Saudi foreign minister leads high-level delegation to Pakistan

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan arrived in Pakistan on Monday for a two-day official visit, aimed at bolstering economic ties and advancing mutual interests.

Leading a distinguished delegation, the foreign minister is joined by several key figures, including the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli; Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Al Khorayef; Advisor at the Royal Court Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri; and Assistant Minister of Investment, Eng. Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, among other senior officials from the Ministry of Energy, the Public Investment Fund, and the Saudi Fund for Development.

The delegation's visit follows a recent meeting between Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Makkah, underscoring a commitment to expedite a previously discussed US$5 billion investment package.

Discussions during this visit will focus on enhancing bilateral cooperation across diverse sectors, including significant investments in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mining project, which involves one of the largest undeveloped reserves of copper and gold in the world.

The Saudi delegation is set to engage in comprehensive talks with Pakistani leaders, including the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, and other key stakeholders.

These discussions are expected to cover a wide range of topics such as agriculture, trade, energy, minerals, IT, and transport.

China removes Qin Gang as foreign minister

Qin Gang, who has not been seen in public since June, has been removed as the country’s foreign minister, reports South China Morning Post.

The abrupt announcement of Qin’s removal came after weeks of speculation about his fate.

His absence has dominated domestic political discussions, and evolved into one of the biggest crises for Chinese President Xi Jinping since his unprecedented third term began last year.

Wang Yi, who outranks Qin and serves as Xi’s top foreign policy aide, is the new foreign minister.

Wang, the director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, has been standing in as foreign minister for the past few weeks.

He has been attending a series of diplomatic activities including the BRICS summit under way in South Africa and meetings with former US secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and John Kerry in China last week.

Wang was China’s foreign minister in Xi’s first and second term before Qin was promoted in December

Reportedly, the decision to remove Qin from his post was made at a special session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which took place one day after the top decision-making body, the Politburo, convened on Monday.

According to rules updated in June last year, the NPC Standing Committee holds a session once every two months, but in practice, usually holds them near the end of even-numbered months. An interim session for special cases can be scheduled by the committee’s chairman.

Qin’s removal as foreign minister is in line with the Organic Law of the National People’s Congress, which came into effect in March 2021. The rule empowers the Standing Committee rather than a national congress to appoint or remove from office some members of the State Council.

Qin was last seen in public during a meeting of senior diplomats from Russia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka on June 25, according to China’s foreign ministry.

Despite rumours circulating on social media and among foreign diplomats, Beijing has remained vague about Qin’s status and whereabouts, attributing his prolonged absence to unspecified health reasons since early July.

“China’s diplomatic activities are under way as usual,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on July 17 when pressed about Qin’s disappearance, while stopping short of denying speculation about his fate.

But Beijing’s secretive handling of the drama has drawn widespread criticism, raising questions about the Chinese government’s credibility and its notoriously opaque decision-making. It has also fuelled uncertainty to China’s troubled relations with the outside world.

Once seen as a trusted aide to the president, Qin rose rapidly through the ranks – from ministry spokesman and deputy foreign minister in charge of protocol and European affairs to the country’s second-ranking diplomat.

Qin was appointed China’s ambassador to the United States in July 2021, and 17 months later was elevated to foreign minister, and then state councillor in March, a position that ranks above a cabinet minister.

 

Lapid condemns Flag march disgrace

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that he supported having the Jerusalem flag march in its current format, but criticized participants who sang racist, violent songs. "The fact that there are extremists for whom the Israeli flag represents hate and racism is abominable and intolerable," Lapid said. 

"It is incomprehensible how one can hold an Israeli flag in one's hand and shout 'death to Arabs' at the same time."

Lapid added that "this is not Judaism and not Israeli and it certainly is not what our flag symbolizes. These people shame the people of Israel."

During a situation assessment that took place at the end of the flag march, Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev - who initially approved the march only a day beforehand - thanked police for successfully completing their operation, saying they "acted wisely, considerately, within a complex system of constraints and a changing picture of reality." 

"The operational plan presented to me last night proved itself and led to a successful conclusion of the event," he said. "Thank you to all the forces and commanders on the ground.'

Ra’am Party head MK Mansour Abbas said on Tuesday afternoon that his party, a coalition partner, urged all sides to show restraint as the flag march proceeded through the Old City of Jerusalem, a move which he said was an "unrestrained provocation" and which should have been canceled.  

The march stopped outside the Damascus Gate for dancing and proceeded outside the Old City walls to the Jaffa Gate where participants wound through the Arab market between the Jewish and Muslim quarters and into the Western Wall plaza. 

 The march was staged by nationalist right-wing and religious organizations. In normal years, marchers frequently chant anti-Arab slogans during the procession through the Muslim Quarter.

"There is no doubt that the aim of the initiators of the march was to challenge the new government and exhaust it in a series of explosive incidents in the near future, and to take us back to an unnecessary escalation that will endanger human lives, similar to what we experienced last month."

"Ra'am calls for political efforts to be made in order to reach a political settlement between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, one that would fulfill the vision we strive for: achieving peace, mutual security, partnership and tolerance between the two peoples. This is the only vision that can put an end to a bloody conflict," Abbas concluded.

“We are against any action which is a provocation and doesn’t draw people close. Anyone who watches and has watched this march knows what its purpose is,” said Abbas on 103FM, part of the Jerusalem Post Group, but did not call for the event to be canceled.

He noted that events in Jerusalem “have consequences for the whole region,” an allusion to the attack on Israel by Hamas in Gaza last month amid tensions around Jerusalem and the severe inter-communal violence within Israel that took place at the same time. 

MK Ofer Cassif - the sole Jewish member of the Joint List - tweeted during the march that "the Judeo-Nazis have arrived. Screaming "Muhammad is dead," "Death to Arabs" and "May your village burn."

"In a law-abiding state, this herd would be taken to prison one by one for incitement to murder," Cassif added.

Meretz MK Yair Golan, whose party is also a coalition partner, called outright for the march to be canceled. 

“It’s not just the flag march, there will be more nationalistic initiatives whose only goal is to create a war of Gog and Magog,” tweeted Golan. 
Likud MK Nir Barkat defended the march in a tweet, saying that "The flag march is a tradition that has existed for years and symbolizes our sovereignty in Jerusalem. I supported it as mayor of Jerusalem and even today - we will not give in to threats and we will continue to celebrate in Jerusalem the eternal capital of the Jewish people."