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[1/2] German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, April 14, 2023. Suo Takekuma/Pool via REUTERSApril 14 (Reuters) - European foreign policy officials sought to present a tough stance against China's threats over self-ruled Taiwan on Friday, after comments by French President Emmanuel Macron drew a backlash for being perceived to be weak. While many of the remarks were not new, the timing of their publication, and their bluntness, annoyed many Western officials. "The European Union's position (on Taiwan) is consistent and clear," Borrell said in his prepared remarks. "President Xi's visit to Moscow has demonstrated that no other country has a bigger influence on Russia than China," said Baerbock.

As a result, the stakes of the inaugural trip by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have risen, with many EU members hoping Berlin will use this opportunity to set out a clear and united EU line on China, analysts said. Baerbock must now make Germany's position on Taiwan clear during her visit, German foreign policy parliamentarian Nils Schmid told Reuters, adding Macron's remarks had destroyed a hoped-for impetus for a common European China policy. The foreign minister is due to meet her counterpart Qin Gang and China's top diplomat Wang Yi on the two-day trip. Europe's view of China as partner, competitor and systemic rival is the compass of its policy, she added. "More von der Leyen than Macron should be her guideline," conservative foreign policy lawmaker Johann Wadephul, who will join Baerbock on her trip, told Reuters.

☆ Nobel winner Bialiatski jailed in Belarus for a decade, sparking outcry
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Footage from the cramped Minsk court showed Bialiatski, who co-founded the Viasna (Spring) human rights group, looking sombre, his hands cuffed behind his back, as he and his co-defendants watched proceedings from a courtroom cage. Bialiatski, who was arrested in 2021, and three co-defendants were charged with financing protests and smuggling money. Belarusian state news agency Belta confirmed the court had handed down long jail sentences to all the men, including a decade in prison for Bialiatski. That, she said, placed human rights defenders at risk of criminal prosecution for their legitimate activities. Viasna, the organisation he co-founded, took a leading role in providing legal and financial assistance to those jailed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior U.S. official said. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke "on the move" for less than 10 minutes at the end of the closed-door session, and did not engage in any negotiations, Russian news agencies reported. Blinken later told a news conference he had told Lavrov to engage in diplomacy during the unscheduled encounter. [1/6] U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken (top L) walks past Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (lower) during the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on March 2, 2023. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the war in Ukraine had hurt "almost every country on the planet, in terms of food, energy, inflation".

[1/6] A man arranges the flags kept outside the venue for G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke "on the move" but did not hold negotiations or a meeting, Russian news agencies reported. News of the exchange came at the end of the day-long G20 meeting which, as expected, was overshadowed by the Ukraine war. "Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine," Blinken said. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the war in Ukraine had hurt "almost every country on the planet, in terms of food, energy, inflation".

[1/5] A man walks past a model of G20 logo outside the finance ministry in New Delhi, India, March 1, 2023. Germany responded saying it would counter Russian "propaganda" at the G20 meeting. The foreign ministers meeting comes days after a meeting of finance chiefs of G20 countries in Bengaluru that was also overshadowed by Russia's war in Ukraine. An EU source separately said the EU delegation would not support a statement at the G20 meeting if it did not include condemnation of the war. The G20 includes the wealthy G7 nations as well as Russia, China, India, Brazil, Australia and Saudi Arabia, among other nations.

During the session, which opens on Monday and runs until April 4, many states will seek to extend the mandate of a U.N investigation body set up to probe atrocities in Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies are disgruntled by the participation of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who will address the council on Thursday. Filipenko said Ukraine did not welcome Russia's presence and would "act accordingly," without giving details. The Geneva-based U.N. human rights council is the only body made up of governments to protect human rights worldwide. Countries also will closely watch how Volker Turk, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights since October, refers to China after his predecessor Michelle Bachelet was accused by some rights groups of being too soft on Beijing.

☆ Explainer: What have Russia and China said about peace in Ukraine?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Caleb Davis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Zelenskiy last year proposed his own 10-point peace plan, which calls on Russia to withdraw all its troops from Ukraine and to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. Russia still controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine, despite losing swathes of land in major battlefield setbacks last year. Russia said on Wednesday that it welcomed China taking a more active role in efforts to resolve the conflict. Meeting Putin on Wednesday, Wang said China was willing to play a "constructive role" to end the Ukraine conflict. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said China had an obligation to use that influence to seek peace in Ukraine.

☆ China to reveal a peace plan for Ukraine as one-year anniversary of Russian invasion nears
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China announced plans for a peace proposal for the war in Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference. Wang said that China would reveal a solution for peace in the region — which highlights the importance of "the sovereignty of all countries" — on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general, called China's peace plan "quite vague." Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, also welcomed China's plan. "As a permanent member of the UN security council, China has an obligation to use its influence to secure world peace," she said.

