Global Pulse

分类： politics

  • NATO chief downplays US military cutbacks as top commander makes backup plans

    NATO chief downplays US military cutbacks as top commander makes backup plans

    BRUSSELS — Ahead of a pivotal gathering of NATO defense ministers that he will chair this week, alliance Secretary-General Mark Rutte has sought to ease allied anxiety over the Trump administration’s decision to scale back the U.S. military contribution to collective defense contingency plans for Europe.

    On June 3, the Pentagon notified NATO partners that the United States would no longer commit a suite of high-value military assets — including an aircraft carrier and its accompanying support vessels, aerial refueling tankers, and dozens of fighter jets — to European defense in the event of a crisis triggered under Article 5 of NATO’s founding charter. In response to this shift, NATO’s American supreme allied commander has begun developing alternative contingency plans to rebalance alliance defense posturing across the continent.

    Rutte was quick to frame the adjustment as a procedural update to planning, not a drawdown of existing U.S. military presence on the continent. “This is not about where forces and assets are currently located,” Rutte told reporters Wednesday, clarifying that the change only revises commitments for when collective defense plans are activated. “It’s about who would do what if our defense plans were activated. So, let’s say in case of an Article 5 situation.”

    Article 5, the cornerstone of NATO’s collective security guarantee, binds the alliance’s 32 member states to treat an armed attack on one ally as an attack on all. While the provision does not legally mandate any member to deploy military force, a broad majority of allies would typically contribute to a collective response. The U.S. currently maintains the largest military force and most expansive defense capabilities across the alliance, and the Trump administration has confirmed it has no plans to withdraw U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe — a core component of NATO’s nuclear deterrence strategy. The shift in commitments comes as the U.S. reorients its global military focus to counter growing strategic competition from China in the Indo-Pacific region.

    NATO’s core operational framework for coordinating collective defense, the NATO Force Model, outlines which assets from member states will be made available to alliance commanders across the first six months of a conflict, spanning peace, crisis, and full war. According to Rutte, alliance commander U.S. General Alex Grynkewich has assessed that existing and upcoming capabilities from other NATO member states are largely sufficient to fill the gaps created by the U.S. drawdown in planning commitments. “The overall picture is looking good,” Rutte said.

    Even so, some European allies have expressed surprise at the range of assets being withdrawn from U.S. commitments, as many of these capabilities are already in short supply across European armed forces. The Trump administration has set a deadline for allies to outline their plans to replace the missing assets or adjust defense planning to account for the gap in advance of the July 7-8 NATO summit scheduled to be held in Ankara, Turkey. Ahead of the summit, European and Canadian allies are expecting to receive more detailed clarification of U.S. plans from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at this week’s Brussels meeting, after Hegseth skipped the alliance’s previous defense minister gathering in February.

    The recent policy shift has already sown confusion among allies. Last month, Trump announced plans to deploy an additional 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland, a move that bewildered alliance partners even as his administration continues to reiterate its goal of reducing, not expanding, the overall U.S. military footprint in Europe.

    Separate from the changes to collective defense planning, additional U.S. troop drawdowns are already underway in the Balkans. Last Friday, NATO military headquarters announced it would downsize the alliance’s Kosovo Security Force (KFOR), with U.S. troops expected to make up a significant portion of the departing personnel. Currently, 590 U.S. troops are deployed with KFOR, making the U.S. the second-largest contributing nation to the mission behind Italy, which deploys 907 personnel. The U.S. also maintains a contingent of Black Hawk helicopters at its large Camp Bondsteel base in Kosovo.

    KFOR first deployed to the region in 1999 to maintain peace between Kosovo and Serbia after the end of the Kosovo War. At its peak, the mission counted more than 50,000 personnel across all contributing nations, and force levels have been gradually reduced for decades as regional tensions eased. In 2023, however, NATO deployed an additional 1,000 troops to the region after a new wave of violent unrest erupted. On Wednesday, Rutte confirmed the latest drawdown will see more than 1,000 total personnel depart KFOR, consistent with Grynkewich’s assessment that security conditions in Kosovo are now stable enough to “optimize” the mission’s size.

  • ‘Why bother?’: Trump no longer feels the need to seize Iran’s uranium

    ‘Why bother?’: Trump no longer feels the need to seize Iran’s uranium

    Just one day after formalizing a ceasefire memorandum of understanding with Iran to end the unprovoked war launched jointly with Israel in February, U.S. President Donald Trump has dramatically softened his long-stated top priority for the conflict: seizing Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Speaking Tuesday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France, Trump asserted there was “no rush” to recover the nuclear material from sites targeted by U.S. airstrikes in June 2025.

