The tourism industry in Turkey has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and until recently several wildfires. Several sites, however, have again started to attract local and international visitors. VOA’s Arif Aslan reports from Van, Turkey, in a story narrated by Sirwan Kajjo.
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Month: September 2021
India to Spend $3.5 Billion to Fast-Track Shift to Clean Fuel Cars
Hoping to meet green energy goals and cut down on Indian cities’ air pollution while boosting its flagging auto industry, the Indian government Wednesday announced a $3.5 billion push for electric and hydrogen-fuel powered vehicles.
The plan, which includes incentives for automakers to invest in clean technology cars, will allow India to “leapfrog” to environmentally cleaner vehicles, the cabinet said in a statement while announcing the effort.
“It will herald a new age in higher technology, more efficient and green automotive manufacturing,” the statement said.
Clean fuel vehicles so far make up a fraction of the country’s vehicles, despite ambitious goals announced four years ago for a 100% transition to electric cars by 2030.
This move could, however, give India a head start in an industry that is emerging globally by providing an impetus to manufacturers, according to auto analysts.
“The government is looking more serious and its focus is clearly on green energy. That is why the support it is extending is not for the entire auto industry, but only for those who invest in technological advancement in the sector,” said Awanish Chandra, an auto analyst at Mumbai-based wealth equities firm SMIFS Limited.
The push toward electric vehicles will also contribute significantly to the country’s goal of cutting down carbon emissions — India is the world’s third-biggest carbon emitter.
At the same time, its cities have some of the world’s dirtiest air — India is home to 22 out of 30 cites in the world with the worst air pollution, according to a Greenpeace analysis.
Environmental experts have long said the country’s huge transport sector is a major contributor to the hazardous air in a country where a grossly inadequate public transport infrastructure has increased reliance on private vehicles — Delhi’s roads, for example, are crammed with more than 12 million vehicles.
Along with its big push toward solar energy, the latest initiative will help, according to Amit Kumar, a former senior director with The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi.
“Definitely this is the right direction to go. We have to focus on cutting down vehicle emissions whether with electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles to meet our green energy goals,” he said.
India is on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets to cut carbon emissions well before the target date of 2030, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier this year.
However, auto analyst Chandra said he does not expect the transition to electric vehicles to happen in a big way for several years.
“Petrol and diesel cars are here to stay for at least 10 years, but the world is moving towards electric vehicles, so we should not be lagging. The support from the government will incentivize companies to make the investment,” he said.
The government says it expects to generate about $5.8 billion in new investment and create 750,000 jobs in a sector that contributes about $100 billion to the country’s gross domestic product.
There have been reports that electric car pioneer Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. plans to enter India, while domestic manufacturers have also said they plan to make big investments to make the shift to electric cars.
India has emerged as one of the world’s major automobile manufacturing hubs in recent decades but the sector has struggled in recent years as an economy that was faltering even before the pandemic depressed demand.
your ad hereFrance Suspends 3,000 Unvaccinated Health Care Workers
France has suspended 3,000 health care workers who were not inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine by a government-mandated Sept. 15 deadline.
“Several dozens” of the country’s 2.7 million health workers, Health Minister Olivier Veran said Thursday, opted to resign rather than receive the inoculation against the coronavirus.
Tens of thousands health workers were unvaccinated in July when President Emmanuel Macron announced the Sept. 15 deadline to have at least one shot of a vaccine.
Veran said most suspended employees worked in support services, while few doctors and nurses were among the suspended.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Friday that France has reported more than 7 million COVID cases and more than 116,000 COVID deaths.
In the U.S. state of Idaho, hospitals have begun rationing care “because the massive increase of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization in all areas of the state has exhausted existing resources,” the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said in a statement Thursday.
“The situation is dire – we don’t have enough resources to adequately treat the patients in our hospitals, whether you are there for COVID-19 or a heart attack or because of a car accident,” DHW Director Dave Jeppesen said in a statement.
The best way to end the rationing “is for more people to get vaccinated,” Jeppesen said.“It dramatically reduces your chances of having to go to the hospital if you do get sick from COVID-19.”
The Intenational Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the World Trade Organization have met with the major COVID vaccine manufacturers to devise strategies to improve vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries.
