Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by nam »

Doesn't matter about their reliability, as long as their component manufacturers open shop here and create a ecosystem.

Regarding their claim, that will only work if they are dead sure the Chinese don't fire off BM on their tiny island.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Doklam final report lauds government - Sobhana K Nair, The Hindu
A report by the parliamentary panel on External Affairs, headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, has expressed concern that Chinese infrastructure built close to the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction has not been dismantled, but “commended” the overall handling of the Doklam crisis by the Narendra Modi government.

The committee was unable to table the report in the monsoon session of Parliament after protests from BJP members.

The members objected to reproduction of the testimony of the Foreign Secretaries verbatim since it could have revealed some deficiencies in the Indian approach.

Sections removed

To address the BJP members concerns, Mr. Tharoor met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and removed the contentious portions.

The tone and tenor of the report is distinctly different from the critical views expressed by many members during the deliberations. During the debate, the Congress members on the committee, including party president Rahul Gandhi, expressed concern that a setback has been spun by the government as a victory.

However, sources said, it was decided not to include these concerns in the final report. At least two members of the committee confirmed that the Opposition members on the committee had said that while the Army’s reaction to the crisis was laudable, Indian diplomacy failed to measure up to the task, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “no-agenda” meeting in Wuhan where he failed to even raise the Doklam incident.

The final report, however, pats the government for resolving the Doklam crisis.

“The Committee would commend the government’s overall handling of the crisis as it managed to send necessary signals to China that India will not acquiesce in its unilateral and forceful attempts to change the status quo at any of India’s territorial boundaries,” the report said. The panel also appreciated the “brave and timely” action of security forces for checking the PLA troops from continuing with their road construction.


Note of caution

It though adds a caveat by expressing concern that Chinese infrastructure built uncomfortably close to the tri-junction has not yet been dismantled.

“The Committee is concerned about the multiple reports which allude to Chinese presence around Doklam plateau and the statements from Chinese authorities about chances of similar happenings in future also, even after the stand-off ended,” the panel noted.

The committee said the government’s stand was “ambivalent” on construction activities in other areas on the Doklam plateau. The panel said the Indian government should not take the Chinese lightly at any point and “continue to monitor the Chinese activities along the border in general and the area in particular very intensely”.

The panel also suggested that military infrastructure, especially the roads on the Indian side, need to be improved. There is also an urgent need for high-technology gear to prepare our security forces to respond befittingly.

“Even if they have withdrawn their troops from Doklam for the time being, China’s strategic intentions should not be taken casually. The Committee would, therefore, urge the Government not to let its vigil down in order to prevent any untoward incident in future,” the panel warned.

Asked on which portions were removed from the report, Mr. Tharoor refused to comment. “The report speaks for itself and I have nothing to add,” he said.
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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#MeToo reaches into the Monastery in China - Ian Johnson

BEIJING: Over the past two decades, religion in China has boomed, and no faith has benefited more than Buddhism. The number of temples has tripled, monks and abbots have become well-known public figures, and China has used the faith to build ties around the world, sending out nuns and monks on goodwill missions.

The person most closely associated with this revival is the Venerable Xuecheng, a charismatic monk who was fast-tracked for success. He became abbot of his first temple at 23 and head of the Communist Party-run Buddhist Association of China at 49.

His use of social media and emphasis on compassion attracted the sort of bright, white-collar professionals who once spurned traditional Chinese religions. Many rank him as the most important Chinese Buddhist reformer in a century.

But over the summer, all of these worldly successes vanished.

Accused of lewdness toward nuns and financial misconduct, Xuecheng, 52, has in recent weeks been stripped of his titles and banished to a small temple in his home province of Fujian. Government investigators now occupy the cleric’s main temple in Beijing, have purged his cadre of loyal monks and are scouring his books for financial wrongdoing.

That makes Xuecheng the most important national leader to be felled in China’s small but tenacious #MeToo movement, a rare case of a politically connected figure here falling to charges of sexual misconduct.

It has also prompted widespread discussion among Buddhists about whether their faith’s rapid growth has come at too steep a cost.

Many worry that Xuecheng’s model of a supercharged Buddhism that embraces social trends lacks the very spirituality that drew people to the faith in the first place. His downfall also presents a potential setback in the Chinese government’s efforts to push Buddhism as a kind of national religion that can win friends abroad and offer moral values at home.

“It’s impossible not to feel pained and sorrowful” at recent developments, two monks wrote in a 95-page report detailing accusations of sexual and financial misdeeds against Xuecheng. They asked the government to act quickly, or “we dare not imagine where Xuecheng will lead this group of Buddhists!”

Until recently, Xuecheng’s rise had seemed unstoppable.

Born in 1966, he graduated from the nation’s top Buddhist academy in Beijing in 1988 with top grades and experience studying in Sri Lanka. Two years later, he was abbot of Guanghua Temple in Fujian province. At the time, educated religious figures were rare, and the government’s national Buddhist leader, Zhao Puchu, defended appointing such a youthful abbot, comparing him to Communist guerrilla fighters who led troops into battle while still young.

This AFP photo taken on February 12, 2016 shows Xuecheng (R), praying during a ceremony held to raise donations for 2016 southern Taiwan earthquake, at Guangji temple in Beijing.

Around this time, biographers say, Xuecheng made a vow. Buddhism was strong in China’s prosperous south but had no major, socially active monasteries in the north. He pledged to change that, and in 2004 got his chance, taking over Longquan, or Dragon Spring, a largely ruined temple in Beijing’s western suburbs.

Within a few years, Longquan was one of the most active temples in China. Xuecheng tapped into a widespread desire among wealthy Chinese to give something back to society, taking over a charitable foundation and moving it into his temple, and reaching out to well-educated but spiritually adrift people in the university community in western Beijing.

Soon, Communist Party officials were visiting Longquan to learn how to do charity work. Although the party’s 90 million members are supposed to be atheist, they lauded the temple for its Communist-style selfless sacrifice.

Bespectacled, handsome and with a winning smile, Xuecheng was a compelling figure, able to woo graduates from China’s top universities with his vision of an altruistic society that helped the poor and weak.

He said little about Buddhism itself—theology seemed a secondary concern in his speeches and writings—but he was savvy at anticipating government policy. He set up an animation department at the temple that developed videos aimed at combating online violence and p*rn*graphy, adroitly launching the clips on the same day as a government campaign aimed at the same vices.

As a delegate to the annual session of a Communist Party advisory body in 2012, he gave an interview with The New York Times in which he questioned the ability of government-run cultural centers known as the Confucius Institutes to promote Chinese culture and China’s image to foreigners.

“The Confucius Institute only teaches Chinese language, which I think is far from being enough,” he said. “The influence of Confucius Institutes is limited.”

Instead, he said that China needed to promote Buddhism. Around this time, Longquan began opening branch temples and cultural centers in Los Angeles, Botswana, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Tanzania. This expansion came as Western critics began accusing the Confucius Institutes of being propaganda tools.

Sylvania Tragenani, who teaches contemporary Buddhism at Groningen University in the Netherlands, said Buddhism seemed to have been chosen over China’s other three legal religions — Islam, Christianity and Taoism — as the most appropriate to represent it abroad.

Islam and Christianity have too many ties to other countries, she said, while Taoism is an indigenous Chinese faith that foreigners often have difficulty understanding. Buddhism, by contrast, is familiar because of the popularity of Japanese versions, like Zen.

As with any official religious undertaking, the expansion abroad was approved by the government. President Xi Jinping , for example, singled out Buddhism as having been successfully integrated into Chinese cultures and traditions.

“Buddhism is the religious flag of China,” Tragenani said. “It’s like Catholicism used to be for Italy, France and Spain.”

