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Friday's global agenda: Breakthrough in China?
Your morning global affairs speed-read
China's foreign ministry issued a statement Friday morning that could open the door for a resolution to the unfolding diplomatic crisis over blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng.
The ministry posted a two-sentence statement on its website stating that "if [Chen] wants to study abroad he can go through the normal channels to the relevant departments and complete the formalities in accordance with the law like other Chinese citizens," USA Today reports. This is the most positive statement to date from the ministry, which had demanded that the United States apologize for harboring Chen.
The statement's significance is uncertain, however, and Global Affairs could not independently locate it on the ministry's website later in the day. It's also becoming clear that Chinese diplomats have very little sway over the state's security apparatus, The Washington Post reports.
The news comes as the Obama administration scrambles to defend its handling of Chen's escape to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing now that the human-rights activist's case has completely overshadowed the U.S.-China Economic and Strategic Dialogue. Billed as a successful move to salvage top-level negotiations by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the decision to hand Chen back to the Chinese might instead cause a long-term headache for Obama and the U.S.-China relationship.
• Syria: Pressure on the White House to take stronger action in Syria only grew Thursday after security forces raided a college campus and killed four students.
White House spokesman Jay Carney acknowledged that former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's plan for peace "has not been succeeding" and said stronger measures could become necessary. Meanwhile, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) is wrapping up a tour of the Middle East in which he was due to meet with Turkish, Jordanian and Gulf-state officials about what to do next.
• Euro trouble: French and Greek voters are expected to choose new leaders on Sunday who could renegotiate at least some of Europe's fiscal austerity measures, with uncertain consequences for the European economy — and the United States.
• Yemen: A nephew of ousted Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh resigned his command of an elite military unit as thousands of protesters demanded that members of Saleh's family step down from their military posts, in keeping with a U.S.-brokered deal aimed at uniting the army so it can focus on fighting al Qaeda forces.
• India/Pakistan: A suicide bombing in a Pakistani market close to the Afghan border killed 20 people Friday, The Associated Press reports. Next door in India, the relationship with the United States is fraying over trade and other issues, writes The Washington Post.
• Balkans: NATO is calling for calm as Kosovo prepares to vote in Serbian parliamentary and presidential elections on Sunday.
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