The goal of the coalition is to vaccinate at least 40% of people in every country by the end of this year and at least 60% by mid-2022.
WHO said the 2021 target is “a critical milestone to end the pandemic and for global economic recovery.”
your ad hereTaiwan Calls for Quick Start to Trade Talks with EU
Taiwan’s government called on the European Union to quickly begin trade talks after the bloc pledged to seek a trade deal with the tech-heavyweight island, something Taipei has long angled for.
The EU included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for a potential bilateral investment agreement in 2015, the year before President Tsai Ing-wen first became Taiwan’s president but has not held talks with Taiwan on the issue since then.
Responding to the EU’s newly announced strategy to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific, including seeking a trade deal with Taiwan, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday talks should start soon. The European Parliament has already given its backing to an EU trade deal with Taiwan.
“We call on the European Union to initiate the pre-negotiation work of impact assessment, public consultation and scope definition for a Bilateral Investment Agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible in accordance with the resolutions of the European Parliament,” it said.
“As a like-minded partner of the EU’s with core values such as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, Taiwan will continue to strengthen cooperation in the supply chain reorganization of semiconductors and other related strategic industries, digital economy, green energy, and post-epidemic economic recovery.”
EU member states and the EU itself have no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan due to objections from China, which considers the island one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of statehood, so any investment deal could be tricky politically for the EU.
But the EU’s relations with China have worsened.
In May, the European Parliament halted ratification of a new investment pact with China until Beijing lifts sanctions on EU politicians, deepening a dispute in Sino-European relations and denying EU companies greater access to the world’s second-largest economy.
The EU has also been looking to boost cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductors, as a chip shortage roils supply chains and shuts some auto production lines, including in Europe.
your ad hereUS Sanctions al-Qaida Supporters Working From Turkey
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five al-Qaida supporters for allegedly helping the militant group with financial assistance.
The department said the operatives supporting al-Qaida were working out of Turkey.
“We will continue working with our foreign partners, including Turkey, to expose and disrupt al-Qaida’s financial support networks,” Treasury Department official Andrea Gacki said in a statement.
Five individuals named
The department said Egyptian lawyer Majdi Salim, whom it described as the main facilitator, was sanctioned, along with Muhammad Nasr al-Din al-Ghazlani, an Egyptian financial courier, and Turkish citizens Nurettin Muslihan, Cebrail Guzel and Soner Gurleyen.
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of these individuals named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control),” the department said in a statement.
“Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated or otherwise blocked persons,” the statement added.
Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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Clive Sinclair, Computing Pioneer, Dies at 81
Sir Clive Sinclair, the British inventor who pioneered the pocket calculator and affordable home computers, died Thursday at age 81.
He died at his home in London a decade after being diagnosed with cancer, U.K. media said, prompting tributes from many who fondly recalled their first experience of computing in the early 1980s.
He was still working on inventions last week “because that was what he loved doing,” his daughter Belinda Sinclair told the BBC. “He was inventive and imaginative, and for him, it was exciting and an adventure. It was his passion.”
Sinclair’s groundbreaking products included the first portable electronic calculator in 1972.
The Sinclair ZX80, which was launched in 1980 and sold for less than £100 at the time, brought home computing to the masses in Britain and beyond.
Other early home computers such as the Apple II cost far more, and Sinclair’s company was the first in the world to sell more than a million machines.
Follow-up models included the ZX Spectrum in 1982, which boasted superior power and a more user-friendly interface, turbocharging the revolution in gaming and programming at home.
British movie director Edgar Wright, whose latest film, Last Night in Soho, premiered in Venice this month, paid tribute to Sinclair on Twitter.
“For someone whose first glimpses of a brave new world were the terrifying graphics of 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81, I’d like to salute tech pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair,” he said. “He made 21st century dreams feel possible. Will bash away on the rubber keys of a Spectrum in your honour. RIP.”
Tom Watson, former deputy leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, tweeted: “This man changed the course of my life.
“And arguably, the digital age for us in the UK started with the Sinclair ZX80, when thousands of kids learnt to code using 1k of RAM. For us, the Spectrum was like a Rolls-Royce with 48k.”
However, not all of Sinclair’s inventions were a runaway success.