    In comments that contradicted months of public messaging from Trump and his senior national security team, the president downplayed both the urgency and the value of the uranium he had once framed as an existential threat requiring immediate military action. “Taking the highly enriched uranium is something the U.S. wants psychologically, but not enough to prioritize extracting it right away,” Trump said, even suggesting that a case could be made that the effort to seize the material was not worth the logistical challenge at all.

    Noting that only the United States and China possess the specialized heavy equipment required to extract the uranium, Trump added: “Frankly, to go get it—we’re going to go get it—but to go get it is a big deal. You could make the case, ‘Why do you even bother?’ because it’s not very valuable, you know. It’s probably half a million dollars worth, it’s not very valuable stuff.”

    Trump’s shift comes 24 hours after he and Iranian officials announced the MOU that halted hostilities, a conflict during which Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies and sending oil prices soaring across international markets. The president told The New York Times that the agreement caps Iran’s uranium enrichment at levels that can never be repurposed for military use. However, anonymous White House officials speaking to The Washington Post clarified that full details of Iran’s nuclear program oversight remain unresolved, with formal negotiations set to unfold over the next two months. The question of whether nuclear talks would proceed separately from ceasefire negotiations had been a major sticking point for U.S. negotiators in the lead-up to the MOU.

    When pressed on criticism that the new agreement fails to secure any new nuclear concessions that were not already enshrined in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Obama-era deal that Trump abandoned during his first term, which traded sanctions relief for nuclear limits—the president pushed back. He reiterated that the new deal permanently restricts Iran’s uranium enrichment to nonmilitary purposes only.

    Supporters of the administration, including former National Security Council chief of staff Alex Gray, have defended the agreement as a historic breakthrough, claiming it marks the first time the U.S. has permanently blocked Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon. Iran has consistently maintained, even before the February invasion, that its entire nuclear program is intended exclusively for peaceful civilian energy purposes.

    But foreign policy analysts say Trump’s Tuesday comments expose inconsistencies in the administration’s justifications for the war. Foreign policy analyst Logan McMillen argued that the president’s downplaying of the uranium is an implicit admission that the material was always a false pretext for the conflict. “The real purpose was to punish Iran for the crime of being an independent economic power that refused to participate in America’s petro economy,” McMillen said.

    CNN’s Aaron Blake points out that this latest shift is far from the first time Trump has sent contradictory messages about Iran’s nuclear program. Just weeks ago, Trump wrote on social media that Iran’s uranium would be unearthed by U.S. experts—working with Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency—and destroyed. But as far back as April, he told Reuters that U.S. strikes had left Iran’s uranium buried deep enough that he “didn’t care” about its location. Two weeks after that April comment, he insisted the U.S. “had to take that nuclear dust,” then told Fox News later that destroying the stockpile was “not necessary except from a public relations standpoint.”

  • Leader of South Africa’s second biggest party wants his predecessor sacked as minister

    Leader of South Africa’s second biggest party wants his predecessor sacked as minister

    South Africa’s ruling governing coalition is facing an internal shake-up, as the new head of its second-largest partner party has formally requested President Cyril Ramaphosa remove a high-profile former party leader from his cabinet post. Geordin Hill-Lewis, who took over leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA) from John Steenhuisen this past April, has proposed a sweeping set of changes to the party’s representation within the national unity government, led by the African National Congress (ANC). His top demand is the dismissal of Steenhuisen, one of South Africa’s most recognizable political figures, from his current role as Minister of Agriculture.

    The current political arrangement in South Africa stems from the 2024 national general election, where no single political party secured an absolute parliamentary majority. This forced the formation of a multi-party coalition government, and as part of the power-sharing agreement, the DA now holds six full cabinet positions, in addition to multiple deputy minister posts across government departments. To date, President Ramaphosa has not issued a public response to Hill-Lewis’s request, but political analysts widely expect the president will not reject the proposed reshuffle, as coalition custom requires the president to accept a partner party’s proposed changes to its own cabinet representatives.

