Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: May 8, 2016 Edition

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was the last to announce his candidacy last year, but as of this writing, he is leading in several polls. Whether he wins or not, he has made a tremendous impact on Philippine politics. For the first time, a leader from Mindanao became the top contender for the presidency. He continued to gather attention and support in a Catholic-dominated country despite his public pronouncements that he plans to kill suspected criminals. Some believe his phenomenal rise is a reflection of public disgust against the inefficiencies of the incumbent government. Meanwhile, his supporters attribute his popularity to his pro-poor programs and his intention to dislodge elite rule in the country.

For two weeks protests, popped up around Kazakhstan in response to the impending implementation of changes to the land code that would have seen the auctioning of public land as of July 1. This week Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev made a sudden reversal: after first blaming the protests on “provocateurs” and then evoking the specter of Ukraine-like turmoil if Kazakhstan didn’t hew to the principle of “unity,” he declared a moratorium on the land code changes, pushing them into 2017. Two ministers–economy and agriculture–were sacked and Nazarbayev is setting up a new Ministry of Information, which some are cheekily calling the “Ministry of Truth.”Astana even mass-texted Kazakhs the announcement of the moratorium, to make sure they heard.

On Friday, North Korea, for the first time in nearly forty years, opened the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). Beginning at 9 a.m., party delegates began arriving at a convention center hosting the meeting in Pyongyang, known as the “April 25 House of Culture.” The highly anticipated meeting was announced last year and has gripped observers of North Korean politics given the highly secretive state’s lack of general political transparency.

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In the North Korean context, the upcoming congress may mostly serve to emphasize continuity in the country’s political trajectory, even though the event last took place in 1980, when Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather and founder of North Korea, was leader. (The 1980 congress, incidentally, was when Kim Jong-il was presented as his father’s successor–not that Kim Jong-un has any similar plans this time around.)

Alarm bells have been ringing in three countries for weeks following a series of kidnappings over the past month or so involving 14 Indonesian and four Malaysian sailors. The abductions are believed to have been carried out by gunmen linked to the Abu Sayyaf Group. Of these, ten Indonesians were released earlier this week following close communication between the three countries, while the rest still remain in captivity.

In a joint statement, the three countries said they “recognized the growing security challenges, such as those arising from armed robbery against ships, kidnapping, transnational crimes, and terrorism in the region, particularly in reference to the maritime areas of common concern.”

The Sulu Archipelago, where the kidnappings occurred, forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and the southern limit of the Sulu Sea. The area is in the southern part of the Philippines, while Indonesia and Malaysia both share a land border on Borneo, which lies southwest of the Sulu Sea.

Indonesia and Russia will sign an agreement for the procurement of eight Su-35S multirole fighter jets at the Russia-ASEAN Summit to take place in the third week of May at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, ANTARA News reports. The signing of the contract will be witnessed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, according to Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, who spoke to local media about the defense deal this week in Jakarta.

“The plan to purchase eight 4.5-generation Sukhoi Su-35 jets fighters was made after Indonesia bought 24 Sukhoi 27/30 aircraft,” Ryacudu said. The Su-35S is a single-seat, twin-engine upgraded fourth-generation super-maneuverable multirole fighter powered by two AL-117S turbofan engines, and featuring fifth-generation aircraft technology.

With her recent tour to Iran South Korean President Park Geun-hye has recalled the influence of her father, late strongman Park Chung-hee, who led that revolution, and rewarmed ties with Iran. Park became the first Korean head-of-state to ever visit Iran.

The political climate was precarious, with Iran freshly released from nuclear sanctions and South Korea approaching its volatile northern neighbor’s military ally. But Park was seen pulling off a smooth tour by focusing on economic ties — toting her largest-ever traveling business delegation of over 230 executives, signing $45.6 billion worth of memorandums of understanding, and paving the way for major infrastructure projects — and playing her soft power card to win over Iranians.

On Tuesday the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Supreme Court ruled that the Manus Island detention center — one of two offshore facilities run by Canberra to hold those seeking asylum in Australia — is unconstitutional. The court ruled that the detention center breached a person’s right to personal liberty as enshrined in the PNG Constitution.

Section 42 of the PNG constitution simply states that “no person shall be deprived of his personal liberty,” except in reasonably justifiable cases like a criminal conviction.

A constitutional amendment was passed by the PNG parliament in 2014 to cover Section 42  from any potential legal difficulties with the Manus Island detention center. However, the court said it failed to properly explain why the detention center is “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society having a proper respect for the rights and dignity of mankind.”

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department told reporters that Pakistan will not receive a loan under the so-called Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program to finance the purchase of eight U.S.-made F-16 Block-52 fighters due to opposition by U.S. lawmakers.

“While Congress has approved the sale, key members have made clear that they object to using FMF (foreign military financing) to support it. Given Congressional objections, we have told the Pakistanis that they should put forward national funds for that purpose,” U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

This means that Pakistan will have to pay the $700 million bill for the weapons deal all by itself—a very unlikely scenario. Originally, Islamabad was supposed to pay around $270 million, with the rest of the money made available by the United States through a FMF subsidy. Without the FMF allocation, the price tag for the eight F-16 fighter aircraft would increase by two-and-a-half times the original cost.

An apparent environmental disaster off Vietnam’s central coastal region, estimated by some as one of the country’s worst ever toxic spills, represents newly appointed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s first big political test. How Phuc strikes a balance between foreign investor interests and local community rights in handling the case will set an early precedent for his government’s policy priorities.

The controversy first erupted on April 6 when tons of dead fish, including many deep sea species, began to appear on the shores of central Ha Thinh province. Massive fish fatalities have since been reported in three other central provinces covering a stretch of some 200 kilometers of coastland. Speculation about the cause of the deaths has focused on a steel plant built and operated by Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics through a local joint venture. Reuters reported a first phase of the $10.6 billion planned complex commenced operations in December.

As if Asia didn’t have enough maritime disputes, add one more to the list. Taiwan and Japan are in the midst of a diplomatic spat over the Okinotori Islands – or perhaps more properly the Okinotori atoll. In fact, the question of whether or not Okinotori is an island or simply a rock is central to the current tensions.

Okinotori is an uninhabited reef that is reportedly only above water at high tide – and then only thanks to concrete and steel reinforcements installed by Japan. According to Foreign Policy, the parts of the atoll that are above the water at high tide are “hardly larger than a pair of king size beds.” Yet Japan considers Okinotori, which is located roughly halfway between Taiwan and Guam, to be a proper island. Taiwan – along with China and South Korea – do not.