tokyo, to continue interaction on denuclearization of North Korea by combining dialogue with Pyongyang and sanctions pressure, the Kyodo news agency reported, citing sources.
The meeting was attended by US special envoy for North Korea Sung Kim, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Takehiro Funakoshi and the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s special envoy for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula Noh Kyu-duk.
One of the key topics of discussion was a possible response to the statement of the North Korean side about successful missile tests.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday reported successful tests of a cruise missile. In particular, experts held tests of the thrust of missile engines on the ground, flight tests, control and guidance tests, and a number of others. All of them were reported to have been successful. Cruise missiles were able to hit targets at a distance of 1,500 kilometers. The characteristics of the new weapon were recognized as meeting the design requirements.
Geneva, Sep 14,2021: China will donate, in the first batch, 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Afghanistan, with more emergency supplies to follow, a senior Chinese diplomat said here.
China has decided to urgently provide food, materials for winter, COVID-19 vaccines, and medicines worth 200 million yuan to Afghanistan, said Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva.
China has always respected the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan as its close neighbor, adhered to non-interference in its internal affairs and pursued a friendly policy towards all Afghan people, Chen said on Monday.
“China will continue to respect the Afghan people’s wish and needs, and do its best to support Afghanistan in its peaceful reconstruction and economic development,” the Chinese envoy told the High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan.
Chen also said that China supports the UN in playing a bigger role in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and helping Afghanistan achieve a smooth transition and embark on the path of peaceful development at an early date.
“China welcomes UN’s flash appeal for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, support UN to strengthen cooperation with other multilateral mechanisms related to the Afghanistan issue and form synergy by complementing each other,” he noted.
He told the meeting that under the current circumstances, the international community needs to step up assistance to Afghanistan.
The United States and its allies were more obligated to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, he said.
“The evolving situation of Afghanistan once again shows that only by respecting the sovereignty, independence and territory integrity of Afghanistan, respecting the will of the Afghan people, and adhering to the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned principle can the international community truly play a constructive role in Afghanistan’s peaceful reconstruction,” he said.
Sept 13,2021: As international donors gather in Geneva on Monday to discuss humanitarian relief for Afghanistan under Taliban rule, neighbours China and Pakistan have already reached out with aid and discussions of future assistance.
The economy in the war-torn country is in crisis and a humanitarian crisis is looming, experts say.
Yet the United States and other Western nations are reluctant to provide the Taliban with funds until the Islamist militant movement provides assurances that it will uphold human rights, and in particular the rights of women.
The country’s roughly $10 billion in foreign assets, held overseas, are also frozen.
“The understandable purpose is to deny these funds to the de facto Taliban administration,” Deborah Lyons, the U.N. Secretary General’s special representative for Afghanistan, told the U.N. Security Council this week.
“The inevitable effect, however, will be a severe economic downturn that could throw many more millions into poverty and hunger, may generate a massive wave of refugees from Afghanistan, and indeed set Afghanistan back for generations.”
Another possible effect could be to drive Afghanistan closer to its neighbours and close allies Pakistan and China, who have already sent planeloads of supplies to Afghanistan. They have also signalled they are open to ramped-up engagement.
China announced last week it would send $31 million worth of food and health supplies to Afghanistan, among the first foreign aid pledges since the Taliban took power last month.
Pakistan last week sent supplies such as cooking oil and medicine to authorities in Kabul, while the country’s foreign minister called on the international community to provide assistance without conditions and to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets.
MINERALS AND MILITANCY
Pakistan has had deep ties with the Taliban and has been accused of supporting the group as it battled the U.S.-backed government in Kabul for 20 years – charges denied by Islamabad.
China, with a strong alliance with Pakistan, has also been engaging with the Taliban. Some analysts said it was enticed by the country’s mineral wealth, including large reserves of lithium, a key component for electric vehicles.
China has also expressed concern about militancy that could spill over from Afghanistan across its border, which it wants the Taliban administration to help contain.
Beyond humanitarian aid, some experts and officials in the region say China’s huge Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could provide Afghanistan with long-term economic viability. One possibility is Afghanistan joining the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a central part of the BRI, under which Beijing has pledged over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, much of it in the form of loans.
“The Taliban would welcome joining CPEC, China would also be very happy,” said Rustam Shah Mohmand, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Afghanistan.
China has not made any comment on the BRI but Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said Beijing is ready to actively discuss the resumption of China-Afghanistan freight trains and facilitate Afghanistan’s interaction with the outside world, especially its access to humanitarian supplies.
Pakistan’s foreign office and a Taliban spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment.
TALIBAN, CHINA TALK – SOURCE
Taliban leaders in recent weeks have said they want good relations with China.
A senior Taliban source said discussions have taken place with China in Doha about possible investment opportunities. China is interested in mining in particular but any activity in the sector will be open to tender, the source said.
“The Taliban welcomes foreign investment that will benefit the country,” he said.
Two sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan familiar with the matter said China had been proactively encouraging Afghanistan to join CPEC for years but had been met with a non-committal response from the previous U.S.-backed government.
The Taliban, with a need for economic stimulus and international recognition, seems more keen.