Last week
India-Australia 2 + 2 Ministerial meeting notwithstanding recent thaw in
Beijing-Canberra ties gave a big push to strategic partnership eyeing to ensure
peace and stability in Indo-Pacific region amid Beijing’s belligerence. In the
same spirit even as China is making an attempt to expand business ties with
traditional rival Vietnam, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese
President Vo Van Thuong have agreed to deepen maritime security cooperation
between the two nations in the face of China’s growing military assertiveness.
Meanwhile, the US and China are pitching rival visions of what constitutes a
resilient and sustainable supply chain, marking the latest chapter in their
fierce competition to assert a global trading system built on respective needs.
Japanese companies that have relied on critical battery and semiconductor
materials made in China are also moving to broaden their sources as Beijing
tightens export controls. Meanwhile, Chinese ally North Korea’s actions along
the inter-Korean border are raising the risk of military tensions and
miscalculations, according to the USA.
Momentum in the India-Australia
Relationship on Display With 2+2 Strategic Dialogue
The
Diplomat | 27th November 2023
India has
had a busy couple of weeks. Following the India-U.S. 2+2 strategic dialogue in
early November, India had another 2+2 with Australia last week. New Delhi
hosted the second edition of the India-Australia Foreign and Defense
Ministerial Dialogue on November 20. Australian Deputy Prime Minister and
Defense Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong were in New
Delhi for extensive discussions with their Indian counterparts, Defense
Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. The
Australia-India relationship has grown tremendously in the last three years,
especially considering that the two countries elevated their relationship to a
comprehensive strategic partnership only in June 2020.
China, Vietnam seek rail and
hi-tech ‘interconnection’ as trade, investment skyrocket
South
China Morning Post | 28th November 2023
Manufacturing
heavyweights China and Vietnam have stepped up talks toward improving economic
ties that could give Chinese railway contractors and hi-tech firms, among
others, a stronger hold in the Southeast Asian country. Chinese Minister of
Commerce Wang Wentao told Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday
in Ho Chi Minh City that the neighbours should cooperate on “interconnection”.
Pham, meanwhile, advocated the promotion of railway links, according to a
statement from the Ministry of Commerce.
Japan and Vietnam agree to deepen
security cooperation
Japan
Times | 27th November 2023
Prime
Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong agreed Monday
(Nov 27) to deepen maritime security cooperation between the two nations in the
face of China’s growing military assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.
During their talks at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, Kishida and Thuong
confirmed they will continue to prepare for the success of a special summit
involving Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders that Japan will host
next month to mark 50 years of their friendship and cooperation.
US and China pitch rival
supply-chain visions in latest clash over global trade and economic needs
South
China Morning Post | 28th November 2023
The US
and China this week are pitching rival visions of what constitutes a resilient
and sustainable supply chain, marking the latest chapter in their fierce
competition to assert a global trading system built around their respective
economic needs. Just hours before Beijing was to launch its first international
expo on supply chains featuring American tech giants like Tesla, Apple, Intel and Qualcomm under the
tagline “connecting the world for a shared future”, US President Joe Biden convened
the inaugural meeting of his supply-chain resilience council in Washington on
Monday. In doing so, Biden announced 30 new actions “to strengthen supply
chains critical to America’s economic and national security”, according to the
White House.
Japan looks beyond China for EV and
chip materials
Nikkei
Asia | 28th November 2023
Japanese
companies that have relied on critical battery and semiconductor materials made
in China are moving to broaden their sources as Beijing tightens export
controls. The Chinese government has decided to require export permits for
a portion of graphite shipments starting Friday. Graphite is essential in
making negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
U.S. says N. Korean actions along
DMZ increasing risk of military tensions, miscalculations
Yonhap | 28th November 2023
North Korea’s actions taking place along the inter-Korean border are raising the risk of military tensions and miscalculations, a State Department spokesperson said Monday (Nov 27), as the recalcitrant regime began reinstalling guard posts and heavy firearms there. Seoul’s defense ministry has said that North Korean troops were spotted installing temporary guard posts and carrying weapons inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, after Pyongyang declared it would not be bound by a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction deal, called the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA).