It was this program of sending clergy abroad that led to Xuecheng’s downfall. Most of those sent overseas were nuns. Like Xuecheng, they had taken a vow of chastity. But unlike other clergy members, who are banned by monastic rules from using cellphones, these nuns were given phones so they could communicate when overseas.

Then half a dozen were summoned to meet Xuecheng for instruction.

Xuecheng began sending them explicit messages, according to transcripts reprinted in the 95-page report, such as asking one if she would be willing to be caressed and have intercourse. When she said no, he said she had to “break through” this kind of thinking. He started a conversation with another nun, asking her, “Who do you belong to?” Her answer: “The Master,” meaning Xuecheng, an exchange that made clear the power relationship between the two.

In late 2017, the nuns contacted two senior monks, who took up their cause. In their report, the monks also assert that donations to the temple were siphoned into Xuecheng’s personal bank account.

But — symptomatic of China’s top-down political system — the monks alleged that Xuecheng blocked their efforts to begin a formal investigation. In February, the monks forwarded their report to the government, and in August someone posted it on social media. Later that month, Xuecheng was stripped of his main titles and officials confirmed he had sent the messages.

Li Tingting, a prominent Chinese feminist activist now living in London, said the charges represent the spread of the Chinese #MeToo movement beyond relatively soft targets, such as figures in academia, the news media and nongovernmental organizations, who in China generally have little political clout.

Unclear, though, is why the allegations against Xuecheng were made public. One reason could be that the monks were worried the report was being swept under the carpet. (Efforts to reach the monks who wrote it were unsuccessful.)

But others say the report was intended to wake up the faithful to the dangers of Xuecheng’s embrace of social media and social elites.

A prominent scholar at Renmin University in Beijing who advises the government on religious policy said many people feel that temples are too commercial and just a way for people to make money. Asking for anonymity because of his work for the government, he said officials had begun cutting or eliminating entrance tickets and banning temples from engaging in business, adding: “Otherwise, it’s hard to argue that you’re offering an alternative to materialism.”

Many of Xuecheng’s followers think he has been given a raw deal and hope he will be back.

“Xuecheng did a lot of good things; he had great virtues,” said one, a 25-year-old who runs an inn for pilgrims near Longquan Temple and asked for anonymity for fear of government rouble. “You can’t deny him totally, even if he did it."

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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Trump 'likely' to announce new China tariffs as early as Monday: Source – Reuters

WASHINGTON: US President Donald is likely to announce new tariffs on about $200 billion on Chinese imports as early as Monday, a senior administration official told Reuters on Saturday.

The tariff level will probably be about 10 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting people familiar with the matter. This is below the 25 percent the administration said it was considering for this possible round of tariffs.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The upcoming tariffs will be on a list of items that included $200 billion worth of internet technology products and other electronics, printed circuit boards and consumer goods including Chinese seafood,, furniture and lighting products, tires, chemicals, plastics, bicycles and car seats for babies. It was unclear if the administration will exempt any of the products that were on the list, which was announced in July.

On Friday, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said Trump “has been clear that he and his administration will continue to take action to address China’s unfair trade practices. We encourage China to address the long-standing concerns raised by the Unites States.”

Trump had already directed aides to proceed with tariffs, despite Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s attempts to restart trade talks with China.

One observer in the business sector said the administration may have reduced its planned tariff level after hearing public comments, hoping companies would not immediately hike prices for consumer goods to pass along the costs. Still, the additional tariffs could complicate trade talks with China expected later this month.

Trump has demanded that China cut its $375 billion trade surplus with the United States, end policies aimed at acquiring US technologies and intellectual property and roll back high-tech industrial subsidies.

This week, the world’s two largest economies appeared to be making progress on trade. Treasury invited senior Chinese officials, including Vice Premier , for more talks.

The administration has already levied duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods following a study on China’s intellectual property practices released earlier this year.

On Sept. 7, Trump warned that he had further tariffs ready to go on $267 billion worth of Chinese imports beyond those that will be targeted this week. If all of the tariffs were invoked, total imports from China facing tariffs would exceed the $505 billion in goods that the United States imported from China last year.

This year, imports from China through July were up nearly 9 percent from the same period of 2017, according to US Census Bureau data.

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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I am psting this here for obvious reasons.

India needs to boost efforts as Bhutan polls spring a surprise - Indrani Bagchi, ToI
As Bhutan’s election threw up a surprise result by voting out the incumbent, India will have to work doubly hard to help its closest neighbour achieve its aspirations while securing its interests. The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of PM Tshering Tobgay found itself trailing at third position while a newcomer, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) surged ahead to first place, winning 92,722 votes out of 291,098 votes cast through postal ballots and EVM.

The opposition Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) was a close second with 90,020 votes. The DNT and DPT will square off on October 18 for the final round, as the Bhutanese constitution allows a runoff competition between two parties.
New Delhi has not spoken yet and is unlikely to do so until the final results are declared but sources said India would work closely with whoever wins the election.

Unlike in 2013, India was not a factor in the election campaigns this time, even after the Doklam issue shook both countries last year. Both the winning parties only had positive words on the India relationship. But Doklam also brought home to India that it cannot take relations with Bhutan for granted. India has had a rocky relationship with DPT which was in government between 2008 and 2013, largely because of the then PM Jigme Thinley’s interest in building ties with China.

India also goofed up by engineering a cooking gas shortage in Bhutan, hurting its own interests in the longer run. As Bhutan prepares for the final round, India is acutely aware that DPT may well score yet another upset. In the 2013 National Assembly primaries, then incumbent DPT had won 45% of the vote, with PDP at second place with 33%.

However, the PDP won the final round in an upset win. In a Facebook post after the results came in, Tshering Tobgay conceded defeat. “The people of Bhutan have spoken. And the People’s Democratic Party graciously accepts their decision. The will of the people must prevail in a democracy. I wish Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa and Druk Phuensum Tshogpa all the best in the general election,” he said in the post.

While DNT won in 16 constituencies, DPT won in 22 this time. DPT won surprise victories in eastern Bhutan. PDP’s losses in that region may have cost it the election. DNT won the postal ballots this time, but DPT’s victory margins were higher. Therefore, the final results are still an open game next month.

DPT and PDP are slightly right of centre parties but DNT is an unknown quantity, having been formed six years ago by Lotay Tshering and two friends. The party is more left of centre in its outlook, with social issues, health and economy dominating its manifesto.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Nothing comes for free, says Army chief Bipin Rawat on aid from China - Sandip Dighe, ToI
Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said here on Sunday that countries which have taken financial aid from China will soon realise that "nothing comes for free".

He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the concluding ceremony of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) "Military Exercise 18" at the Aundh military station.

Speaking in the context of the growing proximity between Nepal and China, Rawat said, "Any country looking for its economic growth is bound to explore bilateral or multilateral ways of cooperation. China has got money and they are splurging it. But the countries taking such aid will soon realise that nothing comes for free. All these ties are temporary and are bound to change as per the change in the global socio-economic scenario.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said, “The best example of this is the US-Pakistan relations as it has not remained the same what it used to be 70 years ago. As such, we don’t need to worry about these temporary alliances. We need to make our country economically strong.”


Rawat said, “Countries like Nepal and Bhutan will have to be with India due to the geographical conditions which do not favour other countries. India is taking a conscious effort towards developing diplomatic relations with the neighbouring countries. India has been following the motto of ‘neighbourhood first and act east’ and the BIMSTEC is part of it. We are a big country. If we take initiative, other countries will follow suit.”

He said, “China is an emerging economic competitor of India. Both countries are competing with each other in order to establish dominance in the South East Asia region. The economic growth of India will help to reduce the menace of terrorism.”

