Diplomatic Briefing
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Newsline: U.S envoy says Russian support for Myanmar junta ‘destabilising’ Southeast Asia
Russia’s backing for Myanmar’s military rulers is unacceptable and destabilising, with its supply of weapons helping to fuel a conflict that has become a catastrophe for the country, a top U.S. State Department official said. The United States is concerned about the wider impact of the escalating crisis in Myanmar since a coup in 2021 and advancement of the junta’s ties with Russia, which could seek to establish military bases in the country, State Department Counselor Derek Chollet told Reuters. “Anyone who is talking to Moscow needs to tell them that their continued military support for the junta is unacceptable. It’s destabilising,” he said in an interview during his trip to Southeast Asia. “And it’s not only a problem for Myanmar, it’s a problem for this region.” (https://neuters.de/world/asia-pacific/russian-support-myanmar-junta-destabilising-southeast-asia-us-envoy-2023-03-23/) Activists and U.N. experts have condemned Russia, the first major power to voice support for the junta, as well as China, for supplying weapons to a military they accuse of systematic atrocities against civilians. The junta says it is fighting “terrorists”.
Newsline: U.S. eyes re-establishing diplomatic presence in Libya
The United States is “actively” working on re-establishing a diplomatic presence in Libya, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, although he declined to provide an exact time on when the U.S. embassy can be reopened. (https://neuters.de/world/africa/blinken-says-us-actively-working-re-establish-diplomatic-presence-libya-2023-03-22/) Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi and it split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, with the last major bout of conflict ending in 2020 with a ceasefire. Washington shut its embassy in Tripoli in 2014 and moved to its mission to neighboring Tunis following intensifying violence between rival factions. U.S. Special Envoy for Libya, Richard Norland, has operated out of the Tunisian capital, and took occasional trips into Libya. A September 2012 assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, since closed, killed four Americans including the then U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
Newsline: Honduras top diplomat travels to China
The Honduran foreign minister is travelling to China to “promote” the establishment of diplomatic ties, an official said, signalling the end is most likely near for the country’s decades-long relations with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro tweeted last week her government would seek to open relations with China. “Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina on instructions from President Xiomara Castro travelled to China on Wednesday to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations,” presidential press secretary Ivis Alvarado said. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned in the Honduran ambassador to express its “strong dissatisfaction” at the trip which “seriously harmed the feelings of our government and people”. A source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters Reina and his delegation left for Beijing from Panama, accompanied by Chinese officials. (https://neuters.de/world/taiwan-says-chinas-involvement-honduras-is-very-obvious-2023-03-23/) The source declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation. A senior Taipei-based diplomatic source told Reuters that Reina going to China meant an announcement on forging relations was probably near.
Newsline: Senior U.S. diplomat for Europe to step down
The top U.S. diplomat to Europe Karen Donfried will step down to focus on her family, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday. (https://neuters.de/world/us/top-us-state-dept-diplomat-europe-step-down-focus-family-2023-03-20/) The 18-month tenure of Assistant Secretary Donfried, who assumed the role in September 2021, has been marked by the biggest conflict in Europe since the World War Two and the U.S. push to form and solidify a unified Western position against Russia. She has been among U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s key aides, traveling frequently to Europe to meet with U.S. partners as President Joe Biden sought to repair and re-energize transatlantic ties damaged by the unilateral approach of former president Donald Trump’s administration. In one of her last high-level meetings at the State Department, she confronted Russia’s top diplomat in Washington, when he was summoned last Tuesday following the crash of a U.S. drone over the Black Sea after being intercepted by Russian jets. She was set to leave her post at the end of March, the Department spokesperson said. No decision has been made yet on her successor to oversee the Bureau of Europe and Eurasian Affairs which covers 50 countries that stretch from the United Kingdom to Azerbaijan.
Newsline: Former U.S. Embassy employee sentenced for sex crimes in Philippines
A former State Department employee who sexually abused minors while working overseas was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday. (https://news.yahoo.com/former-state-department-employee-sentenced-131147740.html) The Department of Justice said 63-year-old Dean Edward Cheves, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines from 2017 to 2021, pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place in October 2022. According to court documents, Cheves used his personal cell phone to communicate inappropriately with two teenage girls in the Philippines whom he had met online, and he was aware that the two victims were minors. The DOJ also said that Cheves used his government-issued iPhone 11 to film multiple videos of sexual acts involving one of the girls. The child sex abuse material that he produced was found on the phone after it was seized from his embassy residence in the Philippines.