The Sinclair C5, a battery-powered tricycle touted as the future of eco-friendly transport, became an expensive flop after it was launched in 1985.
But in retrospect, it was ahead of its time, given today’s attention on climate change and the vogue for electric vehicles.
“You cannot exaggerate Sir Clive Sinclair’s influence on the world,” gaming journalist and presenter Dominik Diamond tweeted. “And if we’d all stopped laughing long enough to buy a C5, he’d probably have saved the environment.”
Born in 1940, Sinclair left school at 17, becoming a technical writer creating specialist manuals.
At 22, he formed his first company, making mail-order radio kits, including what was then the world’s smallest transistor radio.
Other ventures included digital watches and an early version of a flat-screen television.
He was knighted in 1983.
Ironically, in a 2013 interview with the BBC, Sinclair revealed that he did not use computers.
“I don’t like distraction,” he explained. “If I had a computer, I’d start thinking I could change this, I could change that, and I don’t want to. My wife very kindly looks after that for me.”
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Armenia Files Suit Against Azerbaijan at World Court
Armenia filed a case at the world court asserting that Azerbaijan has violated an international treaty on racial discrimination, the court said Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Azerbaijan would defend itself “robustly” and planned to file a countersuit accusing Armenia of the same thing.
In fighting last September to November, Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of swaths of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, before Russia brokered a cease-fire.
In the filing, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of subjecting Armenians to racial discrimination “for decades” in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which both states are signatories, the court said.
Since the November 10 cease-fire, Azerbaijan has “continued to engage in the murder, torture and other abuse of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons,” the court cited the suit as saying.
“Armenia therefore requests the Court to hold Azerbaijan responsible for its violations … to prevent future harm, and to redress the harm that has already been caused,” it said.
The Azerbaijan spokesperson said that the country had been compiling evidence of Armenian human rights abuses against Azerbaijanis and that it would file its own suit at the court in “days.”
The world court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, is the U.N. court for resolving disputes between countries. The court has yet to determine whether it has jurisdiction in this case.
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Taliban Not Ruling Out Holding Elections
During their two-decade-long insurgency, the Taliban cast aspersions on democratic elections, describing them as un-Islamic, and frequently attacked Afghan election workers and rallies.
But a top Taliban spokesman now says the group is not ruling out holding elections as it moves to establish a permanent government based on Islamic law, or Shariah.
In an interview with VOA’s Urdu Service, Suhail Shaheen, the top spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar, said the issue would be determined by a future constitution.
“About election or no election, let’s wait,” Shaheen said. “We have a constitution [planned] in the future, so we would have deliberation about that in the future, about when we are drafting the constitution, so that would be seen there at that time, not now.”
Shaheen’s comments came in response to a question about Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s recent call for elections in Afghanistan to determine the country’s future. Conducting elections has been a huge concern for many ethnic minorities and anti-Taliban groups in the country.
At a Tuesday news conference in Kabul, the Taliban’s new interim foreign minister, Amir Khan Mutaqi, dodged a question about elections, saying foreign countries should not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
Taliban forces seized power on August 15 after then-President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, sparking the collapse of his government and the evacuation of more than 100,000 Afghan civilians by the U.S. and its allies.
Last week, the newly empowered Taliban announced a caretaker government largely made up of hardliners, naming Mohammad Hassan Akhund as interim prime minister. Akhund and several others in the Taliban government are on a U.N. sanctions list.
Conspicuously absent from the government were ethnic minorities and women who served in parliament or held senior government posts under the country’s nascent democracy over the past 20 years.
But the Taliban have stressed that the appointments are not permanent, indicating that women would be allowed to serve, though not in ministerial positions.
“Our leadership had to appoint some ministers in order to start the economic movement in the country and to provide the essential services to the people,” Shaheen said. “But this Cabinet is called a tentative Cabinet, not a full Cabinet or permanent Cabinet.”
Although the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan said no law would contravene Shariah, the Taliban have said they want to rewrite or amend the charter to bring it more into line with Islamic law.
The Taliban did not hold any elections the last time they ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001.
During their insurgency, they were accused of using violence to disrupt elections, viewing them as a Western tradition at odds with Islam. In 2019, the militants attacked political rallies and other election-related activities, killing or injuring scores of civilians, according to Human Rights Watch.
