Managing Chinese Threat

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Jun 2014 10:36

Sheikh Haseena seeks partnership with China - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu

Declaring to the Chinese Premier that Bangladesh would be “an active partner” in a “China-led Asian century,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has underlined her willingness to deepen her country’s strategic and economic engagement with China, signing major agreements for the construction of roads, railway lines and power plants on a three-day visit to the Chinese capital.

Ms. Hasina, who met President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, also discussed with Beijing the construction of a second deep-sea port off the Cox’s Bazar coast at Sonadia — China is already involved in a port project at Chittagong — that will give China further access to the Indian Ocean, and an alternative route for energy imports.

While Ms. Hasina has pledged to boost ties with India, even reaching out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a congratulatory letter following his electoral victory, her reported reference to being an “active partner” in a “China-led” century in her meeting with Premier Li is likely to be noticed in New Delhi.

Ms. Hasina’s remarks were reported by the official China Daily newspaper in a front page article, and also carried by the Bangladeshi national news agency.

Five deals signed

The two countries this week signed five deals, including for Chinese assistance for the construction of a power plant in Patuakhali and building a multi-lane road tunnel under the Karnaphuli river.

The two sides are yet to reach an agreement on the Sonadia port project, which is, however, likely to take off soon, Chinese experts believe.

Mr. Xi described Bangladesh as an important country along the “maritime silk road” project that he has been championing, which envisages deepening connectivity, building ports and free trade zones, and boosting trade with littoral countries in the Indian Ocean region and in Southeast Asia.

China laid out a red carpet welcome for Ms. Hasina — on her third visit here — with the state media giving prominent coverage to her meetings with the President and Premier. Both leaders pledged to step up financial assistance and involvement in infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, a commitment readily welcomed by the Bangladeshi Prime Minister.

The Chinese push for Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar ports are not surprising. Though these will pose immense security challenges to India on its eastern flank, the Chinese have multiple reasons for such a push.

They certainly have a 'Malacca Dilemma' as Hu Jintao termed it in c. 2003. So, they want access to the Indian Ocean through various countries bypassing the Malacca Straits. Myanmar and Bangladesh offer such routes (and of course Pakistan too though it is far more difficult through the Karakoram). The recent oil & gas deal with Russia will also significantly boost China's energy security.

A second important reason is of course internal to China. Probably, this takes precedence over the others. China is not as homogenous as most of us assume. Though the Han Chinese are the most significant majority, there are others like the Uighurs, Dais, Naxis, Yis etc. After Deng Xiaoping said that getting rich was not as sinful as was earlier thought, and as manufacturing hubs, Special Economic Zones etc sprouted functioning along the South East coastal regions of China, that country witnessed one of the biggest migrations of human beings as people from the hinterland were sucked in by the wealth-generating coastal regions. There is a huge gradient in the per-capita income as one moves from the East to the West within China. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing etc have above USD 20000 percapita incomes while Yunnan in the west and bordering Myanmar has one seventh of that. Xinjiang fares even worse. It is the Chinese belief that economic improvement can unite people and so it launched the 'Western development Programme' a decade back. Bereft of access to ports, these regions need outlets for exporting their produce. They also need oil and gas to be imported from nearby ports.

But, these developments also help China to consolidate their far-flung boundaries (The geographical boundaries of today's China are very recent), help develop military capabilities along the border, and help conceal their real intentions (as the Chinese always want to do).

ashish raval · Post by **ashish raval** » 12 Jun 2014 11:24

I don't mind Bangladesh moving into arms of Chinese. Let them learn first what it feels like to embrace a dragon. Muslim nations have sense of insecurity being in the fold of a Hindu nation because of their false superiority complex about the past rule etc. These are the same people who use terms Bengal and Punjab(pukes) when describing where they come from in India to everyone outside India. What do you expect from them. Now that we know which side the loyalty of Bangladesh lies it is only fair to construct two tier fence along whole Bangladesh so that buggers don't enter in fifty years time when sea levels will force them inwards. No mercy. China is looking for vassal states and anti India pukes and Bangladesh fits their bill. Idiots don't even remember the fact that it was Indian soldiers who led to creation of their nation otherwise they would have been Urdu speaking breed by now under puki chini rule.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Jun 2014 13:54

From NightWatch for the night of June 11, 2014

China: Update on sovereignty issues.

Japan. On Wednesday, the Japanese government officially protested dangerous flight maneuvers by Chinese military jets that flew near Japanese military aircraft over the East China Sea. Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said two Chinese Su-27 fighters flew within 100 feet of two Japanese surveillance aircraft. The Japanese aircraft were on a regular surveillance mission in international airspace, and that Japan would continue to defend its territory.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Japanese claims are not true.{That's it}

Comment: The last time a similar incident occurred was on 24 May. These are not accidental flights or examples of poor piloting skills. US analysts learned after the mid-air collision off Hainan Island, involving a US surveillance aircraft and a Chinese fighter on 1 April 2001, that China deliberately trains special units and special pilots in those units to execute near-miss passes of intruding aircraft.

Hong Kong. China issued a White Paper on progress in implementing the policy of "One country, two systems" as it relates to Hong Kong. In the paper, China boasts that the return of Hong Kong enabled China to put theory into practice with great success. It also reminds the people of Hong Kong that their first duty is to respect the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and to be patriotic.

Hong Kong does not enjoy 'full autonomy' and must accept Beijing's control and oversight.

During this Watch, Hong Kong activists burned copies of the White Paper in protest.

Comment: One analyst noted that the paper's release follows by a gathering in Hong Kong by more than 100,000 protesters marked the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre to berate the Communist Party and demand greater democratic rights.

The Chinese leadership judges that its administration of Hong Kong is a successful model for a future relationship with the Chinese on Taiwan, at whom the paper seems primarily aimed.

Vietnam. Vietnam claimed that China shifted the oil rig it has placed in disputed waters for a third time. The Fisheries Surveillance Department said that six Chinese "warships, 38 coast guard ships, 13 cargo ships and 19 tugboats are protecting the rig."

China called the claim "extremely wrong" and denied it sent military ships to the area. Government ships were dispatched to maintain security for its drilling work, which has been threatened by armed Vietnamese vessels, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a briefing in Beijing.

Comment: There is no significant change in the situation, which the Chinese control. China continues to insist that Vietnam stop harassing the oil rig and the Chinese ships.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Jun 2014 16:23

Road projects along China-border to get fast track approval - ToI

After giving two quick green clearances to defence projects, the environment ministry has now decided to fast-track road projects along India-China border. These road projects within 100 kilometres of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are crucial for troop movements and other related developments for security point of view.

A decision on environmental and forest clearances on building defence infrastructure in areas in the 100 km-range from the LAC can be taken by the state governments concerned, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said. "Construction of roads within 100 kilometres of Line of Actual Control will be given fast-track approval", said the environment minister Prakash Javadekar. A policy in this regard will be formulated very soon, he told reporters. The 4,056-km-long LAC with China touches four states — J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
Interestingly, it is the second such decision keeping China in mind.

The ministry has earlier given its go ahead to set up a radar station at Narcondam in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

The project was pending for long despite repeated requests from the defence establishment which wanted to install the radar at the strategic location in view of suspected Chinese presence and "listening post" on nearby Coco Island.

Though Coco Island in the Bay of Bengal belongs to Myanmar, China is learnt to have set up extensive infrastructure there.

Referring to the delays in grating clearances to such vital projects under previous government, Javadekar said, "Delays in Defence projects were due to case by case decision making process. We'll make policy laid decisions. We will put policies in place".

"We are evolving new ways of solutions to the existing problems of environment clearances. We are evolving policy based solutions", he said after his meeting with defence secretary R K Mathur.

Mathur met the environment minister with the list of other remaining projects which includes many minor infrastructure projects (permanent stations) for the Coast Guard along western and eastern coasts.

Javadekar is learnt to have assured him that his ministry is committed to stop delays in granting nod to such important projects which are important for national security.

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 12 Jun 2014 20:45

This is 1950s redux. Russia and PRC will grow closer. Russia's isolation was so complete that it agreed to drop one of its key demand, PRC pay the same price that EU was paying for Russia's Oil&Gas and under some circumstances even higher. Consider the sale of SU-35 fighters as already done. India will rue that it puts all of its 5th generation plans in the basket of Russia. The biggest loser in Russia and PRC friendship and possibly the future Russia-PRC alliance is going to be India. Not EU, not Japan, not America.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Jun 2014 09:43

Wary of Chinese advances, Modi woos neighbours - AFP

Narendra Modi will step up a charm offensive with India's neighbours in the hope of stopping them falling into China's embrace when he travels next week to Bhutan on his first foreign trip since becoming prime minister.

