Day: June 11, 2022

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in Kyiv Saturday for a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the country’s reconstruction and progress towards European Union membership she said.

“I will take stock of the joint work needed for reconstruction and of the progress made by Ukraine on its European path,” she said in a Twitter post.

Zelenskyy said Saturday his country would “definitely prevail in this war that Russia has started, speaking from an undisclosed location in Kiyv.

In an address meant for delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue Asia security summit currently held in Singapore, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is struggling to continue supplying food due to the conflict and that some parts of the world are facing “an acute and severe food crisis and famine” because of Russian blockade.

Zelenskyy ‘didn’t want to hear’ warnings

On Friday, President Joe Biden insisted that U.S. intelligence tried to warn Ukraine about the imminent danger of a Russian invasion but Zelenskyy “didn’t want to hear it.”

Biden made the remarks during a fundraiser in Los Angeles where he was talking about his work to rally and solidify support for Ukraine as the war continues into its fourth month.

“Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain he — meaning Russian President Vladimir Putin — was going to go in, off the border.”

Although Zelenskyy has inspired people with his leadership during the war, his preparation for the invasion — or lack thereof — has remained a controversial issue.

In the weeks before the war began on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy publicly bristled as Biden administration officials repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion was highly likely.

At the time, Zelenskyy was also concerned on the time that the drumbeat of war was unsettling Ukraine’s fragile economy.

Today, Ukrainian officials are increasingly worried support from the West will trail off as its allies suffer “war fatigue.”

They fear Russia could take advantage of that to pressure Ukraine into compromise, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has resisted, saying Ukraine would pursue its own terms for peace.

“The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome [that is beneficial] for themselves, and we want [another] outcome for ourselves,” he said.

“It is obvious that Russia is determined to wear down the West and is now building its strategy on the assumption that Western countries will get tired and gradually begin to change their militant rhetoric to a more accommodating one,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, political analyst with the Penta Center think tank in an interview with The Associated Press.

Ukraine: More heavy weapons

Meanwhile, the grinding Ukrainian-Russian fight for control of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine continued Friday.

Ukrainian officials have upped their calls for more weaponry, including rocket systems and artillery, from the West.

“This is an artillery war now,” Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said in an interview with Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

“Everything now depends on what [the West] gives us,” Skibitsky said. “Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our Western partners have given us about 10% of what they have.”

Biden said last week the U.S. would provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable it to more precisely strike key Russian targets.

Source: Voice of America

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea’s new foreign minister is a tough-talking veteran female diplomat who speaks fluent English and has decades of experience negotiating with the United States and other major powers.

State media on Saturday announced the promotion of Choe Son Hui, who becomes North Korea’s first female foreign minister and one of the highest-ranking women officials in its history.

It’s not clear whether Choe’s promotion – which came during a major, multiday political meeting in Pyongyang – indicates a wider shift in North Korea’s approach toward the United States.

North Korea walked away from nuclear talks in 2019. It has ignored repeated invitations to dialogue by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Instead, North Korea has launched 31 ballistic missiles this year, smashing a previous record of 25 set in 2019. There are also signs North Korea is preparing to conduct another nuclear test, the International Atomic Energy Agency said this week.

During past periods of U.S.-North Korea tension, Choe has taken a softer approach. At various points in her career, analysts have said her elevation represents North Korea’s willingness to talk with Washington.

But Choe, the daughter of former North Korean premier Choe Yong Rim, also has a reputation for speaking bluntly.

She once called former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy.” Those comments were reportedly a major factor in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to temporarily cancel his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump and Kim eventually met in June 2018 in Singapore, where they agreed to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” They held two more meetings in 2019 – first in Hanoi, Vietnam, and then on the inter-Korean border.

Choe played a major role in those negotiations, as well as in working-level talks between U.S. and North Korean officials. However, the diplomacy eventually broke down after North Korea grew frustrated at U.S. unwillingness to meet its demands.

Choe was a frequent participant in backchannel discussions, also known as “Track II” talks, with former diplomats and scholars. Those interactions make her very familiar to officials and others in Washington, according to Asia foreign affairs specialist Rorry Daniels, who has helped organize such informal discussions.

“I bet she has been at every major Track II in the last decade or more,” Daniels said. “She is tough, but not a hardliner. As familiar with the U.S. and knowledgeable about its system as any of the major North Korean players.”

Earlier in her career, Choe served as an interpreter at six-party talks between North Korea and five major world powers. Since then, she has steadily risen through the ranks of the country’s foreign ministry. In 2019, she was appointed to first vice foreign minister.

Choe is a “colorful character,” according to a Washington-based Korea specialist who has participated in backchannel talks with the North Korean diplomat, noting that she can be very contrarian and cheeky.

