Wednesday, 27 March 2024

INR | APAC : Weekly Updates

North Korea reaches for familiar playbook in talks with Japan

Within the span of just two days, North Korea went from raising the prospect of a leaders summit with Japan to dismissing it outright, with leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister saying Pyongyang will refuse “any contact and negotiations” with Tokyo in the future.

Kim Yo Jong’s remarks on Tuesday, just a day after she revealed that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had requested a summit with her brother, were widely seen as part of a familiar playbook employed by the North as it seeks the upper hand in negotiations Tokyo hopes could eventually resolve the long-festering abductee issue and ease strained tensions, including over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

In remarks carried by state-run media Kim Yo Jong, a key adviser to her brother, said North Korea will refuse “any contact and negotiations” with Japan.

China faces US$50 billion shortfall in Southeast Asia as belt and road funds miss their mark

A sizeable sum of infrastructure funding China has allocated to Southeast Asia has gone unfulfilled thanks to political instability in recipient countries, poor engagement with local stakeholders and a declining appetite for energy projects powered by fossil fuels, a new study from the Lowy Institute has found.

The gap between what Beijing has committed to and what it has delivered has raised “uncertainty” about the future of the China-led Belt and Road Initiative, where Southeast Asian nations are key participants, the Australian think tank said on Wednesday.

“This difference amounts to US$50 billion in unfulfilled project financing, with more than half allocated to projects that have been cancelled, downsized, or otherwise seem unlikely to proceed,” said Alexandre Dayant and Grace Stanhope, who co-wrote the report.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3256925/china-faces-us50-billion-shortfall-southeast-asia-belt-and-road-funds-miss-their-mark

LG to invest $74.2 billion in AI, bio, batteries, Hyundai Motor Group pledges $50.4 bil. to future mobility

LG Group revealed plans to invest 100 trillion won ($74.21 billion), while Hyundai Motor Group pledged to invest 68 trillion won into new growth businesses, according to the two conglomerates, Wednesday.

Their plans reflect a determined effort to maintain a competitive edge in the increasingly challenging technological landscape marked by escalating threats of trade protectionism and geopolitical instability.

Under its ambitious drive, LG Group has unveiled an extensive investment roadmap for the next five years.

As Julian Assange's legal saga drags on, the solution to it could lie outside court

Julian Assange's supporters have described his ongoing incarceration as "punishment by process".
And once again, the WikiLeaks founder — whose physical and mental health has deteriorated during the five years he's spent inside Belmarsh Prison in London — has seen the legal process to appeal his extradition to the US drawn out even further.

While Assange has not run out of options in the UK justice system yet, Tuesday's decision means a political solution for Assange's situation is more pressing than ever.

$3b money laundering accused gets 6 new charges for submitting forged statements to Swiss bank

Vang Shuiming, one of the 10 accused in Singapore’s largest money laundering case, was handed six more charges on March 27.
Vang, 42, also known as Wang Shuiming, allegedly submitted forged financial statements from two companies – Xiamen Yetian Trading and Xiamen Likanghang Trading – to Bank Julius Baer & Co’s Singapore branch on July 19, 2022, as supporting documentation.
Bank Julius Baer & Co is a Swiss private bank that offers financing, investment advisory, custodial and wealth management services.

News bits collected and drafted by:

Deepanjali Singh (BA IR 2nd year) (Region Head)

Gungun Thakur (BA IR 1st year)

Published by: Varsha Das (BA IR 2nd year)

INR | EASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA : Weekly Updates

Moldova likely to be the next target in Russia’s war

· Russia sees Moldova as a “historical Russian territory”, reflecting Putin’s ambition to regain control over former Sviet republics and drive the US and European presence out of Eastern Europe.

· Russia uses hybrid measures to destabilize the country, including disinformation, economic pressure, internal destabilization, corruption and proxy groups, election interference where the pro European Moldovan president Maya Sandu was ousted in favor of pro-Russian opposition. This move comes ahead of presidential elections and referendum about Moldova’s future membership into the European Union to be held in 2024.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/03/moldova-new-battleground-russias-war

Attempted attack on Yerevan police station by 3 armed men

· Three men stormed a police station in the Armenian capital detonating hand grenades, injuring two in the process. The station was reportedly holding members of the Combat Brotherhood Organization detained earlier. The group opposes the transfer of villages in Armenia’s Tavush region to Azerbaijan.

· Following the peace treaty signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia after a lightening military campaign was launched by the former, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule in the Karabakh region, a border demarcation was agreed upon, based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity based on Soviet maps of 1991.

https://apnews.com/article/yerevan-armenia-police-station-combat-bortherhood-0c9329c47908ba574c60469faaf52ed8

Russian Soyuz rocket takes off from Kazakhstan

· The rocket carrying NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Russian Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya from Belarus, took off from the international space station on Saturday, one of the last remaining areas of collaboration between Russia and the west, amid tensions in Ukraine.