A month after his election, the Hindu nationalist premier will pay a two-day visit to the tiny Buddhist kingdom from Sunday when he will meet his counterpart Tshering Tobgay and King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

"We're honoured to have him choose Bhutan as the first country he's visiting," Tobgay said in comments published by the local Kuensel daily. "It speaks volumes about the importance he attaches to the region."

Tobgay was one of seven regional leaders invited to Modi's inauguration and analysts say the decision to make Bhutan his first port of call is designed to underline the importance he attaches to neighbourly relations, which suffered under the last government.

"Bhutan may be a small country but it is strategically very important and ... China is on the other side," said Ranjit Gupta, a retired ambassador whose postings included Nepal and India's UN mission.

"If you aren't interested in your neighbours, they'll lose interest in you."

With the exception of Pakistan, India enjoyed generally close ties with its South Asian neighbours in the first six decades after independence.

But critics say the previous centre-left Congress party government started to take things for granted, allowing China -- which shares a border with four of India's neighbours -- to step into the breach.

Relations with Sri Lanka, complicated by India's large ethnic Tamil population, became so bad that Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh boycotted November's Commonwealth summit in Colombo to protest at the government's rights record.

More evidence of waning influence came during recent election disputes in the Maldives, Nepal and Bangladesh, where Indian mediation efforts failed.

There was friction with Bhutan when India cut fuel subsidies ahead of elections last year, although they were restored after Tobgay's victory.

The move was seen as a rebuke over Bhutan's moves to engage more with China but commentators say India is more likely to keep its neighbours on side by reaching out to them rather than punishing them.

Former diplomat G. Parthasarathy said "far greater imagination" was needed given China's economic clout.

"The fact of the matter is that China's power has grown substantially and its economy is larger," he said. "As the Indian economy has slowed, our ability to engage in the neighbourhood has been affected."

As Chinese investment has grown, countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives have fallen further away from India's sphere of influence. Even Bangladesh, which partly owes its existence to India's intervention in its independence war, is seeking China's help to build a new port.

Despite his nationalist credentials, Modi has stressed a desire in his early days in office to forge good ties with Beijing and has invited President Xi Jinping to visit.

There had been expectations Modi would pick Tokyo for his first trip but such a choice could have upset China.

"Mr Modi, who is keen on strengthening economic links with China, is clearly alert to reactions in Beijing were Tokyo to be his first port of call," said an editorial in The Hindustan Times.

"Equally, by heading to Thimphu, Mr Modi conveys to China that just as he is alert to dynamics in its neighbourhood, Beijing too must be sensitive about Delhi's sphere of influence."

It is three years since the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has held a summit.

In a speech read by President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday but written by the premier, Modi said he wanted "to revitalise SAARC as an effective instrument for regional cooperation and a united voice on global issues".

While Modi is heading to Bhutan, his Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has chosen Bangladesh for her maiden trip.

Belying his reputation as a bruiser, Modi's charm offensive has already produced one unexpected result.

After being a guest at Modi's swearing-in, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a sari as a thank you gift for his mother. Modi promptly thanked him for the "wonderful" present.

Vriksh · Post by **Vriksh** » 13 Jun 2014 10:37

RoyG wrote:
Ajatshatru wrote:"India to fortify defence along China border, 54 new ITBP posts being planned in Arunachal":

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 353494.cms
Why do we still persist with the ITBP to counter the PLA?

Presumably the India Tibet border is not an International border and is manned by a Joint Indo Tibetan Border Police. With discussion with the Chinese authorities we will promote a Sino-Tibetan border force which will man the Sino-Tibetan border and work towards converting Tibet to an International Peace Park.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Jun 2014 13:31

Japan, China trade claims over latest aerial provocation

Tokyo and Beijing traded blame Thursday over the second close and potentially dangerous encounter in just over two weeks between Chinese SU-27 fighter jets and Japanese reconnaissance planes over the East China Sea.

The close encounter took place Wednesday where the air defense identification zones of China and Japan overlap due to their claims to the Senkaku Islands, a defense official told The Japan Times.

Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned Chinese Ambassador Cheng Yonghua to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo to protest what Japanese officials described as a “very dangerous act” that could trigger an accidental clash between the two countries.

According to the Defense Ministry, one of the two Chinese jets came as close as 30 meters to a YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft from the Air Self-Defense Force, and within 45 meters of an OP-3C surveillance plane from the Maritime Self-Defense Force between 11 a.m. and noon Wednesday.

Japanese officials said the SDF turboprops were engaging in a “normal vigilance and surveillance” mission that it was legal under international law.

But Cheng said Tokyo’s claims were false and that a Japanese military plane approached a Chinese military plane first and flew within 30 meters of it. The two SU-27s then moved in to monitor the SDF planes, he said. The Chinese fighters maintained a distance of 150 to 200 meters from the SDF, Cheng told reporters after meeting with Saiki.

“The facts the Chinese side have confirmed are totally different. We cannot accept the protest by the Japanese side,” Cheng said.

Later in the day, the Chinese Defense Ministry posted a video on its website that showed an ASDF F-15 fighter jet flying next to a Chinese Tu-154 jet, apparently as claimed by Cheng. The ministry claimed the F-15 approached and flew next to the Tu-154 from 10:17 a.m. To 10:28 a.m. Wednesday.

In a statement on the website, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Gen Yansheng bashed Japan for trying to “deceive international society, tarnish the image of our forces and create tension in the region.”

In response, two high-ranking Japanese officials in Tokyo anonymously claimed the footage posted by China was taken earlier than Wednesday.

One of the two also claimed that no F-15 was involved in Wednesday’s encounter.{The Chinese are lying as usual}

Separately, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Tokyo that even if F-15s were in the area, “experts who saw the video would conclude that the F-15 was carrying out a scramble operation very stably within the framework of international law.”

He added that he has no idea when and where the video was taken.

Earlier in the day, the Defense Ministry released what it said was a photo of one of the two SU-27s that reportedly approached the Japanese planes.

This is the second provocative encounter of its type in just over two weeks. On May 24, Chinese SU-27s flew within 30 meters of two SDF surveillance planes over the East China Sea, also in an area where the two nations’ ADIZs overlap. China and Russia were holding naval exercises at the time.

A high-ranking official said Thursday that the government now suspects China ordered the pilots to buzz the Japanese planes a second time.

“If an such encounter takes place once, that may be an accident. But this is the second time,” the official said on condition of anonymity. The encounters “may have been staged in an organized manner.”

In November, China declared it was extending its ADIZ over the East China Sea, eliciting strong protests from Tokyo and Washington, whose militaries are ignoring the zone. Japan established its ADIZ in 1969, based on one declared by the U.S.-led Occupation after World War II. Both zones cover the contested Senkaku Islands.

“The flight maneuver was so rough that the Japanese pilots felt it was dangerous,” Defense Minister Istunori Onodera said. “Chinese military authorities should maintain good morale (among pilots). That about sums it up,” Onodera told NHK.

Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have risen in recent months, particularly regarding the territorial row over the Senkakus, which are administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing and Taipei. The islets are called Diaoyu by China and Tiaoyutai by Taiwan.

The Japanese and Chinese militaries do not have an emergency hotline to prevent an accidental clash from escalating, and many government officials and experts fear the two countries may encounter just such an incident in the East China Sea or in the skies above it.

The risk has been growing recently as China regularly sends airplanes and ships into waters near the Senkaku Islands to assert its claim.

The Defense Ministry said ASDF fighters scrambled to intercept Chinese planes near Japan’s ADIZ 415 times in fiscal 2013, up from 306 in fiscal 2012 and 156 in fiscal 2011

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Jun 2014 13:35

New Komeito Coalition Partner Mulls Concessions in Collective Defense Debate - Japan Times

New Komeito plans to make a concession and tolerate an interpretive legalization of collective self-defense, but only in some cases, party sources said Thursday.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s junior partner in the ruling coalition will discuss how the government should change its interpretation of the Constitution based on a government view established in 1972 on Japan’s defensive rights, the sources said. What sparked the change is unclear.

“Abenomics” aside, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been on a crusade to reinterpret the Constitution for years. He wants Japan to be able to legally exercise the U.N. right to collective self-defense, or coming to the aid of an ally under armed attack, to help support the United States, Japan’s top ally.

Since New Komeito will likely need time to reach a consensus, the Cabinet’s decision on proceeding with reinterpretation will likely have to wait until after June 22, when the Diet closes for the summer. Abe has said that no extraordinary Diet session will be held strictly for collective defense.

According to the 1972 government view, Japan is banned from engaging in collective self-defense under war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution but could take self-defensive measures if the Japanese right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is about to be undermined.

