Centrestage: Trump speaking in Davos on Jan 21. As the world has come to expect, the US president stirred things up, talking about a ‘deal’ to take over Greenland and launching the highly selective ‘Board of Peace’. — Reuters
WE are living in extraordinary times. There is much to take in about events that have unfolded in the last one year, most of them arising from just one source.
He touts himself as a man who has stopped wars around the world and has demanded the Nobel Peace Prize. And to kick off his second year in the White House, Donald Trump sent American troops into a sovereign nation to snatch a sitting president, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and wife Cilia Flores, and take them forcibly to the United States.
It was shocking indeed. Trump said that it was an operation to bring outlaw dictator Maduro to justice in criminal court proceedings tied to a 2020 indictment by the US Department of Justice with multiple US federal charges, including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
Then there is the status of Greenland, the semi-autonomous territory belonging to Denmark which many of us have been curious enough to look up in a world map thanks to Trump. After weeks of taunting Europe with the threat of using military force to seize the territory, Trump announced that there is a “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland”. But what is the deal? No details were given when Trump made the announcement at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week.
The international media has reported that Trump’s argument for seizing Greenland is the supposed threat posed by Chinese and Russian vessels in the waters around the island – even though Denmark says there is no threat.
Before leaving Davos, Trump and selected world leaders launched the “Board of Peace”, which the US initiated and filled with its choice of leaders. The organisation was originally meant to end the war in Gaza but has now evolved into resolving other conflicts around the world.
The BBC reported on leaked details of the board’s draft charter: Trump is the board’s chairman for life, even after he leaves office; his powers are vast, allowing him to pick and choose who to invite, what subsidiary bodies to create or dissolve, and who to appoint as his successor if he ever decides to step down or is incapacitated.
What is Malaysia’s position on these developments, especially the Board of Peace?
Malaysia has to navigate its foreign policy carefully, without seeming to be too much in favour of or too detached from Washington. In anything we do, we have to bear in mind that the US is an important component of Malaysia’s international trade.
“I think we should stay calm. We are a small country and we are a trading nation. Our economy depends very much on trade,” said a government official.
Such concern is understandable. Trump is going around issuing tariff threats against other countries.
He has destroyed the usual equilibrium of world politics. He doesn’t believe in bilateral or multilateral cooperation, espousing unilateralism instead.
As for the Board of Peace, we understand that Malaysia has not been invited to participate.
Which is a good thing, really. No need to jump onto the bandwagon just because some neighbouring countries have been asked and accepted the invitation from Trump.
The Asean Foreign Ministers will hold their retreat in Cebu, the Philippines, on Wednesday and Thursday, kicking off the Philip-pines’ Asean chairmanship this year. Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan is attending and, like his Asean colleagues, he would surely want to find out why Indonesia and Vietnam are on the Board of Peace. Is there some merit they see in joining beyond attempts to please a “superpower”?
Singapore has been asked to join and is currently assessing the invitation. It is common knowledge, however, that their foreign policy tends to lean towards the Americans. As such, Singapore’s actions and considerations in this respect should not be a good reference for Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur’s foreign policy approaches may have differed over the years due to changing domestic and external factors but the basic thrust to pursue an independent, principled, and pragmatic foreign policy remains.
Of course, there is also the matter of the United Nations seemingly being sidelined. According to Reuters the Peace Board’s creation was endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Spokesperson Rolando Gomez said the UN’s engagement with the board will only be in that context.
Reuters reported that apart from the United States, no other permanent member of the Security Council – the five nations with the most say over international law and diplomacy since the end of World War II – has committed to joining yet.
Privately, Malaysian officials have expressed concern about the UN’s role being diminished and it eventually being rendered ineffective as a world body.
“We still need the UN. Trump is trying to put in place an alternative international structure,” said an official.
What is next for Trump?
Keep a close eye on developments in protest-shaken Iran. Trump has already announced the US has an “armada” heading towards the country, while also issuing renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear programme. Various reports say the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several destroyers will arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
Looks like Malaysia may just have to stay under the radar for the time being while observing the unfolding events around the world.