. . .

Rawat said, “India has taken enough measures to thwart cyber threats. We have a proper system in place to counter cyber threats. The Army is gradually enhancing its capability to counter the future challenges related to the same.

Nepal’s army troops did not participate in the exercise but the country sent a team of observers. Minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre said, “There was a change in command in the Nepal army at the time when the exercise commenced but it still sent observers. We should not give room for any speculation.”
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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India not lowering guard on China border: Nirmala - PTI
India will not lower its guard along the Line of Actual Control with China, while maintaining border peace in sync with the “Wuhan” spirit, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

Nearly a month after talks with her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe, Ms. Sitharaman said both sides recognised that the broad decisions arrived at the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan should govern management of the border.

“Absolutely,” she told PTI when asked if India was still on guard and not lowering it despite the Wuhan spirit.

Doklam and after

At the Wuhan summit in April, Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi resolved to open a new chapter in ties, and directed their militaries to boost coordination along the nearly 3,500-km Sino-Indian border, months after the most serious military faceoff in decades between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in Doklam triggered fears of a war.

Asked whether the decision of Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi at the summit to issue strategic guidelines to their militaries to maintain peace along the border is working, she said, “I want to believe it is working.”

At the same time, she added that as Defence Minister of the country she was conscious of the fact that she would have to keep the border guards on alert. “Then I would also be, as Raksha Mantri, I would also be conscious that I have to keep [them] alert...Wuhan spirit, yes,” she said.


Asked if Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat’s comments earlier in the year that the time had come for India to shift focus to its northern border from the western frontier, she said, “I cannot afford to say, at the cost of one border, I will be more alert in another. A border is a border. I have to be conscious of both my borders.”

“I will also have be conscious of my sea. It is less talked about,” she said.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Nepal’s decision on BIMSTEC drill does not signal pro-China stance: official source - Atul Aneja, The Hindu
Nepal’s decision not to participate in the India-proposed military exercise of the Bay of Bengal group of countries, instead of a snub to New Delhi, signals that a new set of rules need to be evolved that will meld the collective interests of India, Nepal and China, official sources say.

A diplomatic source from Nepal, who did not wish to be named, told The Hindu that there are certain decisions, such as conduct of bilateral military exercises, which are less complex, are easier to take. “We have no problem of holding a bilateral military exercise with India, China or a third country. Thus we are going ahead with a stand-alone military exercise with China,” the source said. India and Nepal also hold regular military exercises called Surya Kiran.

But the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) military drill could have been construed as having an anti-China slant. “Before we participate in such an exercise, it would be prudent if such proposals were channeled through the two-plus- one mechanism that China backs, after the Wuhan informal summit in April between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the source observed.


Nepalese officials acknowledge that the Chinese side proposed the “two-plus one” mechanism during their Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s visit to Beijing in June. “We welcome the two- plus-one format as we are confident that such a dialogue will be conducted in a spirit of equality and mutual respect,” Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Nepal’s Minister of Forests and Environment, earlier told The Hindu in Beijing.

Analysts say that under this mechanism China and India can achieve consensus on specific thorny issues and through consultations with the third country involved, arrive at a mutually acceptable trilateral decision.


“This is different from a trilateral mechanism. Under the Chinese proposal, China and India can jointly conduct a dialogue with a third regional country,” the source said.

The Nepalese official pointed out that there were other compulsions which forced Kathmandu’s hand on the BIMSTEC military-exercise decision. “It is a fact that there was no domestic consensus on the BIMSTEC military exercise decision, which restricted Prime Minister Oli’s room for manoeuvre,” he said.

Besides, the timing was also not conducive for a military exercise, as Nepal has been engaged in delicate negotiations with China, such as arriving at an important free trade deal. “In fact, we would like India also to join negotiations with China so that we can have a trilateral free trade area,” the source said.

Nepalese officials say that Kathmandu’s deep reliance on New Delhi is inevitable and irreversible. For instance, Kathmandu avidly needs New Delhi’s support for energy exports in the region, includingBang ladesh.

“Nepal will soon have surplus power, which we would like to export to regional countries such as Bangladesh. But we cannot bulk transit energy without India’s support,” says Roshan Khadka, media adviser to Nepal’s energy and water resources minister, Barsha Man Pun, in a conversation with The Hindu.

“Bangladesh will become a bulk energy market and under a 40 year plan, Dhaka will purchase 9000 megawatts of power from Nepal by 2040,” Mr. Khadka observed.

A Memrandum of Understanding (MoU) for this export has already been signed. The Kathmandu Post quoted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as saying earlier this month that Dhaka’s attempt “to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan is underway,” and a trilateral understanding among Bangladesh, India and Bhutan would be signed soon.

Separately, the daily reported that Bangladesh cabinet has already approved a MoU, signed last year during the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s visit to India. Following the approval, Bangladesh will be allowed to import power from the Upper Karnali hydropower project, which is being developed in Nepal by an Indian company, through an Indian transit corridor.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Neshant »

Chini govt is going overboard with excessive state control of everything.

Habitual "crackdowns" on the most mundane things are going to drive their citizens crazy.

If I was a rich guy in that country, I'd be looking to move out right about now seeing what might be coming down the line.

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Trikaal »

Indian policy makers must be firm on Nepal. Don't allow a single unit of electricity produced by Chinese backed powerplants to enter our grids. We need to ensure Chinese investments in Nepal collapse and become an NPA. This is one place where we hold all the cards. I just hope our policy makers don't decide to fold the winning hand.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Dumal »

SSridhar wrote:Nepal’s decision on BIMSTEC drill does not signal pro-China stance: official source - Atul Aneja, The Hindu
Nepal’s decision not to participate in the India-proposed military exercise of the Bay of Bengal group of countries, instead of a snub to New Delhi, signals that a new set of rules need to be evolved that will meld the collective interests of India, Nepal and China, official sources say.


Wow! Nepal is firmly under Chin control! This, discreetly offered to the Chindu, is rubbing massive amounts of salt on the festering India-Nepal relations. Two plus one model may be what China wants but not something we have even touched with a long pole! And looks like they have decided BIMSTEC is anti-China. The entire messaging here sounds like spoon-fed by China.

I hope there aren't any more BIMSTEC partners rushing into the Chinese bandwagon!
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by chetak »

Dumal wrote:
Wow! Nepal is firmly under Chin control! This, discreetly offered to the Chindu, is rubbing massive amounts of salt on the festering India-Nepal relations. Two plus one model may be what China wants but not something we have even touched with a long pole! And looks like they have decided BIMSTEC is anti-China. The entire messaging here sounds like spoon-fed by China.

I hope there aren't any more BIMSTEC partners rushing into the Chinese bandwagon!
BIMSTEC has isolated the pakis and the cheenis, so the cheenis are using a willing proxy to do the dirty. The pakis need the SAARC for India visas and trade so they will try to force others to push India to agree to hold the SAARC summit in pakiland but I don't see India agreeing.

the lootyens traitors will support both aman ki ashas because then both sides of their bread will be buttered.

Very soon the hans will force their way in as "observers" in the BIMSTEC so that they then can piss inside the tent.
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Maldives’ Chinese debt and political risk could lead to trouble in paradise – Reuters

NEW DELHI: A victory for President Abdullah Yameen in a Sunday election in the Maldives could ramp up pressure on its finances, as the government stays the course on a Chinese-backed infrastructure boom that is in danger of swamping the economy.

The Maldives under Yameen has grown closer to China - to the alarm of traditional ally India - with China funding roads, bridges and an extension to the international airport as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of infrastructure projects in almost 70 countries from Mongolia to Montenegro.

