General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2017

Nov 2017

Feb 03, 2021

Sri Lanka Opts Out of Port Deal with India

India said that it expected Sri Lanka to abide by an agreement on the trilateral development and operation of a key port terminal in Colombo after the Rajapaksa government decided to hand over the facility to a state-run body.
The development marks the latest twist in the troubled project to develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) of Colombo Port under a trilateral agreement signed in 2019 by the governments of India, Japan and Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan government has succumbed to pressure from labour unions, which are opposed to a joint venture with Indian and Japanese investors having a 49% stake in the ECT. Its cabinet decided to run the facility as a fully- owned operation of state-run Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA).

Feb 02, 2021

Myanmar Military Takes Power for One Year, Aung San Suu Kyi in Detention

Myanmar's military has taken power for a year after declaring a state of emergency in response to its claims of election fraud, after Aung San Suu Kyi and other top leaders were detained in an early-morning raid.
The US and Australia urged Myanmar's military to release all those detained and to respect the results of the election. The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar's democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed.
Ever since Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in the second general election after decades of army rule, the military and its political factions have demanded authorities investigate its allegations of mass voting fraud. Myanmar's election commission last week had labeled the vote transparent and fair, and the U.S., United Nations and the European Union urged the military to respect the results.

Iran's Zarif Hints at Way to Bridge Nuclear Deal Impasse

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested a way to overcome the U.S.-Iranian impasse over who goes first in returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying a top EU official could "synchronize" or "choreograph" the moves.
Zarif's stance was a shift from his position, expressed in January in which he said that the United States should remove U.S. sanctions before Iran returned to the deal.
Each government wants the other to resume compliance first with the agreement, which former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 but which President Joe Biden as said he will rejoin if Iran resumed "strict" compliance.

U.K. Opens Special Visa Route for Hong Kong Residents to Become Citizens

Hong Kong residents can apply for a new visa offering them an opportunity to become British citizens after Beijing's imposition of a national security law in the Asian financial hub last year.
The move comes as China and Hong Kong have said that they will no longer recognise the British National Overseas (BNO) passport as a valid travel document.
Britain and China have been arguing for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong after pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020.
Britain says it is fulfilling a historic and moral commitment to Hong Kong people after Beijing imposed the security law on the semi-autonomous city that Britain says breaches the terms of agreements under which the colony was handed back to China in 1997. The U.K. government forecasts the new visa could attract more than 300,000 people and their dependants to Britain. Beijing said it would make them second-class citizens.

Feb 01, 2021

Vladimir Putin Signs Bill to Extend Nuclear Treaty with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law ratifying a five-year extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the US, one of the last major arms reduction treaties signed since the end of the Cold War.
The validity period of the New START will be extended by five years to February 5, 2026,
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the US welcomed the move in a telephone call.
The same day, Putin submitted a bill on the extension in the State Duma (the lower house of parliament).

U.N. Urges Countries to Repatriate Children of Islamic State Extremists from Syria

The U.N. counterterrorism chief is urging countries to repatriate the 27,000 children stranded in a massive camp in northeastern Syria, many of them sons and daughters of Islamic State extremists who once controlled large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
As per Vladimir Voronkov, the horrific situation of the children in Al Hol (camp) is one of the most pressing issues in the world today.
Al Hol, the largest camp for refugees and displaced Syrians in the country, is currently home to almost 62,000 residents, according to U.N. humanitarian officials. More than 80% are women and children, many who fled there after Islamic State militants lost their last Syrian stronghold in 2019. There are a number of other camps in the northeast as well.

Vietnam's Trong Re-elected for Third Term

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has been re-elected for a rare third five-year term, cementing his position as one of the country's strongest and longest-serving leaders for decades.
Trong, who emerged on top in a power struggle at the last Congress in 2016 and has spearheaded a blazing furnace crackdown on corruption in the last five years, was granted an exception to party rules which say people over the age of 65 should retire.
Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong was elected to be the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, term XIII.

Biden Admin sees Quad as Foundation to Build on Indo-Pacific Policy

The new Biden administration sees the Quad grouping comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia as a fundamental foundation upon which to build a substantial American policy in the strategically-vital Indo-Pacific region.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at an event organised by the US Institute of Peace, a Congress-funded think-tank that the US will build on and carry forward the four-nation Quad grouping.
Quad and the Indo-Pacific policy of the previous Trump administration are one of the few policies that the Biden administration has said it will continue to build on, besides the Abraham Accords.

Britain to Join Asia-Pacific Free Trade Pact

The UK Government has announced that it is applying to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the world's largest free-trade areas made up of 11 developed and emerging economies in the Pacific, under its post-Brexit plans.
Joining the CPTPP reflects the UK's post-Brexit Pacific tilt and is dubbed as a critical part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson-led government's wider trade strategy, which aims to deepen links with fast-growing parts of the world and partnering with countries who believe in free and fair trade, including India.
The decision to join the CPTPP, comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, marks one year since the UK left the European Union (EU) on January 31 last year and entered a Brexit transition period which concluded at the start of this year.

US Lobby Group Urges India Not to Tighten Foreign E-commerce Rules

A U.S. lobby group that represents firms including Amazon.com and Walmart has urged India not to tighten foreign investment rules for e-commerce companies again.
India is considering revising the rules after traders in the country accused Amazon's Indian division and Walmart's Flipkart of creating complex structures to bypass investment regulations. The U.S. firms deny any wrongdoing.
India allows foreign e-commerce players to operate as only a marketplace, but local traders say the U.S. giants promote select sellers and offer deep discounts, which hurts business for smaller local retailers. In 2018, India changed its foreign direct investment rules to deter foreign firms offering products from sellers in which they have an equity stake.
The Centre is now considering tightening those rules again to include sellers in which a foreign e-commerce firm holds indirect stake through its parent.

