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shortly before Xie was charged in August, the FBI Houston field office conducted an unprecedented public briefing with leaders of Houston's medical, science, and academic institutions.
In announcing the briefing, the bureau said, "The FBI works closely with private partners and government agencies to ensure that federally funded research grants are guarded and protected against unscrupulous overseas enemies." The press release did not cite a specific case.
A former chief of staff of China's military was sentenced to life in prison, state media said Wednesday, after he was swept up in President Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-graft crackdown.
Appointed to the People's Liberation Army's top post in 2012, Fang Fenghui was convicted of accepting and offering bribes, and having an unclear source of a huge amount of assets, official news agency Xinhua reported.
A military court sentenced Fang to life in prison, stripped him of political rights for life, and ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets, Xinhua said.
Fang was abruptly replaced in August 2017 amid a stand-off with India over a territorial dispute, and just days after he had met the US top brass to discuss North Korea.
The general was transferred to the military prosecution authority on suspicion of bribery in January of last year, state media reported at the time.
Fang was one of two senior generals who did not appear on a list of delegates to the Communist Party's twice-a-decade congress in October 2017, sparking speculation he had run afoul of Xi's anti-corruption campaign.
The other, Zhang Yang, committed suicide in Beijing later that year after being investigated over connections to two graft-tainted former senior military officers.
Xi has pledged to continue the anti-corruption crackdown, which since 2012 has brought down 1.5 million party officials at various levels -- including top military leaders.
Corruption has long been an intractable problem for the country, but many experts argue that the campaign has the hallmarks of a political purge as the Chinese president consolidates his power.
Xi has sought to enhance his control over China's two-million-strong military, the world's largest, reshuffling its leadership and vowing to make it "world-class" by 2050.
The military was ordered to pledge to be "absolutely loyal, honest and reliable to Xi" in new guidelines released by the Central Military Commission in 2017.
China's lone opposition in the 15-member UN Security Council to any mention of terrorism resulted in a delay of nearly one week in issuance of a statement by the powerful body on the dastardly Pulwama terror attack, official sources said here [New Delhi] on Friday.
However, the US assiduously worked as "pen holder" making various adjustments to get the approval by all other members of the Council, the sources told PTI.
While China was trying to water down the UNSC statement on Pulwama, Pakistan worked against issuance of any statement. Pakistan's Permanent representative at the UN Maleeha Lodhi even met the president of Security Council but her efforts did not bear any fruit, they said.
The UN Security Council comprising 15 permanent and non-permanent members on Thursday condemned in the "strongest terms" the "heinous and cowardly" terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on February 14.
Sharing details of diplomatic wranglings on the matter, the sources said the UNSC statement on Pulwama was to be issued on the evening of February 15 but China repeatedly sought extension of timing.
China requested extension till Feb 18 when 14 member countries were ready to issue it on February 15 itself," they said, adding China broke "silence" procedure two times suggesting multiple amendments aiming to "derail" the effort.
Even after UNSC condemned the Pulwama strike as "terrorism" China continued to oppose any mention of terrorism in the statement, said a person familiar with the diplomatic parleys on the issue at the UN headquarters.
However, notwithstanding hectic Chinese and Pakistani efforts, the UNSC agreed to issue the first statement in its history regarding an attack on Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said.
India has mounted a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan in the international community for its support to terror groups and cross border terrorism.
Official sources said the UNSC statement contained specific language proposed by India through its partner countries including naming of JeM, and calling for bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice.
In the statement, the UNSC also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.
The UNSC also urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with India and all other relevant authorities to bring perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.
It also reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.
SSridhar wrote:Kati, don't highlight the way you are doing.
I have changed them now.
Mort Walker wrote:There is an article in the WSJ about Huawei in India making headway inspite of opposition from the US on security concerns. After Chinese support of TSP on Pulwama attack, Huawei MUST BE BANNED IN INDIA. They can not get the Indian market.
Backdoors Keep Appearing In Cisco's Routers
by Lucian Armasu July 19, 2018
...
Over the past few months, not one, not two, but five different backdoors joined the list of security flaws in Cisco routers.
....
India is on the verge of a massive upgrade to 5G comms.
In this context, India has to optimize above competing variables and settle on a final comm mix.Threat of snooping by Massa vs Threat of snooping by China
Cost of Massa routers vs Cost of Chinese routers
Penalty of Massa sanctions vs No Penalty here
+1Mort Walker wrote:I agree there is no free lunch. At this time it would be better to use US 5G equipment over Chinese equipment. That is until India can build it's own wireless telecom infrastructure. The Chinese are just far more evil than unkil at this point in history. That too India is already buying sophisticated surveillance systems from unkil for it’s defense use.
“The Chinese authorities turned to a Massachusetts company and a prominent Yale researcher as they built an enormous system of surveillance and control.”
Looking to build upon the strong UNSC condemnation of the Pulwama attack, France is likely to bring a proposal in the next few days for a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. However, to give teeth to the diplomatic offensive against the Pakistan-based terror group, India and France are also giving a “cautious” consideration to several other options including bringing similar proposals against Azhar’s brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, an accused in the Pathankot attack, and some other individuals associated with JeM.
The government is preparing dossiers backed by solid evidence for a UN ban on not just Azhar but also Asghar and other acknowledged JeM terrorists, official sources said. It remains to be seen though if the names of Asghar and others are included in the proposal for inclusion of Azhar in the UNSC 1267 sanctions list or a ban is sought on them in separate resolutions. Efforts at the UN to designate other JeM commanders as international terrorists could help India raise the ante on China which has in the past vetoed a ban on Azhar claiming that there was not enough evidence against him.
The last time China blocked a ban on Azhar, in 2017, India responded by saying such “selective approaches” and “double standards” would undermine the international resolve to combat terrorism. By all accounts, China is again likely to take the same position on Azhar. Beijing, though, could risk some embarrassment if it chooses to do the same with proposals for banning Asghar and other commanders of JeM which remains a UN-designated terrorist organisation. Asghar was not just involved in the planning and execution of the Pathankot attack but, perhaps even more actively than his brother, has in the recent past urged and mobilised people to carry out attacks in India.
On ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’, he was quoted as having said he was looking to terrorise India. Ibrahim Athar, another brother of Azhar, and Shahid Latif, who too is an accused in the Pathankot attack, are other Jaish terrorists whose names might be considered for UN ban. France is leading the effort for the ban with help from some other European countries. Sources here said that probably having sensed the move, Pakistan has started reaching out to its own friends and allies to stall the French initiative.
... preparing dossiers ...
Though it's old news, it highlights that China is using Pakistan Terrorism resources to push Indian army away as far back as possible.
Suspected Pakistan spy arrested in Arunachal Pradesh
Nirmal Rai was arrested near Kibithu by a military intelligence unit. Confidential documents and several pictures of Army installations and bridges were found on his phone.
Manjeet Singh Negi
New Delhi
January 9, 2019 UPDATED: January 9, 2019 12:47 IST
Suspected Pakistan spy arrested in Arunachal Pradesh
Nirmal Rai was handed over to the police and booked under the Official Secrets Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
HIGHLIGHTS
Rai's handler was Pakistani man in Dubai
He passed on sensitive information to his handler
Rai lived in Tinsukhia district in Assam
A suspected Pakistani spy has been arrested from a border village in Arunachal Pradesh, sources said.
The man, Nirmal Rai, lived in Tinsukhia district in Assam. He was working with the Army as a porter in Kibithu and Dichu villages.
A military intelligence unit arrested him near Kibithu. He'd been under the scanner for some time, and the Army acted on a tip-off.
Rai was handed over to the police and booked under the Official Secrets Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. Confidential documents and several pictures of Army installations and bridges were found on his phone.
Nirmal Rai.
The investigation so far has revealed that Nirmal Rai was in touch with an Indonesian woman living in Dubai and a Pakistani man -- also from the emirate -- involved with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Islamabad's spy agency.
The man, who recruited Rai, got in touch with him in Dubai, where he was working at a burger shop.
The ISI agent taught Rai to take pictures and also pass on information; he became his handler.
The investigation has revealed that Rai passed on sensitive information about the location and deployment of Army profiles, weapon profiles and artillery in Kibithu to his handler.
Beijing Security Service and Hua Xin Zhong An Security Service, two of the first security enterprises to spring up, offered basic security provision for clients operating in mainland China, with limited interests in Africa. By 2010, a new breed of security firm had emerged offering highly trained special operations forces to protect Chinese personnel in state-owned Chinese oil and gas companies or banks working in such places as Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. These included Shandong Huawei Security Group, the first Chinese security firm to open an overseas office, and DeWe Security Service, a firm operating in 37 countries that played a vital role in evacuations from African war zones. Boutique security firms such as Ding Tai An Yuan Security have found new markets addressing specific security challenges unique to the Belt and Road Initiative.
Over the past 15 years, the Chinese private security industry has modernized the services offered to clients, who remain mostly Chinese. Until 2014, these firms were all funded and manned by Chinese nationals. The emergence of Frontier Services Group (FSG) has seen a radical change. Headed by Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater, this Hong Kong-based company is the first Chinese-funded, American-operated private security group. The organization, previously known as DVN (Holdings) Limited, was originally an aviation and logistics company providing additional security and training services. Its corporate structure is unique in China. Many of its senior management, including Prince as chairman, are non-Chinese – specifically retired American military specialists. With Chinese backing, Prince stated that he could ‘pursue [his] vision for Africa and globally in a transparent manner and with the most respected partners’. Indeed, many of his firm’s clients are Chinese private companies or state-owned enterprises with interests in infrastructure, oil and gas, and mining in Africa.
From the beginning, FSG has made efforts to distinguish itself from Blackwater, the private military company now renamed Academi, whose reputation was tarnished by the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. FSG has enjoyed success with logistical projects in Africa and has hired legal advisers and auditors to provide transparent annual reports for public scrutiny. In 2016, FSG became a service provider for companies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, and began setting up offices in Myanmar, Laos and Pakistan. Future offices are planned for Thailand, Cambodia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
In late 2017, FSG revealed an expanded range of services – including an offer to the Afghan government of the use of its aircraft for close-support combat operations. In 2018, Prince offered the US government use of his private contractors to bring the 17-year Afghan conflict to an end. His proposal argued that traditional troop deployments could be substituted by 6,000 contractors and 2,000 US Special Forces, cutting the annual cost of the war from $68 billion to $5.5 billion.
Korea’s Feb exports down 11% on yr on sluggish chip demand
2019.03.01 15:26:52 | 2019.03.01 15:47:16
South Korea’s exports has been in downturn for the past three months due to reduced chip demand and sluggish demand from China under unrelenting trade war with the United States.
The country’s exports in February totaled $39.56 billion, down 11.1 percent from a year ago and steeper than the 5.8 percent fall in January, according to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Friday. The last time exports declined for three months in a row was in May-July 2016.
The fall in outbound shipments was largely attributable to the downtrend in semiconductors that sustained double-digit growth last year.
Exports of semiconductors plunged 24.8 percent from a year earlier amid slow demand and reduced orders. Softer chip prices also were a big reason for the slowdown. The price of 8-gigabyte DDR4 DRAM memory chips averaged at $5.9 in February, off 36.8 percent from the same month of last year’s $9.3, according to the ministry.