But a Chinese takeover of a port in neighbouring Sri Lanka and problems in several other countries have led to fears the initiative is a debt trap to hook countries into China's sphere. China dismisses that.

Yameen is seeking a second five-year term in the Indian Ocean archipelago known for its sun-kissed tourist beaches and diving.

His main rivals have been jailed on charges ranging from terrorism to attempting to topple the government, leading to doubts abroad about the legitimacy of the vote.

The Maldives, a small economy heavily reliant on tourism, is one of the most at-risk countries of any involved with the BRI to the distress of debt, said the Center for Global Development, a Washington DC-based think-tank tracking the initiative.

The center, using publicly available information, estimates China’s loans to the Maldives at $1.3 billion – more than a quarter of its annual gross domestic product.

An exiled former prime minister, Mohamed Nasheed, who wants to renegotiate the deals with China, told Reuters in June the loans could be more than $2.5 billion, without citing his source.

Scott Morris of the Center for Global Development said China's loans gave it a dominant role.

"That raises concerns to have such a dominant role being played by another government,” Morris told Reuters.

“You have to think about what happens in a case of distress – who calls the shots in that situation. China is not bound by the kinds of standards that other major creditors are.”

The two ratings agencies covering the country, Fitch and Moody’s, both rate the Maldives as sub-investment grade, and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund see a high likelihood of distress if current spending continues.

Moody’s cut its outlook to “negative” in July, citing the boom in infrastructure spending as a cause for concern.

"They have a massive infrastructure programme and, as part of that, they have been raising debt,” Anushka Shah from the rating agency told Reuters.

“There has been a big increase in debt since the infrastructure projects started."

Fitch rates its outlook as "stable", but also cautioned over rising debt in its last update on the country in May.

Yameen has brushed off worries.

"The international community believes the Maldives can settle the debts,” he told a question and answer session organised by the Maldives National University on Sunday. “We are bringing foreign investment that is the biggest the country has seen.”

He declined to comment further when contacted by Reuters.

Political risk

The Maldives’ economy has grown by an average of 6 percent a year for the last five years, buoyed by tourism and construction, according to Fitch.

But both ratings agencies urged investors to be cautious in February after the Supreme Court freed political prisoners, against the wishes of Yameen, sparking a political crisis and leading several countries including China and the United States, to warm their citizens against travel there.

"We take into account fairly elevated political risk in our rating,” said Shah.

"Political tensions affect policy and could also have some spill-over into the tourism sector.”

The political tension had little impact on visitor numbers, the government said, reporting that arrivals rose more than 10 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2018 - though visits from China, its biggest market, fell by more than 8 percent.

The infrastructure boom is effectively a "bet" on being able to grow these numbers, said Morris.

"But in the meantime, they have to be able to service that debt as it comes due," he said.

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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Alibaba's Jack Ma says US-China trade friction could last 20 years – Reuters

SHANGHAI: Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said on Tuesday that trade frictions between the United States and China could last for two decades and would be ‘a mess’ for all parties involved, citing weak trade rules.

Ma was speaking at an Alibaba investor conference hours after Washington said it would impose duties on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, drawing a warning from Beijing that it would retaliate.

Jack Ma to unveil succession strategy

Ma said trade tensions would likely impact Chinese and foreign companies immediately and negatively. He predicted that Chinese businesses would move production to other countries in the medium-term to get around the tariffs.

“You may win the battle, but you lose the war,” Ma said at the shareholder event in Hangzhou.

“Middle term, a lot of Chinese business will move to other countries,” he added.

Alibaba’s Jack Ma to step down in 2019, pledges smooth transition

Ma said new trade rules were needed over the longterm.

“Even if Donald Trump retired, the new president will come, it will still continue…We need new trade rules, we need to upgrade the WTO,” he said, referring to the World Trade Organization.

Ma made the comments in what he said was his last speech to shareholders as chairman of the Chinese internet giant.

He announced last week that he will step down within a year and hand the company reins to chief executive Daniel Zhang.

Alibaba, Mail.ru agree joint e-commerce venture

Ma met with US President Donald Trump last year in a high-profile meeting where he promised to create 1 million US jobs linked to small merchants selling items on Alibaba platforms.

Trade relations have since deteriorated between China and the US in a tit-for-tat escalation in tariffs

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by pankajs »

pankajs wrote:As one esteemed member put it on this very forum, the Chinese thought they had de-coded/deconstructed Modi mentally and knew what makes him tick. As this member theorized, they thought massaging his ego by giving his a one on one with Xi they will be able to sew him up for good.

End result, India not only signed the LEMOA but also went on to sign up for COMCASA. Now the Chinese are confused.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1119140.shtml [Gobar whines | Dated 11-Sep-2018]
India playing wily game with US, Russia and China
Before the dialogue, many analysts thought the US demand to halt India's oil imports from Iran and India's purchase of Russian S-400 air defense system, especially the latter, would hinder the progress of the US-India strategic defense partnership. Unexpectedly, Washington made concessions on these issues. An important step forward, the US and India signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), and agreed to hold joint exercises involving the air force, navy and the army off the eastern Indian coast in 2019. The dialogue yielded a satisfactory result for India.

<snip>

Although the dialogue was postponed twice due to personnel reshuffle in the US Department of State and some other issues in bilateral relations, that it was finally held demonstrates the urgent needs of both sides in deepening strategic defense cooperation. The Logistics Support Agreement, COMCASA, and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation are the three basic agreements that the US signs to form military alliances with other countries. Now only the third has yet to be signed between the US and India.

<snip>

The past few months have seen a rapprochement in Sino-Indian relations and sound interactions between the two. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe concluded his India visit just several days before the US-India two plus two dialogue. But from the Indian side, this is just a tactical adjustment rather than a strategic one. {Who would have thunk ... after the Chinese had taken full measure of Mudi .. hainji?}

After the China-India Doklam standoff, India has been trapped in an awkward situation - relations with China and other neighboring countries deteriorated; moving closer to the US didn't exempt it from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration but led to an alienated India-Russia relationship. The diplomatic quagmire undoubtedly would negatively affect Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election next year. In such context, Modi recalibrated his diplomatic policy, holding an informal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi respectively, and keeping a distance with the US at the Shangri-La dialogue. This won India diplomatic maneuvering room and prompted the US to make concessions over a series of issues in the US-India bilateral relations. India is playing games to gain benefits from all sides - China, Russia and the US. {Again, who would have thunk .. AFTER the Chinese had taken full measure of Mudi .. hainji?}

The author is a senior fellow of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, a visiting fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China and a distinguished fellow of the China (Kunming) South Asia & Southeast Asia Institute.
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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US-China trade war escalates, New Delhi must spot new opportunities in reshaped playing field

In its recklessness to flaunt its muscle, China disregards that higher tariffs on US items will hurt some of its manufacturing industries, which depend on imports from the US. On the whole, China does not have much in its trade war kitty to use against the US. It can try needling the US by increasing its activities in the South China Sea. But given President Donald Trump’s no-nonsense approach to foreign policy, it will have very little impact on the US decision to reset trade deals.

On the contrary, President Trump has increasingly felt emboldened to arm twist China for practices which hurt American businesses. This assertiveness has come from robustness of the American economy and slowdown in the Chinese. The choice for China here is to either cooperate and renegotiate terms with the US or face a slump, which will have a spiralling effect on the world economy and financial markets.

For the rest of the world, including India, this represents a major danger. But since India has little control over how global trade is being reshaped, it will have to be nimble and spot fresh opportunities in the reshaped playing field. It can, for example, capture markets where Chinese exports are hurt by elevated tariffs. If New Delhi can boost manufacturing exports, that would give its badly floundering ‘Make in India’ programme the boost it desperately needs.

