Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: November 8, 2015 Edition

On November 8, voters in Burma will go to the polls for the first free national elections in 25 years.

Xi used the meeting to continue to stress his bottom line for cross-strait relations. He underlined the kinship between Taiwan and China, saying their people are “one family”: “We are brothers who are still connected by our flesh even if our bones are broken,” Xi said in his opening remarks.

He also continued to push the “1992 Consensus” as the foundation for cross-strait relations. The 1992 Consensus refers to a bit of political sleight-of-hand, wherein both Taipei and Beijing agree that there is “one China,” without defining which government represents this China (naturally, both sides claim that right for themselves). The DPP, however, has never embraced this consensus, and Tsai has instead opted to frame her cross-strait approach as maintaining the status quo.

In his remarks, Xi offered a potential olive branch to DPP, which is considered by Beijing to be a pro-independence party: “No matter which party or organization, and no matter what they stood for in the past, as long as the 1992 Consensus and its core values are acknowledged, we stand ready to have contact.” But along with that came the warning that without the common political ground of the 1992 Consensus, “the boat of peaceful development will encounter terrifying waves or even capsize.”

It hasn’t been a good two weeks for China’s maritime claims. First, a U.S. freedom of navigation operation took the USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer,within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese-controlled feature in the South China Sea, then the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that it does have jurisdiction to hear the Philippines’ case against China’s South China Sea claims (despite objections from Beijing). But this week, there was some good news for China in the maritime domain: China and South Korea are inching toward finalizing the maritime demarcation between their two countries.

China and South Korea’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap in the Yellow Sea, and as of yet the two sides haven’t reached an agreement on the demarcation line. This has led to heightened tensions over fishing rights in particular, with clashes between the South Korean Coast Guard and Chinese fishermen accused of illegally fishing in South Korea’s waters. In 2014, a Chinese fisherman was fatally shot in a scuffle with the South Korean Coast Guard; in 2011, a Chinese fisherman fatally stabbed a South Korean Coast Guard officer. Finalizing the demarcation line would help prevent further ugly encounters between the two sides.

What’s stark about the Pew data is that the Asia-Pacific region, while worried about climate change overall, is less worried than other parts of the world. The percentage of Asia-Pacific respondents that agreed with the statements that “Climate change is a very serious problem,” that “Climate change is harming people now,” and are “Very concerned that climate change will harm me personally” is lower than the global median. 45 percent of Asia-Pacific respondents agreed with the first statement, 48 percent with the second, and 37 percent with the third. The only other region where fewer than half of all respondents expressed similar beliefs was the Middle East.

At a more granular level, opinions on climate change vary across Asia. In Asia, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam are among the most concerned about the effects of climate change with 76 percent, 72 percent, and 69 percent of respondents respectively stating they agree that “Global climate change is a very serious problem.” Pew found in a separate study of Indian attitudes toward the foreign policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government that Indians see climate change as their top international concern, outranking cyberattacks, economic instability, ISIS, and territorial disputes with China (I wrote on that survey here). That same study showed that 74 percent of Indians see air pollution as a major problem.

The citizens of Maldives received a severe jolt earlier this week when the country was placed under a state of emergency for 30 days, during which basic constitutional rights are suspended. This political measure comes just couple of days ahead of a major political rally planned by the main opposition party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). The archipelago has not witnessed a political emergency on this scale since 2004. This is the first time since 2008, when multi-party democracy was introduced to the country, that the rule of law and constitutional provisions have been put under suspension.

Ever since President Abdulla Yameen came to power in 2013 after a bitter presidential contest, the country has been lurching from one crisis to another. Yameen put the main opposition leader, Mohamed Nasheed of the MDP, behind bars for 13 years and has been tampering with different democratic and constitutional rights to consolidate his grip on power.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Vietnam for a two-day state visit today, during which he will meet with Communist Party of Vietnam Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang, and Prime Minister Nguyan Tan Dung. It’s the first visit to Vietnam by a Chinese president in 10 years – and it comes at a time of increasing tension in the South China Sea, where China and Vietnam have overlapping claims.

Xi’s visit is the latest in a string of exchanges meant to build up the China-Vietnam partnership in the wake of a heated dispute over the deployment of a Chinese oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam in May 2014. The move stirred up nationalist sentiments in Vietnam, culminating in anti-China riots, and the relationship has still not recovered fully.

India has agreed to procure Russia’s advanced S-400 Triumf surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile system in a deal valued at around $10 billion dollars. Once completed, the S-400 deal could represent the largest one ever between New Delhi and Moscow and a major coup for Russia, which has sought to sell its S-400s across the world. According to Indian state media, the S-400 deal was agreed to between Indian Defese Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu during a meeting of a high-level bilateral group on military and technical cooperation. The deal will likely be announced formally during the anticipated state visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia later this year.

The S-400 is an impressive piece of equipment and is an evolution of the S-300 anti-ballistic missile defense system. The S-400 is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in the service of the Russian military since 2007. The system is particularly well-suited against aircraft, including any fighters and bombers that may conceivably enter Indian airspace with hostile intentions from either China or Pakistan. The S-400 is presumably also capable of intercepting most medium- and short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. The system can engage up to 36 targets simultaneously within a range of 400 km. The system launches three types of missiles and can comprise a layered defense system. Earlier this year, China became the first foreign buyer of the S-400 system.

Last week, the chief of staff of the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), Vice Admiral Hsiao Wei-ming, confirmed that Taiwan is seeking to purchase several MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters from the United States, Focus Taiwan reports.

We plan to purchase 10 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters,” Vice Admiral Hsiao said during a testimony in front of the National Assembly’s  Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

Once acquired, the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter will be the most advanced anti-submarine warfare helicopter in the ROCN, according to Hsiao, and will replace the Navy’s aging fleet of MD Defender 500 aircraft. Defense News quoted one expert calling the MD Defender 500 ”worn out” and incapable of finding “a submarine unless it was washed up on the beach.”

The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in its October 2015 report, found that the U.S. government spent nearly $43 million on a compressed natural gas (CNG) station in Afghanistan. SIGAR, a government watchdog agency set up to track overspending, inefficiency, malfeasance, and corruption in how U.S. taxpayer funds are spent in Afghanistan, added that a facility with similar specifications should cost around $500,000. Effectively, the United States managed to somehow spend 86 times the expected cost of the project in this particular instance in Afghanistan.

The project at the center of the SIGAR report was managed by the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO), which began operating in Afghanistan in 2009 with the mission of ameliorating various sectors of the country’s economy. TFBSO had first been constituted in 2006 to carry out a similar mandate in Iraq. In 2011, Paul A. Brinkley, the then-director of the TFBSO in Afghanistan, described his group’s task succinctly: “We do capitalism. We’re about helping companies make money.”

In an attempt to outdo its archrival Pakistan, which has offered its JF-17 fighter jet, India is trying to sell the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft to Sri Lanka, the Sunday Observer reports.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) is looking to procure 18 to 24 new fighter aircraft to replace its obsolete fleet of Chinese license-built MIG-21 by 2017, although there have been debates within the country about whether the SLAF is in genuine need of a next-generation fighter aircraft.

The commander of the SLAF, Air Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala will visit Pakistan next month, which has offered its jointly-developed Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft.