Global Developments and Analysis: Weekly Monitor, 16 August - 22 August 2021

Economic

Why securing middle-class prosperity is vital for leaders in China, and the US

In most countries, the principle of "common prosperity for all" would be as close to a political cliché as you could get. What more could a modern democratic leader possibly promise? But for China, and particularly the Communist Party, last week's call for gongtong fuyu carries a distinct significance. It harks back to the party's egalitarian origins and the vision championed by Mao Zedong after the party captured power in 1949. It alludes to the social and political contract engineered by Deng Xiaoping's leadership as it encouraged people to get rich. It reflects the party's abiding anxiety to bolster its legitimacy ― and legacy ― in the absence of a fully-fledged democratic mandate. Most of all, it reflects anxiety that the party should not become a victim of its success. Yes, it has lifted more people out of abject poverty than any government in history and delivered basic living standards on a scale and speed most international economists thought impossible. But the very speed of this success has come at a price: the endemic danger of corruption and an inequality so extreme it arouses fears of severe political instability.
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China to accelerate pace of negotiations on new FTAs: MOFCOM

China is set to upgrade its current free trade agreements (FTAs) and is actively considering joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) for further expansion of opening-up, as the agreements have played a vital role in Chinese foreign trade, an official from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Aug 23. According to data released by the WTO, there have been more than 350 international FTAs reached so far, among which China has signed 19 with 26 countries and regions, Wang Shouwen, vice minister of MOFCOM, said at the press conference. "China will sign more FTAs in order to deepen the opening-up policy," Wang said, adding that the ministry will accelerate the pace of negotiations on new FTAs including the China-Japan-Korea FTA and negotiations with Israel and Norway. "We are actively considering joining the CPTPP," he said. In 2012, the share of FTAs in Chinese foreign trade only reached 12.3 percent, but by 2020 it reached nearly 35 percent. In 2020, the coronavirus epidemic had a big impact on global foreign trade, but Chinese trade with its FTA partners still grew by 3.2 percent, while the volume with non-FTA partners increased by only 0.8 percent.
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IMF's largest SDR allocation in history takes effect

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Aug 23 that its new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) equivalent to 650 billion U.S. dollars, the largest in the IMF's history, comes into effect, in an effort to help countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. SDRs are being distributed to countries in proportion to their quota shares in the IMF. About 275 billion dollars of the new allocation will go to emerging and developing countries, of which low-income countries will receive about 21 billion dollars, according to the IMF. The announcement came weeks after the board of governors of the IMF on Aug. 2 finally approved the SDR allocation proposal, which was delayed for more than a year. The United States, the IMF's biggest shareholder with a unique veto power, blocked the proposal last year under the Donald Trump administration. The Joe Biden administration quickly reversed the position and voiced its support for the plan earlier this year. The SDR, an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves, can be exchanged among governments for freely usable currencies in times of need.
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WTO Says Record Global Trade in Goods Might Be Nearing a Peak

Global trade in goods might be close to plateauing -- albeit at a record level -- amid an outlook clouded by regional imbalances and coronavirus outbreaks that slow economic activity, the World Trade Organization said. The Geneva-based trade body’s goods trade barometer rose to 110.4 in March, the highest in records going back to 2016, according to a statement on the WTO website on Aug 18. It said that while the index is still above its longer-term average, the gains are decelerating, “which could presage a peaking of upward momentum in trade.” Each of the gauge’s components -- such as air freight, container shipping, raw materials and automotive products -- showed above-trend growth. But the export orders index “has slowed more definitively, providing a further indication that the pace of recovery is likely to decelerate in the near term,” the organization said. The WTO said the latest reading is consistent with its forecast from March 31 for an 8% increase in the volume of world merchandise trade in 2021 after a 5.3% drop in 2020.
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U.S. Banks and Money-Transfer Firms Tread Carefully in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan

Two major U.S. money-transfer services have suspended payments into Afghanistan, and American banks are more closely scrutinizing transactions with Afghan counterparts, as they await clarity on whether U.S. sanctions on the Taliban apply across the nation now that the Islamist group is in control. The result could deepen the country’s financial crisis in the near term and, if sanctions apply more broadly to any business dealings with the Taliban-controlled nation, Afghanistan could join North Korea and Iran as pariahs in the international financial system. Heightened caution by banks risks slowing flows of money needed to carry on trade and other transactions. The decision by wire-transfer services Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc. to stop doing business in Afghanistan restricts the flow of overseas payments that are a key source of support for many Afghan families. Earlier guidance by the world’s terror-finance watchdog organization, the Financial Action Task Force, warned member countries they must freeze the assets of the Taliban given the Taliban’s designation as a terrorist group by the U.S., the United Nations and other countries, “and to ensure that no funds or other assets are made available, directly or indirectly” to them.
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Turkey extols booming defence industry at international arms fair