“She has a lot of experience with Americans, but that doesn’t mean she’ll make things easy on the U.S.,” said the Asia expert, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of Track II discussions.

Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center, agrees that Choe’s appointment does not necessarily signal a greater North Korean willingness to engage with the United States.

“We need to be mindful of the fact that Choe Son Hui has also been quite active in North Korea’s relations with China and Russia, particularly Russia,” Madden said. “So her appointment is linked more closely with the post-Ukraine invasion geopolitical space rather than a potential thaw with the Americans.”

Source: Voice of America

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday outlined U.S. plans to assist Asian nations, including Taiwan, against an increasingly aggressive China, while managing tension and preventing conflict in the region.

“Today, the Indo-Pacific is our priority theater of operations,” he told ministers and officials from 42 countries at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security summit being held in Singapore until Sunday. “Today, the Indo-Pacific is at the heart of American grand strategy.”

Austin detailed an American plan to unite Asian nations concerned about China’s aggression through an intricate mechanism of alliances and military exchanges.

This would be similar to the rare unity shown by developed nations working in tandem to implement economic sanctions against Russia, Austin said.

“We do not seek confrontation or conflict. And we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs,” he clarified, but went on to explain that small countries in Southeast Asia are worried about Chinese military aggression.

The U.S. Coast Guard will also deploy a cutter to Southeast Asia and Oceania next year, he said. This will be the first major U.S. Coast Guard cutter permanently stationed in the region.

The move is significant because of rising threats to Taiwan, including regular visits to the airspace around island by Chinese military aircraft. China believes that Taiwan is part of its territory and has often discussed plans to take it over, if necessary, by force. Taiwan is a democracy with an independent government, flag, currency, and military.

Southeast Asian countries have also been ringing the alarm bells about intensified patrolling by the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. Most of these countries including Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei are engaged in disputes with China over the ownership of the South China Sea.

Austin also sought to assure Taiwan that its concerns about a Chinese invasion would be addressed. The Taiwan issue was the main focus of discussion when he met Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Friday.

Saying that the U.S. would continue to stand by its allies, including Taiwan, he explained, “that’s especially important as the PRC (People’s Republic of China) adopts a more coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims.”

In a statement issued on Friday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked the United States for its support. “Taiwan has never been under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government, and the people of Taiwan will not succumb to threats of force from the Chinese government,” said ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou.

There had been an “alarming” increase in the number of unsafe and unprofessional encounters between Chinese planes and vessels with those of the neighboring countries, he said.

A Chinese fighter dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea region in May, and Canada’s military has accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft as they monitor North Korea sanction evasions, Austin pointed out. Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand called the encounter “very concerning and unprofessional” during an interview with Reuters on Saturday, but she declined comment when asked whether she had raised the issue with her Chinese counterpart, the news agency reported.

Referring to the Ukraine crisis, Austin said, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all,” he said, adding, “it’s a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in.”

Source: Voice of America

SINGAPORE — The first highway bridge connecting China and Russia opened Friday, the first day of the 3-day Shangri-La Summit in Singapore. Construction of the bridge was completed two years back, but it remained unused because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The timing of its opening is significant. Russia and China have come under severe criticism at the summit, and analysts say the bridge is a signal China can help Russia navigate economic sanctions.

The opening comes just one month after a railway bridge linking the two countries was inaugurated. The road bridge in northern China, called the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe Bridge, will carry vehicles across the Amur River. The toll bridge can accommodate 630 freight trucks, 164 buses and 68 other vehicles daily, the Moscow Times reported.

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, who attended the inauguration ceremony by video link, made it apparent the bridge has political and diplomatic significance apart from trade.

Hu said China is ready to meet Russia halfway, and the bridge’s opening will help to achieve the goal of mutual connectedness.

Even after the invasion of Ukraine, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to raise their mutual trade from $147 billion in 2021 to $250 billion in 2024.

The two countries also plan to establish a cross-border economic cooperation zone near the bridgehead “to facilitate comprehensive cooperation” and promote the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership, according to CCTV, the official broadcaster in China.

But both the road and railway bridges will be used to a limited extent because China has not fully lifted restrictions it imposed on transportation, among the other business segments.

Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said that the opening of the road bridge would increase bilateral trade between Russia and China. “Today marks the start of stable daily transport links between our countries,” Yekaterina Kireeva, the Amur region’s senior economic development official, told Interfax, the Russian news agency.

The road and railway bridges were built as part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative. Russia had been reticent about allowing large-scale Chinese investments under the program. But after the Ukraine invasion, Moscow changed its stance and invited Chinese companies to invest in infrastructure.

Source: Voice of America