Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for August 28, 2022
Newsline: India lashes out at Chinese Ambassador’s views on Sri Lanka
In response to the remarks of Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said on Saturday that his views were a violation of basic diplomatic etiquette and maybe a personal trait or reflecting a larger national attitude. The Indian High Commission also said that Qi’s view of Sri Lanka’s northern neighbour may be coloured by how his own country behaves. The High Commission, which made a series of tweets, also referred to Qi’s remarks on the visit of a Chinese spy vessel to Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and said his imputing a geopolitical context to the visit of a purported scientific research vessel is a giveaway. “We have noted the remarks of the Chinese Ambassador. His violation of basic diplomatic etiquette may be a personal trait or reflecting a larger national attitude. His view of Sri Lanka’s northern neighbour may be coloured by how his own country behaves. India, we assure him,is very different. His imputing a geopolitical context to the visit of a purported scientific research vessel is a giveaway,” the Indian High Commission said. (https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/india-lashes-out-at-chinese-ambassador-s-views-on-india-sri-lanka-relations/ar-AA11b71g) The High Commission also referred to reports of China’s debt-trap diplomacy and said “opaqueness and debt-driven agendas are now a major challenge specially for smaller nations”. It said Sri Lanka, which is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, needs support, not unwanted pressure or unnecessary controversies to serve another country’s agenda.
Newsline: Diplomat at U.S. Embassy in Ukraine killed by truck while riding bike
A State Department employee was killed this week while riding her bike in Maryland. The Montgomery County Police Department confirmed Sarah Joan Langenkamp, 42, was struck by a flatbed truck on the afternoon of Aug. 25 while riding a bicycle at the 5200 block of River Road in Bethesda. “We can confirm the death of Foreign Service Officer Sarah J. Langenkamp,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Saturday. “We cannot provide further comments due to privacy and law enforcement sensitivity considerations,” the spokesperson said. (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/state-department-employee-fatally-struck-flatbed-truck-riding/story) Langenkamp was a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Numerous offices have cited her as the head of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Section at the embassy.
Newsline: Israeli envoy in Turkey sees ambassador appointment “within weeks”
The #Israeli charge d’affaires in Turkey said the re-appointment of an ambassador to Ankara could happen within weeks, while repeating Israel’s expectation that the Hamas office in Istanbul be closed down. In a roundtable meeting with journalists, Israel’s current top representative in Ankara Irit Lillian said the process of re-appointing an ambassador to Turkey was only a matter of “when and not if.” “I hope it will be on time and it will be just a few more weeks and the process will be over,” Lillian said. (https://news.yahoo.com/israeli-diplomat-turkey-expects-ambassador-121337710.html) Earlier this month, Turkey and Israel agreed to re-appoint respective ambassadors more than four years after they were called back, marking another milestone after months of improved relations. The two regional powers had expelled ambassadors in 2018 over the killing of 60 Palestinians by Israeli forces during protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the U.S. #Embassy in Jerusalem.
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