The TF aircraft being developed by Turkish Aerospace is arguably the jewel in the crown of an industry that is widely viewed as one of Turkey’s foremost sectors. It featured prominently at the International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul this week. The fighter, which will replace the Turkish Air Force’s ageing F-4 and F-16 jets, is due to be unveiled to the public in 2023, the centenary of the founding of the Turkish republic, and is expected to be operational two years later. “All the missile systems will be from local companies,” said Zengin, pointing to rows of missiles produced by Roketsan and Tubitak under the plane’s wings. “The final objective is to have an aircraft that is 100 percent Turkish, although initially it will use an F110 engine,” he added, referring to the GE Aviation-designed engine built under licence in Turkey. The introduction of the TF – previously known as the TF-X until passing the experimental stage – has gained added urgency after Turkey was kicked off the US-led F-35 stealth fighter project.
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Remote sensing detects 8,450 potential hazards in areas including Three Gorges Reservoir: ministry

With the help of remote-sensing satellites, China has completed the identification of potential geological disasters in regions with high risks, covering areas such as the Three Gorges project and the south-eastern areas in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, said the Ministry of Natural Resources. According to a report the ministry released on Aug 20, a total of 8,450 potential hazards were detected in 2020 by remote-sensing satellites in nine provincial regions with high geological disaster risks in China. The hazards were mainly ridge-top rockslides and large unstable slopes. Five typical geological disaster distribution regions have been completely covered including the upstream region of the Yellow River, the highly seismic region in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the south-eastern region of Tibet, the north-western region of Southwest China's Yunnan Province and the Three Gorges Reservoir area. The construction and safe operation of the Three Gorges project have faced tests of geological disasters, but China has been actively keeping an eye on potential hazards in the Three Gorges area.
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Mapping wildfires around the world

In recent weeks, the devastating effects of wildfires, which have killed more than 100 people and rendered thousands homeless, have been dominating headlines around the world. While wildfires are a natural part of many environments as a way to clear out dead underbrush and restore nutrients, scientists have warned that they are becoming more frequent and more widespread. In August, an alarming UN report blamed human activity for “unprecedented” changes to the climate. Scientists from across the globe said humanity will experience more extreme weather in the coming years and will suffer the consequences of rising sea levels and melting Arctic ice. Mark Diesendorf, associate professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, told Al Jazeera climate change is producing heat waves and droughts, which, in turn, create dry vegetation that fuels large fires. According to the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, at least 470 wildfire disasters – incidents that killed 10 or more people or affected more than 100 – have been reported globally since 1911, causing at least $120bn in damages.
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The World’s Hottest Smartphone Brand Is Chinese—And It Isn’t Huawei

U.S. sanctions have pummelled Huawei Technologies Co.’s smartphone business. A different Chinese tech company is reaping the benefits. Xiaomi Corp. has filled the gap left by Huawei in markets from Europe to Southeast Asia to China. It is doing so with a playbook familiar to many Chinese consumer brands: offering functional gadgets comparable to upscale rivals at prices that often undercut them. No company globally sold more phones in the month of June, as Beijing-based Xiaomi surged past Samsung Electronics Co., according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. For the second quarter, Xiaomi leapfrogged Apple Inc. to become world’s No. 2 for the first time. In Europe, it grabbed the top spot, with its market share almost doubling to 24% from a year earlier. In price-sensitive markets like Spain, two out of every five phones sold in the second quarter were made by Xiaomi, Counterpoint said. The company was the top vendor in Denmark, Belgium, Ukraine and Russia. One key market that Xiaomi has yet to crack is the U.S. The company sells gadgets like scooters and movie projectors there, but it lacks the partnerships with American cellular carriers that are necessary to sell phones successfully.
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Strategic

China-US tension: Xi-Biden meet may be further delayed as Beijing considers a virtual G20 seat

