Airla
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused NATO of whipping up tensions near China in a way that posed risks for Russia. “We know how seriously China takes such provocations, not to mention Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, and we understand that NATO’s playing with fire in these regions carries threats and risks for Russia.
It is as close to our shores and to our seas as Chinese territory,” he said. Lavrov stated that this was the rationale behind Russia and China’s growing military cooperation and joint training. Lavrov made no specific claims and only hinted at the formation of the AUKUS alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Russia says the West’s refusal to recognise “new territories” seized from Ukraine makes peace talks harder, after President Joe Biden indicated he would be ready to meet Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said it was open to negotiations, but not on the West’s demand to pull out of Ukraine. Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions at the end of September, without controlling any of them.
Standing beside President Biden at the White House, France’s Emmanuel Macron made clear the two men had agreed they would never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise “that will not be acceptable for them”. The apparent flurry of diplomatic activity followed months with little sign of enthusiasm for talks. Russia’s military has been forced into a retreat in southern Ukraine while launching widespread attacks on civilian infrastructure.
France has become the first major western state to publicly back the creation of a special tribunal to try senior Russian officials – potentially including Vladimir Putin – for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.
The French foreign ministry said that it was working with its European partners on the proposal. The statement came after the European Union and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, lent support for the tribunal in a speech on the bloc’s plans for Ukraine.
The defendants at such a tribunal would be those with decision-making power involved in committing the crime of aggression, meaning the transgression of Ukraine’s borders by the Russian military. This would very probably mean just a handful of figures, including Putin as well as other figures such as the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
The United States and Chinese militaries exchanged harsh words after a US Navy warship performed the first freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea since the leaders of the two powers met earlier this month in an attempt to ease tensions. In a statement, the Chinese military claimed the USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser, “illegally entered the waters near China’s Nansha Islands and reefs without the approval of the Chinese government.”
China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as well as most of the islands within it, including the Nansha Islands, known outside China as the Spratlys.
They are home to military installations China has built on features claimed by other nations around the South China Sea, including the Philippines, a US treaty ally, and Vietnam.
China’s military said it drove away a U.S. guided-missile cruiser that “illegally intruded” into waters near the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands. “The actions of the U.S. military seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security,” said Tian Junli, spokesperson for the Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army.
The ship in question, the USS Chancellorsville guided missile cruiser, had recently sailed through the Taiwan Strait. Tian said the U.S. cruiser’s intrusion showed that the United States was a “security risk maker” in the South China Sea and “is another iron-clad proof of its hegemony in the navigation and militarization of the South China Sea.”
