{"id":20147,"date":"2020-09-11T17:09:04","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T17:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/?p=20147"},"modified":"2024-01-09T13:32:47","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T13:32:47","slug":"the-week-in-foreign-policy-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/2020\/09\/the-week-in-foreign-policy-16\/","title":{"rendered":"The week in foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re back with the week in foreign policy \u2013 exploring what\u2019s happening away from the front pages, and key developments in global affairs that have caught our eye.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst the UK secured a \u00a315.2 billion Free Trade Agreement with<\/span> Japan<\/span><\/a> this week, its first major post-Brexit agreement, the front pages have been dominated by the UK Government\u2019s <\/span>plan to give itself the powers to unilaterally rewrite parts of the <\/span>Brexit<\/span> Withdrawal Agreement<\/span>. After the revelation, <\/span>Herszehhorn, Moens, Gallardo and Barigazzi wrote in<\/span> Politico<\/span><\/a> that: \u201cFor the EU, the mood was more of exasperation than despair. Whatever the ultimate goal or goals of Johnson\u2019s government, EU officials said the threat of breaching the Withdrawal Agreement was only poisoning the process\u201d. But for now \u201ctalks limp on\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Away from the front pages, some of the biggest global companies have been caught up in this week\u2019s foreign policy developments with Microsoft releasing a report admitting that Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers have targeted those involved in the 2020 Presidential election and US-European policy debates. Tim Starks writes for<\/span> Politico<\/span><\/a> that \u201cthe report is the most expansive public warning to date about the rapid spread of foreign governments’ efforts to wield hackers to undermine U.S. democracy\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, James Palmer writes in<\/span> Foreign Policy<\/span><\/a> how \u201c<\/span>Disney\u2019s \u2018Mulan\u2019 disaster highlights (the) dangers of China deals\u201d. <\/span>From the support of the film\u2019s star Li Yu for the Hong Kong police during pro-democracy demonstrations, to thanking Chinese authorities in Xinjiang during the credits, the film has been embroiled in political controversy. In the latest blow to Disney, China “silenced<\/span> all coverage of the film on the mainland a couple of days before its release.\u201d Disney\u2019s disaster is a timely reminder that firms, and nations, need to have a more informed understanding of China and to know, in advance, what they will and will not tolerate from China. Last month the BFPG released a report into the importance of establishing a UK-China engagement strategy. You can read more about this<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the international development sector, Save the Children have been allowed \u201cto resume bidding for government aid contracts after a sexual misconduct scandal saw the charity withdraw itself from the process more than two years ago\u201d writes William Worley in<\/span> Devex<\/span><\/a>. The organisation \u201chas taken \u201csignificant steps\u201d to improve its safeguarding and now meets Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office standards\u201d. And in the<\/span> Guardian<\/span><\/a>, through the story of \u2018Samita\u2019, Harriet Grant draws attention to the fact COVID-19 related school closures \u201ccould lead to 13 million more child marriages over a decade\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, a story to watch out for over the next week is the ongoing political transition in Mali. <\/span>Boureima Balima reports in<\/span> Reuters<\/span><\/a> that, keen to ensure democracy in Mali after the President was ousted on the 18<\/span>th<\/span> August, \u201cWest Africa\u2019s regional leaders have given the military junta in Mali until Sept. 15 to name a transitional president and a prime minister.\u201d The junta have since begun a three-day national consultation in response. It remains unclear what will happen if the junta fail to meet this deadline.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Matt Gillow takes a look at the week in foreign policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":21281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}