PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 15, 2019
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world news
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Theresa May urges MPs to back Brexit deal ‘for country’s sake’
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heresa May has urged MPs to back her Brexit deal “for the country’s sake” as Tuesday’s Commons vote looms closer. She warned of “paralysis in Parliament” if the deal is rejected and said trust in politics would suffer “catastrophic harm” if the UK did not leave the EU. The PM welcomed new EU assurances over the impact of the deal on Northern Ireland, saying they had “legal force”. The EU said it didn’t want to use the “backstop” but, if it did, it would be for “the shortest possible period”. The “backstop” is the fallback plan to avoid any return to physical Northern Ireland border checks. In a letter to Mrs May, the EU said commitments to look at alternatives to the customs arrangement and to fast-track talks on future relations had “legal value” and would be treated “in the most solemn manner”. Speaking in Stoke-on-Trent, Mrs May said “they make absolutely clear that the backstop is not a threat nor a trap”. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the assurances offered “legal force” to the UK, but admitted they did not alter the “fundamental meanings” in the Withdrawal Agreement - namely that the UK is indefinitely committed to the backstop if it comes into force, as neither side can unilaterally withdraw from it. Content is not available Critics said they fell way short of the firm end date or the unilateral right to withdraw they wanted, with the Democratic Unionist Party saying “nothing has changed” and accusing the prime minister of “foolish talk”. Assistant whip Gareth Johnson became the latest member of the government to quit his job over the deal, saying in his resignation letter to the PM that it would be “detrimental to our nation’s interests”. He added: “The time has come to place my loyalty to my country above my loyalty to the government.” Mrs May’s speech comes amid reports MPs plan to take control of Brexit if her deal is defeated. Labour and the other opposition parties will vote against the deal while about 100 Conservative MPs, and the Democratic Unionist Party’s 10 MPs, could also join them. Warm words aren’t enough The letter from Presidents Juncker and Tusk was deliberately released at the moment No 10 hoped it might have the most impact - the eve of the crucial Brexit vote. But regardless of the timing, the attempt to reassure hasn’t done enough to convince many senior Brexiteers to swing behind the prime minister’s deal.
The contentious Northern Ireland backstop remains the biggest sticking point, and nothing short of a legally watertight guarantee that it can’t go on indefinitely will be enough for many of those with concerns. At this stage, the EU has made clear it won’t reopen the negotiated Withdrawal Agreement to include such a guarantee. So, however warm the words of reassurance offered today, it seems they won’t be enough to persuade many opponents to Mrs May’s deal to change their mind. Speaking to factory workers, Mrs May said she now believed MPs blocking Brexit was more likely than a no-deal scenario. “As we have seen over the last few weeks, there are some in Westminster who would wish to delay or even stop Brexit and who will use every device available to them to do so... “While no deal remains a serious risk, having observed events over the last seven days, it is now my judgment that the more likely outcome is a paralysis in Parliament that risks there being no Brexit.” What happens next? Here is what is likely to happen: ⦁ Monday - Day four of MPs’ Brexit debate, with the PM set to make a statement to the Commons setting out reassurances from the EU over the Irish backstop ⦁ Tuesday - Day five of debate followed by “meaningful vote” on the PM’s deal. MPs will also get to vote on amendments that could reshape the deal. If the deal is rejected Theresa May will get three working days to come up with a “plan B” ⦁ Wednesday - Mrs May could head to Brussels to try to get further concessions from the EU ⦁ Monday 21 January Expected Commons vote on “Plan B” What has the UK been offered on Northern Ireland? The so-called Irish backstop will see the UK and EU share a single
customs territory until they settle their future relationship or come up with another solution to stop a hard border. Many Tory MPs, as well as the Democratic Unionists, are adamantly opposed to it. The EU has given fresh written assurances about how the backstop might be triggered and how long it would last. The key points, in a letter from top officials Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker to the PM, are: • The backstop will not affect or supersede the provisions of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement • The backstop will not extend regulatory alignment with EU law in Northern Ireland beyond what is strictly necessary to avoid a hard border • Alternatives to the backstop such as “facilitative arrangements or technologies”, will be looked
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There is much frustration with the snail-like pace, especially among some campaigners who feel that the scale of the threat posed by rising temperatures hasn’t been fully grasped by politicians
at with progress considered