The prospect of Chinese President Xi Jinping holding a face-to-face meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Italy this autumn have dimmed, according to sources familiar with arrangements. While Beijing is yet to reach a final decision, the leadership leans towards China’s president attending via a video link rather than flying to Rome for the summit on October 30-31. While any decision for Xi to not go to Rome for the summit would be partly because of safety concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, it also reflects the lack of progress made to restart the stalled China-US relationship. If Xi and Biden fail to meet at the G20 summit in Rome, it would be the longest delay before a newly inaugurated US president met his Chinese counterpart since 1997. Xi, along with the other six members of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, has not taken any overseas trip since the onset of the pandemic last year, nor has he hosted any foreign state leader in Beijing since his reception of Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi in March last year.
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Internal State Department Cable Warned of Kabul Collapse

An internal State Department memo last month warned top agency officials of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the U.S.’s Aug. 31 troop withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the document. The classified cable represents the clearest evidence yet that the administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent and Afghanistan’s military may be unable to stop it. The cable, sent via the State Department’s confidential dissent channel, warned of rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces, and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation, the two people said.The cable, dated July 13, also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban, one of the people said. In all, 23 U.S. Embassy staffers, all Americans, signed the July 13 cable, the two people said. The U.S. official said there was a rush to deliver it, given circumstances on the ground in Kabul.
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Clashes Erupt in Northern Afghanistan as Taliban Pursue Talks With Former Foes

The Taliban fought deadly battles with budding resistance forces in northern Afghanistan, as political negotiations on a broader government moved ahead in Kabul and access to the city’s U.S.-run airport remained difficult for thousands of Afghans trying to flee. While most of Afghanistan’s army and security forces collapsed, some of the Taliban’s most dedicated foes have retreated to the Panjshir valley northeast of Kabul, pledging to continue the fight from the country’s only province not under Taliban sway. They include the fallen Afghan republic’s defense minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi; Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who claims to be Afghanistan’s legitimate leader after President Ashraf Ghani abandoned his duties and fled the country Aug. 15; and Ahmad Massoud, a son of famous Panjshiri commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Video posted on social media showed casualties and fighting between Taliban forces and anti-Taliban militias in the Andarab valley of the northern Baghlan province, adjoining Panjshir, and large convoys of Taliban reinforcements in U.S.-bought Ford Rangers and Humvees flying the Islamist movement’s white flag.
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Taliban warn of 'consequences' if US extends evacuation

The Taliban warned on Aug 23 there would be "consequences" if the United States and its allies extend their presence in Afghanistan beyond next week, as chaos continued to overwhelm Kabul airport. The militants' takeover of the country last weekend shocked Western nations, coming just two weeks before an August 31 deadline for all troops to fully withdraw from the country. To manage the chaotic airlifting of foreigners and Afghans - many of whom fear reprisals for working with Western nations - thousands of soldiers have poured back into Afghanistan, with pressure growing on Washington to extend the deadline. But the Taliban, who have so far sought to strike a more moderate tone, showed no willingness to compromise on the US pullout."If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations - the answer is no. Or there would be consequences," Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Aug 23.Staying beyond the agreed deadline would be "extending occupation", he added. Two Taliban sources meanwhile told AFP the group would not announce the makeup of its government or cabinet until the last US soldier has left the country.
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US fears possible terrorist attack by ‘Taliban’s sworn enemy ISIS-K’ amid Afghanistan evacuations, national security advisor says

The US national security advisor has warned of a potential terrorist attack by ISIS-K in Afghanistan, saying American troops are “laser-focused” on the threat as they struggle to evacuate citizens after a Taliban takeover. Asked on Aug 19 whether the White House fears that US citizens stranded in Afghanistan could become “hostages,” Jake Sullivan demurred, telling NBC’s Lester Holt that the evacuation process is dangerous but is “working” for now, before raising the spectre of terrorism. “I want to level with the American people, this is a risky operation. We have now established contact with the Taliban to allow for the safe passage of people to the airport. And that is working at the moment,” he said, but added “we can’t count on anything.” We have to worry about all kinds of contingencies. One of the contingencies we are very focused on – laser-focused on – is the potential for a terrorist attack from a group like ISIS-K, which, of course, is a sworn enemy of the Taliban. ISIS-K – the name given to the Islamic State faction in the so-called “Khorasan province,” a historical region covering parts of Afghanistan and Iran – emerged around 2015, largely made up of fighters from the Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban.
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Planes, guns, night-vision goggles: The Taliban's new US-made war chest