In March, the Taliban rejected a proposal by Ghani to hold early elections, insisting that he step down as part of a peaceful transfer of power.
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Experts Say China, Pakistan Offering Support to Taliban Leaders
With the U.S. out of Afghanistan, some experts say China and Pakistan are stepping in to provide immediate support and the prospect of long-term investment for the Taliban acting government. VOA’s senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports on what this could mean for the region and for U.S. security interests.
Producer: Barry Unger.
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Deadly Floods, Dirty Coal: Germany’s Climate Dilemma as Election Looms
As Germany prepares to elect a new leader, climate change is high on the agenda. Floods blamed on global warming killed hundreds in July. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from Germany, the country is also Europe’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and is struggling to wean itself off fossil fuels
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Turkey Cracks Down on Afghan Refugees
Security forces in Istanbul detain unregistered Afghans as Turkey’s government faces growing public pressure to not accept any more refugees
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Burkina Faso’s Sex for Food Aid Scandal Draws Government Denial, Lawsuit
Two men have been accused of defamation after they allegedly lied to a Burkina Faso journalist in a recent report, which found that those responsible for distributing aid in the country are exploiting internally displaced women, demanding sex in return for food. The government and the media outlet which published the story are now at loggerheads as the trial of the two men is set for the end of the month.
In the northern town of Kongoussi on Wednesday, two men displaced by Burkina Faso’s conflict stood accused of defamation after they told a local journalist that women in their community, including one of their wives, had been forced into sex in exchange for food aid distributed by the government.
A key witness, the director of Minute.bf, which initially published the story, did not arrive for the court hearing. The judge subsequently postponed the case until September 29.
Minute.bf published a statement on their website later in the day, claiming they had not received a summons to appear at the court.
Speaking to VOA Wednesday, Lassane Sawadogo, director of Minute.bf said he believes they spoke to credible witnesses despite doubts after publication.
“One of our sources clearly said that his wife traded sex for food. For us, a husband who makes such statements about his own wife cannot be lying. But how do we verify such information? We have now been told that the people we interviewed confessed they lied. What’s to say they are not lying again?”
Sawadogo went on to say he hopes the government will investigate the allegations of sex in exchange for food in other parts of the country too.
Last month, VOA and another news website focusing on aid, The New Humanitarian, also published stories documenting testimonies from nine women who said they had been forced into sex in exchange for food aid in the nearby city of Kaya.
One of the defendants outside the courtroom in Kongoussi told VOA he had lied to Minute.bf. Meanwhile, members of the government’s social action department responsible for distributing aid in the area spoke to members of the local press. When VOA asked for an interview, they said they were banned from speaking to international media without authorization.
At a press conference on Monday, the minister for humanitarian affairs, Laurence Ilboudo-Marchal blamed Minute.bf for rushing to publish without verification in response to a question on the matter.
“Minute.bf, what you did there, you almost destroyed families because you didn’t give us time to answer you,” she said. “You were making an important denunciation. Did you write to us? Let us listen to you? Or come to ask us and say, ‘Madam minister here are the accusations, what is your answer?’ If you had published our response, maybe this wouldn’t have gone to court,” she said.
At the press conference, the minister also faced questions about a recent report from aid group The Norwegian Refugee Council, which said the government was slow to register newly displaced people and was risking lives as a result.
Over the last year, the government has also implemented a ban on journalists trying to visit official camps for internally displaced people in the country.
With neither the government nor Minute.bf seeming ready to back down, Burkina Faso’s sex for food aid scandal remains unsolved.
your ad hereSomali President Limits Prime Minister’s Powers
3Somalia’s president announced Thursday that he has suspended the hiring and firing powers of the prime minister during the Horn of Africa country’s slow-moving election period.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, commonly known as Farmajo, made his announcement via a Facebook post on Villa Somalia, the official presidential account. Farmajo accused Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble of making rash decisions, which he said “could lead the country into [a] political and security crisis.”
Roble did not respond immediately to Farmajo’s statement. A source close to Roble told VOA’s Somali Service that he would “soon” share his views with the Somali people.
The two leaders’ relationship has grown increasingly strained over the case of missing intelligence officer Ikran Tahlil Farah, a young woman who disappeared June 26.