every six months after the UK’s departure • Any alternative arrangements would not be “required to replicate” the backstop “provided the underlying objectives continue to be met” • “Were the backstop to enter into force in whole or in part, it is intended to apply only temporarily, unless and until it is superseded by a subsequent agreement,” they said. “The Commission is committed to providing the necessary political impetus and resources to help achieving the objective of making this period as short as possible,” it said. But Conservative former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey said “warm words” from the EU were insufficient. The DUP’s deputy leader Nigel Dodds said there were no “legally binding assurances” as talked about by the PM in December, adding: “In fact, there is nothing new.” And shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Mrs May had “once again failed to deliver”, adding: “It is a reiteration of the EU’s existing position. Once again, nothing has changed.” What about reports of MPs planning to take over Brexit? The UK will leave the EU on 29 March unless there is a new act of Parliament preventing that. Because the government controls the timetable for Commons business, it was assumed that this would not be possible. But three senior Conservative backbenchers are to publish a bill on Monday night that would allow MPs to frame a “compromise” Brexit deal if Theresa May fails to come up with a plan B, Tory Nick Boles has revealed. Mr Boles said he, Sir Oliver Letwin and Nicky Morgan were behind the “European Union Withdrawal Number 2 Bill”, which would see the Liaison Committee - made up of the chairmen and
chairwomen of all the Commons select committees - take a key role if the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement is rejected by Parliament. Mr Boles said all three planned to vote for the PM’s deal, but would act if it failed. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This bill would do the following: it would give the Government three more weeks to get a compromise deal, a plan B, through Parliament so that we are leaving the EU on time on March 29 with a deal. “If that failed, it would... give the Liaison Committee the responsibility to try and come up with its own compromise deal, which would have to go back to the House for a vote.” Downing Street has said it is “extremely concerned” about the plot, which it says could potentially overturn centuries of Parliamentary precedent. Are more Tory backbenchers coming round to the deal? Five Conservative Brexiteer MPs who have been critics of the withdrawal agreement have now said they will support the government in the vote on Tuesday. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for the Cotswolds, said he still had “deep misgivings” about many aspects of Mrs May’s deal. But he said: “The events of last week have clearly demonstrated that the Speaker and MPs who wish to remain in the EU will stop at nothing to prevent that happening.” Former Public Accounts Committee chairman Sir Edward Leigh said Brexit-supporting MPs were “playing with fire” if they voted down the deal. Former ministers Andrew Selous and Andrew Murrison, and Caroline Johnson, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, also said they were backing the government despite reservations. What are the chances of another referendum on leaving the EU? A cross-party group of antiBrexit politicians have published proposed legislation to bring about a second referendum on leaving the EU. The draft Bill recommends that the public be asked whether they want to remain in the EU or leave under the prime minister’s deal. The MPs behind the draft legislation point out that Article 50 the two-year process by which an EU member leaves the bloc - would have to be extended in order for another poll to take place, meaning the UK would remain a member beyond 29 March. The legislation could be introduced through the House of Lords under plans being considered by the group. Source: BBC
PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, january 15, 2019
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N e w s F r o m A f r i c a Zimbabwe protests after petrol and diesel price hike
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rotests have broken out in Zimbabwe’s two main cities following the more than doubling of the fuel price. Burning tyres and boulders have been used to barricade roads and block buses from carrying passengers. President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the fuel price rise is aimed at tackling shortages caused by an increase in fuel use and “rampant” illegal trading. Zimbabwe’s government is trying to resuscitate the country’s struggling economy. Inflation is running high while wages have stagnated. In addition, the southern African nation faces a severe shortage of US dollar cash and confidence in its bond notes, which are supposed to be worth the same as the dollar, is low. The bond notes, or “bollars”, have lost value because of a lack of foreign currency backing the note, and are now worth much less than a dollar. Zimbabwean companies are also not producing enough to satisfy local demand or to earn foreign currency by exporting goods. Instead, the country is importing more than it is exporting
Protesters in a poor suburb in Harare are calling Riot police officers cleared the roads littered with on the government to step down after failing to burnt tyres address their problems and struggling to pay. In Harare, most businesses are closed following calls by trade unions and the opposition for a three-day strike over the fuel price increase. Riot police have been deployed in the capital and in the southern city of Bulawayo. People ‘sponsoring’ unrest In a televised address on Saturday, President Mnangagwa said the fuel price hike would address the ongoing fuel problems, which have seen motorists queuing for hours at
petrol stations. He said the government would crackdown on “elements bent on taking advantage of the current fuel shortages to cause and sponsor unrest and instability in the country”. The hike means petrol prices rose from $1.24 (£0.97) a litre to $3.31 , with diesel up from $1.36 a litre to $3.11. The main labour body, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), accused the government of a lack of empathy for the poor, AFP
news agency reports. In the capital, Harare, hundreds of residents in the suburb of Epworth blocked roads to prevent buses from getting to their destination. “People are protesting now that things are hurting. People are suffering,” a protester told the BBC’s Shingai Nyoka in Harare. ‘Where is the president?’ He added that the government does not seem to have solutions to their problems and called on it to step down.