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Exit SAARC, enter BIMSTEC


Exit SAARC, enter BIMSTEC

Imran will turn on the charm to convince Modi, or at least Sushma, to attend a SAARC summit in Pakistan. Neither should and neither will.


17th September 2018


By Minhaz Merchant

Early mornings in the three-bungalow complex at Lok Kalyan Marg, which serves as PM Narendra Modi’s residence and personal office, are tranquil. There, Modi reflects on the day’s schedule, does yoga and devours the morning papers along with a light breakfast.

On his mind will be the packed international calendar: the UN General Assembly speech will again be given by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Modi has other priorities than the annual bickering at the UNGA between India and Pakistan that no one outside the subcontinent pays attention to. The PM’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in October is a more pressing engagement given the diplomatic tightrope India has to walk between Washington and Moscow.

But the real problems lie closer at home. Following a successful India-US 2+2 dialogue earlier this month, India has achieved three geopolitical objectives. First, naming Pakistani terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in the joint statement at the end of the dialogue between the foreign and defence ministers of the two nations. The wording is significant: The US has for the first time used the term terror groups operating from areas “under Pakistan’s control” rather than “Pakistani territory”. The shift in nuance is not an accident. The US accepts that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is not sovereign Pakistan territory.

As the India-US joint statement pointed out: “The Ministers denounced any use of terrorist proxies in the region, and … called on Pakistan to ensure that the territory under its control is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries. … They called on Pakistan to bring to justice expeditiously the perpetrators of the Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri and other cross-border terror attacks. The Ministers welcomed the launch of a bilateral dialogue on designation of terrorists in 2017, which is strengthening cooperation and action against terrorist groups, including Al-Qaida, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, D-Company and their affiliates.”

This is also the first time an official US statement has been so explicit about Pakistan’s complicity in sponsoring proxy terror against India. Despite the US tilt towards India, the region’s problems will have to be solved by regional initiatives. A key shift in India’s regional strategy is allowing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to remain comatose. India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka boycotted the last SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan. The summit was aborted. Islamabad is desperately keen to host the abandoned summit in November 2018.

Pakistan’s new PM Imran Khan will turn on the charm to convince Modi, or at least Sushma, to attend. Neither should and neither will. Without India, a SAARC summit is a non-starter. Pakistan knows this. A second consecutive snub will play badly with Pakistan’s establishment that craves equivalence with and respect from India. It doesn’t qualify for the former and does not merit the latter.

Meanwhile, India has other irons in the fire. It is developing BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) as a substitute for the mothballed SAARC. The BIMSTEC comprises India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand. The first five are also part of the eight-member SAARC. The three SAARC absentees in BIMSTEC are Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Maldives. By giving Afghanistan special observer status, BIMSTEC can entirely replicate SAARC minus Pakistan and the Maldives.

There are precedents for giving non-contiguous countries observer status. For example, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a grouping headed by China and Russia and comprising a smattering of Central Asian countries, gave India and Pakistan observer status before admitting both recently as full members.

The presence of Afghanistan as a special invitee to BIMSTEC will send a terse message to Pakistan whose proxy terror war has turned ordinary Afghans into bitter critics of Pakistan. The appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad as special US envoy to Kabul is significant. Khalilzad is an anti-Pakistan hawk. According to Khaled Ahmed, a columnist with the Pakistan edition of Newsweek: “If you are a non-Pashtun Pakistani in Afghanistan on a business trip, pretend to be from India or you will get roughed up, so offended are the Pashtun Afghans carrying the baggage of rage over the creation of Pakistan that divided the Pashtun nation. With Khalilzad helping President Ghani in Kabul, Pakistan is going to find it difficult to engage with Afghanistan on the lines it is familiar with.”

BIMSTEC is over 20 years old but has only now assumed geopolitical importance. Many of its members are targets of China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. Some like Sri Lanka and Myanmar have noted Malaysia’s rebuff to China by cancelling OBOR infrastructure projects worth $22 billion. By using BIMSTEC as its primary regional forum, India can achieve two complementary objectives. One, isolate Pakistan regionally; two, build support against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (a part of OBOR) that violates sovereign Indian territory in PoK.

The BIMSTEC summit in Kathmandu on August 30-31 has partially restored India’s relationship with Nepal’s China-leaning premier K P Oli. China’s recent decision to allow Nepal use of four Chinese ports has ended India’s monopoly though the 3,300-km distance from Nepal to the nearest Chinese port makes the arrangement impractical. Nepal’s hostility following India’s thoughtless blockade in 2015-16 has however mellowed.

India’s strategic defence partnership with the US gives it an edge regionally. BIMSTEC will allow India to further strengthen its Act East policy. The Indo-Pacific extends from the Middle East to the west coast of the US. India’s strategic impulse, as it prepares for a wider global role, is to have tactical options to both its east and west.

Minhaz Merchant

The author is an editor and publisher
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by chetak »

India excludes Huawei and ZTE from 5G trials

By Jung Min-ho

India excludes Huawei and ZTE from 5G trials.

India has excluded Huawei and ZTE from participating in trials to speed up 5G technology in the country amid security concerns surrounding the Chinese telecoms equipment providers.

Local media reported Friday that the Department of Telecommunications has asked Samsung, Cisco, Ericsson and Nokia to be project partners for the trials.

"We have excluded Huawei from these trials," the Economic Times, an Indian business daily, quoted telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan as saying.

The paper reported that the department also did not reach out to ZTE.

India's government is planning to showcase India-specific 5G use cases by early 2019.

On the same day, SK Telecom, Korea's No. 1 mobile operator, said it has selected Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia as its preferred bidders for 5G equipment over Huawei.

All this comes after the United States and Australia acted against the Chinese companies due to cyber-espionage concerns.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by pankajs »

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australa ... urb-chinas
Australia plans naval base in Papua New Guinea to curb China’s Pacific influence
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by SSridhar »

X-post from Terroristan thread.

Pakistan urges China to ease pressure on Muslims minority - AP
Pakistan is urging China to ease pressures on the country’s Muslim minority amid warnings by rights groups that the Uighurs in China face restrictions on religious activities and mass detentions in so-called “re-education camps”.

The appeal comes as Pakistan has had traditionally good ties with its large neighbor.

Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri, met Chinese envoy Yao Xing this week to discuss the situation of the Uighurs in China’s western Xingjian province.

Mr. Qadri says such pressures could foment reactionary extremist viewpoints and urged Beijing to take concrete steps on the issue.

Analysts say Pakistan’s move is significant amid growing pressure on China over human rights violations.
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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US sanctions China for buying Russian fighter jets, missiles – Reuters

WASHINGTON: China's foreign ministry on Friday said it strongly urged the United States to withdraw sanctions on the Chinese military, after the Trump administration imposed the penalties for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Russia.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comments at a daily news briefing in Beijing.

The United States said China's armed forces were in breach of a sweeping US sanction law punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 US elections.

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on the Chinese military for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Russia, in breach of a sweeping US sanctions law punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 US election.

The US State Department said it would immediately impose sanctions on China's Equipment Development Department (EDD), the branch of the Chinese military responsible for weapons and equipment, and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in "significant transactions" with Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms exporter.

The sanctions are related to China's purchase of 10 SU-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018, the State Department said.

They block the Chinese agency, and Li, from applying for export licenses and participating in the US financial system.

It also adds them to the Treasury Department's list of specially designated individuals with whom Americans are barred from doing business.

The administration also blacklisted an additional 33 people and entities associated with the Russian military and intelligence, adding them to a list under the 2017 law, known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA.