She was employed by the National Intelligence Agency, which said in early September that she had fallen into the hands of al-Shabab militants and was killed by the group. Al-Shabab has denied the accusation about Farah.
Roble assigned a military court to investigate the case and appointed a new intelligence agency director to replace Fahad Yassin. But Farmajo rejected Roble’s appointment.
On Monday, Farmajo had announced a five-member commission, chaired by the attorney general, to investigate the spy case. But Roble objected to that decision, saying Somalia’s constitution requires that the judicial branch remain independent of the executive branch.
Parliamentary elections are underway, with 35 of the 54 seats in the upper house already chosen. Elections for the 275-seat lower chamber are expected in coming weeks. Members of those two chambers elect the president, a process that could take months. Farmajo took office in February 2017; his current term formally ended February 8.
your ad here‘No Journalist Should Die’ – EU Calls for Better Media Safety
The European Union’s executive arm asked its member countries Thursday to better protect journalists amid a rise of physical attacks and online threats against media professionals.
According to the European Commission, 908 journalists and media workers were attacked across the 27-nation bloc in 2020. A total of 23 journalists have been killed in the EU since 1992, with the majority of the killings taking place during the past six years.
“No journalist should die or be harmed because of their job. We need to support and protect journalists; they are essential for democracy,” said Vera Jourova, the commission vice president for values and transparency.
“The pandemic has shown more than ever the key role of journalists to inform us. And the urgent need for public authorities to do more to protect them.”
Murders of reporters remain rare in Europe, but the killings of journalists in Slovakia and Malta in recent years have raised concerns about reporters’ safety in developed, democratic societies.
Earlier this year, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expressed support to investigative journalism after the killing of Peter R. de Vries, a renowned Dutch journalist who reported on the violent underworld of the Netherlands.
The commission’s non-binding proposals include recommendations for EU countries to ensure fair and effective investigations and prosecutions, and to provide protection to those under threat, with a strong focus on female journalists.
According to the EU, 73% of female journalists have experienced online violence and the commission said EU countries should “support initiatives aimed at empowering women journalists and professionals belonging to minority groups and those reporting on equality issues.”
The bloc’s executive arm also proposed the creation of support services, including helplines, legal advice, and psychological support. It insisted on the need to ensure reporters’ safety during demonstrations, where most of the attacks take place.
“Member states should provide regular training for law enforcement authorities to ensure that journalists and other media professionals are able to work safely and without restrictions during such events,” the commission said.
Noting that digital and online safety has become a “major concern” because of online attacks but also the risks of illegal surveillance, the executive branch also encouraged EU countries to improve cooperation between media and cybersecurity bodies.
“Relevant national cybersecurity bodies should, upon request, assist journalists who seek to determine whether their devices or online accounts have been compromised, in obtaining the services of cybersecurity forensic investigators,” the commission said.
The proposals were unveiled just months after the commission’s annual report on adherence to the rule of law concluded that democratic standards were eroding in several member countries.
That report notably singled out Slovenia, which currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council, for attacks against the Balkan nation’s media.
“This is not only Slovenia. We see the very aggressive rhetoric in some other member states,” Jourova said, adding that the EU will keep putting pressure on member countries where continuous issues are spotted.
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China Envoy Banned from Visiting Britain’s House of Commons
The Speaker of the British House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, has banned China’s ambassador to Britain, Zheng Zeguang, from entering Parliament until Beijing lifts sanctions it imposed six months ago on five Conservative lawmakers and two peers.
The ban — the first ever imposed on a foreign envoy by a House of Commons Speaker — is the latest sign that British authorities are growing increasingly frustrated with what they see as Beijing’s aggressive diplomacy. Hoyle consulted with Downing Street and Britain’s Foreign Office before announcing the ban, according to local media reports.
His bar on Zeguang came just hours before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed former trade minister Liz Truss as Britain’s new foreign secretary, part of a wider Cabinet reshuffle. Truss is seen as a China hawk and has lobbied for much tougher measures to be pursued against China’s Communist government for rights violations.
In a statement midweek Hoyle said: “I do not feel it’s appropriate for the ambassador for China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members.”
