International panorama: Vietnam in the club of Asian leaders and 'The Crocodile' instead of dictator in Zimbabwe
Former Soviet diplomat Yulduz Khaliullin about the absence of stability in the world. Series 10
Today Soviet and Russian diplomat Yulduz Khaliullin dedicated his new column of International Panorama series in Realnoe Vremya to events taking place in Asia, Africa and Europe. For instance, our columnist is talking about the growth of Vietnam's international prestige, nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula, takeover of the dictator in Zimbabwe and the political crisis in Germany.
Vietnam is holding the lead
Negotiations of leaders of three countries – Russia, Turkey and Iran – that are taking place in Sochi and where they analyse the current state of the military and political crisis in Syria are in the limelight of the world mass media. As our militants say, almost 98% of Syria's territory have been liberated from terrorists. It's still difficult to believe it all. The latest events in Egypt speak about more frequent terrorist attacks in this region of Near East.
Curiously, according to our mass media, our President Vladimir Putin phoned USA President Donald Trump on the eve of this trilateral meeting. It was interpreted by the media as a certain concession of Washington to Moscow on the political regulation of the Syrian issue. It's hard to say whether it is true because nobody knows the content of the conversation except trusted people.
Several days ago when the meeting of world leaders was in Da Nang, Vietnam that staged the APEC summit was in the centre of world politics. By my calculations, Hanoi is on a par with Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul in solving Asian problems.
The Americas signed several economic cooperation agreements with Vietnam at a total sum of $12 billion. Last year the annual commercial volume of Vietnam and the USA totalled $60 billion. Meanwhile, the USA's deficit amounts to $30 billion, that's to say, the Vietnamese earned $30 billion from annual commercial turnover.
In Vietnam, American companies fulfil about 800 investment projects that are equal to about $10 billion in total. And Vietnam invested about $1 billion in almost 100 projects of the USA. It says about a noticeable rise in Vietnam's prestige. Vietnam's economy has grown by 6-7% in the last years.
DPRK's nuclear status unacceptable
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Igor Morgulov has recently briefly told the gradual plan for regulation of the situation on the Korean peninsula (road map) by presenting Russia's position. He called DPRK's refusal of missile and nuclear tests with simultaneous reduction of intense American and Korean training was the first step to reduce the military tension. Pyongyang hasn't staged any tests for two months.
The second plan: start of negotiations and renewal of the inter-Korean dialogue. The third stage: discussion of the whole set of problems within collective safety in Asia.
It should be noted that DRPK had been following the silent mode for almost two months (from September) until recently.
''DPRK's nuclear status is unacceptable for us,'' the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Russia stated. Denuclearisation of North Korea is the point.
75-year-old 'young' president of Zimbabwe
A kind of celebration took place in the capital of Zimbabwe (Harare) in recent days: the news about the coup d'état and repudiation of the authority of 93-year-old Robert Mugabe has been in the top of world media. The 93-year-old president who had been ruling the country for almost 40 years was a dictator, of course. The military coup was peaceful, without a bloodbath, which happens rarely. The militants understood he couldn't be in power for so long. In addition, Mugabe wanted to appoint his own wife in his place who is 41 years younger than him (she has already left the country having understood she shouldn't stay).
Zimbabwe is a country very rich in minerals. It's the third country in the world with the biggest platinum and gold reserves. Many international corporations are interested in a stable political situation to invest in these sectors. I had an impression that China is especially active here. They invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Zimbabwe's economy. The world mass media also paid attention that 'young' 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa is a candidate for the presidency. In the past, he was a vice-president nicknamed 'The Crocodile', but Mugabe suspended him. He was in South Africa before the coup – the strongest country in the region. There is information that he has recently visited China.
In any case, the 75-year-old young president will rule the country better than his 93-year-old predecessor. The country was at the end of its tether. Inflation reached up to 250% a year 10 years ago. 4-5 million people of its 15-million population went to SAR. One in two people was unemployed. The country could fully compete with other countries from a tourist and economic perspective. But 40 years are too much.
Frau Merkel's dilemma
Two months have passed since the parliamentary elections to Bundestag of FRG, but the country still can't create a government. Ruling CDU/CSU party got just 33% of votes and it won't be able to create a government without cooperation with other forces. Angela Merkel's attempts to create a coalition government in a union with three parties almost failed due to big disagreements on migration.
After that, Merkel had to turn to President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier who has very little power and asked him to solve the problem on what to do next. What is more, the federal president is a representative of the Social Democratic Party. And Social Democrats headed by Martin Schulz claimed at the very beginning they would be in opposition and wouldn't cooperate with the current government. But if the president starts to reassure Schulz, the Social Democrats will maybe agree to negotiate and create a joint big coalition, like it was 4 years earlier (CDU/CSU and SPD). It will be 53-54% of Bundestag.
Germany already agreed to go to an additional election. It seems that Merkel will manage to regulate the problem of the coalition. The country has been failing to organise a government for three months, which talks about the weaker political prestige of FRG in European affairs. Germany is the No. 1 country in the European Union. The prestige of Paris is augmenting against a background of political events in FRG. French President Emmanuel Macron is already speaking about prospects and new reforms in the EU system in the next 5 years. France can strengthen its positions in close cooperation with Italy.