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To: The Members of the Assembly
The First Empire notes with disappointment that the Soleimani Commonwealth has willfully breached the Charter of the Ardian Assembly via the enactment of "diplomatic and economic sanctions" against the First Empire of Rokkenjima. Quoting from the Press Office of the Commonwealth:
"In addition to these efforts, we have also temporarily imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions on Rokkenjima. We encourage other nations to do so as well."
The First Empire would remind the Commonwealth of the terms of the Charter which they signed, and are now in breach of:
Section 5 - Trade
1. Nations agree to not engage in practices designed to weaken or disrupt the trade of other members.
2. Nations agree to reduce tariffs to match that of the lowest tariff charged non-member nations. Exception to this is if a non-member nation has its own treaty or agreement with a member nation.
3. Nations agree to a common standard for food and drink product packaging. This must contain an expiry date, ingredients, allergy information and nutritional data.
4. Member nations allow other member nations companies to establish a presence so long as the following criteria are meet.
i) The company adhere to all local laws regulating the practice of their business.
ii) The Company pay all locally required taxes
iii) The Company recruit at least 70% of its staff from host nation citizens.
5. A foreign company shall not be charged any additional taxes or charges beyond that paid at a local level for removing profits back to their nation.
The First Empire implores the Ardian Assembly to act on this breach of our Charter, as well as to working toward a removal of these sanctions upon the First Empire. The First Empire shall refuse to impose any sanctions or actions in retaliation upon the Commonwealth until such a time the Assembly has forged a solution or exhausted its capacity to effect one.
Thank you.
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To: Members of the Ardian Assembly
The situation surrounding the destruction of QAMB is concerning and while I understand and to some extent respect the Soleimani position (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=1906.msg17242#msg17242) it does leave something to be desired when a member of the Assembly essentially says "We're going to breach the Assembly Charter but then rely on that body to hold another member accountable for its actions." It does not inspire much in the way of the spirit of cooperation or respect for the Assembly.
The matter Rokkenjima has brought to the attention of the Assembly is a simple question which basically is "Does the imposing of economic sanctions by Soleimani fit the definition of a practice designed to weaken or disrupt trade as per article 5.1 of the Assembly Charter?" The answer to that question is without doubt yes, the point of economic sanctions is to apply pressure on the target nation by making it harder for them to trade.
We do understand that Soleimani's contention is that Rokkenjima's actions over QAMB forced the imposition of sanctions, however while that is an understandable position it does not fall within the scope of the charter there is not a list of exceptions under article 5.1 it's not like numerous articles of the MCUR which give a list of circumstances under which things can and can't happen, the article we are considering is very clearly defined and is breached.
However we understand and agree with the Commonwealth that the matter of the QAMB affair should be discussed by the Assembly as there has been a lot of concern over this. With that mind I would propose to both Rokkenjima and Soleimani the following steps to enable that debate to happen in a constructive manner:
1) That the Commonwealth of Soleimani withdraw the economic sanctions against Rokkenjima
this would resolve the matter presently before the Assembly and allow the Commonwealth to show good faith to the Assembly which would make for a more open minded discussion over QAMB. Secondly resolving this part of the matter means we do not have confusion of issues should the Commonwealth then proceed to present the QAMB matter for debate.
2) That the First Empire of Rokkenjima and the Commonwealth of Soleimani refrain from further public comment by Government Officials on this matter until we either have a resolution to it or have exhausted the ability to do so
Quite simply this is not the first time we have seen instances of back and forth through press offices and the wider news media between nations one need only look at the 'great chasm' as it was called between Achkaerin and Rokkenjima or more recently the back and forth between the former Empress of Rokkenjima and the now deceased President of Slava Lavosk. Exchanges such as these do not lead to anything other than sides becoming entrenched and that hinders rather than helps the situation.
3) In the event of a debate on QAMB Rokkenjima have present the commanding officer of the QAMB operation
This would enable the appropriate person to be asked questions so the Assembly gets a full picture behind the reasoning of why certain actions were taken, so far we have a lot of rhetoric from governments but nothing from the people in the command structure which is important if we're to understand the decision making process involved here.
I hope both Rokkenjima and Soleimani will agree to this so that we can have the debate we should be having rather than dealing with an allegation such as this.
Signed
Xiaoling Tsu
Chief Councillor of Gowu