This would act as a brake on attempts to exceed the range of scenarios in which collective self-defense should be permitted, sources in New Komeito said. The party apparently believes that applying this condition will allow collective defense to be limited to certain situations.

Many in the party and its huge lay Buddhist support group, Soka Gakkai, oppose changing the mere interpretation of the Constitution, rather than a formal referendum and amendment, to legalize the use of something as risky as collective self-defense.

Friday is a considered a deadline for the Cabinet to make a decision on the issue because June 20 is the Diet’s final working day before closing for the summer, although Abe has said he is in no rush.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 14 Jun 2014 11:11

Abe rushes collective defense talks - Japan Times

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday suggested a new set of standards for Japan to use in national defense during the sixth round of talks on the issue with coalition partner New Komeito.

The principles would enable the country to exercise the right to collective self-defense in largely any circumstance, whether under direct attack or not, a move that would fundamentally alter Japan’s defense-oriented posture.

Yet it is unclear if the coalition can reach agreement before the Diet closes on June 22. That is what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is using to pressure the discussion, though he has also reportedly said he is in no rush.

New Komeito has not reached a consensus on collective self-defense, nor an accord on the new proposal.

LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura, who chairs the coalition talks, unveiled the three new standards.

One would loosen the current restriction by declaring that war-renouncing Article 9 allows Japan to resort to force when attacks on other countries pose an existential threat to the nation itself, and when the lives of the Japanese people and the constitutional right to pursuit of liberty and happiness could be at risk.

The two other standards say Japan can resort to force if the country has no way to eliminate the threat and protect these rights, and that only the minimum force needed for a counterattack should be used.

All three requirements must be met before use of force is permitted.

The Komura proposal goes significantly beyond the current standard, as it includes attacks on other countries as one of the norms, a significant change from present practices. The current standard says Japan can only use force when there is an imminent and illegitimate act of aggression, and when there is no appropriate means to repel the aggression, other than the use of right to self-defense, and that the actions should be the minimum needed to repel the threat.

Even though the principles discussed do not comprise the draft for Cabinet approval, Komura said the criteria should be in that statement. “If both parties can agree on this notion, we will have the government include exactly the same idea in the statement for Cabinet approval,” he said.

Yet New Komeito executives said both parties are far from agreeing on the content of the Cabinet decision.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 14 Jun 2014 11:20

China says it will never send military to oil-rig spat with Vietnam - Japan Times

The Chinese are lying through the skin of their teeth, as usual.

A Chinese official said on Friday that China will never send military forces to the scene of an increasingly ugly spat with Vietnam over an oil rig in the South China Sea and accused Hanoi of trying to force an international lawsuit.

A senior U.S. official in Washington dismissed the Chinese statement as “patently ridiculous” and said Beijing had been using air force and navy as well as coast guard assets “to intimidate others.”

Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships, including coast guard vessels, have squared off around the rig despite a series of collisions after the Chinese platform was towed into disputed waters in early May.

Vietnam has accused China of sending six warships, but Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, said that Beijing had never sent military forces.

“I can tell you very clearly that from May 2 to today, including to when the (drilling) operations are complete, we have never, are not and will never send military forces. Because we are carrying out normal, civilian, commercial activities,” he told a news conference.

“What I can tell you is that this is on a maritime route and at some periods there have been certain Chinese military ships coming back from the south but these have been far away” from where the standoff round the rig has been taking place, Yi added.

China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, but parts of the potentially energy-rich waters are also subject to claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Beijing stations military forces on some of the numerous islands it occupies in the Spratly and Paracel island groups in the South China Sea.

The Haiyang Shiyou 981 rig is drilling between the Paracel Islands and the Vietnamese coast. Vietnam has said the rig is in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone and on its continental shelf, while China says it is operating within its waters.

The United States has not taken sides in the territorial disputes but has been strongly critical of China’s behavior in pressing its claims and called for negotiated solutions.

The U.S. official called Yi Xianliang’s statement “a weak attempt to obscure what China is really doing.”

“China has maintained a robust and consistent military presence near the oil rig since its placement on May 2, including flying helicopters and planes over and around the rig. There are currently multiple military vessels in the vicinity of the rig,” he said.

The official said that on any given day, there were also Chinese navy warships in waters disputed with the Philippines.

Reiterating U.S. criticism of how China has handled maritime disputes with its neighbors, he said China’s actions were “creating serious frictions” in relations with Washington.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said last month his government was considering various “defense options” against China, including legal action, a move the United States has said it would support.

Yi Xianliang denied China was blocking any proposals by Hanoi for high-level dialogue or for a special envoy to travel to Beijing.

“I know that certain people in Vietnam, perhaps because they are trying to find another way to resolve the problem, are creating certain conditions. The so-called other route is the so-called lawsuit way,” he said.

” . . . If this spreading of rumors or distorting of facts is to achieve the aim of lodging a lawsuit, then I have to say that this is a miscalculation.”

The rig’s deployment triggered anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam last month that killed at least four workers.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 14 Jun 2014 11:30

China's aggressive claim on Hong Kong enrages pro-democracy activists - Japan Times

Protesters turned Hong Kong’s constitution into toilet paper on Wednesday during a demonstration against Beijing’s publication of a controversial white paper reasserting China’s control over the city.

China’s State Council — Beijing’s Cabinet — on Tuesday issued its first ever policy document stipulating how Hong Kong should be governed, in what was widely interpreted as a warning to the city not to overstep the boundaries of its autonomy.

It comes at a time of increasing political tension in the city, as pro-democracy groups fear Beijing will backtrack on promised reforms.

About 40 demonstrators rallied outside Beijing’s representative office in the west of Hong Kong on Wednesday, burning a large-scale reprint of the white paper and brandishing rolls of toilet paper printed with the city’s Basic Law.

“It is an explicit interference in Hong Kong affairs,” pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan told reporters at a separate protest outside the government’s Liaison Office, as he urged Beijing to withdraw the document.

Hong Kong’s unique status among Chinese cities is guaranteed by the “one country, two systems” policy that allows it democratic freedoms and civil rights not permitted on the mainland. The Basic Law is the city’s constitution, drawn up based on the terms of an agreement between Britain and China before the handover in 1997.

As part of democratic reforms promised by Beijing, the city will elect its leader for the first time in 2017. But pro-democracy groups fear China’s government will only allow its allies to be elected.

The white paper warned that future leaders should not be “unpatriotic,” saying, “The high degree of autonomy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is subject to the level of the central leadership’s authorization.”

It charged that some in the city were “confused or lopsided in their understanding of ‘one country, two systems’ and the Basic Law.”

It added: “Many wrong views that are currently rife in Hong Kong concerning its economy, society and development of its political structure are attributable to this.”

The South China Morning Post said in a report headlined “A reminder of who’s the real boss” that the white paper showed Beijing’s “determination to maintain control.”

The Chinese-language Ming Pao in an editorial pointed to a “worrying situation” over growing Chinese influence, calling the document a “critical turning point” in Hong Kong’s governance.

The white paper came a week after tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in a mass vigil to remember those killed in the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989.

“It was an unprecedented move by the State Council aimed at deterring people from coming out to support real democracy,” Civic Party leader Alan Leong said on Wednesday.

Beijing is also seeking to quash the Occupy Central protests for universal suffrage, with rallies planned in the core business district of Central, Leong said.

A lobby group formed by barristers issued a statement refuting the white paper’s assertion that judges should safeguard national security and sovereignty. The Hong Kong Bar Association said in the statement that judges should safeguard judicial independence as they are not the government’s “administrators.”

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 15 Jun 2014 13:37

China builds school in disputed Paracel islands in South China Sea - Straits Times

China has begun building a school on the contested Paracel islands, state media reported, as the Asian giant further asserts its claims in escalating territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The school on Chinese-held Sansha or Woody Island will serve about 40 children whose parents work there, the official news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday, adding that construction will cost about 36 million yuan (S$ 7.2 million) and take a year and a half.

China established Sansha as a city in 2012 to administer a wide swathe of waters and islands in the South China Sea, creating an oddity that is by far the world's largest city by area but has a minuscule population of around 1,000 people.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 17 Jun 2014 07:01

China welcomes Modi's Bhutan Visit - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Bhutan, China on Monday rejected suggestions of any competition with India for strategic space in the neighbourhood, affirming that it was both “happy” with Mr. Modi’s visit and “full of confidence” over the future of relations with India.

Asked about perceptions among some analysts that Mr. Modi’s decision to make Bhutan his first overseas destination may have been prompted in some measure by Beijing’s recent overtures to Thimphu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters here that China was “happy to see the development of friendly, cooperative, mutually beneficial relations between our other neighbours.”