CAATSA also seeks to punish Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and involvement in Syria's civil war.

Doing significant business with anyone on that list can trigger sanctions like those imposed on China.

Some of those added to the list, which now contains 72 names, were indicted in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 US election, the official said.

Earlier on Thursday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order intended to facilitate implementation of the sanctions.

A federal special counsel is leading a criminal investigation of Russian interference in the US election, and any possible cooperation with Trump's presidential campaign.

Trump has insisted there was no collusion with Russia. Moscow denies any effort to meddle in US politics.

Aimed at Moscow - or Beijing?

One US administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the sanctions imposed on the Chinese agency were aimed at Moscow, not Beijing or its military, despite an escalating trade war between the United States and China.

"The ultimate target of these sanctions is Russia. CAATSA sanctions in this context are not intended to undermine the defense capabilities of any particular country," the official told reporters on a conference call.

"They are instead aimed at imposing costs upon Russia in response to its malign activities," the official said.

In Moscow, Russian member of parliament Franz Klintsevich said the sanctions would not affect the S-400 and SU-35 contracts.

"I am sure that these contracts will be executed in line with the schedule," Klintsevich was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency. "The possession of this military equipment is very important for China."

Security analysts in Asia said the move appeared to be largely symbolic and would serve only to push Moscow and Beijing closer together.

"The imposition of US sanctions will have zero impact on Russian arms sales to China," said Ian Storey, of Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

"Both countries are opposed to what they see as US bullying and these kind of actions will just push Beijing and Moscow even closer together," he said, adding that Moscow needed Chinese money and Beijing wanted advanced military technology.

Collin Koh, a security analyst at Singapore's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the sanctions would do little to counter the evolving research and development relationship between China and Russia.

China relied less on large big-ticket purchases from Russia as in previous years, but Chinese defence industries were seeking expertise from Russia and former-Soviet states to plug knowledge gaps, he said.

The measures come as the Trump administration pursues a variety of strategies to clamp down on China and faces growing pressure to respond strongly to US intelligence agency reports that Russia is continuing to meddle in US politics.

Members of Congress, including many of Trump's fellow Republicans, who passed the sanctions bill nearly unanimously, have repeatedly called on the administration to take a harder line against Moscow.

Administration officials said they hoped the action against EDD would send a message to others considering buying the S-400.

US officials have been discussing the issue particularly with NATO ally Turkey, which wants to buy the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries.

Washington has expressed concern that Turkey's planned deployment of the S-400s could pose a risk to the security of some US-made weapons and other technology used by Turkey, including the F-35 fighter jet.

US officials have warned that Turkey's purchase of the system could contravene CAATSA.

"We hope that at least this step will send a signal of our seriousness and perhaps encourage others to think twice about their own engagement with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors," another US official said.

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by nam »

This will create problems for our S400 deal. US may sanction DRDO, which is going to hit us badly on the LCA program. In a way, this is good. We won't be able to deal with Russians because of threat of sanctions, but cannot deal with US because of it's threat of sanctions.

GoI will be forced to invest in DRDO. The first one will be to find a alternative to F404/414.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Trikaal »

I think this actually means US cannot sanction India now, atleast in the near future. If it does, that will push India into the Russia-China camp. US cannot afford to lose both to Russia. If US has decided to prioritize India over China, that limits their options viz-a-viz us.
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Peregrine »

X Posted on the Terroristani & Islamism & Islamophobia Abroad Thread

Take! Do the Talk!! Ilon Blothel kick Tellolistanis in the Butt!!!

China 'categorically rejects' Islamabad 'Xinjiang criticism' reports

Beijing on Saturday rejected recent media reports claiming Islamabad had ‘criticised’ the former over its treatment of Muslims in China’s Xinjiang.

A statement by the Chinese embassy in Islamabad said Ambassador Yao Jin paid a courtesy visit to Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq on Septemeber 19. The two discussed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other projects on the occasion, the statement read.

Muslims forced to drink alcohol and eat pork in Chinese detention camps, claims former inmate

The press release said a news item carried by APP the same day accurately reported the meeting. Some local and international media, however, presented baseless and distorted versions of the meeting.

These, the Chinese embassy, categorically rejected. Haq was reported to have called on Beijing to soften restrictions placed on Uighur Muslims residing in China’s western province of Xinjiang in the ‘baseless and distorted’ reports.

Muslims in China

In its rejoinder, the embassy said the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China enjoyed social stability, sound economic development and harmonious coexistence among ethnic groups. And How! :rotfl:

Some measures are taken against separatism and terrorism for the sake of safeguarding China’s national security and protecting people’s life and property, the statement read.

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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by jpremnath »

nam wrote:This will create problems for our S400 deal. US may sanction DRDO, which is going to hit us badly on the LCA program. In a way, this is good. We won't be able to deal with Russians because of threat of sanctions, but cannot deal with US because of it's threat of sanctions.

GoI will be forced to invest in DRDO. The first one will be to find a alternative to F404/414.
I wish it would end like that...but whats gonna happen is that we will slowly cut off Russian purchases and replace them with American wares. Having seen COMCASA, I would be surprised if it ends otherwise. Many of our homegrown tech is underfunded and undermanned and will take a while to come online and our Armed Forces dont have the patience. If they can find a substitute from outside, they will convince the govt that war can happen anytime and that its always better to have the 'besht' weapon at hand than to wait for a desi one. And no govt would want to be in that position to be blamed by the public for not giving the Forces what they want.

In a way, i have a shallow sense of pleasure seeing the whole Rafale circus. Even a well thought out, negotiated and managed deal has been dragged through mud. This will convince every political party that any foreign arms deal will be a weapon of corruption in the hands of opposition and that it is much easier for their own good to tell DRDO to make it here.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by nam »

If we replace it with US kit, then all it requires is some noise about "giving in to US blackmail".. and GoI of any kind of party will back off.

We generally have a spineless gov anyway, irrespective of the party in power.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by SSridhar »

From 'supChina' reports,

CNBC reports: “Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and executive chairman of Alphabet, predicts that within the next decade there will be two distinct internets: one led by the U.S. and the other by China.”

This is a strange type of prediction: There are already two distinct internets: one led by the U.S. and the other by China.

The vast majority of globally popular websites and online services are not easily accessible in China, while a huge proportion of China’s online population hardly ever ventures beyond the walled garden of WeChat.

As China develops its own standards in different fields, it will continue to create an alternative digital world. Today, for example, the BBC asks: “China has ambitions for its rapidly expanding Beidou satellite navigation system to serve the whole world, not just Asia, but will it really be able to rival the well-established — and US-owned — GPS system?” The answer seems to be “maybe,” with caveats such as this: "It's one thing to get it working, it's another to keep it working consistently and create trust among users.” But there’s no question that China will get Beidou working consistently, and then Chinese mobile phones may cease using GPS technology altogether.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Suraj »

One child policy biting :
For some women in China, ‘love markets’ are the last resort to find a husband
In China, women are often still seen as a commodity, a product that begins to lose value after turning 24, the average age of marriages there. “Whenever I talk to my mother, she gets mad at me because I still don’t have a boyfriend,” says Dream, a 28-year-old woman from Hubei. “My parents met in our village, their families were close friends. It was another time and they can’t understand where I am coming from.”

She has been living in Shanghai for several years, and here, as in many other big cities, women who are well-educated and earn good salaries can have a hard time finding somebody. “Chinese men want somebody to serve them and to be a housewife,” Dream says. Women her age are known by the term “Sheng Nu,” literally “leftover women.” Victims of social pressures, some turn to educational services, such as the classes on “How to find a boyfriend” given by the Weime Club. Out of this social climate, a multimillion-dollar industry has emerged that exploits the fears and loneliness of a generation.