The comments by Wang Yi further clouded the prospects of a meeting between Wang and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the sidelines of the gathering. "To have dispatched an advanced fighter jet to shoot down a balloon with a missile, such behaviour is unbelievable, almost hysterical," said Wang. "There are so many balloons all over the world, and various countries have them, so is the United States going to shoot all of them down?," he said. The balloon spat had prompted Blinken to postpone a planned visit to Beijing. China is as a permanent member of the UN Security Council obligated to use its influence to secure world peace."

☆ NATO chief says 'time is now' for Turkey to ratify Finland and Sweden membership bids
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Huseyin Hayatsever | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ANKARA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday the "time is now" for Turkey to ratify applications by Finland and Sweden to join the defence alliance. Finland and Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year and their membership bids have been ratified by all allies except Hungary and Turkey. Turkey says Sweden harbors members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is seen as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and others. "For me, this just demonstrates that Sweden and Finland understand and are implementing policies which recognize the concerns that Turkey expressed. Cavusoglu repeated Turkey's position that it could evaluate Finland and Sweden's bids to join NATO separately.

☆ NATO boss: more important Sweden, Finland join soon than together
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Andrew Gray | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Western officials have said they would prefer both countries to join NATO together, partly because it would be easier to integrate them at the same time into military structures. "The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible," he told reporters. "I'm confident that both will be full members and I'm working hard to get both ratified as soon as possible." Stoltenberg said Sweden and Finland had already come much closer to NATO in recent months and noted that all alliance members had approved the invitations to join.

☆ Fact Check-Germany did not 'officially declare war' on Russia in January 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Germany has not actually declared war on Russia, despite posts online characterizing recent German actions and a statement by its foreign minister as a declaration of war. While many users are making the claim figuratively, others appear to question whether Germany really declared war on Russia (here) and (here). The Russian state TASS news agency on Jan. 25 said there was “evidence of premeditated war against Russia” due to comments made by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock a day earlier (tass.com/politics/1567089). A German foreign ministry spokesperson said that Russia twisted Baerbock’s comments for propaganda purposes, according to Reuters reporting on Jan. 27 (here). Germany has not declared war on Russia.

On energy, the ministry has “completely overhauled the previous government’s Russia-friendly policy” to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas, it said. “That tells you something.”Germany consistently underestimated the Russian threat and gave counterintelligence work a low priority, but that is changing now in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, experts and Western officials said. Last April, Berlin expelled 40 Russian Embassy employees for allegedly working for Russian intelligence services. Germany’s intelligence services failed to anticipate that Russia would invade Ukraine, a failure that has yet to be the subject of any publicly released “lessons learned” review. Such a review would show Germany is serious about altering its approach, the Western official said.

☆ Germany accuses Russia of twisting minister's war comments for 'propaganda'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russia has twisted comments by Germany's foreign minister about the war in Ukraine for propaganda purposes, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday, stressing Berlin's position that NATO must not become party to the conflict. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock riled Moscow with comments at an event in Strasbourg on Tuesday, when, speaking in English, she said that "we are fighting a war against Russia, and not against each other". Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a post on her Telegram messaging channel cited by state TASS news agency on Wednesday, seized on Baerbock's comments as evidence the West was waging a "premeditated war against Russia". This concern was part of the reason for Germany's delay in agreeing to send the Leopard tanks to Ukraine. "Russian propaganda continually takes statements, sentences, stances, positions of the government, our partners and uses them to serve their purposes," said the German foreign ministry spokesperson.

☆ EU says it cannot brand Iran's Guards as terror group before court ruling
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The European Union cannot list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity until an EU court has determined that they are, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Monday. The European Parliament has called on the EU to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity, blaming it for the repression of domestic protests and the supply of drones to Russia. "It is something that cannot be decided without a court, a court decision first. He said the court of an EU member had to issue a concrete legal condemnation before the EU itself could act. The Iranian regime, the Revolutionary Guards terrorise their own population day after day," Baerbock said.

☆ Leopard tanks are the 'right' weapon to send Ukraine, but don't expect a 'silver bullet,' military expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

European countries are continuing to press Germany to green light Leopard tanks to Ukraine. One military expert told Insider that these German-made weapons are the "right tank" to send. One military expert said the much-sought-after tanks are the "right" tanks to send to Ukraine at this moment and would be "militarily useful" depending on how many are sent, but don't expect them to be a "silver bullet." Germany has been reluctant to send its Leopards or permit other countries that operate the German-made armor to send tanks to Ukraine, and some countries are growing impatient. The foreign minister said on Monday that while Warsaw will seek Germany's permission, his country will "certainly" send the formidable Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

