The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 14th Jan’20

Table of Contents

Vote for status quo

Taiwan’s pro-democracy President Tsai Ing-wen got re-election.
She has got a record mandate since the country’s first direct elections of 1996.

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered major losses in the 2018 local elections, but on Saturday, she took over 57% of the vote against her challenger
Opposition to Beijing’s one-country two-systems policy has long defined the ruling DPP.
The Hong Kong protests have only served to bring into sharp relief the consolidation of democracy and sovereignty in Taiwan ahead of the weekend’s elections.
S. President Trump to use Taipei as a bargaining chip in his trade war with China.
Xi Jinping has in the recent past declared his intention to use force to unify Taiwan with the mainland.
Trump departed from protocol after his election when he received Ms. Tsai’s congratulatory call.
China has meanwhile leveraged its economic clout to influence much of Africa and Latin America to withhold recognition to Taiwan as a sovereign state.
Taiwan’s zealous defence of its market economy and democratic freedoms may not seem compatible with the China model of state-sponsored capitalism and one-party rule.
But a constructive and democratic international response would be for the big powers to desist from exploiting the situation to promote their own interests.

PM Modi’s statement that the CAA 2019, intended only to grant citizenship to a certain class of people, and not to deny citizenship to anyone is factually accurate.
The concern expressed by many is not that it allows citizenship to people escaping persecution from neighbouring countries.
On the contrary the fundamental opposition to the law is that it does so in a discriminatory and inadequate manner.
Indigenous communities in the Northeastern States: against granting citizenship rights to anyone, regardless of religion.
GoI: safeguards are being included in the law to protect the cultural and linguistic rights of indigenous groups.
If Mr. Modi and his colleagues are genuinely concerned that there is misinformation, they must reach out to the critics rather than disparage them.
The CAA’s rationale is that these countries have a state religion, and religious minorities face persecution.
In Sri Lanka, Tamils have suffered in the hands of the establishment and the dominant Sinhalas.

S. President Donald Trump threatened to attack cultural sites in Iran in the event of reprisals by Tehran.
Iran retaliated by carrying out missile attacks
Article 2(4) of the UN Charter
1. there is a general prohibition on the use of force
Charter recognises two limited exceptions:
1. Use of force by a state in the lawful exercise of its right to self-defence
2. Prior authorisation of the UN Security Council (UNSC)

The use of force by the U.S. in Baghdad to kill Soleimani without prior consent from Iraq or the UN was, hence, a violation of such proscription, unless the U.S. can justify it as a lawful exercise of its right to self-defence.
Donald Trump: “anticipatory” self-defence
The legal basis for “anticipatory” self-defence remains deeply controversial and contested.
There are both legal and policy arguments against recognising a right to anticipatory self-defence.

Article 51 of the UN Charter recognises the inherent right of every state to use force in self-defence, only “if an armed attack occurs”.
An “anticipated” armed attack is a subjective one, open to abuse by states.

Trump administration targeted Soleimani through drones in Iraq.
It will also have to justify its use of force in Iraqi territory and prove that Baghdad was either unable or unwilling to prevent the imminent attack.
Trump’s specific threat to target cultural sites in Iran was in breach of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property during armed conflict.
It also violated UNSC Council Resolution 2347, sponsored by the Trump administration, which in the context of the Islamic State (IS) invasion declared that destruction of cultural property would constitute “war crimes”.
It was therefore not surprising that Pentagon distanced itself from Mr. Trump’s position.

IIT-Kanpur was recently at the centre of a controversy over “Hum Dekhenge”, a popular Urdu nazm, or poem, written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
The poem was recited by a group of students on campus during an agitation.
Why do so many people appear to be scared of poetry?
Dissent or protest is at the core of poetry.
Poetry has always been anti-hegemonic.
In poetry, or any art form for that matter, dissent or protest could also be interpreted as breaking boundaries, creating new forms, genres and vocabulary of expression and thus looking at the world with a fresh pair of eyes and sensibility.
A large contingent of our Bhakti tradition poets are critical of religious dogma. Is there any other way of reading Kabir?
Poetry is confrontation. It echoes the joys of living but also embodies its despairs and agonies.
Protests also birth new art and uncover new voices.

Between 2001-2013: India unilaterally cut tariffs
A highlight of India’s economic performance during this phase was an increase in its export intensity of growth.
Protectionism over the last couple of years, ostensibly to revive domestic manufacturing and promote Make in India.
Import curbs on toys and electronic goods such as TV sets.
The most important development in cross-border trade over the last two decades has been the parcelling of manufacturing across countries on the heels of improvements in technology and logistics.

Our best hope remains GVCs, particularly in manufacturing, as they can absorb the large number of low skilled workers entering the labour force each year.
This will complement India’s strength in services which are an important part of value addition in manufactured items.
The forthcoming Budget gives the government a platform to reverse its protectionist policies and lay down a red carpet for foreign direct investment.