🌍 Mexico reaches out to China for help with fentanyl crisis

🗺️ AROUND THE WORLD

1. 🇹🇼 Taiwan: Continuing her tour of the Americas, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles yesterday (Wednesday). In response, China sent an aircraft carrier group off Taiwan’s coast.

2. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland: The husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon was arrested yesterday (Wednesday). Initial media reports suggest he may have misused party finances. Sturgeon unexpectedly resigned in February.

3. 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern delivered her final speech to Parliament yesterday (Wednesday), marking her official retirement from politics. She now plans to join the board of trustees of Prince William’s environmental non-profit.

4. 🇵🇪 Peru: Football’s governing body FIFA said it would move its U-17 tournament to a new host country after it said Peru had failed to prepare adequately. Peru has been struggling with nationwide protests since December.

5. 🇮🇱 Israel: Security forces arrested around 350 Palestinians during clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem yesterday (Wednesday). The incident has raised fears of a wider escalation in violence.

🇲🇽 MEXICO | NARCOTICS

AMLO asks Xi for help combatting drug trafficking

Briefly: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (aka AMLO) announced on Tuesday he had sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking China’s help in controlling drug shipments across the Pacific.

At issue is fentanyl: a synthetic opiate often produced in Mexico (something AMLO denies) with chemicals from China (something AMLO highlights) and consumed in the US (a crisis which AMLO partly blames on a lack of hugs).

By publicising his letter, AMLO hopes to deflect mounting US criticism that Mexico isn’t doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl to the US.

But Beijing won’t be happy about being dragged into the spotlight like this. As we flagged in today’s intro above, a world leader publicly releasing a private letter is a little like screenshotting a private group chat: not cool.

Plus Mexico already has a complex relationship with China: the two have long seen one another as competitors in the US market, and Mexican officials still fume over China’s response to Mexico’s H1N1 outbreak in 2009.

Intrigue’s take: Xi Jinping has yet to respond to AMLO’s letter, which was dated 22 March. And how does one respond to such a letter? It blames China, while also describing US attitudes as “absurd, manipulative, propagandistic and demagogic.” 

Privately, Xi may well agree with the latter sentiment. But his advisors will likely remind him that AMLO’s audience here – as ever – was also domestic. His letter slips in a reference to Mexico historically resisting the US “with courage, patriotism and dignity.” AMLO’s voters might cheer this line, but it’s not exactly relevant to fentanyl.

So yeah, AMLO has somehow managed to antagonise two world powers at once. But back home, he’s still one of the world’s most popular leaders.

Also worth noting:

• According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 150 Americans die each day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

• In August 2022, China suspended all counternarcotics and law enforcement cooperation with the United States.

Today’s briefing is sponsored by Likewise

🇵🇰 PAKISTAN | POLITICS

Pakistan’s Supreme Court sides with former PM Imran Khan

Briefly: Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the province of Punjab’s local elections will take place on 14 May, after the country’s electoral commission sought to delay the vote until October.

The ruling is a big victory for former prime minister Imran Khan, whose party used its numbers to dissolve several local assemblies in January. Under Pakistan’s constitution, voting for a new assembly should’ve taken place within 90 days, but the electoral commission said the government hadn’t provided enough funds.

So the Supreme Court declared the delay unconstitutional and ordered the government to unlock funds for a new round of voting in May.

Intrigue’s take: Imran Khan may have perfected the art of mischief-making, giving off some solid Jack Sparrow vibes lately. And it’s working for him: he remains the most popular political figure in the country.

But angry as he may be at how he was kicked out of office, each additional gambit tests Pakistan’s institutions in new ways. And in a country already on the brink, those tests could turn dangerous for all involved.

Also worth noting:

• Khan said he would agree to an election delay if the government would share its plans to hold free and fair general elections in October.

• On Tuesday, Pakistan’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 21%, the highest since 1956, in an effort to tame 35% inflation.

👀 EXTRA INTRIGUE

What we’re reading about the Assad regime’s diplomatic re-emergence.

• Arab states are normalising ties with Syria’s Assad regime

• Egypt, Syria in advanced talks to restore diplomatic relations

• Syria’s state capture: the rising influence of Mrs Assad

• Saudi Arabia to invite Syria's Assad to Arab League summit

📜 TODAY IN HISTORY

The US declares war against Germany

President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional war resolution at 1.18pm on this day in 1917. The decision to enter WWI came after Germany had resumed attacks against US merchant ships. Germany had also explored drawing Mexico into the war by offering to help it retake Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

🗳️ POLL TIME!

Yesterday’s poll: What do you think regulators should do with ChatGPT and similar generative AI software?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⚖️ Regulation is key (74%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚫 Ban them all! (8%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔨 Both regulation and bans just suppress innovation (15%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🖋️ Other (write in!) (3%)

Your two cents:

• ⚖️ C.C: “A blanket ban would stop the inevitable and destroy economic capability. Fast regulation, however, is a must. The Government cannot have another Big Tech situation where it's years behind the game.”

• 🔨 R.V: “While governmental regulation should be avoided like the plague, entities that adopt AI for critical functions […] should be ready for the customer blowback and lawsuits resulting from [deploying] these under-developed systems.”

• 🚫 T.L: “Generative AI is just Intellectual Property theft with extra steps.”