Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: June 19, 2016 Edition

Last Sunday, the new Taiwanese government rejected former President Ma Ying-jeou’s proposal to visit Hong Kong and deliver a speech at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards, and for at least three years from now on, Ma will not be able to call the shots on prospective travel overseas.

The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, “the one who carries out Buddha activity.” He belongs to the most ancient lineage in Tibetan Buddhism, predating the Dalai Lama lineage by more than two centuries. His dramatic escape from Tibet in 1999 into exile in India brought him to reside alongside the Dalai Lama in the de facto capital of the Tibetans in exile. Exiled Tibetans saw him as a hero as his escape, fooling the Chinese government, caught world attention.

From: Reality or PR: Russia’s Rising ‘Soft Power’ Clout

All of this isn’t to say, necessarily, that Russia doesn’t maintain a notable amount “soft power” – the country’s cultural legacy, to say nothing of its position as a permanent member on the UN Security Council, would attest to as much. But the fact that Russia can exist within the top-30 countries – to say nothing of the fact that it is somehow ahead of China – casts significant questions on the utility of such findings.

A Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy Type 815 Dongdiao-class spy ship entered Japanese territorial waters on Wednesday, according to Japan’s defense ministry. The move is the first of its kind since 2004, when a Chinese nuclear submarine entered Japan’s 12 nautical mile territorial sea near Sakishima Islands, in Okinawa prefecture.

According to a Kyodo News report of the Wednesday’s incident, a “naval intelligence ship was spotted around 3:30 a.m. west of Kuchinoerabu Island.” The ship “left the territorial waters just a few hours later.” (Japan’s Defense Ministry notes that the ship left around 5 a.m.) Kuchinoerabu Island is approximately 38 nautical miles from the Japanese island of Kyushu, which is one of Japan’s four main islands along with Honshu, Hokkaido, and Shikoku.

Last week, the Obama administration announced that it was making a few changes to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Specifically, the new changes will allow the U.S. military more room to maneuver in assisting their Afghan counterparts, while still remaining compliant with the terms of the 2014 Bilateral Security Agreement, which circumscribed a more limited U.S. combat role and marked the end of the U.S. combat mission.

Torkham is one of the main border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan, located on their porous Durand Line border. The crossing connects the Afghan province of Nangarhar with Pakistan’s Khyber Agency. Torkham is the busiest official border cross between the two countries and serves as a major conduit for trade as well. 15,000 Afghan use the crossing every day and, starting in May, have been required to apply for expensive visas to cross the border.

China is modestly expanding its naval delegation to RIMPAC this year. According to Chinese state media, the PLAN has dispatched a delegation of five ships for this year’s exercises, including a submarine rescue vessel for the first time. More specifically, the PLAN is sending an Anwei-class hospital ship, the Daishandao (or Peace Ark); a Fusu-class replenishment ship, the Gaoyao Hu; a Dalao-class submarine rescue ship, the Changdao; and two surface combatant ships, including the Luyang II-class guided-missile destroyer Xian and Jiangkai II-class guided-missile frigate Hengshui.

Of these vessels, only the Daishandao will be a returning participant. As my colleague Shannon Tiezzi discussed at the time, China sent “the Haikou (a missile destroyer), the Yueyang (a missile frigate), the Qiandaohu (a supply ship), and the Peace Ark (a hospital ship)” to RIMPAC 2014. China is additionally modestly expanding the number of officers and sailors participating in RIMPAC 2016. For RIMPAC 2016, the PLAN is sending 1,200 officers and sailors. RIMPAC 2014 saw a similarly sized delegation of 1,100 participating personnel. In addition to the five ships participating this year, China is also sending a diving and a marine squad.

On June 14, China hosted a special meeting of foreign ministers (or their representatives) from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kunming, in Yunnan province in southern China. At the conclusion of this meeting it was reported that ASEAN had issued and then retracted a strongly worded joint statement critical of China’s actions in the South China Sea. Just what happened is still unclear and has led to unsupported speculation in the media and by commentators.

China hasn’t been too transparent in outlining just who supports its position on the South China Sea disputes though. My colleague Shannon Tiezzi, in a recent issue of the Diplomat‘s magazine, outlines some of the initial attempts. In several cases, China has simply issued readouts of diplomatic meetings, noting that the countries it conferred with voiced support for its South China Sea position, without directly quoting any senior officials. What’s even more puzzling is that in a press conference yesterday, Lu Kang, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, when asked how many countries supported China’s position, cited the number 60, which a journalist had mentioned in a prior question. China’s offered similar numbers in the past, but even its foreign ministry spokesperson doesn’t have a clear idea of exactly who backs its position.

The SCO summit, scheduled for June 23-24, is expected to bring together the heads of state of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as those of India and Pakistan, which are expected to accede as full members this year. Beyond the issue of Pakistani and Indian membership, the organization is expected to highlight what the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large Bakhtier Khakimov called its “jubilee summit,” marking the organization’s 15th year in its present form. Founded in 1996 as the Shanghai Five, Uzbekistan became the only additional country to-date to join the group in 2001, when the group rebranded as the SCO. The SCO covers political, economic and military cooperation and is just one of the alphabet-soup of intersecting and overlapping regional organizations.