Jan 31, 2021

Not Bound by Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: Pakistan

Pakistan said that it was not bound by the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons as it failed to take into account the interests of all stakeholders.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force on January 22, culminating a decades-long campaign aimed at preventing a repetition of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
Though hailed as a historic step by several nations, the treaty was opposed by the world's nuclear-armed countries, including the US, China, Russia, the UK and India. Japan also did not support the pact.
The treaty, which was adopted in July 2017, was negotiated outside the established UN disarmament negotiating forums.
Accordingly, Pakistan does not consider itself bound by any of the obligations enshrined in this treaty. Pakistan stresses that this treaty neither forms a part of, nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner.

Nepal's Top Court Serves Contempt Notices to Beleaguered PM Oli

Nepal's Supreme Court has issued two contempt of court notices to caretaker Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, demanding he explain why he mocked lawyers challenging his decision to dissolve parliament and call early polls.
The contempt of court suits are the latest challenges for the beleaguered leader after being expelled from his party earlier this week.
The Supreme Court has ordered Oli to present his written replies within seven days.

South Korea Rebukes Opposition over Report on Nuclear Plant in North Korea

South Korea's presidential office issued a rebuke to an opposition leader who accused it of "abetting the enemy" after a news report that Seoul had planned to build a nuclear plant in North Korea.
Local broadcaster SBS unveiled a prosecution indictment listing more than a dozen documents from the energy ministry that suggested a previously unknown project to set up a nuclear plant in North Korea.
The documents were among 530 files that prosecutors say the ministry had illegally deleted to conceal that it had distorted feasibility studies to shut down a reactor in South Korea, the report said.
Kim Chong-in, leader of the main opposition People Power Party, called the potential plan a "shocking and appalling act that abets the enemy".

India- Japan 5th Act East Forum Meet

The fifth joint meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum was held between India and Japan. The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and the Ambassador of Japan to India, Suzuki Satoshi.
At the Act East Forum, India and Japan reviewed the progress of ongoing projects in the North Eastern Region of India.
These projects were launched in the areas ranging from the hydropower, connectivity, harnessing of water resource, sustainable development, and skill development.
Both the sides also appreciated the role played by the Act East Forum, ever since it was established in the year 2017, in streamlining India-Japan bilateral cooperation.
The act east forum was established in the year 2017. The agreement to establish the forum was signed in September 2017 during the visit of Prime Minister Abe to India. This platform works in line with the Japan's vision for a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" and India-Japan collaboration in the North Eastern Region under India's "Act East Policy".

China Derecognises British National Overseas Passport

China said that it will no longer recognise the British National Overseas passport as a valid travel document or form of identification amid a bitter feud with London over a plan to allow millions of Hong Kong residents a route to residency and eventual citizenship.
The announcement by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian throws up new uncertainty around the plan just hours after the U.K. said that it would begin taking applications for what are called BNO visas.
Under the plan, as many as 5.4 million Hong Kong residents could be eligible to live and work in the U.K. for five years then apply for citizenship. Demand soared after Beijing last year imposed a sweeping new national security law on the former British colony following months of pro-democracy protests.

US Focused on Dealing with Iran's Advancement Toward Nuclear Weapon

The Biden administration is prioritizing dealing with Iran's progress towards achieving a nuclear weapon, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
"From our perspective, a critical early priority has to be to deal with what is an escalating nuclear crisis as they move closer and closer to having enough fissile material for a weapon," Sullivan said during a virtual panel discussion hosted by the US Institute of Peace.
The Biden administration would like to re-establish some constraints on Iran's nuclear program that have fallen apart over the past two years, Sullivan said.
President Joe Biden has vowed to renter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the accord and pursued a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.

Jan 30, 2021

India and France to Sign Two Agreements During French Minister's 5-day Visit

India and France will sign two agreements on renewable energy and urban mobility during a five-day visit to India by a key member of President Emmanuel Macron's government to bolster bilateral cooperation on sustainable development.
Barbara Pompili, besides meeting her Indian counterpart Prakash Javadekar, power and renewable energy minister RK Singh and minister of state for urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, will travel to Assam and Gujarat to strengthen cooperation on specific projects.
Singh and Pompili will preside over the signing of a letter of intent between the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the French Development Agency (AFD) for developing a floating solar plant of up to 150 MW.

Italy Opposition Right Calls for Elections to Solve Political Crisis

Italy's rightist opposition parties called for early elections as the way to solve the country's political crisis, following the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
Conte, now acting as caretaker, was unseated when former premier Matteo Renzi withdrew his Italia Viva party from the coalition, depriving it of a parliamentary majority and throwing Italy into political limbo during the coronavirus crisis.

PM Modi Addresses WEF's Davos Dialogue Virtually

PM Modi addressed the Davos Dialogue of World Economic Forum virtually.
The session was attended by more than 400 top industry leaders from across the globe where PM Modi spoke about the Fourth Industrial Revolution- using technology for the good of humanity. The Prime Minister will also interact with the CEOs during the dialogue.
Prime Minister Modi during his address at the World Economic Forum talked about the message of positivity, confidence, and hope for the world on behalf of more than 1.3 billion Indian people.

Former Obama Aide Rob Malley Likely to be Named as US Envoy to Iran

A top national security aide to former President Barack Obama will be tapped as U.S. envoy for Iran.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will name Rob Malley as the Biden administration's point person on Iran.
The official said Malley would head "a dedicated team" of "clear-eyed experts with a diversity of views." The official added that Malley has "a track record of success negotiating constraints on Iran's nuclear program" and that Blinken is confident he "will be able to do that once again."

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