Today’s news: Violent clashes continue in New Caledonia. US imports from Vietnam are growing, supported by Chinese exports. Facebook deletes and then republishes posts with news about Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting with a Hamas leader. A former Indian army officer, UN official killed in Gaza in a suspected Israeli attack. Thailand exchanges foreign dissidents for Thai political activists abroad.
CHINA – RUSSIA
Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrived in China today for a state visit. “China is willing to always be a neighbor, friend and trusted partner of Russia,” Xi, who has just returned from a European tour during which he promised not to sell weapons to Russia, said in his inaugural speech. Trade between China and Russia reached a record $240 billion in 2023, more than double the $108 billion reached in 2020, driven largely by Chinese imports of Russian oil and exports of automobiles, electronics and industrial equipment. .
USA – VIETNAM
The US, which has increased tariffs against China, also has significantly increased imports from Vietnam, which depends on Chinese inputs for a large part of its exports. In other words, Vietnam’s export boom has been fueled by imports from China. Last year, the Southeast Asian country registered a surplus with Washington close to 105 billion dollars, 2.5 times more than in 2018 and is already the fourth with the largest trade surplus with the United States, behind China, Mexico and the European Union.
NEW CALEDONIA
Protests continue in New Caledonia: so far four people were murdered and armed forces have been deployed to defend the airports and the port. Some 200 people have been arrested and 64 gendarmes injured. France, which governs the island, has imposed a state of emergency. The riots broke out over a bill passed Tuesday in Paris that will allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections, reducing the weight of the indigenous Kanak vote, according to local people. .
MALAYSIA
Meta restored Malaysian media Facebook posts regarding the May 13 meeting in Qatar between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, claiming that they had been withdrawn in error. The Malaysian government, which supports the Palestinian cause, had protested the removal of the news. Anwar stressed that, despite his good relations with the political leaders of Hamas, he has no relationship with the military establishment.
INDIA – GAZA
The Indian government declared itself “deeply saddened” by the assassination of one of his army officers in an alleged Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip. Waibhav Anil Kale, 46, had retired as a colonel from the Indian Army in 2022 and was working as a security coordination officer with the UN Department of Safety and Security in the Rafah area. He was headed to the hospital when his vehicle was attacked.
THAILAND
According to Human Rights Watch, repression against foreign activists and dissidents in Thailand has increased over the past 10 years. A recent report from the humanitarian organization claims Thai authorities have handed over foreign dissidents in exchange for critics of the Thai government living abroad, mainly with China, Bahrain and other Southeast Asian countries. In most cases, detentions and repatriations occurred without due procedural guarantees.
ARMENIA
After a march from the border areas to Yerevan, the Armenian opposition movement “Tavows in the name of the Fatherland” was formed, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, of the eparchy of Tavows, with the support of the leadership of the Apostolic Church, to demand the end of negotiations with Azerbaijan and the resignation of Prime Minister Pašinyan.
KAZAKHSTAN
The Kazakh press speaks of President Kasym-Žomart Tokaev’s resistance to Russian proposals to build a new nuclear power plant in the country, to address the increasingly important electricity deficit. According to political scientist Dosym Saltaev, “Tokaev does not want to depend on Moscow, ending up like Lukašenko.”
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