Newsline: Vatican closes embassy in Nicaragua
The Vatican said Saturday it had closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the country’s government proposed suspending diplomatic relations, the latest episode in a yearslong crackdown on the Catholic Church by the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. The Vatican’s representative to Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, also left the country Friday, bound for Costa Rica, a Vatican official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/politics/article/vatican-closes-embassy-in-nicaragua-after-17847042.php) The Vatican action came a week after the Nicaraguan government proposed suspending relations with the Holy See, and a year after Nicaragua forced the papal ambassador at the time to leave.
Newsline: U.S. envoy to travel to Honduras as it eyes China ties
A high-ranking envoy of President Joe Biden will travel to Panama and Honduras this month, the U.S. Department of State said on Thursday, days after Taiwan ally Honduras said it would establish formal diplomatic ties with China. Chris Dodd, the U.S. special presidential adviser for the Americas, will visit the two Central American countries from March 17 to March 21, the department said in a statement. (https://neuters.de/world/us/us-americas-envoy-travel-panama-honduras-coming-days-2023-03-16/) In recent years, the United States has focused on migration and security challenges stemming from Central America, as well as trade and development priorities, but it has also been concerned about Chinese efforts to expand its influence in the region.
Newsline: US ambassador to India confirmed after two-year delay
The U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India on Wednesday, ending a nearly two-year nomination fight over allegations the former Los Angeles mayor mishandled workplace harassment complaints. Senators backed Garcetti by 52-42, as seven Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in supporting Garcetti and three Democrats joined most Republicans in voting no. The United States has not had an ambassador to New Delhi since January 2021, an absence that has loomed large as Washington looks to India to be a partner in efforts to push back against China’s expanding power and influence. “The United States-India relationship is extremely important and it’s a very good thing we now have an ambassador,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who led a congressional delegation to India last month. (https://neuters.de/world/us/biden-nomination-garcetti-ambassador-india-advances-us-senate-2023-03-15/) Biden is eager to deepen ties with India, the world’s largest democracy and a major U.S. trading partner, as part of his bid to win what he has framed as a contest between free and autocratic societies.
Newsline: Honduras eyes diplomatic relations with China
Honduran President Xiomara Castro said on Tuesday she had asked the country’s foreign minister to open official relations with China, pressuring Taiwan ahead of a sensitive visit by President Tsai Ing-wen to the United States and Central America. (https://neuters.de/world/americas/honduras-president-says-govt-seek-official-relations-with-china-2023-03-14/) China does not allow countries with which it has diplomatic relations to maintain official ties with Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disputes. Castro had floated the idea of starting relations with China and cutting ties with Taiwan during her electoral campaign, but said in January 2022 she hoped to maintain ties with Taiwan. If the Central American country does end relations with Taiwan, it will leave the island with only 13 diplomatic allies.
Newsline: Argentina, Ecuador in diplomatic row
A diplomatic spat between Argentina and Ecuador escalated Tuesday after it was revealed that a convicted former cabinet minister, who had been living in the Argentine embassy, had escaped Quito to Venezuela. Maria de los Angeles Duarte, who served under former president Rafael Correa, was sentenced to eight years for bribery, but had been holed up in Argentina’s embassy since August 2020 with her son, whose father is Argentine. Argentina had offered Duarte asylum, but Ecuador refused to grant her free passage out of the country. Duarte “was present in the Argentine embassy in Caracas” from 11:00 am on Tuesday, the Argentine foreign ministry said in a statement, without giving any details of how she had managed to escape to Venezuela. (https://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-argentina-diplomatic-row-over-032507763.html) Ecuador reacted angrily, summoning Argentina’s ambassador Gabriel Fuks to explain what it called inconsistencies in the embassy’s explanations of how Duarte had escaped and for refusing to hand over video surveillance footage from inside the compound. Quito then declared Fuks persona non grata and recalled its own ambassador to Argentina for consultations. Buenos Aires then followed suit, recalling its ambassador from Quito and saying it would also expel Ecuador’s ambassador.
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