🌍 Blinken goes to Beijing

Hi there Intriguer. Yuuuuge few days on the world stage: a delegation of African leaders just wrapped a peace mission to Ukraine and Russia; America’s top diplomat has made a rare visit to Beijing; and India’s PM is about to hit the skies headed for the US. But fear not, dear Intriguer. We’ll translate every side-eye 😒, eye-roll 🙄, and stink-eye 😐, and keep you firmly in the loop.

Today’s briefing is a 4 min read:

• 🇨🇳 Blinken goes to Beijing 

• 🇮🇷 The US and Iran are still talking in secret.

• ➕ Plus: The corporate space race, how the papers are covering Pakistan’s bailout bid, and Barbie somehow shocks the French.

PS – be sure to share the Intrigue with your friends, frenemies and frolleagues using your unique referral link below (it’s working again 🙂).

1. 🇬🇪 Georgia: Manganese miners in Georgia are a week-plus into a strike over unexpected pay cuts. The mining operator says war-related market disruptions have made it difficult to ship manganese, Georgia’s third-largest export, to overseas buyers.

2. 🇭🇷 Croatia: Officials are expecting Croatia’s recent accession to Europe’s free-travel Schengen Zone to drive a record tourism season this summer. The sector already accounts for more than 20% of Croatia’s economy.

3. 🇹🇭 Thailand: Southeast Asian foreign ministers will meet in Thailand today to prepare to “fully re-engage Myanmar at the leaders’ level,” according to the Thai foreign ministry. Myanmar was expelled from ASEAN, the regional bloc, after a coup in 2021.

4. 🇵🇪 Peru: Health Minister Rosa Gutiérrez stepped down late last week for her handling of a dengue fever outbreak that has infected nearly 150,000 people. President Dina Boluarte declared a state of emergency in response to the outbreak earlier this month.

5. 🇿🇦 South Africa: A delegation of African leaders led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Kyiv on Friday (16 June) amid a Russian missile barrage. The leaders met with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg the following day.

🇨🇳 China | Geopolitics

Blinken goes to Beijing

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Beijing yesterday (Sunday), marking the first visit to China by a top American diplomat since 2018.

That's a long time between visits for two competing major powers. So it’s not surprising Blinken's meeting with his counterpart Qin Gang ran for almost six hours (before they kicked on for a working dinner afterwards).

Each side had a long (and growing) list of grievances to get through. China remains irritated by America’s:

• 💣 arms sales and other support for Taiwan

• 🙅‍♀️ continued tariffs on $300B in Chinese goods

• 👨‍💻 heavy restrictions on China’s access to advanced tech, and

• 🚢 regular military and intelligence activities along China’s coast.

For its part, the US remains concerned by China’s:

• 😨 continued intimidation of Taiwan

• 🛩️ dangerous manoeuvres in international waters and airspace

• 🤐 refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and

• ✊ human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet and elsewhere.

Both China and the US released statements after yesterday's marathon discussions. And by recent standards, both were pretty cordial.

Intrigue's take: But the two sides are still so far apart, not just on the substance, but on how to approach the substance. The US wants “guardrails” to help manage the risk of US-China competition veering into conflict.

But China views “guardrails” as code for normalising the above US activities China doesn’t like. So for China’s part, the way to manage all this risk is for the US to back off, rather than pressure China into accepting “guardrails”.

None of this will get better without talking. But it may not get better with talking, either.

Also worth noting:

• In breaking news, US officials have said Blinken will also meet China’s President Xi Jinping today (Monday) before departing China.

• China’s foreign ministry spokesperson struck a hopeful tone about Blinken’s visit on Twitter.

📰 How newspapers covered…

Pakistan’s rapidly fading IMF bailout bid.

* Ishaq Dar is Pakistan’s Finance Minis­ter

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🇮🇷 Iran | Geopolitics

Iran and the US are talking low-key

The US has reportedly been conducting secret talks with Iran to restrict the country’s nuclear program and free detained US citizens.

The talks, aimed at a “political ceasefire”, are a last-ditch attempt at nuclear diplomacy after formal negotiations collapsed last year.

If agreed, Iran will:

• not enrich uranium beyond 60% purity (90% is weapons-grade)

• not sell ballistic missiles to Russia, and

• return to cooperation with the international nuclear watchdog.

In exchange, the US is basically promising not to ramp up pressure on Iran any further.

Intrigue’s take: This all effectively amounts to a nuclear pinky promise. So then what’s the big deal?

1. The US and Iran are still talking, despite decades without formal ties, and after countless failed talks, and

2. Iran’s rapid nuclear development could still be halted, after years of spooking its neighbours and the broader international community.

Also worth noting:

• Oman has become a central mediator in US-Iran indirect talks.

🎧 Today on Intrigue Outloud

How did a leading journalist end up in Guatemalan prison?

➕ Extra Intrigue

You know the drill. Mondays are for funny and odd news from around the world.

• A Colombian police officer was brought to hospital after ingesting a wad of cash he had extorted from a businessman.

• An American tourist in Australia stepped in to fight a kangaroo after it became aggressive.

• A Polish bus operator announced it was changing its bus route number to the town of Hel from 666 to 669 after community backlash.

• A manhunt was halted after Maltese authorities realised the suspect was in prison.

• And the new PG-13 Barbie film has accidentally ended up with a very MA-15+ poster in France.

🗳️ Poll time!

📊 Chart of the day

One small step for man, one giant leap for *checks notes* companies. A growing number of firms are venturing into commercial space flight, with the market headed towards a total value of $20.5B by the end of the decade.

Check out our friends over at Chartr for more sweet sweet charts and business insights!

Thursday’s poll: What's the most important sector to near-shore?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🚜 Agriculture (37%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🛠️ Manufacturing (26%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💉 Pharmaceuticals (14%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧑‍🔬 Knowledge & research (21%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (2%)

Your two cents:

• 🚜 E: “If a country can't eat, it's kinda game over. Also there's the small issue of climate change that makes it important to control your food supply chain.”

• ✍️ L: “Aerospace and ammunition.”

• 🧑‍🔬 K.M: “Our economies can no longer be based on natural resource extraction – we need to move towards more knowledge-based and regenerative sectors.”