    While Hill-Lewis has not publicly stated an explicit reason for pushing for Steenhuisen’s removal, political and agricultural observers widely link the move to Steenhuisen’s widely criticized handling of South Africa’s recent foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. The viral epidemic has caused catastrophic damage to South Africa’s $80 billion livestock industry, and Steenhuisen has faced sustained backlash from farming communities across the country for what they call his slow and inadequate action to contain the spread of the disease.

    Under Hill-Lewis’s reshuffle plan, current Agriculture Deputy Minister Willie Aucamp would be promoted to replace Steenhuisen as full minister, with an immediate mandate to resolve outstanding legal disputes tied to the foot-and-mouth outbreak. For Steenhuisen, the proposed change would represent a significant demotion: the former DA leader has been nominated for the far lower post of Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry. This shift is not entirely unexpected, as Steenhuisen already opted not to run for re-election as DA leader earlier this year, a decision partially driven by an earlier financial scandal that eroded his support within the party.

    Hill-Lewis also outlined a full slate of other personnel changes for the DA’s government representation. Under the proposal, David Maynier would move into the role of Minister of Environment, replacing the outgoing Willie Aucamp. Alexandra Abrahams, who previously served in a senior role on Steenhuisen’s leadership team, would be appointed Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy. Yusuf Cassim would take up the post of Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, while Jack Bloom would become Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation.

    The reshuffle marks a sharp public split between two politicians who were once close political allies, highlighting the internal pressures facing South Africa’s young unity government as it works to address ongoing economic and agricultural challenges across the country.

  • Canada’s Carney isn’t having a bilateral meeting with Trump at G7 but says it’s not a snub

    Canada’s Carney isn’t having a bilateral meeting with Trump at G7 but says it’s not a snub

    EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Against the backdrop of the annual G7 summit for the world’s major industrialized democracies, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will depart the gathering on Wednesday without holding a scheduled formal bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, a development that comes as the future of the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) hangs in the balance.

    Bilateral meetings between Canadian prime ministers and sitting U.S. presidents have long been a standard staple of G7 gatherings, but Carney has pushed back firmly against any speculation that the lack of a formal sit-down constitutes a diplomatic snub from the Trump administration. Carney told reporters that he has already held seven to eight informal conversations with Trump over the 36 hours leading up to Wednesday, with more discussions planned for the day of his departure. These talks spanned a broad spectrum of policy and personal topics, ranging from economic cooperation, cross-border relations, and emerging artificial intelligence policy to global hotspots including Ukraine and Iran, and even a lighthearted exchange about Trump’s recent birthday.

    The current moment is a defining turning point for NAFTA, the trade accord that has deeply integrated the economies of Canada, the United States, and Mexico since its implementation in the early 1990s. The agreement’s renewal deadline is set for July 1, and last week Trump raised widespread alarm when he indicated he may opt to let the existing deal expire rather than approve an extension. For Canada, which relies on the U.S. market for roughly 75% of its total exports, preserving a stable, long-term NAFTA framework is a top national economic priority.

    On the sidelines of the G7 gathering, Canada’s top trade officials have already been advancing negotiations: Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for U.S. trade, and Janice Charette, Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator, held talks with U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer. LeBlanc confirmed that the discussions yielded tangible progress toward a potential agreement. LeBlanc has previously warned that the Trump administration is pushing for major changes to the accord’s structure, including mandatory annual review cycles, a shift that would create persistent uncertainty over the trade deal’s long-term permanence.

    Thus far at the 2025 G7 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron, the event’s host, remains the only G7 leader to secure a formal one-on-one bilateral meeting with Trump. The U.S. president has also held formal bilateral sessions with leaders of invited non-G7 nations including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and India. Carney pushed back on questions about the uneven scheduling, noting that it is standard practice for a summit’s host country to hold a formal bilateral meeting with the U.S. president as a matter of protocol.

    Audio captured by open microphones during one informal interaction revealed that Carney balanced lighthearted humor with serious policy discussion with Trump. In an off-the-cuff moment, the two leaders joked playfully about “stealing” Macron’s luxury watch before shifting to a substantive conversation about Canada’s new policy framework for Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports.

    Carney explained to Trump that Canada has implemented a hard import cap on Chinese-made EVs, limiting annual imports to just 49,000 vehicles – less than 3% of Canada’s total current auto market. Carney noted he struck this cap arrangement with Beijing, framing it as a tough policy aligned with Trump’s own trade priorities. “It’s a cap, we capped, a hard line,” Carney said in the exchange. “I thought you’d actually like that.” Trump responded positively, telling Carney: “That’s good, I like it.”