China and Bhutan do not have formal diplomatic relations, although both sides regularly exchange political, trade and cultural delegations.

The two countries have also been engaged in talks to settle their disputed border, holding more than 19 rounds of negotiations.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 17 Jun 2014 18:16

ASEAN must speak out on territorial spats, Singapore Foreign Minister - Straits Times

Asean must continue to speak out and play a role in helping to peacefully resolve the territorial spats in the South China Sea, Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam has pointed out, even if the grouping as a whole cannot intervene directly in the disputes between four member states and China.

"If Asean keeps quiet and loses credibility, it would not be in China's interest," Mr Shanmugam noted in remarks to The Straits Times following a visit to Beijing last week. "It is in China's interest to have a strong and vibrant Asean, united and neutral."

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 17 Jun 2014 19:52

China executes 13 allegedly connected with Xinjiang terrorist attacks - Japan Times

China on Monday executed 13 people for “terrorist attacks” in the violence-wracked northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media said, as death sentences were issued over a suicide car crash at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

The announcement by the official Xinhua News Agency said the 13 were involved in seven different cases connected to Xinjiang, where Beijing says separatist militants are behind a string of attacks that have rocked China in recent months.

Xinhua provided names of four of the executed without identifying them by their ethnicity, though some of the names appeared to be Uighur, a Turkic-speaking mainly Muslim group with cultural and linguistic links to Central Asia.

The report identified two of the cases as taking place last year and resulting in more than two dozen deaths, including those of 24 police officers and ordinary citizens in Xinjiang’s Turpan Prefecture in June.

“The execution of criminals involved in terrorist attacks and violent crimes answers the calls of all ethnic groups, deters criminal activities, and demonstrates the resolve of the Communist Party of China and the government in cracking down on terrorism,” Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the Xinjiang Regional Higher People’s Court as saying.

The announcement came hours after state media said three people had been sentenced to die over the Tiananmen crash last October and underscores the tough approach authorities are taking to increasingly brazen and violent incidents.

The Tiananmen attack was one of several that have rocked China since last year, and which Beijing has blamed on Xinjiang separatists.

Chinese courts, which are controlled by the ruling Communist Party and have a near-perfect conviction rate, frequently impose death sentences for terrorism offenses.

The executions and sentencings are part of a crackdown that comes after Beijing vowed a year-long campaign against terrorism in the wake of the Urumqi market attack.

Shan Wei, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute, said Xinjiang has seen other similar “strike hard” campaigns in the past.

“But this time, it’s much longer . . . usually it lasts one or two months,” he said. “Now, it’s one year. It’s a large-scale campaign.”

Exile groups say cultural oppression and intrusive security measures imposed by the Chinese government are the main causes of tension, along with immigration by China’s Han ethnic majority, which they say has led to decades of discrimination and economic inequality.

Beijing, however, stresses ethnic harmony in Xinjiang and says the government has helped improve living standards and developed its economy.

One other person was given life in prison for the Tiananmen assault, said state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), citing the Intermediate People’s Court in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.

The three sentenced to death were convicted of “organizing and leading a terrorist group and endangering public security with dangerous methods,” according to Xinhua.

Four others were given prison terms ranging from five to 20 years, Xinhua said.

Both the agency and CCTV identified several of the accused with names that sounded Uighur, Xinjiang’s largest ethnic group.

All three people in the car — a man, his wife and his mother — died in the attack, which saw their vehicle plow into crowds of tourists, killing two and wounding 40 other people before bursting into flames, authorities said at the time.

CCTV showed the eight accused — two of them women — sitting in a vast courtroom as prosecutors presented the evidence against them. An unidentified woman wearing a headscarf in the audience wiped away tears.

For the first time security camera video was broadcast of the attack, with CCTV showing a white SUV turning onto a pavement at high speed and barrelling into crowds of pedestrians, who scattered before it.

Tiananmen Square lies at the center of Beijing and is bounded to the north by the former imperial complex known as the Forbidden City with a giant portrait of communist China’s founding father, Mao Zedong, hanging on its gate.

“If you do something within Xinjiang, most Chinese people won’t know about that,” Shan said.

“But if you do something in a major city — for example in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou — that will be headline news. And that will be more effective to create terror among Han Chinese people.”

Chinese authorities have long said that overseas-based terrorist groups including the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) and East Turkestan Islamic Movement, influenced by al-Qaida, have inspired and even orchestrated violence in China from Central Asia {not Pakistan ?}, which borders Xinjiang.

Some experts question the influence of the TIP, a shadowy organization that has released videos praising attacks in China but has yet explicitly to claim responsibility for them.

vijaykarthik · Post by **vijaykarthik** » 18 Jun 2014 14:22

Very interesting turn of events.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china- ... =rss&rss=1

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Jun 2014 05:48

vijaykarthik wrote:Very interesting turn of events.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china- ... =rss&rss=1

Indian shippers support China blocking P3 alliance - Business Line

The decision of the world’s three largest shipping lines to abandon their proposed alliance after China refused to grant approval on Tuesday is seen as a relief to shippers and shipping lines.

Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday said it would not approve the shipping alliance called P3, formed by Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, France’s CMA-CGM and Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The global network of P3 — an alliance that would have reshaped global shipping — was expected to start operation later this year. The US and European regulators had already approved the alliance and only the Chinese decision was pending.

Small players

Shippers and smaller shipping lines were worried that the coming together of the three giants will eventually drive smaller players out of business. Shippers in several countries were opposing the alliance saying it would kill competition.

Though India was not directly covered by the P3 network, its impact would have eventually been felt by the country’s trade, said R Venkatesh, Vice-President, Western India Shippers Association.

A large volume of India’s international cargo is being transshipped through port of Colombo, Singapore and Dubai. All the three shipping lines operate services to and from Indian ports.

The three lines together control more than 40 per cent of the global cargo. Concentration of such capacity will not be in the interest of shippers, said Vanketesh. “We have been opposing cartels in the service sector which pushes up freight rates affecting the country’s trade.”

The alliance, proposed a year ago covering the US, Europe and Asia, includes sharing of vessels and ports. Smaller lines, particularly liner service operators were worried that these giants would deploy larger capacity vessels and offer lower rates to grab the cargo. Though there is excess capacity in the market, these liners have been deploying larger vessels of 16,000-18,000 teus capacity. “We, like other smaller players in the liner business, are relieved,” said an official of Shipping Corporation of India, the only Indian container shipping service operator.

A shipping agent however, said the alliance promised better services and that would have helped global trade.

Liner freight rates have been ruling rock bottom level for long and the alliance would have helped stabilise the rates.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 19 Jun 2014 16:30

Managing the Chinese threat also requires one to buy anything but a cheap Chinese knock off of a smart phone. May our Govt and IB make a note of this:

Knock Offs ship data back to China

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Jun 2014 17:01

Komeito resistance forces Abe to put-off collective self-defence issue - Japan Times

The secretaries-general of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito agreed Wednesday that Cabinet approval for exercising the right to collective self-defense is unlikely to come before the Sunday end of the Diet session.

Yoshihisa Inoue of New Komeito, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, said in a meeting with the LDP’s Shigeru Ishiba that more time is needed to build a consensus within his party on the controversial issue, party lawmakers said.

Ishiba replied that he will wait until New Komeito is ready, the lawmakers said.

Earlier in the meeting, Ishiba asked Inoue for New Komeito’s consent for Cabinet approval by the weekend close of the Diet session, which would pave the way for Cabinet approval. The coalition will now aim to secure Cabinet approval by early July.

Ishiba and Inoue said they will continue to work out a schedule for talks on changing the official interpretation of the Constitution to enable the Self-Defense Forces to come to the aid of Japan’s allies if under armed attack by exercising the right to collective self-defense.

“There will be no Cabinet decision without New Komeito’s consent,” Ishiba said after the meeting. “New Komeito has been discussing the matter with sincerity.”

The coalition’s junior partner, which is backed by the lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai, has recently shown signs of taking a softer line and approving the potential exercise of the right in a limited manner, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped up pressure last week on the LDP to gain New Komeito’s support.

The issue of whether Japan should defend allies under armed attack when it has not been targeted remains divisive. Many see it as a violation of the pacifist Constitution.

At issue is Article 9 of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of force to settle international disputes and allows only the minimum level of self-defense.

New Komeito is particularly opposed to the wording of three new standards presented by LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura last week that stipulate Japan is allowed to exercise the right to self-defense when “it is feared” the lives of the Japanese people, their liberty, and their right to pursue happiness will be ruined by an armed attack on another country.

New Komeito says this would expand without limits the scope of the nation’s right to self-defense.

Some participants have also reacted negatively to the explicit reference to “collective self-defense” in the draft.