· The space capsule separated and went into orbit eight minutes after the launch, beginning a two- day, 34 orbit trip to the space station.

https://www.euronews.com/2024/03/24/russian-spacecraft-blasts-off-from-kazakhstan

Partnership between Kazakhstan and Qatar, investment worth $17.6 billion

Long term strategic partnership between the two countries, prioritizing sectoral development projects. Construction of gas processing plants to boost commercial gas exports, including the Aktobe-Kostanai and Beineu-Bozoi-Shymkent, and a hydroelectric power station to boost Kazakhstan’s energy security.
Currently, the two countries are set to collaborate in supplying halal and organic agricultural products and implement projects in the agricultural sector.

https://astanatimes.com/2024/03/kazakhstan-qatar-start-implement-investment-projects-worth-17-6-billion/

Report on refugee crisis in Armenia by WSU students

As a part of Murrow College’s Backpack Journalism Program, students traveled to Yerevan to interview refugees and international aid workers helping to resettle them. The data collected showed tens of thousands of Armenians have fled the disputed region of Karabakh in Azerbaijan and settled in Yerevan.
The scholarship program allows students to go on competitive, donor funded international reporting expeditions and publish their work.

https://news.wsu.edu/news/2024/03/26/wsu-students-report-on-refugee-crisis-in-armenia/

Moldova's Constitutional Court on Tuesday, March 24 struck down a law restricting pro-Russian Party from polls

This law was primarily aimed at preventing the pro-Russian Shor Party from participating in elections.
The party was founded in 1998 and is headed by Ilan Shor, a businessman who fled to Israel in 2019.
Over the past few months, the party has held demonstrations across Moldova, protesting against the policies of the country’s pro-West leader, Maia Sandu .

The EU and Moldova expanded their Road Transport Agreement

The current Road Transport’s validity between the EU and Moldova got extended until December 31, 2025 .
The Agreement was first sealed on June 29, 2022 .
Since it was signed, the EU Commission points out, the agreement “has substantially increased road exports from Moldova to the EU, benefiting both economies.”

President Alexander Lukashenko contradicted Russian President Vladimir Putin while claiming that Belarus prevented Moscow suspects on the border

The four suspects for the March, 22/2024 terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall, a concert venue on the outskirts of the Russian capital, were caught and arrested on the Belarus-Ukraine border.
Lukashenko further claimed that, "terrorists were first headed for Belarus and they were turned away from the border due to heightened security.’’
Lukashenko added , "Putin & I did not sleep for 24 Hours. He asked me to seal off our borders .’’

Ukraine, Georgia and Poland qualify after late drama in playoffs , EURO 2024 .

The 24-nation Euro 2024 lineup was finalised Tuesday with three qualifying playoffs giving a stronger eastern European flavour to the tournament that opens June 14, 2024 in Germany.
These triumphs infused a stronger eastern European presence into the event.
Ukrainian fans displayed yellow-and-blue banners criticising Russia and its president Vladimir Putin in the stadium in Wroclaw due to the war-torn situation of the country .

Azerbaijan warns Armenia as it plans a ‘full-scale war’

"Our analysis shows that Azerbaijan wants to launch military action in some parts of the border with the prospect of turning military escalation into a full-scale war against Armenia," Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said.
Tensions between the two Caucasus neighbors have been there since Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh was captured last September . On the other hand , Azerbaijan asks for the return of its land which also includes several tiny enclaves entirely surrounded by Armenian territory .
Read more -

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/19/armenias-pm-warns-azerbaijan-could-start-war-over-disputed-border-villages

Russia and Serbia seek to refight Kosovo using lies this time

It was 25 years ago yesterday that NATO intervened against Serbia in 1999 to stop the violations of human rights committed against the ethnic Albanian community in Kosovo.

At Russia's request, the U.N. Security Council is scheduled to discuss NATO intervention today.

This will start a new round of Russian disinformation regarding alleged NATO aggression against Serbia, which is Moscow's closest Balkan partner.

Still looking for a way out of the Pristina-Belgrade impasse over Kosovo's sole use of the euro, the EU

As the conclusion of the transition phase draws near, tensions between Pristina and Belgrade are escalating due to the unresolved dispute over Kosovo's sole use of the euro for official payments.

After expressing "concerns" earlier this year about the impact on the Serbian community in Kosovo, the European Union is attempting to push for a solution through Miroslav Lajčák, its special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

However, as of right now, neither of the two governments appears to have taken any concrete steps to move the dialogue forward.

https://www.eunews.it/en/2024/03/26/eu-still-seeks-way-out-of-pristina-belgrade-crisis-over-exclusive-use-of-euro-in-kosovo/

According to Armenia's PM, he must give back disputed territories to Azerbaijan or risk war

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned in a video released on Tuesday that if Armenia does not make concessions to Baku and give back four Azerbaijani villages that it has controlled since the early 1990s, it may go to war with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan was speaking on Monday at a gathering with people who live near a series of abandoned Azerbaijani villages that Yerevan has controlled since the early 1990s. The meeting is located in the Tavush region of northern Armenia.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/armenias-pm-says-he-must-return-disputed-areas-azerbaijan-or-face-war-tass-2024-03-19/

Kyrgyzstan: Deported from Azerbaijan is fallen kingmaker Matraimov

In a shocking change of events, corrupt and once-powerful former customs official Rayimbek Matraimov was transferred to Kyrgyzstan for detention on March 26 after being placed into a plane in Azerbaijan.

The abrupt and swift expulsion occurred only a few days after government sources said Matraimov, who was residing in Azerbaijan, was involved in a conspiracy to kill the head of Kyrgyzstan.

https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyzstan-fallen-kingmaker-matraimov-deported-from-azerbaijan

Azerbaijan supportive towards 'Pak on Kashmir'

According to outgoing Azeri Ambassador to India Ashraf Shikaliyev, Azerbaijan continues to assist Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute.

This strong friendship between Azerbaijan and Pakistan has infuriated India.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2020, during which time he stated support for Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute.

News Bits collected by [Region Head]:

Poulina Banerjee (BA IR 2nd year)

Drafted by:

Gauri Upreti (BA IR 1st year)

Angel Chindalia (MA IR 1st year)