Almost every day now, the New York Times comes out with a new front page article about China. The Middle Kingdom is simultaneously plundering the developing world, oppressing internal minorities, and hacking American companies. The Chinese economy is said to be in dire straits due to vast mismanagement , and the country is generally portrayed as on the brink of total meltdown. The editorial staff is fascinated by China’s shortcomings and appears to be intent on stoking the “New Cold War” by painting Beijing as the capital of the new “Evil Empire.” Such a torrent of reproach may have the impact of making the American public burn red hot with Sino-phobic zeal or alternatively causing its readership to chortle derisively at China’s pathetic plight. Yet the paper “of record” is remarkably oblivious to the actual nature of the shifting military balance in the Asia-Pacific.
Is it not highly irresponsible of journalists to promote grave tensions between Washington and Beijing without any knowledge of the ghastly consequences that might well flow from those frictions? Any student of U.S. history knows that the scourge of “yellow journalism” played a major role in setting off the Spanish-American War just over a century ago (giving America possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, Hawaii and Cuba in the rather unseemly process). The consequences of a war between China and America would, after all, look nothing like Washington’s long-forgotten adventure with Madrid, and might instead mark the end of life on Earth. Keeping that stark fact in mind, one wonders why the New York Times has never bothered to look into China’s rapid development of hypersonic weaponry.
At a minimum, there should be an acknowledgment in that paper and similarly influential media that China is deploying or on the cusp of deploying a hypersonic weapon ( DF-17), joining Russia in possessing that novel capability. It is worth emphasizing that, despite ample research in this area, the United States is yet to field any equivalent military capability. It may be true that “Hypersonic threats do not require hypersonic responses,” but the argument that these weapons are not significant is not persuasive. This article seeks to make a small contribution against this evident paucity of focus in China defense coverage by summarizing a couple of recent pieces from the Chinese defense press. It is no exaggeration to say that the Chinese-language defense press publishes hundreds of articles (and likely more) per year on the subject of hypersonic weapons development, so there is really no excuse for ignorance on this matter.
The first Chinese article to examine is a piece from the Chinese Navy’s official magazine Navy Today [当代海军] from late 2018 (October). While its focus is on the new Russian Kinzhal [匕首] air-launched hypersonic weapon, the piece is potentially revealing regarding China’s ambition to employ hypersonic weapons within the context of naval warfare. Indeed, the headline suggests a certain admiration for Moscow’s determination to wield such weapons against U.S. Navy aircraft carrier groups. The Chinese Navy analyst notes that Russian naval aviation was looking to upgrade since current strike weapons could “only” attain speeds of Mach 3, “affording the US Navy 12-15 seconds of time to prepare the defense [留给美海军12至15分种的防御准备时间].” Kinzhal is assessed to provide Russian strike aviation with a Mach 10 weapon out to a range of 2000km. It is noted that certain Russian aircraft (e.g., the Mig-29 and Su-57) are likely not able to heft this weapon at the requisite launch speeds. But, in addition to the Mig-31 used in the Russian tests of Kinzhal, this analysis suggests that the Russian Tu-22M3 bomber will be capable of slinging four of these missiles. The Chinese analysis concludes that the U.S. Navy carrier group’s standard F-18 interceptors will be “outsticked” by the combination of Tu-22 together with the Kinzhal weapon. Similarly, this article suggests that Kinzhal will not be stopped by either SM-6 missile interceptors or close-in weapons systems, noting that the fire control radar simply does not have adequate time to acquire the target. Even if one Kinzhal cannot sink a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the Chinese Navy author assesses, the carrier would “undoubtedly lose combat capability [失去战斗力是毫无问题的].”
And it’s quite clear, moreover, that Beijing is working toward a similar capability if it does not already exist. Indeed, a late fall 2018 issue (no. 18) of Modern Ships [现代舰船] reporting on one of China’s most recent successful hypersonic tests, concluded that China’s development process with hypersonics now enables Beijing to plan for, not only long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, but also hypersonics launched from submarines and bombers. These weapons would include both nuclear and “conventional warheads for sea attack [对海攻击常规斗部].” According to this analysis, such weapons will enable ranges well beyond what was previously conceivable. Most critically, this Chinese analysis notes that hypersonic weapons will allow for literally “change-fire-area attack [变射面打击].” That is to say that a warhead “‘riding’ the shock wave [‘骑’在激波]” can not only hit a vast domain of targets, but will also be “much harder to intercept [更难拦截].” The vehicle test platform photo was widely exhibited in the Chinese press, and its parameters were also published openly. Yet, there was hardly any coverage in the major Western news outlets, which remain infinitely more interested in the activities of Confucius Institutes on American campuses than Chinese weaponry innovations that could kill thousands of young Americans in seconds on the modern battlefield.