Amid concerns about security threats posed by China and North Korea, Abe is hoping to change the government’s traditional postwar interpretation and remove Japan’s long-standing ban in time for the planned revision by the end of the year to U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines, which define the role and responsibilities of the SDF and the U.S. military.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Jun 2014 17:05

New US Ambassador designate to Hanoi eyes lifting weapon-sale ban

The nominee to become the next U.S. ambassador to Vietnam said Tuesday it may be time for Washington to consider lifting a ban on the sale and transfer of lethal weapons to the former American enemy.

Ted Osius told his Senate confirmation hearing that the U.S. has made clear to the nation’s authoritarian government that the ban can’t be lifted without significant progress on human rights. But he said there has been progress in three or four of the nine areas where the U.S. is looking for improvements, including on labor rights, treatment of people with disabilities, allowing more space for civil society and for churches to operate.

Osius said that “may mean it’s time to begin exploring the possibility of lifting the ban,” but at a pace with which the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Vietnam would be comfortable.

Any such move would be likely to anger China, which is locked in a territorial standoff with Vietnam and eyes increased U.S. engagement in Asia as an attempt to contain its rise.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Jun 2014 17:08

Philippines & US to hold naval drills near disputed islands - Straits Times

Philippine and American troops are set to hold naval exercises this month near a disputed shoal, which will almost certainly anger China with tension already high in the South China Sea.

China claims 90 per cent of the South China Sea, potentially rich in oil and gas and fisheries.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim parts of the waters, and China has viewed with suspicion what it sees as US moves to "provoke" tension by supporting its regional allies, notably Vietnam and the Philippines.

Five warships, including a US guided-missile destroyer, and about 1,000 troops will take part in week-long Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercises, which include live-fire drills 64 km off Zambales, on the western shores of the Philippine island of Luzon.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 20 Jun 2014 17:35

China sends 4 more oil-rigs into disputed area - Straits Times

China is sending four oil rigs into the South China Sea in a sign that Beijing its stepping up its exploration for oil and gas in the tense region, less than two months after it positioned a giant drilling platform in waters claimed by Vietnam.

Coordinates posted on the website of China's Maritime Safety Administration showed the Nanhai number 2 and 5 rigs would be deployed roughly between southern China and the Pratas islands, which are occupied by Taiwan.

The Nanhai 4 rig would be towed close to the Chinese coast.

The agency, which did not say who owns the rigs, said all three would be in place by Aug 12.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 20 Jun 2014 19:43

Our Exciting Nuclear Neighbours - G.Parthasarathy, Business Line

While explaining the rationale for Pakistan’s nuclear programme, its former Prime Minister ZA Bhutto noted that while the Christian, Jewish and Hindu civilisations had nuclear weapons capabilities, it was the Islamic civilisation alone that did not possess nuclear weapons. He asserted that he would be remembered as the man who had provided the Islamic civilisation with “full nuclear capability”.

Bhutto’s views on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons contributing to the capabilities of the Islamic civilisation were shared by Pakistan’s senior nuclear scientist Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood who, along with his colleague Chaudhri Abdul Majeed, was detained shortly after the terrorist strikes of 9/11. They were both charged with helping the al-Qaeda acquire nuclear and biological weapons capabilities.

It all started with China

The original sinner in nuclear proliferation, however, is not Pakistan, but China. The director of the Wisconsin Project of Arms Control Gary Milhollin has commented: “If you subtract China’s help from the Pakistani nuclear programme, there is no Pakistani nuclear programme.” There is evidence, including hints from Bhutto’s prison memoirs, which suggests that China initially agreed to help Pakistan develop nuclear weapons when Bhutto visited Beijing in 1976.

It is now acknowledged that by 1983 China had supplied Pakistan with enough enriched uranium for two weapons and the designs for a 25 kilotonne bomb. Chinese support for the Pakistan programme is believed to have included a quid pro quo in the form of Pakistan providing China the designs of centrifuge enrichment plants. Interestingly, thanks to China, Pakistan acquired a nuclear arsenal at least five years before India decided to cross the nuclear threshold.

China’s assistance to Pakistan continued even after Beijing acceded to the NPT. When Pakistan’s enrichment programme faced problems in 1995, China supplied Pakistan 5,000 ring magnets. China has subsequently supplied Pakistan with unsafeguarded plutonium processing facilities at Khushab. There is also evidence that, over time, China has supplied Pakistan with a range of nuclear weapons designs.
Warhead designs

While the nuclear weapons designs supplied to Libya by AQ Khan were of a Chinese warhead tested in the 1960s, the nuclear warheads tested by Pakistan in 1998 were of a different design. The nuclear manuals given by Khan were in Mandarin and were handed over to the Libyans reportedly in the shopping bag of Khan’s Rawalpindi tailor!

According to Thomas Reed, former secretary of the US air force who was closely associated with the US nuclear weapons establishment, a Pakistani derivative of the Chinese CHIV-4 nuclear bomb was tested by Pakistan in China on May 26, 1990. This was eight years before India’s own nuclear tests. Reed has disclosed that “in 1982, China’s Premier Deng Xiao Ping began the transfer of nuclear technology to Pakistan”.

Moreover, after warmly welcoming Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Beijing in 1988, Deng commenced missile collaboration with Pakistan with the supply of short range Hatf 2 missiles. This was followed up by assistance to manufacture the Shaheen 1 (750 km range) and the Shaheen 2 (1500-2000 km range) at Fatehjang. China has thus not only provided Pakistan assistance for manufacturing nuclear weapons, but also for missiles, which can target population centres across India.

Not satisfied with providing nuclear weapons designs, know-how and modern uranium enrichment centrifuges, China soon found that Pakistan’s arsenal would become more potent if it included lighter plutonium warheads, so that they combine with Chinese designed ballistic missiles. The entire Fatehjang-Chashma-Khushab nuclear complex in Pakistan, filled with Chinese nuclear power reactors, plutonium reactors and reprocessing facilities can well be described as a standing monument to China-Pakistan nuclear and missile proliferation.

The Saudi Arabian connection

There is an interesting parallel in the approach of Pakistan and China in nuclear and missile proliferation in the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia’s defence minister Prince Sultan was given unprecedented access to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons facilities in Kahuta in March 1999. In November, AQ Khan paid a visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Prince Sultan, after which Saudi scientists were invited Khan to visit Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.

Given these developments, there is interest and speculation about the precise direction that nuclear and missile collaboration among Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia could take. Pakistan could, for example, justify deployment of nuclear weapons and missiles on Saudi soil. It is not without significance that the chairman of Pakistan’s joint chiefs of staff committee Gen Khalid Shamim Wynne, who handles its nuclear arsenal, was received at a high level in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, while Pakistan provided the designs of nuclear centrifuges to Iran over two decades ago, China is known to have been in the forefront of the transfer of ballistic missile know-how and technology to Tehran.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj raised the question of Beijing issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals visiting China during the recent visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, by pointedly calling on China to adopt a “One India” policy. While China issues these to Indians from Arunachal Pradesh and opposes international funding for projects in Jammu and Kashmir, it warmly welcomes high functionaries from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan.

Members of China’s Peoples’ Liberation Army have, in recent years, been involved in building roads and tunnels in Gilgit-Baltistan. The construction work is said to be for a transportation corridor linking China to the Arabian Sea at Gwadar port. But, tunnels across high mountain slopes are also ideal locations for nuclear weapons silos.

India has unfortunately not taken up with Beijing its concerns about China-Pakistan missile and nuclear collaboration. This challenge surely needs to be more seriously addressed, both diplomatically and strategically.

The writer is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 21 Jun 2014 04:52

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2 ... lear-State
Why-Vietnam-Will-Be-Next-Nuclear-State

Nuclear weapons solve certain problems. They cause a host of other problems, true. For a small state in a high-crime neighborhood, however, nothing guarantees survival like a bomb in the basement. Whether those states are willing to pay the costs of sanctions and ostracism for a bomb depends on their security situation. Vietnam’s security is very bad, and the country is all alone.
Hanoi’s recent maritime spat with China has illustrated its vulnerability. Since early May, when China dropped an oilrig in the Vietnam-claimed area of the South China Sea, 24 Vietnamese ships have reportedly been damaged and one was sunk by Chinese vessels. China also contests Vietnam’s claim to the Spratly Islands to the south, as part of its unilateral “nine-dash” line that claims almost the entire body of water. The most pressing problem, however, is that Vietnam is in a singular geopolitical situation. It’s a status-quo power and essentially a supporter of the current US-led world order in Asia. Anti-status quo countries like Russia, China, Syria, and Iran are all agitating for larger or smaller changes in the international system – more territory, more prestige, less Israel – but for Vietnam, change can only be bad. Every day that passes means China gets relatively stronger and Vietnam’s security situation gets worse. However, unlike other status-quo countries such as South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, or Australia, Vietnam is outside the US security blanket. It’s not part of a NATO, let alone a bilateral defense treaty with America. Relations with the U.S. have improved dramatically over the past twenty years, but strategically, Vietnam is still on its own.