Many protesters said the president - who left the country on Sunday for a trip to Russia and several central Asian countries - should have cancelled his trip to deal with the crisis. In Bulawayo, demonstrators attacked minibuses heading to the city centre and used burning tyres and boulders to block the main routes into town. Some schools turned away pupils fearing for their safety, AFP says. “We want Mnangagwa to know our displeasure in his failure,” an angry Mthandazo Moyo told AFP. “[Former President] Mugabe was evil but he listened,” he added. Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said: “We have a national crisis which is descending into a humanitarian crisis.” Mr Mnangagwa came to power in November 2017 after long-time ruler Robert Mugabe resigned following a military takeover and mass demonstrations. He won a controversial poll last year that was marred by violence and claims of election rigging.
eSwatini - Taiwan’s last friend in Africa
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hina has tried to win over eSwatini repeatedly, but the tiny kingdom, previously known as Swaziland, is staying with Taiwan for “diplomatic and political morality” even though it is left standing alone. It is the only African country that maintains diplomatic relations with the Asian island after Burkina Faso switched to China in May 2018. China does not allow countries to have official ties with both itself and Taiwan as it regards the island as a breakaway province that it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary. But the government of eSwatini says it will stick with Taiwan. ‘Our national interest’ A new economic agreement signed last June has just taken effect and will see the southern Africa nation exporting certain goods including honey and avocados - to Taiwan duty free. “It’s national interest more than anything else,” long-serving eSwatini Government Spokesman Percy Simelane told the BBC in the capital, Mbabane. “They have been with us since independence and they have contributed immensely to the socioeconomic development of this country,” he explained. Taiwan quickly recognised Swaziland when it gained independence from Britain in 1968, leading to an unlikely alliance that has lasted half a century. Why are countries forced to choose between Taiwan and China? In essence, the current dispute between China and Taiwan stems from the technically unfinished Chinese Civil War. The dispute is further complicated by factors such as different interpretations of post-World War Two and post-Cold War international treaties and settlements. In 1945, Japan surrendered control of occupied Taiwan and surrounding islands to the Republic of China (ROC). Four years later, the government of Republic of China lost the Chinese mainland in a civil war and fled to Taiwan.