"Everything that hasn't been destroyed is the Taliban's now," one US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters. Current and former US officials say there is concern those weapons could be used to kill civilians, be seized by other militant groups such as Islamic State to attack US-interests in the region, or even potentially be handed over to adversaries including China and Russia. President Joe Biden's administration is so concerned about the weapons that it is considering a number of options to pursue. The officials said launching airstrikes against the larger equipment, such as helicopters, has not been ruled out, but there is concern that would antagonise the Taliban at a time the United States' main goal is evacuating people. Another official said that while there are no definitive numbers yet, the current intelligence assessment was that the Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armoured vehicles, including US Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and Scan Eagle military drones.
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Afghanistan shows need for U.S. to give South Korea control of troops, lawmaker says

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan underscores the need for South Korea to quickly secure wartime operational control of its troops from the United States, a leader of the ruling Democratic Party said on Aug 18.The defeat of the Afghan government after the withdrawal of U.S. forces has sparked debate over the strength of American commitments in places such as Taiwan and South Korea. Since the 1950-1953 Korean War, the American military has retained authority to control hundreds of thousands of South Korean forces alongside the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in the country if another war breaks out. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has made obtaining “operational control,” or OPCON, of those joint forces a major goal of his administration, but delays over the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues, appear to have made that impossible in its remaining term.“We have to take the Afghanistan crisis as a chance to strengthen self-defense capability through OPCON transfer,” Song Young-gil, a lawmaker who serves as chief of Moon’s Democratic Party, said in the title of a Facebook posting.
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EU says no recognition of Taliban, no political talks

The European Union has not recognised the Taliban, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Aug 21, nor is it holding political talks with the militants, a week after they seized control of Afghanistan. The Taliban completed a lightning takeover of Afghanistan on Aug 15, walking into the capital Kabul without firing a shot. The head of the EU executive spoke after visiting a reception centre in Madrid for Afghan employees of EU institutions evacuated from Kabul. Von der Leyen said she would propose an increase in the 57 million Euros ($67 million) in humanitarian aid which the Commission had allocated this year for Afghanistan. She said EU development aid is tied to respect of human rights, good treatment of minorities and respect for the rights of women and girls."We may well hear the Taliban's words, but we will measure them above all by their deeds and actions," von der Leyen told a news conference. She said the Commission was ready to provide funding to EU countries which help resettle refugees, and she planned to raise the resettlement issue at a G7 meeting next week.
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Erdogan backs peaceful resolution to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backs a peaceful resolution to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict, which has displaced tens of thousands and left millions hungry. He also says Turkey is willing to mediate between Ethiopia and Sudan to resolve a separate border dispute. Erdogan told visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Aug 18 that the war-hit country’s “peace and integrity is important to us”. Northern Ethiopia has been racked by fighting since last November when Abiy sent troops to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s governing party at the time. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape a conflict the UN says has pushed 400,000 people into famine-like conditions. Abiy said the two countries’ relationship was built on “mutual respect and trust”. Erdogan and Abiy oversaw the signing of military agreements, including a military financial cooperation deal. Details of the deals were not immediately available. Erdogan, who hosted General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan, chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, in Ankara last week, also said Turkey was prepared to contribute toward a peaceful resolution of a dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan over the al-Fashaga region.
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Iran: Japanese FM discusses nuclear deal, Afghanistan turmoil

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is in Tehran for a string of top-level meetings on a range of issues including Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and the developing situation in Afghanistan. Motegi, who touched down in the Iranian capital late on Aug 21 as part of his tour of the Middle East, met with President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, security chief Ali Shamkhani, and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Aug 22. The newly elected president told him Iran remained committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is known, which the United States unilaterally abandoned in 2018, imposing sanctions. According to the president’s website, Motegi reiterated Tokyo’s support for the multilateral accord, saying “we believe restoring the JCPOA is beneficial to all and can help resolve issues through dialogue”. Representatives from Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, the European Union, and the US are soon expected to return to Vienna to continue talks on restoring the deal that were paused after six rounds in July to allow for the new administration in Tehran to take form.
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UK, France & Germany criticize Iran’s uranium enrichment despite nuclear deal falling apart due to US withdrawal & sanctions

London, Berlin and Paris have once again expressed their concerns over Iran’s continued uranium enrichment to ever higher levels. Such action would make a return to the nuclear deal “more difficult,” the three nations say. Iran’s actions amount to a “serious breach” of Tehran’s obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the nations said in a joint statement published on Aug 19. The damning statement came two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informed its member states that Iran was now using two cascades at its enrichment plant at Natanz to enrich uranium up to 60% purity. In April, Iran announced for the first time it would enrich uranium to the 60% level. The announcement came after an alleged Israeli attack on its Natanz nuclear facility. At that time, only one cascade of centrifuges was used for such purposes. In July, Tehran told the IAEA it was enriching uranium metal to 20% at its Tehran Research Reactor. At that time, Iran said this enrichment was needed for “peaceful, medicinal and humanitarian uses.”
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DR Congo accepts US military help against ADF militia