Upon news of this test, one Chinese commentator is quoted as offering: “… the day that such a thing is used is likely when humanity has already embarked on the contest of the apocalypse [这东西使用的那天,人类大概已经过上未日生存游戏了].” It’s actually somewhat reassuring to conceptualize these weapons in that way, of course. They are so terrible that they could never be used, right? Maybe.
Unfortunately, there is the troubling side branch of nuclear strategy that dwells on the so-called “ stability instability paradox .” In a word, that means that nuclear powers might still fight nasty conventional wars that come just up to the line of nuclear conflict (even though nobody knows where that line actually is). Such circumstances raise the troubling possibility that China and Russia are exploring capabilities that go well beyond the much-discussed “gray zone,” but rather seek to dominate in the potentially decisive middle rungs of military conflict.
Such steps will keep U.S. strategists plenty busy in the coming decades, but also suggest the need for new paradigms in arms control to reign in this high-tech military competition that is gaining momentum each day in the “New Cold War.” Journalists, including especially colleagues at the New York Times, should reflect on their own responsibility for raising great power tensions to exceedingly high levels without reporting the other side of the story in a balanced way. Most importantly, Washington decision-makers need to exercise studied restraint in a variety of tense situations, for example with respect to both Ukraine and also Taiwan. Both scenarios could quite easily detonate a third world war in the anxious era of hypersonic weaponry.
Lyle J. Goldstein is research professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the Naval War College. The founding director of CMSI and author of dozens of articles on Chinese security policy, he focuses on Chinese undersea warfare. The opinions of the author are entirely his own and do not reflect the official assessments of the U.S. Navy or any other agency of the U.S. government.
China has stepped up its diplomacy to ease tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama attack by sending its special envoy to Islamabad.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Wednesday that Vice-Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou was already in Islamabad to establish an “enabling atmosphere” that would help Pakistan to cooperate with “other parties”.
Mr. Lu said Mr. Kong’s mission was to “promote dialogue” between India and Pakistan by persuading both sides to exercise flexibility. “I hope the two sides can show some goodwill, embrace each other halfway, properly resolve their differences through dialogue. China will play a constructive role to promote dialogue between them.”
India has made it plain that it would start a dialogue only if Pakistan takes visible and verifiable steps to eliminate terrorism that targets India from its soil. “In fact, Pakistan has been making efforts and exercised policies to combat terrorism. We think we should encourage this,” Mr. Lu said.
Crackdown on terror
On Tuesday, Pakistan arrested 44 members of proscribed organisations, including Hamad Azhar, the son of Masood Azhar, the head of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which has claimed responsibility of the February 14 Pulwama attack that killed at least 40 CRPF personnel.
Without referring to the Kashmir issue, Mr. Lu said that both ‘symptom” and “root cause” of terrorism should be addressed.
Asked to comment on the understanding reached between the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) during their February 27 meeting in Wuzhen, the spokesperson said: “As to counter terrorism issue in the trilateral meeting, I shall say a key point is that terrorism is a complex issue. We should address the symptom and the root causes of terrorism that is the premise for what was proposed by Foreign Ministers of the three countries.”
Asked to comment on China’s stand on the resolution proposed in the UNSC 1267 committee to list Azhar as a global terrorist, Mr. Lu said China would take a “conducive decision” to resolve the differences. “China will have discussion with relevant bodies” as listing of terrorists “is a very serious issue”, he said.
Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi talked on Friday about close links between China and India, like the “Yangtze and Ganges”, but made it clear that “iron brother” Pakistan would continue to be a special ally for China.
Wang also caused mild surprise by indicating that China had mediated to resolve the tensions between India and Pakistan. This claim does not fit into India’s usual refusal to allow any country to mediate in this conflict. On the other hand, Pakistan has been keen to invite a third party to mediate.
China has all along advised both countries to exercise restraint, prevent an escalation and resolve their differences through dialogue, he said.
“In the meantime, the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should fully respected. China followed these principles in its mediation and played a constructive role in defusing the tension,” he said.
Wang’s statements are crucial because they indicate what China has been telling other countries during diplomatic interactions with other countries. Indian diplomats are trying to explain that Pakistan is the aggressor using terrorists against India.
“China will work with India to comprehensively strengthen sectoral cooperation and people-to-people ties which are of vital importance in the current context so that our friendship and cooperation will forge ahead like the Yangtze and Ganges, giving strong and sustained impetus to our relationship,” he said.
He did not mention the crux of India’s complaint, which is cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan and resulting in a military conflict between the two countries.
“China hopes Pakistan and India will transform the crisis into opportunity and meet each other halfway,” Wang said.
He expressed faith in the efficacy of the “Wuhan spirit” of bonhomie during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan last year.
“The historic meeting between Xi and Modi at Wuhan has created a new model of high-level interactions between our two countries, deepened the trust between our leaders and set the direction for our future relations,” Wang said.
Indian observers have of late begun questioning the value of the “Wuhan spirit” because they feel China is extending indirect support to Pakistan in the conflict by refusing to get Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, declared a global terrorist at the United Nations Security Council.
SSridhar wrote:Chinese FM talks friendship but favours Pakistan - Saibal Dasgupta, ToIChinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi talked on Friday about close links between China and India, like the “Yangtze and Ganges”, but made it clear that “iron brother” Pakistan would continue to be a special ally for China.
Wang also caused mild surprise by indicating that China had mediated to resolve the tensions between India and Pakistan. This claim does not fit into India’s usual refusal to allow any country to mediate in this conflict. On the other hand, Pakistan has been keen to invite a third party to mediate.
China has all along advised both countries to exercise restraint, prevent an escalation and resolve their differences through dialogue, he said.
“In the meantime, the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should fully respected. China followed these principles in its mediation and played a constructive role in defusing the tension,” he said.
Wang’s statements are crucial because they indicate what China has been telling other countries during diplomatic interactions with other countries. Indian diplomats are trying to explain that Pakistan is the aggressor using terrorists against India.
“China will work with India to comprehensively strengthen sectoral cooperation and people-to-people ties which are of vital importance in the current context so that our friendship and cooperation will forge ahead like the Yangtze and Ganges, giving strong and sustained impetus to our relationship,” he said.
He did not mention the crux of India’s complaint, which is cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan and resulting in a military conflict between the two countries.
“China hopes Pakistan and India will transform the crisis into opportunity and meet each other halfway,” Wang said.
He expressed faith in the efficacy of the “Wuhan spirit” of bonhomie during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan last year.
“The historic meeting between Xi and Modi at Wuhan has created a new model of high-level interactions between our two countries, deepened the trust between our leaders and set the direction for our future relations,” Wang said.
Indian observers have of late begun questioning the value of the “Wuhan spirit” because they feel China is extending indirect support to Pakistan in the conflict by refusing to get Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, declared a global terrorist at the United Nations Security Council.
CPEC concerns making China apprehensive about supporting ban on Masood Azhar: Report
This is the fourth time that a proposal has been moved to brand Masood Azhar a global terrorist. The previous three attempts have been blocked by China
OPINDIA STAFF
MARCH 8, 2019
China apprehensive about changing minds on Masood Azhar's terror designation
The People’s Republic of China, which has repeatedly blocked India’s efforts to designate Masood Azhar a terrorist, is reportedly apprehensive about changing its mind, as it thinks it will make the multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) prone to attacks by Jaish-e-Mohammed.