Eric, the president of the Weime Club, has been teaching classes like this for more than 10 years. At first, they focused exclusively on male clients, but they have been shifting toward a female audience. “The cost of one month of classes is 6,000 yuan (around $800), so we realized that the men who could afford it had no trouble finding a wife,” he says before a class. “Today we will learn how to meet people on dating websites,” Eric explains while he opens a neatly organized Excel file. “Here I have compiled a list of the 150 women I have sent messages to last week, ranked according to beauty and intelligence.”

Eric’s classes are extremely results-oriented and resemble a collection of tricks on how to meet people that a pickup artist would use. At the end of the afternoon he chooses two students to take for hands-on training. “The goal is to meet as many guys as possible, so you can choose the best ones,” he explains while drinking a latte at a popular shopping mall in Shanghai. The students were told to pretend they had run out of battery life on their phones and to approach men, asking for a photograph. “After he takes your picture, you ask him to send it to you. This way you already have his number,” suggests Eric with a cheeky smile. Over the last few years, more and more such companies have cropped up in the ever-expanding Chinese cities.

In the late 1970s, faced with a demographic boom, Deng Xiaoping’s government rolled out the one-child policy, limiting the number of children each couple could have. This generation was born at an influx point in China’s history and has benefited from a newfound material abundance. However, a rise in loneliness and family pressures also accompanied this economic growth. According to a study published in Science magazine, the children born after this policy was enacted are considerably more pessimistic, risk-averse and less competitive.

On weekends at People’s Park in Shanghai, hundreds of eager parents meet at the “Marriage Market,” as it is known among locals — holding paper ads or pasting them to umbrellas, trading contact information, hoping to find a match for their children. For some older single women, this market is their last resort for finding a match. “I have been coming here for the last few months, but I haven’t had any luck,” confesses Flora, a 43-year-old accountant from Shanghai. “My situation brings great shame to my parents, who would be at peace if I got married.”
Indian men should step in and help.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by TKiran »

^^^ Suraj san, while the article gives very accurate information about the life in Metros like Shanghai, what is amazing is that they still have family values as strong as Indians.

Usually with such prosperity, people tend to be like in West where they have live-in relationships, girl friend boyfriend (50 years age), LGBT, etc, but in China, there is still sanctity to marriage, importance to children etc, very strange feeling you get interacting with aam abdul in China. Very easy to relate to ourselves and feel friendly with Han. You only get irritated when they talk about Han superiority, otherwise, instantly they become friends, they respect us truly from the bottom of their hearts.

I would suggest people to people contact should be improved on some pretext or the other, that would shake the foundation of CPC for sure.
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Neshant »

one of many reasons why chicoms becoming the world's #1 power is a threat to all (including their own people)

------------------

China treats Uighur kids as 'orphans' after parents seized

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-distanc ... 13494.html
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Peregrine »

Cancels Trade Talks as New U.S. Tariffs Loom - Bloomberg News

- Move follows U.S. state department sanctions on defense agency
- Trump is prepared for short-term pain from taking on China


China has scrapped planned trade talks with the U.S. and is unlikely to sit down with Washington until after November’s mid-term elections, according to people familiar with the situation.

The decision to call off a planned delegation next week comes as President Donald Trump signals he’s prepared for short-term pain for the U.S. economy by ramping up the trade war, in the pursuit of what he sees as the long-term gains from taking on China.

The White House had no immediate response to China’s latest move. Yet hours before the Wall Street Journal first reported that Beijing had scrapped plans to send Vice-Premier Liu He and a mid-level delegation to Washington, a senior U.S. official told reporters that the president believes inaction on China will ultimately leave the economy and consumers worse off.

In addition to new tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods set to go into effect Sept. 24, the U.S. State Department sanctions against China’s defense agency and its director on Thursday contributed to the ultimate decision to cancel the talks, the people said.

The Long Run

“It would be ‘asking for an insult,’ if China went ahead with trade talks after the US announced new tariffs and sanctions,” Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, said Saturday. “In the long run, there will be talks, because the trade war won’t last for thousands of years.”

In his push for what he calls a level playing field in dealing with China, Trump slapped the new tariffs on imports from China and threatened more if Beijing retaliated. On Aug. 18, China said it would impose levies on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods effective Sept. 24.

The new tariffs brought “new uncertainties” to China-U.S. negotiations, Gao Feng, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce said, when answering a question at a press conference on Thursday on whether the countries would have a new round of trade talks. He used exactly the same wording the ministry used in an earlier statement.

Companies Worried

The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance didn’t respond to faxes inquiring about the matter on Saturday.

U.S. industry has widely pushed back against the Trump administration’s use of tariffs to force changes to China’s economy, and companies from Walmart Inc. to Gap Inc. and Samsonite International SA have said they’re prepared to raise prices if the new tariffs bite into their business.

Here’s Where Tariffs on $260 Billion of Goods Are Biting in U.S.

Trump’s biggest strike yet in a growing trade fight between the world’s biggest economies will see a 10 percent duty applied to $200 billion of Chinese imports, which may rise to 25 percent in 2019. He’s threatened duties on a further $267 billion of made-in-China goods, which would hit almost all other consumer products including mobile phones, shoes and clothes.

The latest round of duties comes on top of a 25 percent tariff already imposed on about $50 billion in Chinese goods, which spurred counter-tariffs from Beijing.

Trump’s Stand

Trump continued to hit out at China late this week, signaling the trade war won’t end any time soon. “It’s time to take a stand on China,” he said in an interview Thursday with Fox News. “We have no choice. It’s been a long time. They’re hurting us.”

“The new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, mostly consumer-oriented, will depress spending and hurt the retail sector beginning in 2019,” Seema Shah and Danielle McIntee, analysts with Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in a note on Friday. “Lower-income families, already pinching pennies, are most exposed, given the likelihood of tariff-related price increases on everyday items.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross earlier this week said the tariffs are spread over such a wide range of goods that Americans shouldn’t notice price increases.

“We were trying to do things that were least intrusive on the consumer,” Ross said on CNBC on Tuesday. “We really went item-by-item trying to figure out what would accomplish the punitive purpose on China and yet with the least disruption in the U.S.”

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Peregrine
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Peregrine »

Terrorstan can take heart. Its Foreign Debt "is only about US$ 90 Billion!"

China's debt rises to USD 2.58 trillion

China's spiralling debt, a major concern for the slowing down of its economy, has risen to USD 2.58 trillion, a medi report said Sunday.

The country's top legislative body has decided that the upper limit for local government debt this year should be 21 trillion yuan.

China's local government debt balance stood at 17.66 trillion yuan (USD 2.58 trillion) by the end of August, but it remained within the official limit, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the Ministry of Finance as saying.

Regarded as the "hidden debt", the steady rise of the local government debt worries economists and regulators though the country's overall government debt fell last year to 36.2 per cent of its GDP, lower than the level of the most advanced economies.

The local government debt came in the form of local authorities guaranteeing, often by informal arrangements, borrowing by companies known as local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), which fund projects on behalf of the local governments, an earlier report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been pressuring local governments to cut their debt levels to reduce financial risk in the world's second-biggest economy, but for some of them the addiction to debt has proved difficult to overcome.

Concerns are raising as the world's largest economy continued to slowdown and posted a 6.9 per cent GDP last year.

China issued local government bonds worth 883 billion yuan in August, up from the 757 billion yuan in July, with the tally for the first eight months of this year reaching 3 trillion yuan.

Over 526.6 billion yuan worth of the financing tools issued last month were special-purpose bonds for the development of public-interest projects, marking a substantial increase from 196 billion yuan in July.