    Earlier this year, Canada broke with the U.S. to roll back its 100% tariff on Chinese EVs in exchange for reduced Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports. Carney confirmed he has discussed the policy with Trump twice, adding that he was not surprised the U.S. president had not followed every granular detail of the bilateral Canada-China deal. “He likes the structure. Actually, we had a follow-up conversation about it as well,” Carney added.

    Peter Boehm, a veteran Canadian senator who previously led Canadian delegation planning for multiple G7 summits, backed Carney’s framing of the lack of a formal meeting, saying that the informal format of the summit actually gives leaders far more unstructured interaction time than pre-scheduled formal meetings allow. “I wouldn’t see it as a snub,” Boehm said. “It’s amazing how much time leaders can actually have to have conversations.”

  • Norway’s crown princess undergoes successful lung transplant, palace says

    Norway’s crown princess undergoes successful lung transplant, palace says

    The Norwegian Royal Household has confirmed that Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 52, has completed a successful lung transplant at a hospital in Oslo, bringing a wave of cautious relief across the kingdom after months of declining health.

    Mette-Marit first received a diagnosis of a rare, progressive form of pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a condition that gradually scarred her lung tissue and caused persistent breathing difficulties. As her symptoms worsened over the past year, she began stepping back from official royal engagements, with her medical team describing her condition as significantly deteriorated and “dangerous” earlier in 2025. Just 12 days before the transplant procedure, the palace confirmed she had been added to the national organ transplant waiting list— a step doctors only take when a patient is estimated to have less than 12 months left to live, with priority given to the most critically ill cases.

    Her last public appearance came on May 17, when she was photographed using a nasal breathing tube connected to a portable oxygen device to manage her symptoms. Following the operation, lead lung specialist Are Holm shared positive updates in an official statement released by the royal palace. “We are delighted that everything has progressed well so far,” Holm said, noting that the Crown Princess will remain under close medical observation in the hospital for the next several weeks, a standard protocol for all recent organ transplant recipients. Holm also cautioned that the road to recovery remains fragile: transplant recipients must take lifelong immunosuppressive medications to prevent organ rejection, and data shows one in eight donor lung recipients do not survive the first year post-procedure, while roughly half are still alive after a decade.

    Crown Prince Haakon, Mette-Marit’s husband of 24 years, has announced he will adjust all upcoming official commitments to be by his wife’s side during her initial recovery. The transplant comes amid an exceptionally difficult period for the Norwegian royal family, marked by two major controversies in recent months. Just two days before the procedure, Mette-Marit’s 29-year-old son Marius Borg Høiby was sentenced to four years in prison following conviction on two counts of rape. Though Høiby—who was four when his mother married Haakon and holds no official royal title—pled guilty to lesser included offenses, he maintains his innocence on the most serious charges, and his legal team has already confirmed plans to appeal the verdict. Prior to the sentencing, Høiby’s lawyers repeatedly requested his temporary release from custody to allow him to visit his ailing mother, but all such requests were denied.

    Earlier this year, the royal family faced another public scandal when documents were released revealing Mette-Marit’s three-year friendship with the deceased disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mette-Marit later issued a public apology to King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, acknowledged she had exercised “poor judgement” in maintaining the relationship, and stated in a national television interview that she regretted ever meeting Epstein.

    Norwegian royal commentator and historian Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen called the successful transplant positive news for both the royal family and the entire nation. “This was one of the most serious obstacles on the road for a better health for the Crown Princess, and I think many people are relieved the transplant was successful,” Schulsrud-Hansen noted.

  • US officials say Iran deal calls for diluting uranium at minimum, waiving sanctions, opening strait

    US officials say Iran deal calls for diluting uranium at minimum, waiving sanctions, opening strait

    VERSAILLES, France — Days after a pre-arranged digital signature and ahead of a planned formal ceremonial signing, former U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday he had finalized his signature on an interim agreement with Iran, a deal that rolls out sweeping U.S. concessions to Tehran, pauses the war launched by the U.S. and Israel in February, and paves the way for renewed global oil flows through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who led mediation efforts to broker the initial ceasefire framework, confirmed the deal is already taking immediate effect, with a full formal signing ceremony scheduled to take place this Friday.

