Post Trump’s Era Foreign Policy
By Lawal Sale Maida
POLITICS DIGEST – The world after Trump thought it had a sigh of relief as Biden took over the American presidency and envisaged a more decent diplomacy and non-interfrrence in other sovereign nations affairs, but alas nothing new except that Pompeo handed the baton for continuity of America’s foreign policy from where he stopped to Blinken.
Almost immidiately after his inauguration, Biden’s administration took up on China on ranging issues that were mostly purely Chinese internal affairs. Hong Kong, Taiwan, South China sea and Xinjiang were where the U.S is nosing and trying to dictate to the Chinese on how to administer it’s own territories. The first ever high level meeting between the U.S and Chinese senior diplomats and government officials was held at Alaska some weeks back without clear consensus on the lingering Sino-American spat. China had wanted the normalisation of relationship with the U.S after the tumultuous Trump era diplomacy.
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Then, with Russia – issues like Russia’s alleged elections interference cropped up, the rested Crimea, Donbass and Ukraine tension were suddenly reawakened. Kremlin critic and opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s matter also became the U.S’s headache. In the end and as usual, Russia was slammed with sanctions and expulsion of some of it’s embassy staff. Already, there is heavy military build up in Donbass region with Russia deploying large number of troops and blocking the use of Kerch strait of to both Ukraine and foreign navy vessels.
With Turkey, President Biden suddenly on the remembrance day by Armenia, did what past American Presidents avoided – it was his open declaration in recognising the 1915 Turkey’s Ottoman era conflict with Armenia as ‘genocide’. About 1.5 million Armenians were said to have lost their lives from that world war 1 related conflict. Naturally, Turkey will react; and in anger, President Erdogan and his foreign minister rejected Mr. Biden’s pronouncement in totality. Turkey reiterated it’s claim that Turks also lost their lives during the conflict. Ankara was reported to have already summoned the U.S Ambassador to Turkey for explanation on Biden’s comment.
So far, the regional powers – China, Russia and Turkey are being tested and weighed. What remains is how the Biden’s administration in it’s infancy will be able to achieve it’s aim against these powerful nations. China and Russia are historical allies and permanent U.N security council members – it will be an uphill task policing them. All that is needed is to make peace with them in the interest of humanity in this critical COVID-19 era that ravaged many nations.
— Maida is Abuja based Global Affairs Analyst
