1. G20 Summit in Osaka
What's going on
Today and tomorrow world leaders are gathering in Osaka, Japan for the annual G20 Summit. President Trump met with President Vladimir Putin today. At that meeting trade, disarmament and protectionism were said to be discussed. Tomorrow, President Trump will meet with President Xi Jinping. This meeting comes after U.S.-China trade negotiations abruptly halted last month when many thought the two nations were close to a trade deal.
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What Ambassadors are saying
"As with so many economic summits, the real action will be in meetings on the sidelines involving the most important players - in this case, the United States and China. All eyes remain on President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping and on whether the two leaders can move trade talks forward even as both play to their own domestic audiences amidst the pomp and circumstance of the G20 Osaka Summit. In China, Xi must project strength despite continued unrest in Hong Kong, new challenges to Chinese tech companies and a slowing economy, in the 70th anniversary year of the 1949 founding of Communist China. In the United States, as 2020 election campaigns intensify, Trump must show that his diplomacy of disruption can yield real results at home, not just uncertainty and discord abroad. Both China and the United States will benefit if tariffs prove to be a temporary tool to build a rebalanced and more equal economic relationship and not an end unto themselves." (Ambassador Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank)
"The dialogue in Asia extends way beyond China trade issues. It's essential we maintain a balance and consultative process throughout the region." (Ambassador Robert Orr, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank)
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2. Coup attempt in Ethiopia
What's going on
Ethiopia's army chief, General Seare Mekonnen and another military officer were both shot dead by Mekonnen's body guard in a recent coup attempt. A few hours earlier on the same day, Amhara's regional governor and his senior adviser were also killed. The Ethiopian government believes the killings were linked. Almost 250 people have been arrested in response to the failed coup attempt. This all comes over a year into Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's leadership, for which he has been praised for ending political repression and opening up one Africa's most closed nations. Some analysts say the changes may have promoted uncertainty and that the coup attempt exposed ethnic tensions in Amhara.
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What Ambassadors are saying
"
Anyone fishing for a good news story out of Africa recently, and rightly, has celebrated Ethiopia, where dynamic young Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has dramatically opened political space, departing from decades of repressive, tightly controlled government...But Ethiopia faces real and urgent challenges, and it is critical that well-wishers not ignore them. Abiy has lifted the lid off of a pressure cooker—one his predecessors held in place with sometimes brutal force—and in some cases the result has not been euphoria, but rather messy, complex eruptions of communal violence. Ethiopia’s story is not a simple one, and the millions internally displaced over the past year, the worrying reports of forced returns, and the potential for 2020 elections to be a flashpoint should focus the minds of policy-makers around concrete ways to provide support to what is sure to be a long and complex transition...The United States and others ought to be more ambitious in finding new ways to support the resilience of governing institutions, mechanisms for reconciling longstanding grievances, and the capacity of a government inclined to respect the civil and political rights of citizens to also deliver services and opportunity." (Ambassador Michelle Gavin, former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana,
Council on Foreign Relations website
)
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3. Iranian officials meet with European partners in Vienna
What's going on
After threatening to surpass uranium enrichment limits detailed in the JCPOA, Iran says today's meeting in Vienna with European powers could be the last chance to save the nuclear agreement. European partners are expected to announce a multi-million dollar credit line to Tehran at today's summit in Vienna. The meeting comes amid high tensions between the U.S. and Iran after Iran shot down a U.S. drone to which the Trump Administration responded with new sanctions on Iran aimed at preventing Iranian officials from using the international banking system.
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What Ambassadors are saying
”What we need to do is make sure that our allies back us. For instance, our allies should admit that shooting down the drone was a provocative act...Look, I don't think we should have gotten out of the nuclear agreement, but at the same time I think Iran is being provocative. What we need here is the campaign of maximum pressure but also diplomacy. Get us to the negotiating table at least to deescalate." (Ambassador Bill Richardson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,
Fox News
)
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