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Tensions between the US and China have flared at the United Nations – as President Trump blamed the Chinese government for the spread of Covid-19. The BBC report that President Trump said; “”We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague on to the world – China. In the earliest days of the virus China locked down travel domestically, while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes,” he added.

In Reuters, Renee Maltezou writes that Turkey and Greece are ready to resume talks over contested claims in the Mediterranean for the first time in four years. Of the historical conflict and recent development, Maltezou writes: “the talks, which broke off in 2016 after 60 rounds that made little progress over 14 years, will resume in “the near future” in Istanbul, the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.” Supposedly, the Turkish government gave no time for a resumption of negotiations, but officials have said there are positive developments. Maltezou continues: “tensions flared last month after Ankara sent its Oruc Reis seismic survey ship into disputed waters, escorted by gunboats, to map out sea territory for possible oil and gas drilling.”

Also in Reuters, Idrees Ali writes on stuttering peace talks in Afghanistan. Though the Special Representative for Afghanistan has said that levels of violence are too high and progress in talks continues to be slow, Ali writes that “the talks are the best hope for peace in years and come as a result of a February pact between the Taliban and United States, allowing U.S. forces to withdraw in exchange for Taliban promises on terrorism. But the militant group has refused to agree to a ceasefire and the war grinds on.”

In Politico, Cristina Gallardo writes that the UK is set to scrap the plans for a post-Brexit alternative to the European Union’s satellite navigation system, Galileo. A baby of Theresa May, Gallardo writes that: “the UK Space Agency is expected to announce that contracts awarded to U.K. space companies to build the British Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will not be extended beyond their expiration date at the end of this month” – putting the nail in the coffin of May’s plan. Gallardo continues: “May’s plan, floated in 2018, was at the time considered bold and expensive. There is consensus in the space sector now that the U.K. does not really need a global system, and that funding pressures brought about by the coronavirus pandemic have rendered the GNSS project unachievable, according to UKSA and industry officials. The contracts awarded so far aimed to provide detailed engineering studies and procure some parts of the system.”

Finally, debate over who might be the replacement for human rights icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the US Supreme Court continues to heat up. In Axios, Jonathan Swan writes on a potential replacement – Judge Amy Barrett – and considers the current political circumstances. According to the article, “Trump has already pulled the court well to the right. If he gets to replace Ginsburg, especially with Barrett, he would cement a young, reliably conservative majority that could last for decades.”

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On the 18th September, the Department of Commerce announced prohibitions on purchases of WeChat and TikTok to “safeguard the national security of the United States.” According to the statement released by the Department of Commerce,  “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the U.S. Today’s announced prohibitions, when combined, protect users in the U.S. by eliminating access to these applications and significantly reducing their functionality.”

Michael Schuman, writing in the Atlantic, notes that TikTok has become a symbol “of the new challenge a rising, tech-enabled China presents not simply to a free society, but to American dominance in the tech sector.” As such, it has become a key foreign policy priority for President Trump – and a barometer for would-be-presidents on whether they have the nous to stand up to China in emerging areas.

Trump’s threats to ban TikTok on grounds of national security – unless an American company takes control of its US operations – have led to a deal that would give major US corporations (Oracle and Walmart) minority stakes in a new US company, TikTok Global, which would be US based and control the US operations of the platform. 

It is clear that technology and social media is increasingly becoming a front in foreign policy and diplomatic disputes – what does this mean for the evolution of tech and the internet? Is there a compromise to be made?

The fact that President Trump has given his blessing to a deal on the future of TikTok in the United States shows that perhaps there is a point of compromise between the US and China – and also shows that the United States maintains huge clout in situations such as these. But it’s not unfair to suggest that this could only be the beginning; and the dispute over TikTok, which has 80 million users in the United States, will have brought the day-to-day ramifications of foreign policy decisions into sharp focus for many citizens of the United States. 

In a fascinating piece for the New Statesman, Laurie Clarke notes that the United States has previously ‘castigated’ countries such as China, Russia and Iran for ‘more restrictive approaches’ to the internet. In the article, Clarke quotes Josephine Wolff, assistant professor of cybersecurity policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, as saying: “You’re really seeing the United States adopt a strategy that previously we mostly would have associated with China. China is a place where services like Facebook or Google are blocked or slowed down significantly, because of concerns about security risks or data collection.”