If it wants to keep confronting China, Hanoi essentially has three choices. First, it could deepen its relationship with the United States and hope to be eventually brought under its nuclear umbrella. This seems unlikely. For one thing, Vietnam is still a communist dictatorship, which the non-governmental organization Freedom House rates as quite definitely not free. While America can certainly be friendly with unfree countries, especially those with oil, there is almost always a limit to cooperation at the high end. And security guarantees are what we would call the “high end.” Vietnam could also build a closer security relationship with other status quo states in Asia such as Japan, which seems more than ready. Which brings us to Vietnam’s last option: building the bomb. Acquiring a nuclear capability wouldn’t immediately put Vietnam on the same footing as China, no more than North Korea is with the United States. However, it would guarantee the regime’s survival from external threats, and give Beijing pause when it feels like playing border games. There would be costs, of course. Diplomatic snubs, a bout of sanctions, a great deal of more-in-sorrow-than-anger language from Scandinavians at multilateral forums. But Pakistan and India went nuclear and survived. So would Vietnam. A responsible leader, entrusted with his or her country’s safety and planning for the future, would have to at least consider it.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 21 Jun 2014 08:33

China hopes Ansari visit will reboot ties - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu

China is looking to next week’s four-day visit of Vice-President Hamid Ansari — the first from India following the general elections — to mark the start of “a closer partnership” in bilateral relations, amid high expectations in Beijing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will energise recently troubled trade ties.

Chinese officials said on Friday that Mr. Ansari’s visit to Beijing and Xian — the ancient capital in central China famed for its terracotta warriors and historical links with India through Buddhism — would be of particular importance “under the new circumstances” surrounding the bilateral relationship.

Their comments came as a state media commentary said both countries “can be optimistic about the future because Narendra Modi, India’s new Prime Minister, has promised to focus on reform and development.”

The Vice-President was invited to visit China to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the “five principles of peaceful coexistence,” along with Myanmar President Thein Sein.
{We do not want to go back to the Panch Sheel nonsense. China has been attempting to revive this spirit of late and Xi Jinping even suggested a Neo Panch Sheel a few months back}
“This will be the first for an Indian leader since the inception of the new Indian government in May,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. “We believe this visit is of great significance to the growth of China-India relationship under the new circumstances.” “China,” she added, “would like to work with India to seek a closer partnership.”

Mr. Ansari will meet President Xi Jinping, who will host a commemoration for the anniversary, Premier Li Keqiang and Vice-President Li Yuanchao.

On Friday, the official English-language China Daily published a commentary saying both countries “can be optimistic about the future” because of Mr. Modi’s “focus on reform and economic development.”

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 21 Jun 2014 09:54

China says 13 shot dead in Xinjiang bomb attack on police station - Straits Times

Thirteen "thugs" were shot dead in China's restive Xinjiang on Saturday after they drove into a police building and set off an explosion, a regional government website said.

"Today thugs crashed a car into the public security building of Kargilik county in Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture and set off an explosion.

"Police took decisive action and shot dead 13 thugs," the official Tianshan web portal reported.

Three police suffered injuries but no other casualties occurred, the report said, without providing further details. It was unclear if the attackers used one or more explosive devices.

Xinjiang, a vast and resource-rich region in China’s far west which is home to the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, has faced a series of violent attacks in recent years.

Authorities have vowed to crack down in recent weeks and announced a number of arrests and sentences following several high-profile attacks.

In May, 39 people were killed, along with four attackers, and more than 90 wounded when assailants threw explosives and ploughed two off-road vehicles through a crowd at a market in the regional capital Urumqi.

In March, attackers went on a stabbing spree at a railway station in the south-western city of Kunming that left 29 people dead and 143 wounded.

That incident, one of the first to take place outside Xinjiang blamed on militants from the region, was dubbed China’s “9-11” by state media.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 21 Jun 2014 09:57

China urges 'peaceful development of seas', says conflict leads to disaster - Straits Times

That is, whatever aggression that China does is 'peaceful' and for 'development' and if anybody resists Chinese aggression it is 'conflictual' and 'disastrous'.

SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - China, involved in a growing dispute with its neighbours over the energy-rich South China Sea, wants to promote peaceful development of the oceans, Premier Li Keqiang said, warning that conflicts in the past had only brought "disaster for humanity".

"China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and firmly oppose any act of hegemony in maritime affairs," Mr Li said at a maritime summit in Greece on Friday in comments carried by China's Foreign Ministry website on Saturday. "Developing the oceans through cooperation has helped many nations flourish, while resorting to conflict to fight over the sea has only brought disaster for humanity."

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei in one of Asia's most intractable disputes and a possible flashpoint. It also has a long-running dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.

Concern over China's motives has risen in the region after China sent four more oil rigs into the South China Sea, less than two months after it positioned a giant drilling platform in waters claimed by Vietnam around the Paracel Islands.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 21 Jun 2014 20:17

Indian Navy's top brass to discuss ways to strengthen ties with IOR nations - Times of India

The naval top brass will congregate here next week to discuss measures to further bolster military cooperation with countries in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) in the backdrop of China's expanding strategic footprint in the region.

"The three-day naval commanders' conference, chaired by Admiral Robin Dhowan, will discuss foreign cooperation initiatives and engagements to strengthen ties with IOR littorals, as has been stressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said an officer.

The conference, which will be inaugurated by finance and defence minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, will dwell upon the Indian Navy's role to undertake "capacity-building" of the maritime forces of IOR countries. "Spanning 28 million sq km, the IOR is host to a third of the world's population, with a significant share of international trade passing through the sea lanes of the region," said the officer.

The top naval leadership will also take up the "combat readiness" of their force, strengthening of coastal security, optimal utilization of funds and human resources development, among other issues.

China's expanding maritime links with eastern Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia, among others, will however figure high on the agenda.

A recent US pentagon report held the Chinese navy was expanding its operational and deployment areas further into the Pacific and IOR, though its efforts are facing logistical and intelligence hurdles as of now, as was earlier reported by TOI.

"China desires to expand its access to logistics in IOR and will likely establish several access points in this area in the next 10 years. These arrangements will take the form of agreements for refueling, replenishment, crew rest and low-level maintenance," said the Pentagon.

India, on its part, has been stepping up its own engagement with IOR countries to counter China's moves. Apart from military assistance and training, Indian warships and Dornier reconnaissance aircraft have been regularly helping countries like Maldives and Seychelles in maritime and anti-piracy patrols, surveillance and hydrographic surveys.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 22 Jun 2014 17:42

China believes territorial disputes in the region should be settled through direct talks with the countries concerned, the nation’s top foreign policy official said.

“We will never trade our core interests or swallow the bitter fruits that undermine our sovereignty, security and development interests,” Yang Jiechi said in a speech Saturday at the World Peace Forum in Beijing. Yang, a state councilor and former foreign minister, held talks earlier in the week in Vietnam to defuse tensions over a Chinese oil rig in waters claimed by both countries.

China has intensified moves to assert its territorial sovereignty in the East and South China Seas, ratcheting up tensions with the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan. China has refused international efforts to resolve the conflicts and this month reiterated that it doesn’t recognize a United Nations tribunal investigating a complaint by the Philippines against China’s claims over the Spratly Islands.

“The problem now is that some countries are using outside influence to promote the internationalization of the South China Sea problems,” said Wu Shicun, president and senior research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, in an interview after Yang’s speech. “These countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines use American support to increase their antagonism to China.”

Yang’s remarks about direct negotiations indicate China wants to eliminate any third party, such as the U.S., Wu said.

Yang did not mention the U.S. role in regional territorial disputes, although China has opposed the American “pivot” to Asia, blaming it for increasing tensions in the South China Sea.

China seems to be making efforts to deny the U.S. military access to waters off the Chinese coast, said Stephen Hadley, a former national security adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush, at the forum. Yet the American military presence in Asia has been a stabilizing force, and without it China’s neighbors might unite, he said. “It runs the risk of creating the very containment strategy undertaken by its own neighbors that China so vigorously protests against in its conversations with the United States,” he said.

Yang’s comments echo those of Premier Li Keqiang, who said in Greece on June 20 that China is committed to settling maritime disputes through dialogue and negotiation “on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law,” according to a report in the official Xinhua News Agency.

