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Todayโs newsletter supported by: |
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Hi there Intriguer.ย Looking for something to zhooshย up that tired living room of yours? Why not pop over to Paris, the style capital of the world, where theyโre selling *checks notes* an enormous dinosaur skeleton nicknamed โBarryโ.
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Todayโs briefing is a 5 min read:
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๐ฎ๐ณ–๐จ๐ฆ Did India assassinate a Canadian in Canada?
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๐ฑย Foxconn hedges its bets (again).
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โ Plus: Not mincing words on Ukraine, how the papers are covering US-China talks in Malta, and a new sport is trending in Botswana.
โฑ๏ธ Around the world in sixty seconds
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๐น๐ผย Taiwan: Authorities say theyโve detected a โrecent recordโ of 100+ Chinese fighter jets in 24 hours. Around half the jets crossed the Taiwan Straitโs median line, which had served as the unofficial divide until Chinaโs air force began crossing it regularly last year.
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๐ฑ๐ปย Latvia: Evika Siliลahas has become the new Latvian Prime Minister after the previous government collapsed less than a year into its mandate. Hailing from the same centre-right party as her predecessor, Siliลahas heads a broad coalition with a slight majority.
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๐ฒ๐พย Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur is aiming to double its palm oil exports to China to mitigate the effects of new EU environmental restrictions on the product. Malaysia is the worldโs second-largest palm oil producer after Indonesia.
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๐ง๐ทย Brazil: The Supreme Court has sentenced a defendant to 17 years in jail for his role in the storming of state institutions in Brasilia last January. The charges included armed criminal association, damage to historic buildings, and an attempted coup.
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๐จ๐ฌย Congo: Brazzaville has refuted online claims about a military coup to remove long-serving President Denis Nguesso. The rumours emerged on social media while the president was in New York for the UN General Assembly.
๐จ๐ฆ–๐ฎ๐ณ Canada-India | Geopolitics
Prime Ministers Trudeau and Modi had a brief and blunt meeting at the G20
Did India assassinate a Canadian in Canada?
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Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau told parliament yesterday (Monday) there were โcredible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.โ
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Nijjar was a prominent Sikh separatist who was shot dead outside a Vancouver-area temple in June. His killing remains unsolved, though Canadian authorities said last month they’d identified a getaway car.
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Sikhism is a religious minority making up 58% of the Indian state of Punjab, where a violent Sikh separatist movement erupted in the 1980s. India quashed the movement and has long labelled it a national security threat, but some voices (particularly abroad) still call for a separate Sikh state.
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The largest Sikh community outside Punjab is actually in Canada, a fact thatโs long shaped India-Canada ties: India accuses Canada of not doing enough to quell Sikh separatism, while Canada accuses India of interference.
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It all played out last week at the G20, where Prime Minister Modi reiterated Indiaโs concerns, while Trudeau privately raised the allegation about Nijjarโs assassination. Heโs now gone public with the claim, which India has rejected.
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Intrigueโs take:ย Itโs worth just repeating the allegation here: that the worldโs largest democracy and 2023 G20 host was involved in an extrajudicial and extraterritorial assassination of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.
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Youโd want to be confident going public with an explosive claim like this. Weโve not seen any evidence yet and, given itโs reportedly intel-sourced, we may never see conclusive evidence.
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In the meantime, Trudeau has already briefed his US, UK, and French counterparts, whoโll now be reflecting on their own approach to India: the West has increasingly courted it as a way to balance China, but these allegations, true or not, will bolster those whoโve been urging caution.
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Also worth noting:
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The US and Australia have both said theyโre โdeeply concernedโ by the allegations. The UK has said itโs in โclose touchโ with Canada.
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India designated Mr Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.
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Air India flight 182 from Canada to India blew up off the Irish coast in 1985, killing all 329 people on board. A Sikh man acquitted over the bombing was shot dead in the same Vancouver region last year.
๐ฐ How newspapers coveredโฆ
US-China talks in Malta
London, UK |
โUS and China officials meet in Malta ahead of possible Biden-Xi summitโ |
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โWang Yi tells U.S. the Taiwan question remains ‘No.1 red line’โ |
Taipei, Taiwan |
โWang Yi heads to Russia after US talksโ |
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Wang Yi is Chinaโs foreign minister
Todayโs newsletter is supported by: Economist Education
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How will the US-China rivalry shape technological development? Is globalisation in retreat? And how would this affect the global division of power?
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Economist Educationโs six-week international relations course explores the forces shifting the world order, and what this will mean for business, policy and people.
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The online course features insights from The Economistโs journalists and invited experts, shared through specially crafted articles, infographics and videos. Through our interactive forums, participants can network with a global cohort of leaders to challenge their perspectives and apply learnings to new contexts.
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Intrigue readers can enjoy 15% off this course by using the code ECON15INTRIGUE at checkout*.
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*Code expires October 31st 2023
๐ฑ Taiwan | Tech
Foxconn hedges its bets (again)
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Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn has announced plans to double its investment in India over the next year. A Foxconn exec made the announcement on LinkedIn while wishing Prime Minister Modi a happy 73rd birthday.
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Whatโs behind Foxconnโs move?
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๐งฒย Pull factors –ย India offers incentives and a large workforce
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๐ย Push factors –ย Foxconn is Chinaโs largest private employer and Appleโs largest iPhone manufacturer, so thereโs value in hedging against political risk amidst deteriorating US-China ties, and
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๐๏ธ Saving face – Thereโs probably also some damage control at play, after Foxconn ditched a $19.5B Indian joint venture in July.
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Intrigue’s take: As spooked governments take a more assertive approach to protecting their economies, business leaders are increasingly cosying-up to key decision-makers. And yes, sometimes that means swallowing your pride, logging onto LinkedIn, and sending a slightly cringe birthday message to a world leader (while promising billions in new investment).
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Also worth noting:
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Apple is hoping to manufacture 18% of its iPhones in India by 2025, up from 7% in FY22-23.
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Foxconnโs founder is currently running for president in Taiwan.
๐ง Today on Intrigue Outloud
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Why are so many world leaders missing from the UN?
โ Extra Intrigue
Hereโs what folks around the world are tweeting about:
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๐ง๐ผ #SingaporeGP is trending in Botswana, after a particularly nail-biting Formula 1 race.
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๐ซ๐ฎ Finns are tweeting about the โKaivokatuโ area in Helsinki, which might be closed to private cars to improve the urban environment.
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๐ต๐ฐ The hashtag โ#SupremeCourtOfPakistanโ is trending in Pakistan after the judicial body allowed the live streaming of its proceedings for the first time in history.
๐ณ๏ธ Poll time!
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It’s been a year since Mahsa Amini’s death triggered protests in Iran. Do you think those protests were successful? |
๐ฌ Quote of the day
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Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didnโt mince her words last night (Monday) on a panel in the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
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Want to keep up to date with our UNGA coverage? Sign up here!
Yesterdayโs poll: Are you following the UN General Assembly this week?
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โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ โ Yes, I’m attending! (5%)
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๐จ๐จ๐จ๐จโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ ๐ญ Yes, but from afar (36%)
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๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฉย ๐ฅฑ No, not really interested (54%)
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โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ โ๏ธ Other (write in!) (5%)
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Your two cents:
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โ F.T: โDespite the lack of specific objectives completed or likely to be completed, ongoing communication is better than none at all.โ
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โ๏ธ R.L: โI live in NYC, so I am paying attention by force.โ