🌍 Lula’s South American Summit

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🗺️ AROUND THE WORLD

1. 🇰🇵 North Korea: Pyongyang’s first-ever spy satellite failed and fell into the sea off the Korean peninsula yesterday (Wednesday). The satellite’s launch triggered missile alert systems across Japan and South Korea, forcing residents to take shelter.

2. 🇱🇻 Latvia: Diplomats rejoice! Parliamentarians have elected long-time foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics as the country’s next president, by a single-vote margin. Serving in the largely ceremonial role, he’ll represent Latvia (an EU and NATO member) at NATO’s Vilnius summit next month.

3. 🇵🇼 Palau: The Pacific Island nation of Palau has raised concerns after a Chinese vessel reportedly loitered over and examined one of Palau’s undersea internet cables. Palau is one of only four Pacific Island nations that continue to recognise Taiwan.

4. 🇵🇪 Peru: Health officials have forbidden households from filling vases with water in order to combat a major outbreak of dengue. Scientists say climate change is at least partially responsible for the outbreak, which has been exacerbated by high rainfall and temperatures.

5. 🇨🇫 Central African Republic (CAR): President Faustin-Archange Touadera has set a referendum on eliminating presidential term limits for 30 July. If successful, the change would allow him to serve indefinitely, a top priority for the ~2,000 Wagner mercenaries in CAR.

🇧🇷 BRAZIL | GEOPOLITICS

Lula grasps at South American unity

Briefly: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is back on the world stage, and he’s hosted a summit to prove it. On Tuesday the leaders of 12 South American countries met in Brasilia to try and resuscitate the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a bloc which last met nine years ago.

The leaders reportedly discussed the possibility of a currency union, a regional energy market, and deeper security integration.

But unity proved elusive on at least one point: Venezuela. 

• 👐 On the one hand you have leaders like Lula, who welcomed Venezuela’s president to the summit and said the idea of an anti-democratic Venezuela was a “narrative” promoted by the West.

• 🙅 But others like the leader of Chile pushed back, highlighting the serious human rights issues in Venezuela and encouraging fellow leaders not to “bury our head in the sand”.

Intrigue’s take: There’s been a real alphabet soup of Latin American regional blocs over the years: CELAC, ALBA, CASA, SICA, AP, PIM, MERCOSUR, UNASUR… the list goes on, and it’s tempting to respond with yet another acronym: WTF.

Many of these blocs have struggled to gain traction. They fade away, another is born, or an old one (like UNASUR) is revived. And the problem’s not generally the bloc, or its mandate, or even its leadership. It’s more the ideological divisions that run through the region, both within and between countries.

But when Latin America does find a durable path forward, there’s a good chance it can leave an admiring world uttering a new acronym: OMG.

Also worth noting:

• In 2018, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru suspended their participation in UNASUR. The President of Colombia announced his country would be rejoining this week.

• Around half a million displaced Venezuelans now live in Chile. Those in Chile for five years or more can vote, even if they’re not citizens.

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Today’s briefing is sponsored by Morning Brew

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🚗 CHINA | GEO-ECONOMICS

Musk visits China for first time in three years

Briefly: Tesla (et al) founder Elon Musk met with China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday (30 May). Musk and several other top CEOs are visiting Beijing for a JP Morgan conference.

China is key for Musk. Its 1.4 billion person market makes up a fifth of Tesla’s revenue, a third of its unit sales, and more than half its total production. So it’s no surprise Musk is (according to Beijing) wary of US-China decoupling.

China’s statement about Musk also included some banging automotive puns, including the need to avoid “dangerous driving” in US-China relations, and “step on the gas” to promote cooperation. Have folks there been reading Intrigue?

Intrigue’s take: China’s defence minister won’t meet the US defence secretary, and the foreign minister is slow-walking a meeting with his US counterpart.

Yet China’s top officials clear their calendar for Musk. And by doing so, they send a message to the US: be more like Musk, keep investing, say nice things, and everybody will get along.

Things might get trickier for Musk when China chooses to send a different message.

Also worth noting:

• Tesla’s share price jumped 5% after Musk met China’s foreign minister.

• Tesla announced plans last month to build a new battery factory in Shanghai.

• Musk didn’t tweet while he was in China. It was his longest break from Twitter in a year. The app is banned in China but is generally available for those with a US roaming plan.

👀 EXTRA INTRIGUE

What we’re reading about the new space race.

• India rockets into the global space race ($)

• A gold rush in space

• The billionaire space race is on

• The Korean space race is heating up

📸 PHOTO OF THE DAY

Malaysian authorities have seized a China-flagged ship suspected of looting cannon shells and metal from two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea.

In addition to relics, looters covet pre-1945 steel: a metal that hasn’t been contaminated by nuclear fallout, making it highly valuable in medical and scientific equipment.

🗳️ POLL TIME!

Yesterday’s poll: What do you think is the defining feature of a world superpower?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🎖️ Military supremacy (28%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💰 Economic supremacy (43%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💻 Technological supremacy (16%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤝 Diplomatic clout (9%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (4%)

Your two cents:

• 💻 A.G.T: “While economic and military supremacy are the practical projections of superpower status, technological supremacy is the basis for both economic and military supremacy.”

• ✍️ R.L: “Cultural influence. The U.S.’s most powerful export is Hollywood.”