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After pushing Nepal to approve the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) economic pact, the US may have also urged the Himalayan country to join its military alliance, the State Partnership Program (SPP), widely believed to be another component of the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy, The Global Times reported.

Observers from both Nepal and China warned against the program's heavy military focus on the containment of China in the region.

Nepalis media reported that the US renewed a push last week on Nepal to participate in the SPP during the visit of Commanding General of the US Army Pacific, Charles Flynn, to Nepal. Flynn called for the signing of the SPP when he met with Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Chief of Staff of the Nepal Army General Prabhu Ram Sharma, the report said. 

The disclosed six-page draft US proposal triggered a debate and faced backlash in Nepal for the possible US military presence in Nepal, which, many warned, contradicts Nepal's non-aligned foreign policy.

The SPP, once approved, would draw Nepal one step closer to the US' military alliance, despite Washington's denial and calling it development assistance, said experts.

Under huge pressure from the public and lawmakers, during his meeting with coalition partners on Wednesday, Deuba said that he will not sign any agreement with any country, including the SPP, that could bring harm to Nepal, according to Global Times. 

The American embassy called the SPP draft circulating online "fake."

Inspite of this, many suspect the disclosure of the SPP in Nepal could be intended as a tactic to test the waters, as the ambition and intention of the US to strengthen its military presence in Nepal have long been clear under the core purpose of the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy to contain China, according to the Global Times.

Concluding his four-day trip to Nepal, Flynn said on Twitter that "we cherish our decades-long defense partnership and look forward to opportunities for collaboration."

Observers told the Global Times that the US has increased its penetration and interference in Nepalese politics in recent years, and the approval of the US-pushed MCC program in Nepal in February is an example.

If the MCC has supported US control and influence in Nepal economically, the SPP could be used to strengthen the US' military ties in the Asian country, Qian Feng, director of the Research Department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, said.

"The US has always valued the geographical importance of Nepal which borders Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. Since the Trump administration, the US has been trying to include Nepal in its Indo-Pacific Strategy to achieve its multiple political and security goals toward China," Zhang Yongpan, a research fellow of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested. "In recent years, the political situation in Nepal has been turbulent, and the divided parties are vulnerable to pressures of external forces. The US takes the opportunity to increase influence and infiltrations in Nepal via multiple ways, trying to make it a tool to promote the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy," Zhang told the Global Times.

But such US tactics to contain China are bound to be futile, and Nepal will not easily become the frontline of the US' attempts to suppress China, experts concluded.
 

WTO Deputy Director-General Anabel González said that companies worldwide need to invest in building a stronger and more agile global trading system for the benefit of all.

The WTO Deputy Director said so during a meeting a meeting of more than 800 Spanish business leaders in San Sebastián on 21 June.

“More than ever, businesses need stable, predictable and uniform conditions to access global markets, something that only the WTO rules-based trading system can provide”, she said.

DDG González highlighted that businesses everywhere face growing uncertainty in global trade due to continued supply chain disruptions, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, trade tensions, war, a looming food crisis and galloping inflation. “But this is also a time of opportunity, and businesses that are nimble, flexible and imaginative will be in a strong position to reap the gains from a rapidly changing trade landscape”, she said.

Pointing to the growing importance of services and knowledge in global value chains, DDG González called on businesses and governments to “work together to bring trade policies up to speed with the realities of a knowledge-based economy and a global, data-driven services market.” She noted that not doing so would deprive countries of a major driver of growth and development in the 21st century.

DDG González also called on business representatives to embrace climate-friendly solutions and to help accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy for the benefit of all. “Trade policy can be your ally in the green transition”, the DDG said, adding that “reforming trade policies to allow green and circular businesses to scale up their activities is essential to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement”.

“We are also seeing a gradual relocation of supply chains that could open the door to new business and growth opportunities, especially for small businesses in developing countries”, the DDG said, warning that policies to unwind supply chains and retreat from trade “would harm everyone and benefit no one”.

“Governments should promote diversification, not decoupling”, she said, while “businesses need to find new ways to compete in a global market that puts a premium not just on efficiency, but also on due diligence, decarbonization and shifting consumer preferences for speedy delivery and personalized products”.

DDG González said that the result of the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference “is a hopeful sign that the WTO can respond to the big challenges of our time.” The landmark package of agreements reached by ministers “is good for people, good for the planet and good for business”.

