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War and Peace for Moscow and Beijing

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Jan — Apr 2023 Pacific Forum

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By Yu Bin

Published May 2023 in Comparative Connections · Volume 25, Issue 1 (This article is extracted from Comparative Connections: A Triannual E-Journal of Bilateral Relations in the Indo-Pacific, Vol. 25, No. 1, May 2023. Preferred citation: Yu Bin, “China-Russia Relations: War and Peace for Moscow and Beijing,” Comparative Connections, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp 161-170.)

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Yu Bin, Wittenberg University

Perhaps more than any other time in their respective histories, the trajectories of China and Russia were separated by choices in national strategy. A year into Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, the war bogged down into a stalemate. Meanwhile, China embarked upon a major peace offensive aimed at Europe and beyond. It was precisely during these abnormal times that the two strategic partners deepened and broadened relations as top Chinese leaders traveled to Moscow in the first few months of the year (China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, President Xi Jinping, and newly appointed Defense Minister Li Shangfu). Meanwhile, Beijing’s peace initiative became both promising and perilous as it reached out to warring sides and elsewhere (Europe and the Middle East). It remains to be seen how this new round of “Western civil war” (Samuel Huntington’s depiction of the 1648-1991 period in his provocative “The Clash of Civilizations?” treatise) could be lessened by a non-Western power, particularly after drone attacks on the Kremlin in early May.

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The EU’s secret weapon against refugees — time

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Delays in rescuing people at sea aren’t a European policy failure. They are a deliberate, cruel strategy.

  • Aljazeera.com
  • Maurice StierlResearcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies at Osnabrück University, Germany

Published On 17 May 202317 May 2023

Members of German NGO migrant rescue Sea-Watch and art Kollektiv Ohne Namen sail a boat with life vests during a symbolic art action to bring attention to the plight of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea
Members of German NGO migrant rescue Sea-Watch and art Kollektiv Ohne Namen sail a boat with life vests during a symbolic art action to bring attention to the plight of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea, on the Ill River in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, May 9, 2023. The slogan reads ‘Abolish Frontex’ [File: Johanna Geron/Reuters]

When boats with refugees are at risk of capsizing in the Mediterranean Sea, the speed of rescue operations is essential. Any delay in the emergency response can lead to serious bodily harm or the loss of life.

Still, offering a speedy response in such situations is not one of Europe’s priorities. In a study recently published in the journal Security Dialogue, I argue that time has become increasingly “weaponised” in Mediterranean migration governance.

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Over the last decade, and in order to prevent arrivals, European Union authorities have sought out ways to slow down rescue engagement while accelerating interceptions to Libya.

The end of Italy’s humanitarian-military operation Mare Nostrum in 2014 marked a turning point. As a response to a devastating shipwreck on October 3, 2013 near Lampedusa, this operation sped up rescue activities off the Libyan coast, leading to the rescue of about 150,000 people. However, it was denounced by critics as a “pull-factor” that would incentivise the arrival of refugees. Mare Nostrum ended and gave way to successive European operations that experimented with delays in emergency responses.

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Nearly 2,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean this year. Here’s why

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npr.org June 28, 20235:01 AM ET

Laurel Wamsle

This handout image provided by Greece’s coast guard on June 14 shows scores of people on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece, drowning hundreds of migrants.

Hellenic Coast Guard via AP

Many around the world closely followed the plight last week of five wealthy men who went missing aboard a Titanic-bound submersible. Meanwhile, researchers at the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) updated the number of migrants who have died trying to reach Europe by sea this year: nearly 2,000.

The number of people who lose their lives each year in the crossing is staggering, and this year is on track to be worse than the last. Here are some of the reasons why this year has become so deadly:

Hundreds died aboard the Adriana

According to IOM data, at least 1,999 migrants died between January 1 and June 26 of this year, mostly from drowning. In the same period last year, 1,358 died. These tallies include those who died in the three major routes across the Mediterranean, as well as at the Atlantic route from West Africa.

One enormous tragedy accounts for a large portion of the uptick: the capsizing of the fishing boat Adriana two weeks ago in deep waters off the coast of Greece. The boat had departed Libya crammed with hundreds of people. When it capsized, it took the lives of most of the migrants on board, and IOM estimates the number who perished at 596.

Migrants from Eritrea, Libya and Sudan crowd the deck of a wooden boat as they wait to be assisted by aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, in the Mediterranean sea about 30 miles north of Libya, on June 17.

Joan Mateu Parra/AP

More people are attempting the crossing

Another factor is that the overall number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean is higher than it was last year.

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Italy in particular has seen a significant increase in the number of migrants arriving: more than 60,000 so far this year, compared with fewer than 27,000 at this point last year. IOM estimates that the total arrivals of migrants by sea to Mediterranean Europe are more than 82,000 this year, compared to fewer than 49,000 by this time last year.

Many of the migrant boats are aiming for the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, which sits about halfway between Tunisia and Sicily. Two flows of migrants are now arriving at Lampedusa: those from Tunisia and those from Libya. Last week, 37 migrants went missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and Lampedusa.

Migrants are traveling on boats not made for high seas

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