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UPDATE

HONDURAS CHINA

Honduran President Hernandez declared China tightens
Honduras’ electoral tribunal, on 17 recount showed no irregularities. North Korea trade
December 2017, declared conservative After comparing a large random
President Juan Orlando Hernandez the sample of voting records provided by limits under UN
official winner of the November 26 the Alliance and the original records
presidential election, sparking calls for published on the tribunal’s website, sanctions
renewed street protests after a bitterly the mission observed that the results
disputed contest. Hernandez beat presented practically no differences, China, on 5 January 2018, tightened
center-left challenger and TV star said Jose Antonio de Gabriel, the limits on critically important energy
Salvador Nasralla by 1.53 percentage adjunct head of the EU’s mission. supplies to North Korea and stepped
points. The tribunal had initially declared up other trade restrictions under
Honduras has been roiled by Nasralla the leader in an intensified UN nuclear sanctions.
political instability and violent announcement on the morning after Beijing said it will limit exports of crude
protests since the vote, which initial the vote, with just over half of the oil and refined petroleum to the North.
counts suggested Nasralla had won. ballot boxes counted. It then gave no Previous curbs didn’t apply to crude
The count has been questioned by further updates for about 36 hours. oil, which makes up the bulk of China’s
the two main opposition parties, Once results started flowing in again, energy exports to the North.
including the Opposition Alliance Nasralla’s lead began narrowing and China accounts for nearly all of
Against the Dictatorship, headed by eventually disappeared. Pyongyang’s energy supplies and
Nasralla, as well as a wide swath of That prompted national protests, trade, making its enforcement key to
the diplomatic corps. European Union in which 22 people were killed, sanctions aimed at discouraging
election observers said the vote including two police officers. leader Kim Jong Un from pursuing
nuclear and missile technology. The
CHINA-PAK-AFGHANISTAN Security Council tightened sanctions
China, Pakistan, Afghanistan resolve on the North following its ballistic
missile test on November 29.
to fight terrorism, reaffirm commitment Beijing was long Pyongyang’s
diplomatic protector but has
under CPEC supported the UN sanctions out of
frustration with what Chinese leaders
China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, on “Afghan-led, Afghan-own”, and fully
26 December 2017, agreed not to allow supported regionally and internationally, see as their neighbour’s increasingly
any country, group or individual to is the most viable solution to end the reckless behaviour. Despite the loss
use their territories for terrorism as violence in Afghanistan. of almost all trade, the impoverished
their foreign ministers discussed The three countries agreed to North has pressed ahead with
development, security and counter- conduct win-win trilateral economic weapons development that Kim’s
terrorism during their first such cooperation, with an incremental regime sees as necessary for its
trilateral dialogue in Beijing. The three approach, starting from the easier survival in the face of US pressure.
sides reiterated their firm resolve to initiative to the more difficult ones. China has steadily increased
fight the menace of terrorism. It was They reaffirmed their commitment to economic pressure on Pyongyang
the first meeting of its kind since the improving their relations, deepening while calling for dialogue to defuse the
three countries agreed to establish a mutually beneficial cooperation, increasingly acrimonious dispute with
trilateral dialogue mechanism in June. advancing connectivity under China’s US President Donald Trump’s
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, and government.
held the first China-Afghanistan- fighting terrorism in all its forms and Scenario after new restrictions
Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue manifestation without any distinction. Analysts see North Korea’s need for
in Beijing with his Afghanistan and They agreed to jointly work Chinese oil as the most powerful
Pakistan counterparts. They agreed to together on political mutual trust and economic leverage against
strengthen counter-terrorism reconciliation, development cooperation Pyongyang. But Chinese leaders have
coordination and cooperation in an and connectivity, security cooperation warned against taking drastic
effort to combat all terrorist and counter-terrorism as the three measures that might destabilize Kim’s
organisations and individuals without topics of the trilateral cooperation. The government or send a wave of
any discrimination. They reaffirmed second China-Afghanistan-Pakistan refugees fleeing into China. Chinese
that a broad-based and inclusive peace Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue will be
and reconciliation process, which is held in Kabul next year. leaders have resisted previous US
March 2018 Competition Wizard 51