The week in foreign policy

We’re back with the week in foreign policy – exploring what’s happening away from the front pages, and key developments in global affairs that have caught our eye.

Fears over an ‘East-West split’ in the so-called architecture of the internet have ramped up as Western governments, led by America, look to ban Chinese involvement in the construction of their digital comms infrastructure. Peter Foster, in the Financial Times, spoke to the head of the National Cyber Security Centre, who noted that it looks unlikely that the current, free and open ‘version’ of the internet will survive.

Elsewhere, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech to the Republican National Convention – a controversial move given the office very rarely gets involved in domestic, partisan politics. The Telegraph reported that Pompeo praised the President’s foreign policy record against Russia, China and Iran.

The crackdown in Belarus continued in earnest this week, as authorities arrested leading opposition figures pivotal in the protests against President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Our Evie Aspinall wrote a helpful explainer of the situation in Belarus.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of the country – announced his resignation on health grounds, prompting speculation over his successor.

And in an interesting read from POLITICO, the departure of EU Commissioner Phil Hogan sparked unrest amongst EU officials, with some seeing it as a sign that commissioners are no longer ‘bulletproof’.