Compass World: A Tale of Two Chinas
Breaking News
Former-President George H.W. Bush, who before taking the nation’s top job served as a representative in the House, an ambassador to the United Nations, an envoy to China, and vice president, died on November 30 at age 94. Georgetown University international relations Professor Lise Howard called Bush “the last president to actually know anything about international relations,” in reference to his depth of experience in foreign policy and what has widely been considered by experts a deft handling of post-Cold War instability in the 1990s. Bush will lie in state in the rotunda of the Capitol until December 5, then he will be flown back to Houston, where he will be interred at his presidential library on the grounds of Texas A&M University.
Latin America & the Caribbean
You’ll Pe-rue the Day
Uruguay rejected the asylum application of former-President of Peru Alan Garcia, saying, "The three branches of the state function freely" in Peru. He has been staying at the Lima residence of the Uruguayan ambassador since November 17, while he waited for his request to be processed. Garcia was banned from leaving Peru last month after allegations surfaced that he took bribes from the Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht; Garcia denies these claims. However, Odebrecht has admitted to paying almost $30 million in bribes to Peru since 2004.
Indo-Asia-Pacific
A Tale of Two Chinas
Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Panama on December 2 for the first state visit of a Chinese leader to the country, after Panama switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in June 2017. Panama was the first Latin American country to agree to participate in Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, a massive global infrastructure investment project. Xi told Panamanian reporters that China-Panama cooperation “carries huge potential.” China has been mounting a diplomatic offensive to get countries, especially in Latin America and Africa, to switch formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing. This has often come in the form of large investment incentives.
Middle East & Central Asia
Double, double oil and trouble
Qatar said on December 3 ahead of a meeting in Vienna planned for later this week that it would withdraw from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in January, opting to focus instead on production of liquefied natural gas. Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi denied that the decision was related to an ongoing blockade of the tiny peninsular country by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others. Qatar produces relatively little oil today, having exhausted most of its rich reserves, but is a leading natural gas producer and has more natural gas reserves per capita than any country on earth.
Eastern Europe & Russia
You Just Got Schooled
Central European University (CEU), a leading institution of higher education in Eastern Europe, said on December 3 that it was being “forced out” of Hungary. The university was founded in 1991 in Prague but forced to relocate to Budapest due to conflict between it and the government of then-Prime Minister Václav Klaus. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has vilified Hungarian-American Jewish financier George Soros, who is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the university he helped found. Orbán’s government passed legislation earlier this year that required universities accredited outside Hungary operate a physical campus in that country, a law that, coincidentally, only affected CEU.
Africa
Don’t Mine-d Me
In a project supported by South Korean electronics maker Samsung, German chemical giant BASF, and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), carmaker BMW is seeking to improve mining conditions for cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Cobalt is a rare metal required in the production of the lithium ion batteries that underpin all current electric vehicle technologies. Fifteen to 20 percent of Cobalt is extracted by hand in the DRC, and BMW aims to improve living and working conditions for cobalt miners.
Western Europe & Canada
Pouring Gas on the Fire
French protests against a tax hike on fuel proposed by the French government turned violent as riots broke out in Paris on December 1. The protests, which have morphed into a wider movement of popular discontent against Emmanuel Macron’s presidency, are known by the French name gilets jaunes (“yellow vests”) in reference to the protective outwear required for all motorists by French law. The proposed tax hike would raise diesel prices by 6.5 cents and gasoline by 2.9 cents starting in January 2019. Gas prices have already sharply risen in France over the course of the last year due to action in global markets: in the last year, diesel prices have risen 23 percent and gas prices 15 percent. Read full coverage from the Caravel here.