China will be resolute in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is conducive to safeguarding regional peace and order as well, Li said, according to Xinhua. The country will firmly oppose any act of hegemony in maritime affairs, he said.

Yang, who outranks Foreign Minister Wang Yi, visited Vietnam last week to defuse tensions over the placing of an oil rig, known as 981, last month by a Chinese state-owned company near the Paracel Islands. Known as the Xisha Islands in China, the area is claimed by both nations. The move led to skirmishes between coast guard vessels, the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat and anti-China demonstrations in Vietnam.

On the same day as Yang held talks with Vietnamese officials, China’s Maritime Safety Administration announced the Nanhai 9 oil rig had left waters off southern China and was heading southwest into the South China Sea. Three other rigs, Nanhai 2, 4 and 5, were also in the South China Sea, it said. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday the rigs were in China’s coastal waters off southern Guangdong and Hainan provinces.

“This is normal development activities,” Wu said. “It has nothing to do with the Xisha Islands.”

Vietnam has prepared evidence for a legal suit challenging China’s claim to waters off the Vietnamese coast, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in an interview last month. A legal filing would follow a case against China submitted by the Philippines to the U.N. over contested shoals off its coast.

China and Vietnam continue to play cat and mouse near the oil rig. In separate incidents on June 20, Chinese military aircraft flew over Vietnamese law enforcement, coast guard and fisheries surveillance vessels, according to VietnamPlus, the online news service of the official Vietnam News Agency. Chinese coast guard ships, a fisheries boat and tugboat also tried to ram the Vietnamese vessels, it said.

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 22 Jun 2014 19:29

Chinese police shoot dead 13 attackers in restive Xinjiang

URUMQI: Thirteen mobsters were killed and three policemen were injured Saturday morning in an attack on a police station in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the local government said.

No civilians were hurt, according to the regional information office. The gangsters drove a truck to ram the building of the public security bureau of Yecheng County in southern Xinjiang and set off explosives. Police shot and killed 13 attackers at the scene. Three policemen were slightly injured. Public security authorities are investigating the incident and local social order is normal. Xinjiang is a remote region with more than half of its population ethnic minorities who hold Muslim beliefs. Violent attacks in the name of “jihad” have been increasing since 2009 and are the biggest threat to the region, according to the regional public security department. Yecheng in the region’s Kashgar Prefecture is more than 1,500 kilometers southwest of the regional capital of Urumqi. Xinjiang has stepped up anti-terrorism efforts following terrorist attacks on train stations in Kunming of Yunnan Province and Urumqi in the first half of this year.

Cheers

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 24 Jun 2014 16:08

While India plays politics, Beijing woos Dhaka - Subir Bhaumik, Economic Times

Competitive radicalism between political parties has again denied India a chance to take forward its relations with Bangladesh. If the BJP's opposition, coupled with that of Trinamool Congress and Asom Gana Parishad, prevented the Congress from formalizing the land boundary agreement and signing the Teesta water sharing deal with Bangladesh, it is the Congress in Assam now raising hell over a proposal to allow visa-free entry to Bangladesh children and senior citizens.

India's ministry of external affairs (MEA) had come up with this proposal ahead of its minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Dhaka beginning Wednesday. The proposal also sought visa-on-arrival for all other Bangladesh nationals - and visa-free entry for those below 10 or above 65 years.

But it was Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's turn to play spoilsport this time. Pushed to the wall by dissidents within the Congress for the party's poor showing in parliamentary elections and attacked by the BJP for "votebank politics" with illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Gogoi decided to play the patriot and oppose the MEA proposals on grounds of national security.

The BJP was not willing to be stumped by the Congress in an attempt to look nice to Bangladesh. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was quick to veto the MEA proposals. What Sushma Swaraj may now offer Bangladesh at the most is long term multiple entry visas for children and senior citizens.

So, India will again miss out on doing something that would have gone down really well with the people of Bangladesh, and not just the government in Dhaka. Sushma Swaraj would surely reiterate India's commitment to sign the Teesta water sharing deal and implement the land boundary agreement without being able to provide any time frame. All she can expect is that Dhaka would repose its faith in the Narendra Modi magic to get West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to agree to these deals after after having opposed it for five years.

While these long pending sovereign commitments by India continue to hang in uncertainty, Delhi is now going to miss out on a chance to placate Dhaka with a visa package that would have struck a chord with the poor and middle class in Bangladesh, considering the large numbers who come to India for treatment, education, tourism and much else. This, at a time, when China is really warming up to Bangladesh's present government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. That should not alarm Delhi unnecessarily because Hasina has been courting both India and China as well as Japan and Russia to stump the West, which had been opposed to the Jan 5 parliamentary elections that brought her back to power. The West, specially the US, said the elections were hardly representative as the leading opposition party, the BNP, boycotted them. But Hasina insists she was not to blame for the BNP boycott.

During her recent visit to China, a raft of deals were signed. These include a joint venture to establish a 1,320 megawatt coal-fired power plant, an economic and technical cooperation agreement, commitments on disaster rescue equipment and on a flood prevention and management study. The two countries signed a MOU to create a Chinese economic and investment zone in the main port city of Chittagong.

Bangladesh and China are also discussing construction of a second deep sea port at Sonadia, a tiny island in the Bay of Bengal. Sonadia may emerge as a major regional trade hub as it provides sea access to China's Yunnan province, India's landlocked northeastern states, the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan.

China has been widely tipped to win the Sonadia contract, but Bangladesh opposes Beijing's attempt to dictate the port design. That may soon be sorted out though. With one Chinese company getting the contract to construct the 6.15 km railroad bridge on the mighty Padma river, it is the country's biggest infrastructure project.

Beijing is all set to gain huge visibility in Bangladesh at a time when India is hardly able to offer anything tangible to its eastern neighbour - except rancor over alleged illegal migration. Without needlessly hitting panic buttons, China's growing presence in Bangladesh should cause Delhi to ponder.

Of course, China's growing presence in BD would be of immediate and immense concern to India. But, the solution does not lie in opening free access to India. There is a huge migration issue with Bangladesh that we have seen since Independence. There have been serious security repercussions to India from BD. It is only Sheikh Hasina's government that has cooperated with us in curbing these problems. There are many terrorist groups inimical to India that are operating in BD. The ISI has been using BD as an infiltration point to destabilize India for four decades now. Almost the entire FICN coming into India comes through BD. Opening the floodgates without any control would be the most foolish thing to do. There are so many other ways to reward BD for its acts of friendship or for increasing our influence. Visa-free entry is certainly not one of them.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 24 Jun 2014 18:04

Japan & Philippines say rule of law must settle disputes - Straits Times

Japan and the Philippines on Tuesday jointly stressed the need to use "the rule of law" to solve regional disputes, at a time when both countries are embroiled in separate rows with China.

The comments, which came during a one-day trip to Tokyo by Philippine President Benigno Aquino, highlight how regional neighbours are forging alliances to counter an increasingly muscular Beijing as it presses its influence in nearby waters.

Tokyo and Manila, former World War II enemies, have been drawn closer in recent years as they have tackled their parallel disputes with China.

"In the face of the regional situation becoming severe, both nations are closely coordinating," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in a joint news conference after a summit with Mr Aquino.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Jun 2014 06:16

In China's new diplomacy, a revival of 'Panchsheel' - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu

On Saturday, China’s President Xi Jinping will welcome Vice-President Hamid Ansari to the Great Hall of the People, the sprawling Parliament building that extends across the western edge of Tiananmen Square.

Mr. Ansari and Mr. Xi will, along with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein, preside over a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the “Panchsheel” or “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence” — the five tenets of diplomacy championed by Jawaharlal Nehru and the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, first invoked in a 1954 treaty on Tibet and later coming into prominence at the famous Asian-African conference at Bandung.

What is ostensibly the remembrance of a long-gone historical moment has acquired renewed significance in Beijing, underlined by the unexpected importance accorded to a rather obscure anniversary by Mr. Xi’s government.

The “Panchsheel,” which refers to mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, cooperation for mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence, has become a mainstay of China’s diplomacy — even if no longer remembered by many in India — routinely referred to in Beijing’s diplomatic dealings with every nation.

Today, the “five principles” have been seized upon by China as it looks to recast its diplomacy in a region where its rise has begun to evoke anxiety and concern among many of its neighbours.

Last month, Mr. Xi outlined for the first time China’s vision of a new “Asian Security Concept” at a regional security summit in Shanghai. At the heart of his idea was nothing other than a slightly reframed “Panchsheel.”

“The five principles that China initiated together with India and Myanmar,” he said, “have become a basic norm governing state-to-state relations.” China would “develop friendly relations and cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence.” “China’s peaceful development begins here in Asia, finds its support in Asia, and delivers tangible benefits to Asia,” Mr. Xi said.