The surge came after Finance Ministry unveiled guideline last month to accelerate the launch of special purpose bonds by local governments to stabilise investment, expand domestic demand and strengthen weak areas, the Xinhua report said.

Local authorities were told to speed up issuance in August and September to complete at least 80 per cent of the annual quota by the end of this month, while the majority of the remaining 20 per cent is expected to be accomplished in October.

China has made bond issuance the sole legal way for local governments to raise debt amid efforts to forestall a systemic financial crisis, the report said.

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Peregrine
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Peregrine »

India, China to sign internal security cooperation agreement

For the first time, India and China will sign an internal security cooperation agreement during the forthcoming visit of China's Minister of Public Security, marking a new beginning in bilateral relations, officials said Monday.

Zhao Kezhi, China's Minister of Public Security, is expected to visit India next month and hold meetings with Home Minister Rajnath Singh during which they will discuss various aspects of security cooperation between the two countries.

During the visit of the Chinese leader, an agreement on internal security cooperation between the two countries will be signed, a home ministry official said.

The proposed pact is expected to cover areas of intelligence sharing, exchange programme, sharing of best practices, cooperation in disaster mitigation besides others, an official said.

The move comes just a year after a two-month-long border stand-off between the India Army and the China's People's Liberation Army at Doklam on the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an informal summit in Wuhan, China, in April this year which helped repair bilateral ties.

A Chinese delegation met an Indian team on August 28 to hold discussions on the forthcoming visit of the Chinese Minister of Public Security and the proposed pact on security cooperation between the two countries, the official said.

This will be the first such agreement between the authorities of India and China which look after internal security of the respective countries, the official said.

While Singh is the head of eight central armed police forces with a combined strength of about 10 lakh personnel, Zhao is responsible for day-to-day law enforcement in China and commands about 19 lakh personnel.

The forthcoming meeting may lead to a future India-China agreement on exchange of sentenced prisoners, another official said.

Currently, India does not have an extradition treaty with China, nor a pact to exchange each other's sentenced prisoners.

There are at least 10 Indians in Chinese prisons and an equal number of Chinese citizens in Indian prisons.

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Peregrine
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

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Own up to mass Muslim detentions, Amnesty tells China

China must come clean about the fate of an estimated one million minority Muslims swept up in a "massive crackdown" in far western region of Xinjiang, Amnesty International said in a new report Monday. Beijing has ramped up restrictions on Muslim minorities to combat what it calls Islamic extremism and separatist elements in the far western province.

But critics say the drive risks fuelling resentment towards Beijing and further inflaming separatist sentiment.

In a new report, which included testimony from people held in the camps, Amnesty said Beijing had rolled out "an intensifying government campaign of mass internment, intrusive surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation".

Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are punished for violating regulations banning beards and burqas, and for the possession of unauthorised Korans, it added.

Up to a million people are detained in interment camps, a United Nations panel on racial discrimination reported last month, with many interned for offences as minor as making contact with family members outside the country or sharing Islamic holiday greetings on social media.

"Hundreds of thousands of families have been torn apart by this massive crackdown," said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International's East Asia director in a statement.

"They are desperate to know what has happened to their loved ones and it is time the Chinese authorities give them answers."

Beijing has denied reports of the camps but evidence is mounting in the form of government documents and escapee testimony.

It suggests Chinese authorities are detaining large groups of people in a network of extrajudicial camps for political and cultural indoctrination on a scale unseen since the Maoist era.

Amnesty's report interviewed several former detainees who said they were put in shackles, tortured, and made to sing political songs and learn about the Communist Party.

The testimony tallies with similar evidence gathered by foreign reporters and rights groups in the last year.

Amnesty also called on governments around to world to hold Beijing to account for "the nightmare" unfolding in Xinjiang.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced "awful abuses" of Uighur Muslim detained in re-education camps.

China's top leaders recently called for religious practices to be brought in line with "traditional" Chinese values and culture, sparking concern among rights groups.

Earlier this month, draft regulations suggested Beijing was considering restrictions on religious content online, such as images of people praying or chanting.

State supervision of religion has increased in a bid to "block extremism", and authorities have removed Islamic symbols such as crescents from public spaces in areas with significant Muslim populations.

Christians have also been targeted in crackdowns, with a prominent Beijing "underground" church shuttered by authorities earlier this month, while churches in central Henan province have seen their crosses torn down and followers harassed.

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SSridhar
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by SSridhar »

Peregrine wrote:Terrorstan can take heart. Its Foreign Debt "is only about US$ 90 Billion!"

China's debt rises to USD 2.58 trillion
China's local government debt balance stood at 17.66 trillion yuan (USD 2.58 trillion) by the end of August, but it remained within the official limit, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the Ministry of Finance as saying.
Peregrine ji, this is internal debt of PRC which is government borrowing from its own citizens through Government Bonds, T-Bills type of instruments.
ArjunPandit
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by ArjunPandit »

I have always been fan of chinese hyperbole, but this one beats all past
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 944571.cms
So finally they admit they have a knife to their neck
ShyamSP
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by ShyamSP »

ArjunPandit wrote:I have always been fan of chinese hyperbole, but this one beats all past
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 944571.cms
So finally they admit they have a knife to their neck
There is no knife to neck but piles of paper under butt. They more paper they trade for real goods the more slaves to the paper producer. They can't dump paper to other countries who may not want to antagonize after all a crack head warrior the paper producer installed .
Peregrine
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Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by Peregrine »

Peregrine wrote:Terrorstan can take heart. Its Foreign Debt "is only about US$ 90 Billion!"

China's debt rises to USD 2.58 trillion
SSridhar wrote:Peregrine ji, this is internal debt of PRC which is government borrowing from its own citizens through Government Bonds, T-Bills type of instruments.
SSridhar Ji :

Many Thanks.

According to Wiki China's External Debt on 31-03-2018 is US$ 1,843,500,000,000 i.e. 1.8435 Trillion.

As such the Total Chinese Debt is US$ 4.4235 Trillion i.e. 4,423.5 Billion - Wow!

Lagay Raho Chini Bhai :rotfl:

Guidance : India’s Total Debt seems to be US$ 1,029 Billion.

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pankajs
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by pankajs »

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japa ... SKCN1LX07S
Japanese submarine conducts first drills in South China Sea [September 17, 2018]
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese submarine has for the first time joined a naval drill in the South China Sea, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday, in an expansion of Japanese activity in the disputed waterway claimed by China and others.

The submarine Kuroshio took part in the exercise on Thursday with other Japanese warships, including the Kaga helicopter carrier, which is on a two-month tour of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, a ministry spokesman said.

It was the first time a Japanese submarine had conducted drills there.

The exercise, which involved the submarine trying to evade detection, was conducted away from island bases built by China to push its claims in the strategic sea.
chola
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Re: Neutering & Defanging Chinese Threat (15-11-2017)

Post by chola »

ShyamSP wrote:
ArjunPandit wrote:I have always been fan of chinese hyperbole, but this one beats all past
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 944571.cms
So finally they admit they have a knife to their neck
There is no knife to neck but piles of paper under butt. They more paper they trade for real goods the more slaves to the paper producer. They can't dump paper to other countries who may not want to antagonize after all a crack head warrior the paper producer installed .
Actually both knife-to-neck (tariffs) AND paper-under-butt (treasuries) that Trump might or might not be crazy enough to declare void to Cheen onlee on account of national security.

Think of someone holding a machete against your neck and telling you “Don’t move!” while sitting on a pile of paper that the knife-wielder’s boss might set on fire under your arse at any time. Only way out of predicament is to cry “Unkil”and give in . . .

You cannot play this game with Unkil and especially this president.
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