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has authorised US special forces to help the Congolese army battle the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group linked to ISIL (ISIS).The ADF, which the United States has deemed a “terrorist” group, is considered the deadliest of dozens of armed militias that roam the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).The Catholic Church in the country says the ADF has killed about 6,000 civilians since 2013, while a respected US-based monitor, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST), blames it for more than 1,200 deaths in the Beni area alone since 2017. “President Felix Tshisekedi authorised the deployment of American anti-terrorism experts in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said a statement from the presidency on Aug 22. The US forces will boost the Congolese army’s fight against ADF in the national parks of Virunga and Garamba, it added.The mission will last several weeks and is specifically directed against the ADF. US Ambassador Mike Hammer, who presented the team to President Tshisekedi, said its presence was part of a partnership agreed between the two countries in 2019, according to the presidency’s statement.

China’s Antigraft Watchdog Probes Party Leaders in Alibaba, Ant’s Backyard

China’s anticorruption watchdog is investigating top government officials in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Ant Group Co. are based, raising questions about close ties between local top-level Communist Party officials and the private sector. On Aug 23, the Hangzhou branch of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection criticized what it described as issues related to cozy government-business relationships and ordered the city’s Communist Party members to resolve conflicts of interests involving themselves or family members in the next three months. Close to 25,000 party cadres had undergone self-examination, the statement added. The announcement came two days after the disciplinary commission’s national-level body announced a probe into Zhou Jiangyong, Hangzhou’s top Communist Party official, citing suspected serious violations of discipline and law. While the anti-graft agency didn’t provide further details, the language used implied a corruption case. The CCDI didn’t immediately reply to an email request for comment. Mr. Zhou couldn’t be reached for comment.
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LDP considering to vote Sept. 29 to decide party president, sources say

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering holding the election to decide its president on Sept. 29 with campaigning to begin on Sept. 17, sources said. The election could be postponed to a later date, however, if Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga dissolves the Lower House for a snap election before his term as LDP president expires at the end of September. The party’s General Council will decide on the date of the LDP presidential election after the party election management committee convenes on the issue on Aug. 26. The current term of Lower House members ends on Oct. 21. Some of the party’s Diet members are urging that Suga’s term as president be extended as the government has had its hands full containing the pandemic. But calls are growing from junior and mid-level LDP legislators for holding the presidential poll as scheduled for September, ahead of the Lower House election. Those who favour sticking to that schedule want to refresh the party’s image by holding the presidential vote as approval ratings for the Suga Cabinet have plunged to a record low since it was formed last September.
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Japan missile plan on Ishigaki Island helps boost Taiwan defense

Japan's plans to ramp up the defense of its remote south-western islands are being seen as a move to boost support for Taiwan as it faces a heightened Chinese military threat. The move to station anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles and hundreds of troops on Ishigaki Island, 300 kilometers from Taiwan, comes amid a growing Chinese naval presence in the area and tensions between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan and a host of other issues. Analysts say the plan is aimed as much at defending Taiwan as Japan, as any attack on the democratic island could quickly spread to Japan's southern islands -- Tokyo's front line of defense. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said earlier this month that Tokyo plans to deploy medium-range ground-to-air guided ammunition units, ground-to-ship guided ammunition units, and 500 to 600 troops on Ishigaki by the end of March 2023. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, as the land branch of the country's military force is known, has been planning to put missiles and troops on Ishigaki since at least 2017 as anxiety grows in Japan about China's assertiveness and intentions. Ishigaki will become the fourth missile-armed island in the Nansei or Ryukyu island chain.
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U.S. position on Taiwan unchanged despite Biden comment--official

A senior Biden administration official said on that U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed after President Joe Biden appeared to suggest the United States would defend the island if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held U.S. position of “strategic ambiguity.”In an interview aired by ABC News on Aug 19, Biden was asked about the effects of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and responses in Chinese media telling Taiwan this showed Washington could not be relied on to come to its defense. Biden replied that Taiwan, South Korea and NATO were fundamentally different situations to Afghanistan and appeared to lump Taiwan together with countries to which Washington has explicit defense commitments.“They are... entities we’ve made agreements with based on not a civil war they’re having on that island or in South Korea, but on an agreement where they have a unity government that, in fact, is trying to keep bad guys from doin’ bad things to them,” he said. A senior Biden administration official said U.S. “policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed” and analysts said it appeared that Biden had misspoken.
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Harris 'focused' on Afghan evacuation as Asia eyes US credibility