Last week Hoyle met with British lawmakers targeted by the Chinese sanctions. They urged him to impose a ban on the envoy. The Chinese embassy in London described the prohibition on Zeguang as “despicable and cowardly.”
Zeguang, who was appointed as envoy in June, was scheduled to speak to a British parliamentary group on China, but the invitation was withdrawn.
Souring relations
Relations between China and Britain have become fraught over Beijing’s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and repression of its Muslim minority in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, where China’s Communist government has interned more than a million Uyghurs in detention centers, according to rights groups.
The Chinese sanctions imposed in March on British lawmakers, one of whom is a former leader of the ruling of Britain’s ruling Conservatives, were in retaliation for Britain sanctioning Chinese officials and a state-run entity for alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang.
The Chinese sanctions imposed in March on British lawmakers, one of whom is a former leader of Britain’s ruling Conservatives, were in retaliation for Britain sanctioning Chinese officials and a state-run entity for alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang.
China has denied repeated claims that Uyghur Muslims are being held in detention centers. Beijing targeted 10 British organizations and individuals in its March sanctions. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the British officials were being punished for spreading “lies and disinformation” about Xinjiang.
China’s Global Times newspaper, an English-language outlet of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper, reacted with fury to the parliamentary ban on the Chinese envoy, saying in an angry editorial: “It is extremely rare, if not ‘a global innovation,’ for the UK to ban a foreign envoy from Parliament, a public venue for political discussions in the country. It shows brutality, impulsiveness, and the breaking of the rules.”
The editorial added: “London acts as if only it can sanction others, but not the other way around. Given that it simply does not have the strength to deal with China this way, the UK now behaves like a hooligan after having become a loser.” It suggested Beijing bar the British ambassador from entering the Great Hall of the People.
The group of British lawmakers sanctioned by China, which includes former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and MPs Tim Loughton and Nusrat Ghani, welcomed Hoyle’s decision, praising the Speaker for “standing up for freedom of speech in the mother of Parliaments by supporting those parliamentarians who have been sanctioned by China.”
Liz Truss
The appointment of Liz Truss as foreign secretary is unlikely to please Beijing. She has been targeted for criticism by China’s Foreign Ministry and Communist Party-run media in the past for lobbying for tough measures against Beijing as international trade secretary. The 46-year-old is only the second woman to hold the post of foreign secretary and is seen as a vigorous champion of free trade and markets and a strong supporter of the transatlantic alliance with Washington.
She faults China for not pursuing fair trade and for engaging in “economic coercion” and warned in a speech last week against Britain becoming “strategically dependent” on China, criticizing Beijing for “unfair” trading practices.
Last December Truss fought a behind-the-scenes battle with Britain’s Foreign Office, her new ministry, over whether Parliament should legislate to allow British courts a role in determining whether the repression of Xinjiang amounts to genocide. The Foreign Office opposed giving British courts preliminary power to determine whether genocide is occurring in Xinjiang, or elsewhere, arguing the decision should rest with international courts.
Nigel Adams, a Foreign Office minister, told a parliamentary panel that there was “credible, troubling and growing evidence” of forced labour taking place on a significant scale in Xinjiang but he feared an “asset flight,” if ministers rushed into enacting measures, warning China could start withdrawing investments from Britain.
Truss backed the legislative proposal.
Commenting on Truss’s appointment, British newspaper The Times said she “is far more hawkish on China than the prime minister, aligning herself with the American shift towards confrontation with Beijing.” Other British commentators said her pick to replace Dominic Rabb will help repair bridges with Washington following the U.S.-led NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was criticized by senior British Conservative lawmakers.
“New UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, is a proper China hawk,” tweeted Sophia Gaston, director of the British Foreign Policy Group, a London-based think tank. Gaston said Truss would be able at the Foreign Office to hold “China to account on values” while “playing a larger role in coordinating diplomatic efforts with our [foreign] partners.”
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India Feels the Squeeze in Indian Ocean with Chinese Projects in Neighborhood
From a new rail and road link that gives China overland access for the first time to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar to infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka’s east and north, concerns are running high in India as its rival, China, edges closer to its coast, analysts have told VOA.
While India has long confronted China along their rugged Himalayan borders, the maritime challenge is also growing as relations with its Asian neighbor have worsened.
