Various useful foreign affairs updates
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Foreign affairs update
- Canada’s Indigenous reckoning: An Indigenous group announced the discovery of the remains of as many as 751 people, mostly children on the site of a former boarding school in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan on 24th June 2021. It is the largest such discovery to date, and comes after 215 unmarked graves were uncovered on the grounds of a former boarding school in British Columbia. The revelations have led to increased calls from Indigenous groups for greater independence. The findings spurred a search in the United States at former boarding schools which were similarly used as a way to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children. China used the example of Canada’s past actions toward its Indigenous peoples to deflect criticism of its treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
- China's crewed mission to Mars: China has announced plans to send a crewed mission to Mars in 2033, kicking off a new space race to reach the red planet. Wang Xiaojun, head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, laid out China’s plans at a conference in Russia this month, adding that more missions would follow in 2035, 2037, 2041, and 2043. The announcement comes as China has hit a number of space milestones this year—landing its first rover on Mars in May, and sending astronauts to its own space station, Tianhe, earlier this month. The plans are likely to be closely watched by U.S. space agency NASA, which has planned its own crewed mission to Mars via the moon to take place at some point in the 2030s. US has its own plans, ideationally led by Elon Musk of SpaceX.
- Russia vs. U.K. in the Black Sea: The British destroyer H.M.S. Defender sailed near the coast of Crimea on 23rd June 2021, to quietly demonstrate that the waters legally belonged to Ukraine despite Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula seven years ago, which has never been recognized internationally. The Russian Navy took it as deliberate provocation and fired warning shots nearby to force it to change directions. The news leaked out as a mediaman was aboard the British warship. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine prompted international outcry and economic sanctions. In the seven intervening years, the Black Sea has become a flash point for Ukraine, Russia and NATO member countries. Russian said it would respond aggressively to any attempts by other countries to enter waters off Crimea that it deems Russian territory. Referring to Russia’s allegation of measures it took to deter the HMS Defender, a British ship that sailed close to Crimea on 23rd June, it said Russian forces “may drop bombs and not just in the path but right on target.”
- EU on Belarus: EU members were united when it came to Belarus, approving sweeping sanctions against Russia’s neighbour for the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in May 2021 in order to arrest a Belarusian dissident. The EU actions go far beyond the individual level sanctions imposed so far, targeting core sectors including potash, Belarus’s primary export, as well as petroleum products and tobacco. EU's treatment of Belarus is driving the country’s autocratic leader Aleksandr Lukashenko closer to Russia. Some experts feel the Kremlin “doesn’t actually want to be stuck with the aged, incompetent, brutal, and increasingly erratic Lukashenko,” but, for now, it sees no alternative.
- Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy newspaper shuts down: China's national security law has brought down Apple Daily, one of the last bastions of media resistance to Beijing. Crowds of Hong Kong residents gathered in support outside the headquarters of Apple Daily, one of the last bastions of media resistance to Beijing, as it sent its final edition to print. The paper announced it would close after the arrests of senior leadership under the draconian national security law introduced 2020. Banks froze the newspaper’s assets to avoid being charged themselves. The rollout of the national security law has seen successive groups targeted: first protest leaders, then democratic politicians, and now journalists. More than 800 Apple Daily staff have lost their jobs while Hong Kong has lost its long-cherished freedom of speech. The tabloid-style newspaper, founded in 1995, vigorously supported Hong Kong’s pan-democratic politicians, something that appeared incongruous next to its normal trade in celebrity gossip and crime news. As Beijing’s influence crept into other Hong Kong media outlets, such as the South China Morning Post taken over by Alibaba in 2015, Apple Daily remained stalwartly opposed to Beijing. Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai backed then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election due to his administration’s hard-line policies on China. Lai is currently in jail himself for participating in the 2019 pro-democracy protests. The media landscape in Hong Kong now looks increasingly desolate, with papers running identical front pages in support of the government.
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