The U.S. is "focused" on evacuation operations from Afghanistan, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Aug 23 during her trip to Singapore, as its retreat from the Central Asian country raised questions about the credibility of U.S. commitments."Right now, we are singularly focused on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us and Afghans who are vulnerable, including women and children," Harris said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, when asked to assess what went wrong with the withdrawal. "We cannot be in any way distracted from what must be our primary mission right now."She also said, "The reason I am here is because the United States is a global leader, and we take that role seriously, understanding that we have many interests and priorities around the world." She added that her trip to Southeast Asia -- she will visit Vietnam later this week -- is "a reaffirmation of our commitment" to partnerships with the region. President Joe Biden's "administration inherited an extremely difficult situation," Lee said.
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Medical

Guinea identifies 58 contacts of Ebola patient in Ivory Coast

Guinean authorities say 58 people have been confined to their homes after being identified as contacts of a woman who contracted the Ebola virus. The Ebola case was discovered in Ivory Coast in an 18-year-old Guinean woman who had travelled by bus from Labe, Guinea, a journey of some 1,500km (930 miles). Ebola is often deadly, causing severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk. The discovery in Ivory Coast came nearly two months after the United Nations’ health agency declared an end to Guinea’s second Ebola outbreak, which started last year and killed 12 people.“In Labe, 58 contacts have been identified,” Elhadj Mamadou Houdy Bah, the regional health director, told the AFP news agency. “The good news is that none of them are presenting any signs (of Ebola) at the moment, all are being followed,” he added.
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Booster COVID-19 shots should be delayed: WHO director-general

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Aug 23 that COVID-19 booster shots should be delayed as priority should be given to raising vaccination rates in countries where only 1 per cent or 2 per cent of the population has been inoculated. If vaccination rates are not raised globally, stronger variants of the coronavirus could develop and vaccines intended as booster shots should be donated to countries where people have not received their first or second doses, he said during a visit to Budapest."In addition, there is a debate about whether booster shots are effective at all," Ghebreyesus told a news conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. Those whose immune system is compromised should get a booster shot, though they represent only small percentage of the population, he added. The WHO said last week current data does not indicate that COVID-19 booster shots are needed and that the most vulnerable people worldwide should be fully vaccinated before high-income countries deploy a top-up. The Unites States announced last week it plans to make COVID-19 vaccine booster shots widely available starting on Sep 20 as infections rise from the coronavirus Delta variant.
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In COVID hangover, as more around world get vaccinated, fewer give blood

From Seoul to Paris, and Moscow to Bangkok, concerned citizens are lining up for shots as COVID-19 case numbers swell. That may ease pressure on stretched hospitals around the world, but with it comes a hangover - a severe shortage of blood donors.A number of countries don't allow people who have just been vaccinated to give blood, as well as banning those in recovery from coronavirus. With others simply staying home as new infections rise, doctors say donor pools have shrunk to alarmingly low levels, menacing urgent operations.In South Korea, now grappling with record cases, donors can't give blood for seven days after a COVID-19 shot - and supply is down to just 3.2 days, as of Wednesday, from 6.5 days' worth this time last year, according to the Korean Red Cross.The Korean Medical Association (KMA) has launched a blood drive, starting with doctors themselves, warning that patients in need of urgent surgery or transfusions could face emergency situations, KMA spokeswoman Park Soo-hyun told Reuters.
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Vietnam deploys troops to enforce lockdown in largest city

Vietnam deployed soldiers to the streets of Ho Chi Minh City on Aug 23 to help enforce a strict lockdown in the country's biggest urban area and the current epicentre of its worst coronavirus outbreak to date. After managing to contain COVID-19 for much of last year, Vietnam has recorded a total of 348,000 infections and at least 8,277 fatalities. Most of those cases have been recorded in Ho Chi Minh City and its surrounding industrial provinces, where the Delta variant of the virus has sent numbers soaring since late April. Vietnam implemented movement restrictions in Ho Chi Minh City in early July, but announced its harshest curbs yet last week, as infections have continued to surge. Authorities have said the enforcement of recent curbs had not been sufficiently strict. The government said on Aug 20 a tighter lockdown would begin on Aug 23, prohibiting people from leaving their homes, even for food, and said the military would step in to help.
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