According to an Economic Times report, China is thinking about changing its stand on Masood Azhar and not use the veto to prevent him from getting listed as a terrorist on March 13th when the proposal moved by France and supported by other UNSC permanent members under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 goes under consideration.
For this, it is reported that it will have to exert pressure on Pakistan to tie down security guarantees regarding CPEC. China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou’s visit to Pakistan, this month, is also said to be have been done in this regard.
The $62 billion CPEC project, part of China’s giant programme Belt and Road Initiative, intends to construct modern infrastructures in Pakistan, including highway and railway networks, energy projects, to bolster the country’s economic backbone. According to reports, around 10,000 Chinese nationals are working on the project. Last week, China also sent socio-economic development experts to Pakistan to gear up projects in areas like education and water.
The corridor passes through Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and also Mansehra district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Balakot is present. It is considered a hotbed of activities of JeM and was recently hit by air strikes conducted by India.
China, reportedly, has acquired a large amount of land near Balakot and the Karakoram Highway that connects Pakistan with China through POK also crosses Mansehra making them prone to JeM’s terror activities.
India has been persistent in its approach to declare Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. In 2009, India had moved a proposal to ban Azhar. In 2016 again, India moved a similar proposal with the P3 nations: The United States, the United Kingdom, and France in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee. The P3 nations had moved the same proposal in 2017, too. However, all proposals brought no fruit for India, as all of them were blocked by veto-wielding China. Even after the Pulwama attack last month, China has shown no difference in its position.
FOR A COUNTRY that is regularly accused of manipulating its statistics, China is remarkably diligent about collecting them. The government has dispatched two million boffins
to visit companies, stores and even street stalls in the first few months of this year, as part of a new national economic census. Ads plastered on billboards implore people to co-operate. In a flashy promotional video on its website, the national statistics bureau warns that any fabrication of data is against the law.
A new paper, by Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago and three co-authors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, finds that industrial output and investment have been consistently embellished. As a result, they argue that China overstated real GDP growth by two percentage points on average every year from 2008 to 2016. Over time that adds up: official figures for 2016 would have exaggerated the size of the economy by 16%, or more than $1.5trn.
Chinese navy’s 70th birthday parade set to showcase country’s rising sea power
Next month’s nautical spectacle will allow country to show off its most advanced warships to an international audienceMore than a dozen foreign navies are expected to join in, including the United States
China will hold a naval parade next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army Navy and will invite more than a dozen foreign navies to participate.
The parade will take place on April 23 in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Qingdao in Shandong province, Ren Zhiqiang, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence, said on Thursday.
Ren did not provide further details, but military analysts said the exercise would give the navy the opportunity to display its rapidly growing strength and show how that has increased in the past 12 months.
In April last year a naval review in the South China Sea featured a total of 48 vessels and 76 planes, including China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, its Type 094A and 095 nuclear submarines, 052D guided missile destroyers and J-15 fighter jets.
The experts expect that next month’s event will provide a showcase for several new and more powerful vessels including its home-grown aircraft carrier Type 001A, the Type 055 – Asia’s most powerful destroyer – and several nuclear submarines.
“The fact that China is holding the naval parade just one year after the South China Sea review shows the great importance [the leadership] attaches to the development of China’s maritime interests, the navy and its expansion,” navy expert Li Jie said.
How can India sink a dagger into China's back and at the same time use sweet hyperbole.In yet another setback to India’s bid to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, China on March 13 put a technical hold on a proposal in the U.N. Security Council to ban him following the Pulwama terror attack.
Allowing Azhar to be designated as a terrorist would have further boosted Modi's stature among India's populace. China doesnt want that. Why cant we just put another 10000 pounder on this guy and solve this charade once for all.dnivas wrote:China blocks Indian bid again
Masood Azhar as global terrorist: China blocks bid at U.N., yet again