    Details of the agreement, negotiated over weeks behind closed doors, were first shared with reporters by unnamed U.S. officials, and the text released later by Iranian state media largely aligned with the U.S. account of the terms. The framework includes core commitments from Iran to dilute its existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium on site and reaffirm a pledge not to pursue or acquire nuclear weapons. In exchange, Washington has agreed to immediately waive — though not permanently eliminate — sweeping U.S. sanctions against Iran, a move that lets Tehran resume unconstrained global oil sales starting immediately.

    Additional key terms of the 60-day interim deal open the Strait of Hormuz to toll-free commercial shipping, a critical shift after months of closure that triggered a global energy crisis, and require a full halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon while affirming Lebanon’s full territorial integrity amid Israel’s ongoing invasion against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The agreement also sets a 60-day negotiating window for parties to reach a permanent, final nuclear agreement.

    Trump confirmed the signing as he departed the historic Palace of Versailles, following a private dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron held after the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France. A video shared online by a White House aide captured the moment: Trump seated next to Macron, signed a physical copy of the agreement, then passed the document and pen to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as attendees in the room applauded. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose unannounced details, confirmed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed the agreement Wednesday, though Tehran has not yet issued an official public comment on the signing.

    As of Wednesday evening, the full text of the agreement has not been formally released to the public. Confusion remains around the discrepancy between Trump’s digital signing of the deal that was announced for Sunday and this week’s in-person signing at Versailles, as well as whether the 60-day negotiating clock officially began with Wednesday’s signing.

    The conflict that preceded this deal began when the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28, with Trump framing the war’s core goal as eliminating Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon. Over the course of the conflict, Trump expanded stated war aims to include ending Iran’s ballistic missile program, cutting its support for regional proxy groups like Hezbollah, and even calling for the full overthrow of the Iranian government. This interim agreement falls far short of those sweeping original goals, but Trump nonetheless praised the deal Wednesday.

    “Nobody knows what it is, but it’s very strong,” Trump told reporters in France. He also left open the possibility of walking away from the framework entirely, adding: “It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs.”

    For the most part, the interim deal restores the regional status quo that existed before the outbreak of war: it ends all active hostilities, reopens the Strait of Hormuz — the critical global energy chokepoint whose closure triggered skyrocketing energy and food prices worldwide — and resumes bilateral nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The framework delivers substantial immediate benefits to Iran, requiring very few upfront concessions from Tehran in return.

    The terms of this new deal go far beyond the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Obama-era Iran nuclear agreement that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term, when he famously called it the “worst deal ever negotiated.” Iran has consistently maintained its nuclear program is purely for peaceful, civilian purposes.

    The deal is expected to face fierce political pushback in Washington, and it marks a significant setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has already faced growing domestic criticism from opposition groups, media, and even some of his own allies as details of the agreement have emerged.

    A core provision of the deal ends months of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, one of the most contentious points of the negotiation. The text of the agreement explicitly requires all military operations in Lebanon to cease immediately and affirms the country’s territorial integrity, with Iran calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas of southern Lebanon under the deal’s terms. Israel has so far rejected any withdrawal, but the agreement’s terms mandate an immediate end to offensive operations regardless.

    Pakistani mediators, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations, outlined that broader concessions to Iran — including the full permanent lifting of all U.S. and U.N. sanctions and the release of billions in frozen Iranian assets — will be implemented gradually, tied to progress in the 60-day permanent negotiation window. Even so, the immediate U.S. decision to allow unrestricted Iranian oil sales strips Washington of one of its biggest negotiating leverage points; under the 2015 JCPOA, sanctions on Iranian oil were only lifted after Iran completed major nuclear concessions, not at the start of talks.

    Unlike the 2015 agreement, which only addressed nuclear-related sanctions, this interim framework opens the door to the eventual removal of all U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran, including those imposed over Tehran’s weapons programs and human rights record. The agreement also includes a provision for up to $300 billion in reconstruction funding for Iran, a sum that U.S. Vice President JD Vance says will come from Gulf Arab nations. Trump confirmed Wednesday the U.S. will not contribute any funds to this package, though Gulf states have already signaled reluctance to fund Iran after Iranian attacks during the war damaged Gulf oil infrastructure and other targets.

    For the global economy, the agreement delivers immediate, much-needed relief. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz. After the war began, Iranian attacks on commercial shipping and demands for shipping tolls effectively closed the strait to most traffic, driving up global energy prices and raising costs for essential goods including food. Under the terms of the deal, the strait will reopen to prewar traffic levels within 30 days, and the U.S. will lift its blockade on Iranian ports. The framework also acknowledges the need for coordinated demining operations to clear unexploded ordnance from the waterway before full traffic can resume.

