Welcome to this week’s Jingjing Newsletter. Let’s continue to explore under-reported sides of world news.
Seven staff from U.S.-based food aid charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit their convoy in the Gazan town of Deir al-Balah on Monday. According to the organization, those killed included Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and U.S.-Canadian staff. Israel has since admitted liability for the air strike, claiming it was a grave mistake. According to the United Nations, 196 humanitarian aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October. After the incident, the World Central Kitchen announced they are withdrawing from Gaza and have called for an independent investigation into the attack. The World Central Kitchen chief executive has called the strike a "targeted attack by the IDF". The strike has cased widespread outrage in the home countries of the aid workers. In the UK, the Israeli ambassador was summoned over the attacks - the first time in 12 years this has happened - while British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak demanded an investigation in a call with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for full accountability over the strike and has said Israel’s explanation is “not good enough.” Even American president Joe Biden, usually a close ally of Israel, has said the deaths are an outrage and phoned the founder of the World Central Kitchen to express his condolences. The killing of 7 Western aid workers may do what the slaughter of more than 30,000 Palestinians could not: sway elite opinion in the West against Israel’s war in Gaza. In the wake of the killings, even fervently pro-Israel voices such as Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and elements of the right-wing press have begun to call for an end to the war in Gaza. In the short term, however, Palestinians continue to die in horrific numbers, and famine seems inevitable.
On Tuesday President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden held their first phone conversation since their meeting in San Francisco in November last year. Xi underlined three overarching principles that should guide China-US relations in 2024 — valuing peace, prioritizing stability and upholding credibility, and mentioned that "the negative factors" related to the China-US relationship "have also been growing"” and that this requires attention from both sides. For his part, Biden reiterated the US commitment to the "five noes" — that the US does not seek a new Cold War with China, it does not aim to change China's system, the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China, it does not support "Taiwan independence", and it has no intention to seek a conflict with China. By the end of the call, both sides had agreed to further pursue the vision laid out in San Francisco, which includes establishing and further developing consultation mechanisms on a number of areas such as diplomacy and the economy, and also to carry out increased dialogue and cooperation in areas of overlapping interest such as counter-narcotics and artificial intelligence. Since taking office, Biden has now met Xi face-to-face on two occasions and has held official phone calls with the Chinese president on five separate occasions.
Mexico has broken relations with Ecuador after Ecuadorian police forced entry into the Mexican embassy in the Ecuadorian capital. Former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas had been staying in the Mexican embassy since December, where he had sought asylum after the current Ecuadorian government issued a warrant for his arrest on grounds of corruption. Ecuador refused to allow Glas to transit through Ecuador in order to begin a formal asylum claim in Mexico, and so he had been stuck in the Mexican embassy. Previously, Ecuador had requested that Mexico hand over Glas - something the Mexican government refused to do. The police raid on the diplomatic compound has been commended across the region, with Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela rebuking Ecuador over the incident and Nicaragua joining Mexico in severing diplomatic ties.
The Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute released its annual State of Southeast Asia 2024 survey this week. The survey tracks public opinion throughout South East Asia on a range of issues. This year’s survey was notable because, for the first time ever, the survey showed that a majority of South East Asians (50.5%) would side with China over the US if forced to choose. This is a massive 11% rise from last year and indicates that China’s soft power in the Global South is continuing to grow. 59.9% of respondents also said China was the most influential economy in the region. However, Japan remains the most trusted country for the general population in the region, with 58.5% of respondents saying they trusted Japanese intentions in Southeast Asia.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Senegal’s new left-wing president, was officially sworn in this week. At 44, he is Senegal’s youngest-ever president and has never held political office before. Last month Faye won a convincing victory against the long-term incumbent Macky Sall only 10 days after being released from prison. He has promised to implement a radical agenda of economic reform, which includes removing Senegal from the neo-colonial CFA Franc, a currency union of eight West African nations that is ultimately controlled by Paris, and restoring Senegalese sovereignty over national resources. Shortly after being sworn in, Faye announced Ousmane Sonko as his Prime Minister. A veteran left-wing activist popular with young people, Sonko was himself barred from running in the presidential election. Sonko is widely seen as Faye’s political mentor, appearing on campaign posters together, and his appointment sets a new, radical agenda for the West African nation.
A new German environmental measure may give the German government a diplomatic headache in Africa. The German Environment Minister, Steffi Lemke, has proposed a strict limit on the importation of hunting trophies into Germany, currently the largest European buyer of hunting trophies. The policy is meant to combat the illegal poaching of Big Game animals in the Global South, but the announcement has been met with the scorn of the president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi. President Masisi said earlier this week that “it is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana. We are paying the price for preserving these animals for the world.” In recent years, Botswana has seen its elephant population explode to over 130,000, and this is increasingly causing problems in the rural population where the animals eat crops, damage property, and hurt residents. Botswana even reintroduced elephant hunting in 2019 as a way to try to control the elephant population in the country. Masisi has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Berlin so that Germans can “live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to.” This appears to be yet another well meaning environmental policy thought up in the capitals of Europe without proper consultation with groups in the Global South, and has led to a souring of relations on the important issue of environmental management.
Jingjing’s Highlights in This Week
NATO, a 'defense alliance,' bombed Yugoslavia 25 years ago | Talk with Jan Oberg
A discussion with Sweden-based peace researcher Dr. Jan Oberg on the problem of NATO.
What You May Have Missed This Week in the World.
1. Xi-Biden talk bolsters faith in stable ties
“During their phone talk on Tuesday evening, Xi underlined three overarching principles that should guide China-US relations in 2024 — valuing peace, prioritizing stability and upholding credibility.”
2. Chinese Premier Li Qiang told U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the two countries should be partners rather than adversaries.
“It is hoped that the U.S. will abide by the basic norms of market economy including fair competition and open cooperation, refrain from turning economic and trade issues into political or security issues, and view the issue of production capacity objectively from a market-oriented and global perspective, Li said.”
3. Israeli army admits aid worker deaths were a 'grave mistake'
“Israel's army on Wednesday acknowledged that it had committed a ‘grave mistake’ when it killed seven aid workers from a U.S. charity in an air strike in Gaza. ‘This incident was a grave mistake,’ Israeli Defense Forces chief Herzi Halevi said in a video message on X, blaming ‘a misidentification – at night during a war in very complex conditions.’
4. Latin American governments rally around Mexico after embassy raid in Ecuador
“Latin American governments, including regional heavyweight Brazil, rallied around Mexico on Saturday after its embassy in Ecuador was raided to arrest a controversial politician who had been granted asylum by Mexican authorities.”
5. CGTN - Exclusive with Nauruan President David Adeang
“The Pacific island nation Nauru has restored diplomatic ties with China earlier this year and has already signed up for the Belt and Road Initiative. How can the two countries chart a course for further growth of their bilateral ties going forward? In this edition of Leaders Talk, CMG's Zou Yun catches up with David Adeang, president of Nauru, during his recent state visit to China, to discuss how China can help the island nation expand cooperation in economy and trade, climate change, as well as in green infrastructure, among other sectors.”
6. Second Thought - The Real Reason The US Wants To Ban TikTok
We all know data theft has nothing to do with why the US suddenly wants to ban TikTok.
7. Sixth Tone - The Researcher Hunting for a Rett Syndrome Cure
Meet the Chinese scientist searching for a cure for a rare and debilitating illness.
8. +972 Magazine - ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties.
Page Editor: Jin Yulin
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Great reporting, factual, clear, well written, objective. 你英语比我汉语好的多!
There were no grammatical errors or awkward styles. 完成好.