As the internet becomes increasingly competitive, there are bound to be further questions raised over national security concerns – and internet governance is perhaps an area of foreign affairs that the UK can play a role as mediator. In February, I wrote for the BFPG on the future of internet governance: “With the internet more important than ever for communication, global trade, expression and more, it’s essential that the United Kingdom plays a role – and convenes conversations between the global giants on internet governance. With policy-makers looking to connect the remaining two-thirds of nations – the way in which the internet is governed will be increasingly important. In order to protect data privacy, media freedoms, free expression, and access to services – the UK must have a seat at the table when it comes to internet governance.”

Since then, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, globalisation and technological solutions have been thrown even further into focus when it comes to foreign policy debate – and as the UK grapples with its own debate on the future relationship with China, it is clear that platforms like TikTok won’t be vanishing from the foreign policy debate any time soon.

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As the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office opened its doors for the first time, FCDO Secretary Dominic Raab claimed that the UK will lead the world on tackling famine – not least famine caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Karen McVeigh writes in the Guardian that although critics fear aid spending will be deprioritised, Raab has claimed that merging the two departments will be a force for good. McVeigh writes that: “Raab announced a £119m aid package to tackle coronavirus and famine, aimed at alleviating extreme hunger for over 6 million people in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Central African Republic, the Sahel region, South Sudan and Sudan.”

Will Worley writes in Devex on the FCDO, highlighting the fears for the aid sector – and worry that the UK will end its commitment to the 0.7% of GDP aid spending target. Worley cites Rachel Glennester, Chief Economist at the FCDO (and formerly Chief Economist at DFID,) who said there was: “lots of potential to combine different instruments — trade, diplomacy, investment, research, and aid — to have a greater impact on the world. Aid flows on their own will always be small compared to the impact of policy, investment, and remittances but they can be [an] important catalyst.”

The Daily Mail notes that the UK had dropped to 47th place in the global broadband ‘speed leagues,’ due to slow rollout of pure fibre networks. Ryan Morrisson writes that: “the top three spots in the table were all taken by small nations including Liechtenstein, Jersey and Andorra – all with more than 200Mpbs average speeds. The US is placed 20th with an average speed of 71.30Mbps and Australia is in 62nd place with an average speed of 25.65Mbps.”

This week, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin travelled to Belarus – as tensions in the country continue to increase. Dan Haverty wrote in Foreign Policy that: “mass protests have gripped Belarus since longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in the presidential election on Aug. 9, despite facing massive opposition to his 26-year presidency. The security forces have since launched a brutal crackdown on protesters, and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee to Lithuania.” Though previously, Russian government officials have suggested Russia will refrain from overt involvement in Belarus – Prime Minister Mishutin’s visit suggests this could be changing.

Lynne O’Donnell writes in Foreign Policy that peace defying Taliban prisoners are returning to the battlefield in Afghanistan. According to the article, “confidential research obtained by Foreign Policy shows that the majority of Taliban prisoners released under an agreement signed by insurgent leaders and the United States are taking up arms to fight Afghan forces and continue their “jihad” to overthrow the U.S.-backed Afghan government and replace it with an Islamic emirate.”

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Fears over an ‘East-West split’ in the so-called architecture of the internet have ramped up as Western governments, led by America, look to ban Chinese involvement in the construction of their digital comms infrastructure. Peter Foster, in the Financial Times, spoke to the head of the National Cyber Security Center, who noted that it looks unlikely that the current, free and open ‘version’ of the internet will survive. Ciaran Martin said Western countries “need to make sure that our technological development keeps pace with, and outpaces, any competing model. That’s what really matters.” 

