POLITICS

What Happened: After Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi passed away, condolences came from a surprising source: the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has historically targeted those who subscribe to the TLP’s Barelvi school of Islam. The expression of sympathy has raised eyebrows, with some commentators wondering if the TTP is changing tactics.

Our Focus: The olive branch to the TLP “shows TTP’s negotiation skills,” Khadim Hussain, an expert in the militant discourse, told The Diplomat. It’s also a “mature political move to bring together all those groups who oppose the Constitution of Pakistan in one way or the other.”

What Comes Next: Amid rumors that the military is interested in holding talks with the TTP, could the group be angling to make the transition from militant group to legitimate political actor, following in the footsteps of its Taliban brethren in Afghanistan? If so, an alliance with Pakistan’s top Islamist political party, the TLP, would be a good place to start.

Interview

Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative, on China’s interest in Africa: “The bilateral relations are individually important, but it is the aggregate of relationships (diplomatic, commercial, and so on) that contribute to Africa’s continued importance.”

Northeast Asia

Activists Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam, and Joshua Wong will be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to charges relating to a protest against Hong Kong police in 2019. The severity of their sentences will be an important piece of the growing pressure campaign against young activists in the wake of the new national security law.

South Asia

Indian farmers protesting new agriculture laws rejected government attempts at reconciliation on Tuesday, vowing to continue their encampment along highways outside the capital of New Delhi. India’s farmers are a key electoral bloc but still face routine neglect from politicians, and this is not their first such mass protest.

Southeast Asia

This week, the virus continued to surge in Myanmar following general elections last month. Increases were also registered by Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, the latter as a result of three Thai nationals crossing over illegally from Myanmar. While the overall numbers remain small, they are a worrying reminder of how precarious progress can be in the fight against COVID-19.

Central Asia

An Uzbek media outlet, Kun.uz, has been warned by the authorities for running an article packed with public frustration at the government over the onset of now annual winter energy shortages. Kun.uz pushed back and the articles remain up. All eyes should be on President Shavkat Mirziyoyev who has, in the past, defended the necessity of journalism to his reform program.

Oceania

As Australia-China relations deteriorate, with China effectively banning a range of Australian imports amid a war of words, many Australians are calling on the world for greater, and more concrete, solidarity with their country. But, as Australia-India relations demonstrate, even amid commitments of deeper relations, domestic exigencies as well as cold geopolitical calculations determine how many Indo-Pacific powers engage with the land Down Under.

SECURITY

Vietnam’s armed forces have come a long way since economic opening began, but the country’s defense spending is still dwarfed by China’s – the adversary in Vietnam’s last war.

SOCIETY

“mǐtù”: Literally meaning “rice bunny” in Chinese, the term has become a stand-in for the similar-sounding English phrase “MeToo.” Feminism in China continues to face headwinds from official censorship and social pressure alike.