Daily News Brief

July 11, 2024

Top of the Agenda

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said in its summit communiqué that China was a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine with their “no limits partnership.” The summary called on Beijing to stop sending the Kremlin “weapons components” and other inputs for its defense industrial base. The statement brings European allies in line with Washington’s previous denunciations of China’s relations with Russia, adding that Beijing’s actions would yield unspecified negative impacts to “its interests and reputation.” The communiqué also voices support for Ukraine’s “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.” 

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson called the communiqué “biased, slanderous, and provocative.” Earlier, China’s mission to the European Union said that Beijing had never provided lethal weapons to either side and that its “normal trade flows” with Russia shouldn’t be disrupted or scrutinized. NATO and several of its partners in the Indo-Pacific, including Japan and South Korea, are due to hold talks at the summit today on defense industrial cooperation, according to a senior U.S. official. (NATO, NYT, FT, Nikkei)

Analysis

“China is not only relevant anymore for the Indo-Pacific or for Taiwan, China is relevant for European security and is directly, through its support for Russia, a threat to Europe and to NATO. And that’s something that Europeans will have to acknowledge pretty fast,” CFR Senior Fellow Liana Fix said at this Virtual Media Briefing.

“The final communiqué calls Ukraine’s pathway toward NATO ‘irreversible.’ For a consensus-based organization, that’s a big deal. On top of that, we can finally see Ukraine’s ‘bridge’ to NATO membership taking form, with the Alliance vowing to station a senior civilian in Kyiv and to set up a command in Wiesbaden, Germany for coordinating security assistance and training,” the Atlantic Council’s Rachel Rizzo writes.

Pacific Rim

Mining firm BHP will shutter its domestic production beginning in October due to a surge of low-cost nickel supply in the global market, the company told shareholders today. Indonesia has ramped up its production of nickel, which is used in electric vehicle batteries. The move reflects the sensitivity of critical minerals to changing global supply trends. BHP will review its decision in February 2027. (Nikkei)

Taiwan: Officials are submitting plans to President Lai Ching-te today that aim to allow civil services and infrastructure to continue to function in the case of a hypothetical war with China. The proposals include building up energy stockpiles and emergency medical capacity and bolstering communications infrastructure, unnamed government officials told the Financial Times. (FT)

In this article, CFR expert David Sacks spells out why China would struggle to invade Taiwan. 

South and Central Asia

A suit filed in a Lahore high court alleged a violation of privacy rights after the government announced on Monday that the country’s intelligence agency would be authorized to tap phone calls on national security grounds. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called the government’s move a “carte blanche” that granted new powers “to clamp down on political dissent.” (Dawn, VOA)

Azerbaijan: Baku plans to launch an at least $500 million climate fund using money from its state oil company, an unnamed senior official for the UN climate conference, COP29, told the Financial Times. The amount is still overshadowed by that of last year’s COP28 host, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which announced plans for a $30 billion fund that aims to mobilize $250 billion of private climate investment by 2030. (FT)

At this CFR event, the White House’s John Podesta and the International Rescue Committee’s David Miliband discuss climate vulnerability, conflict, and finance. 

Middle East and North Africa

Dozens of civil society members, including lawyers and activists who called for political reform and were put on trial years ago, got hit with renewed sentences yesterday after being prosecuted for a second time. Human rights groups have for months issued warnings about the mass trial, saying it was “fundamentally unfair” and that the defendants who began an organization accused of terrorism by Emirati authorities instead made up an “independent advocacy group.” (NYT)

Israel/Palestinian territories: Israel warned all residents of Gaza City to evacuate yesterday, widening a previous partial evacuation order and saying the city will remain a “dangerous combat zone.” Meanwhile, a United Kingdom (UK) trade monitor said Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels appear to have resumed their attacks in the Red Sea after pausing them for more than a week. (NYT)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Activities had been banned after a period of protest over the junta’s announcement that it would remain in power beyond a March 2024 deadline to return to civilian rule. Mali’s military rulers seized the office in a 2020 coup. (AFP)

Rwanda: Officials say they are not obligated to repay the UK some $280 million that was already disbursed in a deportation deal, which was recently scrapped by the UK’s new Labour government. A Rwandan deputy government spokesperson said there was no reimbursement clause in the agreement. (NYT)

This article by CFR’s Kali Robinson, Diana Roy, and Sabine Baumgartner details Europe’s migration dilemma. 

Europe

A deal reached by Germany’s ruling coalition will require components made by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE to be pulled from the country’s core 5G wireless network by 2026 and from the broader access network by 2029, Germany’s interior minister said today. European countries including Sweden, the UK, and the Baltic states have followed the United States in enacting such restrictions on Huawei for security concerns. (Bloomberg, WSJ)

This Backgrounder by Andrew Chatzky, Lindsay Maizland, and CFR’s Noah Berman looks at why Huawei is controversial.

Americas

The United States will apply a 25 percent tariff on steel that was not melted and poured in North America, while aluminum containing primary smelt from China, Belarus, Iran, or Russia will face a 10 percent tariff. U.S. officials said the actions were taken jointly with Mexico, which will solicit more information from its own importers about the sources of their products. (FT)

Canada: The country will acquire up to twelve new under-ice capable submarines to better guard the Arctic and has begun meeting with manufacturers to determine the sale, Ottawa’s defense minister said yesterday on the sidelines of the NATO summit. (CBC)

U.S. Campaign 2024

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is due to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at Trump’s resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, today, unnamed sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The Trump campaign and the Hungarian government did not immediately comment. In the last week, Orbán also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Bloomberg)

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