    This report includes contributions from Associated Press journalists across multiple global locations: Aamer Madhani in Evian-les-Bains, France; Darlene Superville in Geneva, Switzerland; Angela Charlton in Paris, France; and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan. David Gambrell reported from Dubai, Samy Magdy from Cairo, and Michael Catalini from Morrisville, Pennsylvania.

  • China releases white paper on global governance

    China releases white paper on global governance

    On June 17, 2026, China’s State Council Information Office officially released a landmark white paper in Beijing titled *More Just and Equitable Global Governance: China’s Principles, Proposals and Actions*, laying out the country’s long-held stance, actionable proposals, and ongoing commitments to reforming and improving the global governance system. The document comes at a time of rising global fragmentation, growing governance deficits, and intensifying cross-border challenges that demand coordinated collective action from the international community. Its core goal is to clarify China’s approach, build broader consensus among nations, and strengthen collective capacity to address shared global risks, ultimately laying the groundwork for a more inclusive and fairer global governance framework. As the white paper emphasizes, global governance is a collective undertaking that shapes the long-term well-being of all people around the world. The pursuit of a just and equitable system has been a shared aspiration of communities across every region for decades, and China has consistently positioned itself as an active participant, dedicated contributor, and responsible builder of the global governance order. Central to China’s modern approach to global governance is the vision of a global community with a shared future for mankind, put forward by President Xi Jinping in the new era. Under this guiding vision, China advocates for a global governance system rooted in the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. It also promotes true multilateralism, with the aim of nurturing an equal and orderly multipolar world and driving economic globalization that is universally beneficial and inclusive to all nations. In 2025, President Xi Jinping launched the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), a framework crafted to address the two defining questions of the current era: what kind of global governance system the world needs, and how to reform and improve existing governance structures to meet modern challenges. Since its introduction, the initiative has garnered remarkable international support: nearly 160 countries and international organizations have backed the proposal, and more than 60 nations have joined the GGI’s Group of Friends. The white paper notes that the international community recognizes the GGI sends a powerful, clear message: the world must reaffirm its commitment to multilateralism, unite divided forces, and work collectively toward a fairer global future. Aligned with the growing global push for greater democracy in international relations, the GGI has renewed international confidence in the practice of multilateralism, at a moment when multilateral institutions face unprecedented pressure and skepticism. It provides a clear, practical roadmap for upgrading global governance, offering much-needed stability and positive momentum to a world grappling with geopolitical turbulence, economic uncertainty, and overlapping transnational crises. The white paper underscores that the core foundation for effectively implementing the GGI is unwavering respect for the authority and central role of the United Nations in global affairs. For the initiative to succeed, major powers must step up to their international responsibilities, and all countries must come together in cooperative partnership to address the growing deficits in peace and development across the globe. All nations, the document stresses, should firmly uphold the international system centered on the United Nations, protect the international order rooted in international law, and abide by the basic norms of international relations grounded in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter — rejecting attempts to fragment the global order through exclusionary blocs and frameworks that serve narrow national interests. Structured into five core sections, in addition to a preface and concluding chapter, the white paper opens by outlining the severe, complex challenges facing the contemporary world. It moves on to explain how the GGI responds to these pressing modern challenges, before detailing China’s existing contributions to advancing more inclusive global governance. It then lays out the vision for guiding global governance reform toward a more prosperous and equitable future, and closes by calling for collective action at this critical juncture in global history. The release of the white paper comes as China prepares to host the inaugural Xiong’an Global Governance Forum, marking another key step in advancing dialogue and cooperation on global governance reform among the international community.

  • Equatorial Guinea government resigns after failing to meet targets

    Equatorial Guinea government resigns after failing to meet targets

    The entire cabinet of Equatorial Guinea has stepped down after the government was formally accused of failing to meet its policy targets, enabling systemic corruption, and stalling long-planned economic diversification efforts, according to Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.

    Vice-President Obiang Mangue — who is the son of long-ruling President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-serving incumbent head of state — confirmed that Prime Minister Manuel Osa Nsue Nsua submitted the collective resignation of all government ministers this week. The outgoing administration, which was only appointed in early 2024, delivered less than 10 percent of its stated policy goals, the vice-president confirmed in a public post on X, the social platform formally known as Twitter.