King Mswati III awarded Taiwan’s President Tsai Burkina Faso severed ties with Taiwan in 2018 in Ing-we the Order of the Elephant at his palace favour of China in 2018 The Communists soon founded eSwatini, with 38% of the population we are considered people who are in a rival government - the People’s living in extreme poverty according to the line of dollar diplomacy. Ours is, Republic of China (PRC) - or the World Bank data. more than anything else, a position China we know today. The small, landlocked country of of diplomatic and political morality,” Nowadays, PRC insists that both just 1.3 million people depends on said Percy Simelane, who serves as Mainland and Taiwan belongs to neighbouring South Africa for about spokesman for both the monarch “one China” and reserves the right to 85% of its imports and sells it about and the government that he rules by reunite the country. 60% of its exports. decree. Taiwan, still formally known as Taiwan’s leaders dispute China’s Without the deep pockets of the Republic of China, is arguing that insistence that it is a province, arguing mainland China, Taiwan regularly as a democratic society, the ultimate instead that it is a sovereign state. attacks Beijing’s debt-driven choice lie with the people of Taiwan. It has its own constitution, spending spree in Africa and sees ESwatini may be standing its democratically elected leaders, itself as a better partner for eSwatini. ground in a decades-old dispute and about 300,000 active troops “We’re not sure about that,” between China and Taiwan, but not in its armed forces. It also enjoys Mduduzi Gina of Swaziland’s Trade everyone is all in. diplomatic ties with about 20 nations. Union Congress told the BBC. The Communist Party of However the UN has not While he will not be drawn on Swaziland, which refuses to adopt the recognised the Taiwanese which of the two he favours, he said country’s new name, says both sides government since 1971, when it China’s grip on the continent cannot are illegitimate and merely propping switched diplomatic recognition to be understated. each other up on the international China instead. “There are some serious stage. No to ‘dollar diplomacy’ arguments going around that some “The people of Swaziland are kept ESwatini’s King Mswati III is backdoor Asia colonisation is taking in a state of poverty [because the Africa’s last absolute monarch and place and it has taken the face of government] are using donations that has made 17 trips to Taiwan, including mainland China.” are coming straight from Taiwan,” in June 2018 when he accepted an Hearts and minds the party’s international secretary honorary degree in management at The government of eSwatini Njabulo Dlamini said. the same university from which his touts Taiwan’s funding of its rural ‘Only the monarchy benefits’ son graduated. electrification programme and other The straight-talking teacher, When African leaders gathered in support but Taiwan is also winning admirer of Cuban society and self- Beijing for the Forum on China Africa hearts and minds with scholarships. declared revolutionary, is one of the Cooperation summit last September, Thandeka Dlamini’s voice cracks few Communist Party officials still King Mswati was hosting his annual with emotion when she talks about her living in eSwatini. traditional Reed Dance where he four years spent as an undergraduate “Swazis do not benefit [but] the selected his 15th wife. in the capital, Taipei, where she monarchy and the friends of the Chinese President Xi Jinping graduated top of her International monarchy are directly benefiting announced another $60bn (£47bn) in Business and Trade class in 2017. from this illegitimate and illegal financing to Africa, but eSwatini says “I was just a kid, raised by a relationship,” he added. it is not missing out. single parent. It is very touching to Poverty is a key challenge for “We don’t want a situation where me because my mother didn’t have
the funds, so to get that fully funded scholarship really changed my life.” She now works for a government agency as a consultant and denies the opposition’s claim that King Mswati, the royal family and the elites around him have used their ties with Taiwan to enrich themselves while a majority of the population remain impoverished. “At the time, the government here was having some fiscal issues and university students did not get their allowance or it wasn’t paid on time - but I didn’t have any problems and my mother didn’t have to send me any money,” Ms Dlamini says. Taiwan’s embassy in eSwatini - the only one in Africa - politely declined interview requests, but its ambassador praised the bilateral ties between the two in a letter to the editor in the Times of Swaziland last September. “There is no question that China’s debt-trap diplomacy, as African, Balkan and South Asian countries have quickly come to discover, is a one-way ticket to poverty and servitude. It is also a sure-fire way of surrendering sovereignty forever,” wrote Taiwan’s Ambassador to eSwatini, Jeremy Liang. Though eSwatini is Taiwan’s last ally in Africa, it is only the the island’s 156th largest trading partner. But in 2018 trade between the two countries jumped 41% to reach nearly $10m (£7.8m). “We can’t just throw Taiwan away,” the government spokesman said. He ruled out a switch to China. “We’re not interested in what is being offered.” Who does Taiwan have diplomatic relations with? In Latin America and the Caribbean: Belize, Haiti, Nicaragua, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras and Saint Lucia In Africa: Swaziland In Europe: The Holy See In the Pacific: Kiribati, Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Palau Source: BBC