Elsewhere, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech to the Republican National Convention – focussed on President Donald Trump officially accepting the GOP’s nomination for the presidency – a controversial move given the office very rarely gets involved in domestic, partisan politics. The Telegraph reported that Pompeo praised the President’s foreign policy wins in his speech, and wrote that: “Mr Pompeo delivered standard recitations of Republican party claims about the successes of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy against Russia, China and Iran. He said they made his family – wife Susan and son Nick – and all Americans safer. He spoke of the defeat of the Islamic State’s physical caliphate, Mr Trump’s pro-Israel agenda and the president’s determined vigilance to guard against the “predatory aggression” of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The crackdown in Belarus continued in earnest this week, as authorities arrested leading opposition figures, who are pivotal in the protests against the President, Aleksandr Lukashenko. Our Evie Aspinall wrote a helpful explainer of the situation in Belarus, noting that: “During the 2020 election, all of Lukashenko’s main political rivals were either exiled or jailed. This included Sergei Tikhanovsky, a prominent blogger who was arrested in May, after which his wife – Svetlana Tikhanovskaya – stepped in, becoming the main opposition candidate. On the 9th August, the Central Election Commission announced that Lukashenko had won 80.1% of the vote, and his rival Ms Tikanovskaya had won just 10.12%.”

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of the country – has announced his resignation on health grounds. Al Jazeera examines the runners and riders to succeed Abe, including Taro Aso, the 79-year-old Minister of Finance, and Shigeru Ishiba, a ‘hawkish’ former defence Minister. According to the website, Abe’s resignation speech was hugely apologetic. “I have decided to step down from the post of the prime minister,” Abe said, saying he was suffering from the same condition that ended his first term in office. “I cannot be prime minister if I cannot make the best decisions for the people.”

In an interesting read from the team at POLITICO, it’s clear that the departure of EU Commissioner Phil Hogan has sparked unrest amongst EU officials. The article notes that officials see the removal of Hogan as a sign that commissioners – previously bordering on the unaccountable – are no longer ‘bulletproof.’ The article notes that: “for some Commission officials and diplomats, von der Leyen’s approach marks a break with the past: The perception that senior Commission officials could act with impunity, safe in the knowledge that it was almost inconceivable they would be forced out.”

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Former world leaders have called for action to prevent a ‘lost Covid-19 generation,’ writes Lucy Campbell in the Guardian. Campbell writes that: Among the 275-strong group of senior figures are former UK prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major, as well as economists, politicians and educationalists from around the world. In a letter addressed to G20 leaders, national governments and global financial institutions, the group calls for action to ensure that a generation of young people are not “robbed of their education” due to Covid-19.” The group of former leaders has suggested that all countries should pledge to protect frontline education spending, in an attempt to prioritise the needs of disadvantaged children.

Elsewhere, talks on a post-Brexit deal tick on, though Brussels seems in no mood to compromise with British officials. In Politico, Barbara Moens writes that the EU is banking on UK urgency to get the talks moving towards an agreement. Barbara writes that: “Neither Brussels nor London expect this week’s negotiating round to provide the big breakthrough. Both sides have to reach a deal before the end of October in order to get it ratified by the European and British parliaments in time. Despite this, the U.K.’s negotiator David Frost tweeted Thursday: “Our assessment is that agreement can be reached in September and we will work to achieve this if we can.””

Russia will not intervene militarily in Belarus as protests there are not directed against Moscow or any other foreign power, according to a Belarusian ambassador who has sided with the demonstrators. Jacopo Barigazzi writes in Politico this week, explaining that: “the unrest in Belarus has sparked some speculation that Russia, which has close political and cultural ties with Belarus, could intervene militarily to ensure a Kremlin-friendly government is in place in its western neighbor.”

The UK government has taken a promising step towards cementing its position as a world leader in climate activism. The government will set legally binding environmental targets over air quality, waste, biodiversity and water. News platform Edie had more information, noting that: “at least one “strong and meaningful” target will be introduced for each of the four priority areas for the Bill: biodiversity, air quality, water and waste. All targets will be deadlined for the mid-to-late 2030s and will be backed up with interim targets that will not be legally binding, to help spur early progress.” According to the article, the goals should be set in statute by the end of October 2022 at the latest.

Finally, the UK Space Agency has announced £3.4 million in funding for 10 projects, looking to tackle development problems around the globe using satellite and other surveillance technology. Earlier this year, the British Foreign Policy Group hosted an event looking at UK foreign policy in space, with an interstellar panel. You can catch up on that event here.

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