    While the vice-president did not outline specific unmet targets in his announcement, an official statement from the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) laid out the full scope of presidential dissatisfaction. According to the party’s statement, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo identified endemic corruption, misappropriation of public funds for personal gain, and widespread stagnation in national development projects as core failures of the outgoing administration. The president also criticized the cabinet for failing to advance policies to diversify the national economy, particularly a lack of progress supporting growth in the domestic agricultural sector, a key step to reduce the country’s reliance on imported goods that can be produced locally.

    For decades, Equatorial Guinea’s economy has been almost entirely dependent on oil and gas exports, which generate the vast majority of the country’s total export revenue and government budget. Despite its significant national oil wealth, widespread poverty remains pervasive across the country of 1.8 million people, with most residents seeing little benefit from the nation’s natural resource reserves. In recent years, the economy has also faced growing headwinds driven by declining oil production and shifting global demand for fossil fuels, making economic diversification a higher priority for policymakers.

    President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has held uninterrupted control of the West African nation since 1979, and has drawn longstanding international criticism for concentrating political power in the hands of his family, with multiple close relatives holding key senior government positions. The vice-president framed the mass resignation as a commitment to accountability in public governance, noting on X that “the principle that responsibility in public management must be accompanied by results” demanded the cabinet’s exit. He added that the low level of policy delivery achieved by the outgoing cabinet was “clearly insufficient in relation to the expectations and commitments undertaken.”

    Local political observers expect President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to announce a new full cabinet appointment in the coming days to replace the outgoing administration, with formal nominations expected to be made public shortly after the resignation is formalized.

  • Taiwan’s foreign minister says Chinese pressure on countries over the island is a ‘new normal’

    Taiwan’s foreign minister says Chinese pressure on countries over the island is a ‘new normal’

    MOMBASA, Kenya and TAIPEI, Taiwan — A fresh incident of Taiwan being blocked from a major international conference has underscored what Taiwan’s top diplomat describes as a persistent, growing pattern of Chinese pressure to shut the self-ruled island out of global engagements. On Wednesday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-Lung publicly condemned the recent detention and exclusion of two Taiwanese delegates from the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, an incident Taipei attributes directly to coercive pressure from Beijing on Kenyan organizers.

    According to Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, the two delegates were detained for more than 20 hours after Kenyan authorities seized their passports and mobile phones, barring them from entry on the grounds that their Taiwan-issued passports were not legally recognized. In response to the incident, the entire remaining Taiwanese delegation withdrew from the high-stakes conference, which gathers global stakeholders to tackle pressing ocean governance challenges ranging from climate change-driven ocean degradation to biodiversity loss and plastic pollution.

    Kenyan officials have defended their decision to block the delegates, aligning with Beijing’s longstanding “One China” policy that claims Taiwan as an inalienable province of China. “Our foreign policy recognizes only one China,” Korir Sing’oei, Principal Secretary of Kenya’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters. “Any person purporting to hold a Taiwanese passport would ordinarily not be allowed through our borders for lacking proper documentation and would not in any event be part of a formal state meeting convened by Kenya government.”

    Lin pushed back sharply against Kenya’s justification, arguing that Nairobi had “unilaterally distorted and unwarrantedly expanded” its interpretation of the One China principle to exclude Taiwan’s delegates. “The obstruction of our delegates from attending the meeting is absolutely wrong, and we strongly condemn and protest against it,” Lin stated during an event hosted by the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club Wednesday.

    The Mombasa incident is far from an isolated case, Lin emphasized: Beijing’s campaign to pressure third-party countries to restrict Taiwan’s access to international forums has become “the new normal” for cross-strait and global diplomatic engagement. The Chinese government has for decades pushed to limit Taiwan’s participation in multilateral bodies, barring the island from full membership in the World Health Organization and forcing it to compete under the altered name “Chinese Taipei” at the Olympic Games. In recent months, however, Lin said Beijing has ramped up these coercive efforts, particularly targeting developing and emerging economies in the Global South that are increasingly vulnerable to Chinese economic influence.

    “Some Global South countries are manipulated by the Chinese government in every way,” Lin said, adding that “some democratic countries are trying to fight against it.”