Last month, Beijing transported a test cargo by road from Myanmar’s Yangon port on the Indian Ocean to the Chinese border province of Yunnan and by rail onto Chengdu in Sichuan province in southwestern China.
As the new trade route opened, China’s special envoy for Asian affairs Sun Guoxiang visited Myanmar for talks with its military rulers, who ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February.
Beijing, which has not condemned the army coup in Myanmar, is pressing ahead with bilateral projects that include a deep seaport in Myanmar’s Kyaukpyu along the Bay of Bengal.
It would be the third Chinese-developed port in India’s vicinity after Gwadar in Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
“Clearly they are coming closer and closer to India and that is extremely worrying given its adversarial, hostile relations with China,” said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, director for the Center for Security, Strategy and Technology at New Delhi’s Observer Research Foundation.
“Although these are civil projects, the overall worry is that these countries are falling more and more into Chinese influence,” he told VOA.
China has been building infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka and Myanmar — countries that provide access to the Indian Ocean, the vital sea lanes that ferry Beijing’s oil imports and carry its exports to the Africa, Middle East and Europe.
In Sri Lanka, India’s latest worries center on the Colombo Port City project being built by a Chinese state-owned firm adjacent to the strategic Colombo Port, just 300 kilometers from India. Those concerns intensified after the island country passed controversial legislation in May that critics say will give China virtual control over the approximately 62-hectare reclaimed land that is to be developed as a special economic zone.
Colombo hopes the Chinese development will turn into a financial hub between Singapore and Dubai, create hundreds of jobs and boost its struggling economy.
Sri Lankan geopolitics and foreign policy analyst Asanga Abeyagoonasekera described it to VOA as a “strategic trap.”
“Once you give these on a 99-year-lease, what kind of hold does the Sri Lankan government maintain? The danger is the that these could easily be turned into Chinese colonies or Chinese zones of activity,” he said.
“The hybrid nature of Chinese projects such as the 5G network is a question everywhere in the world,” he said, noting that there are suspicions of expansion of Chinese projects beyond their initial purpose. And that, he added, “represents a serious security threat.”
A $12 million renewable energy project awarded to a Chinese firm to be built on Sri Lankan islands off the northern Jaffna peninsula that lie barely 50 kilometers from India’s coast earlier this year is also causing concern in New Delhi.
While Beijing’s presence has loomed in big infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka such as the Hambantota port, an airport and highways for years, the Chinese footprint has grown since the return to power of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa – the brothers have long been friendly to China.
“The leaders in Sri Lanka have amplified the pro-China tilt that began during their previous term,” according to Abeyagoonasekera.
Although built as trade routes as part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, these projects give significant potential military advantages, analysts said.
“It is not simply about protecting their commerce. This is part of China’s broader expansionism and the Chinese vision is of dominating the high seas and being a great maritime power,” Sreeram Chaulia, dean of the School of International Affairs of O.P. Jindal University, said.
Deepening distrust about Beijing in New Delhi following last year’s bruising, nine-month standoff along their Himalayan borders has made India more alert to the maritime threat it faces as it feels increasingly squeezed in the Indian Ocean, analysts say.
It is pushing back by accelerating its naval engagement with other countries also seeking to counter China. Once hesitant, India has now embraced the Quad, the informal alliance of India, the United States, Japan and Australia.
“India will need to step up its own naval capabilities but even if you make the investments today, developing these takes a very long time. So, India is building up its diplomatic muscle by increasing naval partnerships with countries,” Rajagopalan said.
Most recently those efforts were demonstrated during a visit last week to New Delhi by the Australian defense and foreign ministers.
Stating that both countries are working to enhance Australia’s “posture” in the Indian Ocean region, Australian Defense Minister Peter Sutton said that “It is in the sovereign interests of us both to align our strategy, our capability and our resources.”
Since last month, four Indian warships have also been engaged in exercises and port visits with the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia in the Indo-Pacific.
However, analysts say despite efforts, India and its allies like Japan have been less successful in helping countries in the South Asian region develop the infrastructure for which they have turned to China.
“They need to do more on this front,” Chaulia said, adding, “If we wait for another five or 10 years, then China would already be in all the prime spots in this littoral region.”
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