The Panchsheel has acquired a certain notoreity in India. I do not know why we must encourage it by participating in its commemoration. We know that China did not, and does not, abide by any of those principles.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Jun 2014 15:45

China sends first minister-level official to Taiwan - ToI

China has sent its first-ever ministerial-level official to Taiwan for four days of meetings to rebuild ties with the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own, after mass protests in Taipei set back relations earlier this year.

Zhang Zhijun, minister of Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, reached the island's main airport just before noon on Wednesday to speak privately with his government counterpart about cutting import tariffs and establishing consular-style offices helpful to investors and tourists. {If that is what they are going to do, India must immediately allow Taiwan to open embassy/consular offices to 'help investors, trade & tourism'}

China and Taiwan have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s. China sees the island as part of its territory that eventually must be reunified — by force if necessary — despite a Taiwanese public largely wary of the notion of Chinese rule. In 2008, Beijing set aside its military threats to sign agreements binding its economy to that of the investment-hungry island.

But in March, hundreds of student-led protesters forcibly occupied parliament in Taipei to stop ratification of a two-way service trade liberalization pact. The 24-day action dubbed the Sunflower Movement spiraled into the thousands, many of whom demanded an end to Taiwan's engagement with China, which they still see as an enemy.

"Zhang wants to show to the world, Taiwan and the mainland included, that the two sides are moving closer in spite of the Sunflower Movement earlier this year," says Lenoard Chu, a China studies professor retired from National Chengchi University in Taipei.

As the official travels around Taiwan through Saturday, he is expected to try to head off any new protests by shunning strong political statements during scheduled chats with students, low-income people and a figure in Taiwan's anti-China chief opposition party.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Jun 2014 18:28

Japan to deploy F-35 fighters at Misawa Air Base from c. 2017

Next-generation F-35 fighter jets will be deployed at Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture from fiscal 2017, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Wednesday.

“We will coordinate with the U.S. side so local residents will not have to feel concerned,” Onodera told Aomori Gov. Shingo Mimura in a meeting in the city of Aomori.

Asked by Mimura to take steps to prevent accidents or other incidents involving the aircraft that could endanger the public, Onodera pledged efforts to ensure safety.

About 20 F-35 jets will be deployed at the Air Self-Defense Force’s Misawa base, the defense chief told reporters after the meeting.

The deployment plan for the stealth fighter aircraft was revealed following the launch of temporary operations early this month of U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drones at the U.S. Misawa base on the same site.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Jun 2014 18:32

Navy drill will boost US-China Contacts - Japan Times

Chinese warships will join U.S.-led naval drills off Hawaii for the first time this week, in a significant effort by the two powers’ fighting forces to forge connections.

Rising giant China and superpower the United States frequently find themselves at loggerheads as Beijing asserts its interests in maritime disputes with neighbors and Washington seeks to shore up its influence in Asia.

Forging ties — or at least an understanding — between the two heavyweights’ militaries could be a key to preventing unintended clashes from escalating, analysts say.

Yet the relationship remains stunted by disputes and suspicions which have sharpened in recent years as each side accuses the other of inflaming tensions over questions such as contested islands in the East and South China Seas and aggressive cyber-spying.

“It’s pretty important,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Brookings Institution and author of a book on U.S.-China relations.

“We have a situation where small crises or skirmishes blowing up into bigger things is one of our chief worries, and a situation where U.S.-PLA ties at the military level are underdeveloped.”

Four ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy — a missile destroyer, missile frigate, supply ship and hospital ship — will join the U.S. and more than 20 other countries in the six-day “Rim of the Pacific” drills that begin in and around Hawaii on Thursday. An estimated 1,100 Chinese sailors will take part.

This is the first time Chinese vessels are taking part in the RIMPAC exercises, which are normally held every two years and which began in 1971.

Adm. Samuel Locklear, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, said: “This was a big step for the Chinese to commit to this, particularly in an exercise commanded by a U.S. commander.

“We just have to get past these issues that are historical in nature that are causing the region problems,” he added. “And if we keep working at it we’ll get through them.”

Beijing has also touted its participation, with the official Xinhua News Agency running an essay by naval academy researcher Zhang Junshe saying it “will have great benefits for the elimination of misunderstandings, the avoidance of misjudgment, and the promotion of mutual trust.”

China’s involvement marks “a very good step,” O’Hanlon said in an email. “In isolation it doesn’t do a great deal of course, but it provides the basis for more.”

Beijing and Washington regularly pledge to strengthen ties across the board, and Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama held an informal get-to-know-you summit in California soon after the Chinese leader took office last year.

Both militaries have extended other invitations, including tours of one another’s aircraft carriers and high-level meetings.

But despite the positive rhetoric, tensions have grown — particularly over their roles in Asia — and spilled into unusual public confrontations.

China has emphatically asserted its claims to islands claimed or controlled by Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, and desires greater global stature, stressing that its standing with the U.S. must reflect a “new model of great-power relations.”

Washington announced a “pivot” to Asia in 2011, including a stronger military presence, with Obama declaring that his country “has been and always will be a Pacific nation.”

At the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore a month ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel accused Beijing of “destabilizing” actions. The Chinese army’s deputy chief of staff, Wang Guanzhong, hit back, criticizing Hagel’s words as “full of incitement, threats, intimidation,” and the U.S. as “stoking fires.”

Cyberspying is another flash point for angry rhetoric, with both sides casting the other as the aggressor.

“You have had a series of incidents that make people pessimistic about the relationship,” said Peking University international relations professor Jia Qingguo.

“At the moment the relationship is at a relative low,” he said. “I don’t know if it has reached the lowest point yet.”

The “mil-mil relationship is the weakest link between the two countries and they often got suspended whenever something happened,” Jia said.

“The militaries need to talk to each other more often and at greater depth.”

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Jun 2014 18:36

US professors urge universities to sever ties with China's Confucius Institute

University professors in the United States have joined their Canadian counterparts in urging universities to cut ties with Confucius Institutes unless the agreements that bring them to campus are reworked to guarantee academic freedom.

A report by the American Association of University Professors said universities “have sacrificed the integrity of the university and its academic staff” by allowing the Chinese government to supervise curriculum and staff at the institutes it has established on more than 100 North American campuses to promote Chinese culture and language.

“Allowing any third-party control of academic matters is inconsistent with principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities,” the report by the association’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure said.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers raised the same issues in December following an instructor’s human rights complaint alleging discrimination based on her belief in Falun Gong, a spiritual group that has been banned in China.

The complaint led McMaster University in Ontario to close its Confucius Institute last year after the complaint was settled through mediation.

The Beijing headquarters for the Confucius Institutes, the Office of Chinese Language Council International, known as Hanban, did not respond to requests for comment. However, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily, ran an article Friday seeking to refute the AAUP report’s claims, quoting representatives from foreign institutions from Germany to Thailand who called them unfounded.

When reached, directors at several Confucius Institutes in the U.S. also defended the institutes, saying the AAUP doesn’t understand how they work.

“The university comes first, and then the Confucius Institute, which must operate within the rules of the university,” said Xu Zaocheng, director of the institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“It is true that it is a program under the Chinese Ministry of Education, but the accusations reflect the Cold War mentality,” Xu said.

The Chinese “fund these activities, but they are not controlling them,” said Stephen Dunnett, chairman of the binational committee that oversees the University at Buffalo’s 5-year-old institute.

“If they came here and said we will give you this money but we’re going to control it: We’re going to pick the curriculum, we’re going to pick the teachers by ourselves, and we’re going to teach or not teach what we want. . . . What U.S. university would ever do that?” he said.

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 26 Jun 2014 03:05

Five Indian Weapons of War China Should Fear

Arms race price war: India aims to undercut China in exports

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Jun 2014 09:26

A New Chapter in India-China Ties - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu

India and China are expected to unveil a first-ever jointly compiled two-volume encyclopaedia, chronicling a 2,000-year history of cultural exchanges when Vice-President Hamid Ansari visits China this week.

Mr. Ansari, who will arrive in the Chinese city of Xian on Thursday and travel to the capital on Friday, is likely to unveil the encyclopaedia following his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice-President Li Yuanchao.

The more-than-four-year-long project contains nearly 800 entries, and was compiled by a group of eight scholars and historians — four each from India and China. The project came into existence as a result of the Joint Communiqué issued during the time of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in December 2010, in which the compilation of the encyclopaedia of India-China Cultural Contacts was first proposed. A Joint Compilation Committee was formed with officials and experts from both sides, which met five times in the last two years to draw up a final list of entries on the basis of themes identified through the concept note and subsequent discussions.