    A high-profile earlier incident this year laid bare the extent of Beijing’s pressure: In April, Taiwan’s president was forced to postpone a planned visit to Eswatini — one of the 13 countries that still officially recognize Taipei — after three neighboring nations reversed earlier approvals for his plane to fly through their airspace, a move widely attributed to Chinese coercion. The president eventually traveled to the African kingdom days later aboard a chartered plane provided by Eswatini’s monarch.

    The 2024 Our Ocean Conference, hosted for the first time by an African nation, has been framed by organizers as a landmark moment for African leadership in global ocean stewardship. The event draws hundreds of delegates from across the African continent, the United States, the European Union, and small island developing states that are disproportionately impacted by rising ocean levels and climate change. China has not yet issued any public comment on the accusations of pressure related to the Kenya incident.

    Cross-strait relations have been defined by separate governance since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, when defeated Nationalist Party forces retreated to Taiwan after the Communist Party seized control of mainland China. The island has since transitioned from decades of martial law to a full multi-party democracy, but Beijing has never renounced its claim to Taiwan and has repeatedly stated it reserves the right to use military force to annex the island if it formally declares independence.

  • Philippine Senate president allied with Duterte removed ahead of his daughter’s impeachment trial

    Philippine Senate president allied with Duterte removed ahead of his daughter’s impeachment trial

    After a bitter two-week leadership deadlock that exposed deep political rifts at the heart of the Philippine government, a close ally of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has claimed the top leadership post in the Philippine Senate, ousting an ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte just months ahead of the impeachment trial of Duterte’s daughter, sitting Vice President Sara Duterte.

    Sherwin Gatchalian secured the Senate presidency in a final vote Wednesday, earning the backing of 13 of the chamber’s 24 senators. His challenger, Alan Peter Cayetano — a long-time loyalist of the former Duterte political bloc — formally conceded defeat shortly after the vote result was finalized. The standoff began in early May when both Gatchalian and Cayetano claimed the Senate presidency, each citing conflicting legal interpretations of legislative quorum rules to legitimize their separate faction votes.

    The deadlock broke abruptly Wednesday when one senator previously aligned with Cayetano defected to the pro-Marcos bloc, handing Gatchalian’s side the clear majority needed to formalize his leadership. The shake-up comes against a backdrop of intensifying political conflict between the Marcos administration and the Duterte camp, a once-formidable alliance that collapsed into open hostility in recent months, laying bare the persistent institutional vulnerabilities that have long marked Philippine democracy.

    “It’s a relief,” noted Jean Franco, a political science professor at the state-run University of the Philippines, in the wake of the resolution. But she cautioned that the country’s democratic system, “with its weak and fragile institutions,” continues to face mounting challenges.

    Observers have widely framed the Senate leadership fight as a proxy battle for the broader power struggle between Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, the country’s two highest-elected officials. The pair governed as coalition partners for years, but their relationship has fractured dramatically, a split that mirrors the deep partisan divisions that have roiled Philippine politics for decades.

    Tensions escalated sharply after the 2023 handover of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity stemming from his administration’s brutal anti-drug crackdown, which left thousands of mostly low-income drug suspects dead between 2016 and 2022. Sara Duterte has publicly blamed Marcos for orchestrating the arrest and transfer of her father, who has repeatedly denied authorizing extrajudicial killings throughout his time in office. Duterte’s ICC trial is scheduled to open in November.

    In a twist that fueled the initial leadership deadlock, Cayetano claimed the Senate presidency on May 11 after Sen. Ronald dela Rosa — Duterte’s former national police chief and an alleged co-perpetrator in the ICC’s crimes against humanity case — emerged from months of hiding to cast the deciding vote for Cayetano. Hours after Cayetano’s win, the ICC unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa, prompting him to return to hiding, where he remains at large.

    The pro-Duterte bloc has suffered additional setbacks in recent weeks: another of Cayetano’s key allies, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, was arrested on June 1 on a plunder charge linked to alleged massive kickbacks from a government flood control infrastructure project. Estrada has denied all wrongdoing and was released after posting bail.

    Control of the Senate carries profound political stakes for the Marcos administration, as the chamber is set to convene the impeachment trial of Sara Duterte in July. The impeachment case was advanced last month by the House of Representatives, which is currently dominated by Marcos allies. Duterte faces multiple charges, including allegations of unexplained wealth and public statements threatening to assassinate President Marcos. She has denied all accusations, with her supporters arguing the charges are politically manufactured to derail her already-announced plan to run for the Philippine presidency in 2028, when Marcos’s current six-year term concludes.