VIF Information Alerts - 7 Mar 2018

India’s win at ICJ reflected UK’s ‘lower global standing’
Published: Hindustan Times
06 Mar 2018

There is much hand-wringing over India’s candidate being elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in November 2017 in a run-off with a British judge, with a new parliamentary report suggesting the UK’s lower global standing was one of the reasons for the loss.

India’s Dalveer Bhandari was elected against Britain’s Christopher Greenwood, resulting in the UK not having a judge in the court at The Hague for the first time since it was created in 1946. The foreign affairs committee of Parliament described the loss as a “failure of UK diplomacy”. Click here to read... [2]

Australia's new maritime deal fuelled by fears of regional disorder amid China's rise
Published: The Sunday Morning Herald
06 Mar 2018

Australia’s landmark maritime treaty with East Timor is expected to make major concessions to the tiny nation to demonstrate Canberra’s commitment to the law of the sea, amid rising concerns over China bucking the rules in pursuit of its own territorial claims.

After 15 years in which successive Australian governments have implacably stuck to their claim over most of the natural gas-rich seas, Australia is understood to be eyeing a more strategic picture in 2018 in which a shared commitment to rules is the best hope of heading off tensions. Click here to read... [3]

Kim Jong Un and Seoul envoys discuss possible inter-Korean summit
Published: Channel NewsAsia
06 Mar 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed a possible summit with envoys from the South's President Moon Jae-in, both sides said on Tuesday (Mar 6), in the latest step of an Olympics-driven rapprochement on the divided peninsula.

The delegation from Seoul is the most senior to travel North for more than a decade, and comes as Moon tries to broker talks between nuclear-armed Pyongyang and Washington after months of high tensions. Click here to read... [4]

China's debt-trap diplomacy reaches the Philippines, which is likely to accept Chinese loans 1,100% more expensive than other options
Published: Business Insider
07 Mar 2018

The Philippines is close to accepting loans from China that are 1,100% more expensive than ones from Japan. The country's chief economist said it will accept the loan as it needs "more friends," as relations between the two countries warm after years of territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The loan is part of a so-called debt-trap diplomacy in which China engagest targets infrastructure projects in poorer countries, a it has done to establish its global Belt and Road initiative. Click here to read... [5]

Pakistan in talks with China to borrow $1 billion as commercial loan: Report
Published: The Hindustan Times
06 Mar 2018

Pakistan is in talks with a Chinese financial institution to obtain $1 billion as a foreign commercial loan, a media report said on Tuesday. The report in the Express Tribune said amid declining foreign exchange reserves, the Pakistan’s government was in the process of scrutinising the loan term sheets and the agreement between the two nations was expected to be reached in March. Click here to read... [6]

Pakistan official: U.S. should end Afghanistan war with Taliban
Published: The Washington Times
06 Mar 2018

The United States must abandon any hope of winning the war in Afghanistan on the battlefield and seek a peace deal with the Taliban, Pakistan’s top national security official said Tuesday.

“End the suffering of Afghanistan and of its people. Let us seek the closure of the conflict instead of winning it,” Pakistani National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua, a former army general, said during an exclusive roundtable with reporters in the Pakistani capital. Click here to read... [7]

2 Pak nationals held for supplying suicide vests in Afghanistan
Published: Business Standard
06 Mar 2018

Two Pakistani nationals were arrested on charges of supplying suicide vests allegedly to the insurgents in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province on Tuesday.

Nangarhar Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said the two Pakistanis were arrested in connection with criminal and terrorist activities in the last month in different parts of the province especially in Jalalabad, the capital of the province. Click here to read... [8]

Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after Buddhist-Muslim clash
Published: Economic Times
06 Mar 2018

Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days to rein in the spread of communal violence, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, a day after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean island's central district of Kandy.

Tension has been growing between the two communities in Sri Lanka over the past year, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites. Click here to read... [9]

India to build 50,000 houses for earthquake victims in Nepal
Published: ANI
06 Mar 2018