☆ Germany signals shift in veto on Leopard tanks for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Leopard tanks, which are held by an array of NATO countries but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Berlin's approval, are seen by defence experts as the most suitable for Ukraine. Western allies pledged billions of dollars in weapons for Ukraine last week but they failed to persuade Germany to lift its veto on providing the tanks. French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said he did not rule out the possibility of sending Ukraine Leclerc tanks. Ukraine has never publicly said that the town was taken by Russian forces. On Sunday, the general staff of its armed forces said in a daily update that Russian forces had fired on Ukrainian positions in the area.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Germany promises a decision on tanks; Russian official warns Ukraine allies risk own destruction
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that he expected a decision soon on the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, meanwhile, said Berlin would not block Poland from sending its own Leopard 2s to Ukraine. The comments on Sunday suggest a change in Berlin's position regarding the tanks after months of pressure to either offer Ukraine some of its own Leopard 2s or at least allow other allies with their own German-made tanks to export them to the war-torn country. Last Friday, defense chiefs from Ukraine's allied nations met in Germany to discuss the issue but no decision was reached. In other news, a high-profile Russian official has said countries that offer offensive weapons to Ukraine risk their own destruction, saying it could lead to a "global catastrophe."

☆ Explainer: How to correctly re-export German tanks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The following explains defence export rules in Germany and other countries and the way such deals have been handled previously:HOW DO GOVERNMENTS CORRECTLY RE-EXPORT GERMAN TANKS? The same goes for cases where the weapons may be used to wage a war of aggression or the re-export approval might violate Germany's obligations under international law. As defence exports are a touchy issue in Germany, foreign countries usually do not directly submit a formal request for re-export to the German authorities. If not, the foreign country abstains from submitting a formal re-export request, and no diplomatic harm is done. GERMANY'S HIGH HURDLES FOR DEFENCE EXPORTSGermany has one of the toughest defence export regimes in the world – largely due to its bloody pre-1945 past.

☆ German green-light for Leopard tanks is 'secondary' issue, Poland says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Poland is pushing for countries who have Leopards to send them to Ukraine, even if Germany does not want to join them. Even if we did not get this approval ... we would still transfer our tanks together with others to Ukraine", Morawiecki told reporters. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arrives for a European Union leaders' summit in Brussels, Belgium December 15, 2022. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that Berlin would not stand in the way if Poland sent its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. However, a German government spokesperson said on Monday that Berlin had still not received any requests to authorise the re-export of the tanks.

☆ German minister promises Ukraine weapons, EU accession help on surprise trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In a statement ahead of a meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Baerbock expressed Germany's solidarity with Ukrainians living through Russia's invasion and harsh winter conditions. After Germany last week promised to send Marder fighting vehicles to Ukraine as part of increased military support, Baerbock promised more weapons, without specifying which ones. Senior Russian legislator Leonid Slutsky, echoing Moscow's line that it launched the war to "denazify" Ukraine, said history would harshly judge the comments by Baerbock. Baerbock also said it was important not to lose sight of Ukraine's place in Europe and its desire to join the EU. She said Germany would provide 20 million euros ($21.47 million) for demining efforts and another 20 million euros to boost Ukraine's access to Starlink internet terminals.

☆ Iran sentences three more protesters to death amid international criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary has sentenced three more anti-government protesters to death on charges of "waging war on God", its Mizan news agency reported on Monday, defying growing international criticism over its fierce crackdown on demonstrators. Pope Francis on Monday condemned Iran for using the death penalty on demonstrators demanding greater respect for women. Under Iran's Islamic law, treason is punishable by death. Amnesty International said last month that Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 26 others in what it called "sham trials designed to intimidate protesters". The European Union, the United States and other Western countries have condemned Iran for using the death penalty against demonstrators.

☆ Travelers rush to take advantage of China reopening
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

After years of separation from his wife in mainland China, Hong Kong resident Cheung Seng-bun made sure to be among the first in line following the reopening Sunday of border crossing points. Those crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China, however, are still required to show a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last 48 hours — a measure China has protested when imposed by other countries. Hong Kong media reports said around 300,000 travel bookings from the city to mainland China have already been made, with a daily quota of 60,000. "I've been under isolated quarantine for six times in different cities (in mainland China)," said Ivan Tang, a Hong Kong business traveler. Meanwhile, more foreign governments are imposing testing requirements on travelers from China — most recently Germany, Sweden and Portugal.

In a joint statement after a call between President Joe Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the United States said it would provide Ukraine with Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles while Germany would provide Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles. The U.S. weapons package, to be announced on Friday, is expected to include about 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles as part of security assistance totalling about $2.8 billion, U.S. officials told Reuters. Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskiy expressed his appreciation for Germany's contribution, saying on Twitter that "Germany is making an important contribution to intercepting all Russian missiles!" The decision was announced after Scholz's government faced a chorus of calls from within his three-way coalition to beef up military support for Ukraine after France announced it was sending light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles. That includes weapons that "Ukraine needs to free occupied areas and the people who are suffering under Russian terror", she said.

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