She concluded by saying that the decision by ministers to start the process of reforming the WTO is a golden opportunity for businesses and other stakeholders from around the world to help build a trading system that “works for businesses, communities and people in today's world.”

The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved constitutional reforms that will limit the powers of the president in a move aimed at appeasing the protesters calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, Aljazeera reported.

The decision to amend the constitution to clip the president’s wide-ranging powers was taken in a cabinet meeting on Monday, Dinouk Colombage, media adviser for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

A draft of the so-called 21st amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution gives some powers back to the parliament and restores independence to commissions in key decision making.

“The 21 amendment was tabled and passed in cabinet today,” tourism minister Harin Fernando said in a tweet, adding that the proposal will now be sent to the country’s parliament where it needs the votes of two-thirds of its members.

In October 2020, less than a year after becoming the president, Gotabaya, with the help of his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, had moved the 20th amendment in parliament, which gave the presidency sweeping powers.

The changes then allowed the president to hold ministries as well as appoint and fire ministers. It also made the president the appointing authority of the elections, public service, police, human rights, and bribery or corruption investigation commissions.

Sri Lanka has been ruled under a powerful executive presidential system since 1978, but a reformist government in 2015 clipped much of the president’s powers and gave them over to the parliament and independent commissions, saying successive presidents had been more authoritarian, according to Aljazeera.

As the country reeled under its worst ever economic crisis, largely blamed on the powerful Rajapaksas, President Gotabaya had hinted at giving in to the demands of reducing his powers to assuage the protesters.

The removal of the Rajapaksas from public office had been one of the main demands of the months-long protests over the economic crisis in the island nation of 22 million people.

Economic mismanagement and the COVID-19 pandemic have left Sri Lanka battling its worst financial problems in seven decades, and a shortage of foreign exchange has stalled imports of essentials including fuel, food and medicines.

On Monday, a nine-member International Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrived in the commercial capitalof Colombo for talks with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on how to structure what will be the country’s 17th loan programme with the global lender.

In a statement shared with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s office said he also held discussions with Chinese officials over the crisis and “reiterated Sri Lanka’s adherence to the ‘One China Policy'”.

“He also stated that Sri Lanka was looking forward to discussing the debt restructuring with China,” the statement said, adding that China reassured Sri Lanka of donating rice to “help ease the food crisis”.

Sri Lanka suspended payment on $12bn of foreign debt in April and is seeking up to $3bn from the IMF to put its public finances on track and access bridge financing, Aljazeera reported.

But public distress at the prolonged shortages is growing. Thousands of students from state universities marched in Sri Lanka’s main city of Colombo on Monday to demand the president and prime minister resign.

The protesters blocked an entrance to the finance ministry on Monday and police had to help out an official due to attend the IMF talks.

Russia has warned Lithuania of "serious" consequences after it banned the rail transfer of some goods to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad, BBC reported.

Russia "will certainly respond to such hostile actions," senior security official Nikolai Patrushev said. 

Lithuania says it is only following the EU sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Kaliningrad - a strategic region where Russia's Baltic Fleet is headquartered - has no border with mainland Russia.

The western territory was annexed from Germany after World War Two in 1945 and is bordered by EU and Nato members Lithuania and Poland.

The region - where an estimated one million people live - relies heavily on imports of raw materials and spare parts from Russia and the EU.

Regional governor Anton Alikhanov said the ban would cover around 50% of the items that Kaliningrad imports.

During a visit on Tuesday to Kaliningrad, Mr Patrushev said the blockade by Lithuania was instigated by the West "in violation of... international law".

The secretary of Russia's Security Council warned that "appropriate measures" would be taken "in the near future".

"Their consequences will have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania," he added, without giving any further details, according to BBC.

Earlier on Tuesday, the EU ambassador was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry over the blockade.

Last week, the Lithuanian authorities announced they would ban goods subject to EU sanctions from passing through their territory to Kaliningrad.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said: "It's not Lithuania doing anything: it's European sanctions that started working from 17 June... It was done with consultation from the European Commission and under European Commission guidelines."

The EU has echoed Lithuania's statement, saying that the country is just implementing sanctions imposed by the EU as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions list includes coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology.

As a member of the Nato military alliance, Lithuania is protected by collective defence treaties, BBC reported.

US state department spokesman Ned Price said the US was standing by Lithuania, adding that the country's commitment to Nato's Article 5 - which views an attack on one member state as an attack on all - was "iron clad".