A respected Japanese academic who has researched his country’s relationship with China says that Japanese and western policies of engagement based solely on trade and business interests has failed. Junya Nishino says it is apparent that the hope that liberalized trade and investment would lead to a more democratic China has run up against the political reality that Beijing is not interested. [node:read-more:link]
The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, has been added to the European Union’s blacklist of tax havens. The EU says the three islands, which have no income, capital gains or corporates taxes, lack “appropriate measures” for preventing tax abuse, but Premier Alden McLaughlin says the territory has approved many reforms sought by the EU. [node:read-more:link]
Chinese telecom giant Huawei is being charged by the U.S. with new offences, including stealing trade secrets and violation sanctions against North Korea. Huawei says the charges are without merit and based mainly on civil disputes already settled in court. [node:read-more:link]
As more confirmed diagnoses of potentially fatal respiratory problems caused the latest corona virus continue to emerge around the world, there are growing concerns about a possible COVID-19 pandemic. Most infections and deaths have been confirmed in China but the outbreak has spread elsewhere in Asia as well as to North America, Europe and the Middle East. The WHO officially named the Coronavirus as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) on 11 Feb 2020. [node:read-more:link]
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expects that Britain and the European Union will “rip each other apart” as each side strives for advantage in a post-Brexit era. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new government wants “friendly cooperation” but Le Drian, citing huge differences on trade issues and the mechanism for future relations, says “everyone will defend their own interests.” [node:read-more:link]
Rail freight and passenger traffic in most of the country has been shut down due to lines blockaded by First Nations groups and supporters who are disregarding court injunctions. The blockades are part of a widespread protest against a pipeline project in northern B.C. and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says “the rule of law” must apply. [node:read-more:link]
Concerns that Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig have been mistreated during their detention in China since December 2018 are being dismissed as overblown by China’s ambassador to Canada. Cong Peiwu insists their legal rights are protected and that media coverage of their situation is “just hype up of stories.” [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. has imposed additional economic sanctions on Iran even as it offers to help Tehran to do deal with COVID-19. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. will maintain efforts to choke off Iran’s oil and is blacklisting three Iranians and nine South African, Hong Kong and Chinese “entities” for trading in Iranian petrochemicals. [node:read-more:link]
New federal regulations are designed to ensure that Canadian companies are not complicit in human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang province. Exports of Canadian products to China would be prohibited if there is a chance they could be used for surveillance, repression, arbitrary detention or forced labor. [node:read-more:link]
Pharmaceutical companies have been told by the European Union that they must deliver promised supplies of COVID-19 vaccine amid fears that production cutbacks could undermine its inoculation drive. The EU also has raised the prospect of limiting exports in an attempt to ensure it has enough to meet its internal needs. [node:read-more:link]
Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau is in London for a meeting with his counterparts from the other G-7 countries: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. It is their first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began. [node:read-more:link]
The ongoing and politically-contentious scramble to secure personal protective equipment is giving procurement gurus a chance to say “I told you so.” Successive federal governments have been pressed to develop a list of strategic sectors not dependent on foreign suppliers but, as pointed out recently by Health Minister Patty Hajdu, the call has been essentially ignored. Now Alan Williams, a former Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel) at the Department of National Defence, is joining the debate, saying that “we've been totally negligent.” [node:read-more:link]
The ongoing and politically-contentious scramble to secure personal protective equipment is giving procurement gurus a chance to say “I told you so.” Successive federal governments have been pressed to develop a list of strategic sectors not dependent on foreign suppliers but, as pointed out recently by Health Minister Patty Hajdu, the call has been essentially ignored. Now Alan Williams, a former Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel) at the Department of National Defence, is joining the debate, saying that “we've been totally negligent.” [node:read-more:link]
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in the so-called OPEC+ group of smaller producers have agreed to cut output by some 10 million barrels a day in May and June in an attempt to counter the price slump which began in March. The cuts are supposed to be eased later in the year and into 2021. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Department of Defense insists that a Federal Communications Commission plan to reallocate part of the radio spectrum for broadband communications will do “irreparable” harm to the Global Positioning System used for civilian as well as military navigation. The proposal requires only a majority vote by the five-person FCC to pass. [node:read-more:link]
