Among the missing people, nine were in Luding, and 16 were in Shimian county in Ya’an…reports Asian Lite News
A total of 93 people have been killed, and 25 remain missing after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Luding county in China’s Sichuan province on September 5, local authorities said on Monday.
According to the rescue headquarters, 55 of the fatalities occurred in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where Luding is located, while 38 deaths were reported in Ya’an city, reports Xinhua news agency.
Among the missing people, nine were in Luding, and 16 were in Shimian county in Ya’an.
Expressway tollbooths opened up over 700 special channels for earthquake relief. All service areas along the Chengdu-Luding Expressway have been fully stocked with epidemic prevention supplies, oil products, food materials and other emergency supplies.
More than 1,900 officers, armed police and soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army PLA Western Theater Command rushed to the earthquake-hit area and arrived at the epicentre area at 8 am on Tuesday, engaging in the transport of the injured, road dredging, victim search and other rescue work, Global Times reported.
As a result of the earthquake, the power supply in the province was cut off, however, State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Company said that nearly 22,000 households in the earthquake-stricken area have been restored after overnight emergency repair.
Chinese President Xi Jinping requested for all-out relief efforts to prioritise saving lives and minimizing casualties after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Luding county, Global Times reported.
China’s Red Cross Society has initiated a Level-III emergency response, with the first batch of relief materials consisting of 320 tents, 2,200 relief packages, 1,200 quilts and 300 folding beds dispatched to the affected area.
The Red Cross has also sent a working group there to help with the relief and rescue work.
Sichuan province has activated the second-highest level of emergency response for the earthquake and more rescue forces are rushing to the epicentre area.
The earthquake jolted Luding County at 12:52 p.m. Monday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
The epicentre was monitored at 29.59 degrees north latitude and 102.08 degrees east longitude, at a depth of 16 km, the CENC said.
The epicentre is 39 km away from the county seat of Luding and there are several villages within the 5-km range around the epicentre. The tremor was felt in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, which is 226 km away from the epicentre.
The quake was felt around 200 kilometres (125 miles) away in the provincial capital, Chengdu, where a COVID-19 outbreak has restricted most of its 21 million residents to their compounds under China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy. (IANS/ANI)
Though the two sides disengaged from Patrolling Point 15 (PP-15), there has been no progress yet on resolving the standoff in Demchok and Depsang regions…reports Asian Lite News
Indian and Chinese militaries on Monday moved back their frontline troops to the rear locations from the face-off site of Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in eastern Ladakh and dismantled temporary infrastructure there as part of a five-day disengagement process.
People familiar with the development said the two sides disengaged as per the plan which also entailed a joint verification of the entire process.
“The full details of the disengagement and the verification process are being awaited from the ground commanders,” said a source.
Though the two sides disengaged from Patrolling Point 15 (PP-15), there has been no progress yet on resolving the standoff in Demchok and Depsang regions.
The Indian and Chinese armies on September 8 announced that they have kicked off the disengagement process from the PP-15, in a significant forward movement in the stalled process to pull-out troops from the remaining friction points in the region.
When asked about the disengagement at PP-15 on the sidelines of an event, Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande said: “I will have to go and take stock. But, it (disengagement process) is going as per schedule, and what was decided”.
The people cited above said all the temporary infrastructure created at the face-off site has been dismantled.
It is not immediately known whether the two sides will create a “buffer zone” at PP-15 as was done after the troops disengaged in friction points on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and at Patrolling Point 17(A) last year.
No side carries out patrolling in the buffer zone.
The disengagement in the Gogra-Hotsprings area is an outcome of the 16th round of high-level military talks in July, the two armies said while announcing the beginning of the process on September 8.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on September 9 that the disengagement process in PP-15 will be completed by Monday.
“As per the agreement, the disengagement process in this area started on September 8 at 0830 hours and will be completed by September 12. The two sides have agreed to cease forward deployments in this area in a phased, coordinated and verified manner, resulting in the return of the troops of both sides to their respective areas,” he said.
“It has been agreed that all temporary structures and other allied infrastructure created in the area by both sides will be dismantled and mutually verified. The landforms in the area will be restored to the pre-stand-off period by both sides,” Bagchi added.
He said the agreement ensures that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in this area will be strictly observed and respected by both sides, and that there will be no unilateral change in the status quo.
“With the resolution of the stand-off at PP-15, both sides mutually agreed to take the talks forward and resolve the remaining issues along LAC and restore peace and tranquillity in India-China border areas,” he said.
Initially, around 30 soldiers from each side were locked in a face-off in PP-15 but the number of troops kept changing depending on the overall situation in the region.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the overall development of the bilateral ties. The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.
Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry.
As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.
The disengagement in the Pangong Lake area took place in February last year while the withdrawal of troops and equipment in Patrolling Point 17 (A) in Gogra took place in August last year.
‘Eastern Theatre firmly under control’
The overall situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in the Eastern Theatre is “reasonably calm” and “firmly under control”, eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita said.
The commander said the situation in the region has been stable and no major “changes or palpable shift of stance has been noted” even as the Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in a stand-off in Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh.
He said Army is in a better position now to monitor the area of its interest in the region with the enhancement of infrastructure close to the LAC and induction of various platforms such as drones, helicopters and electronic surveillance equipment.
“Let me assure you that the Indian Army is fully prepared to deal with any eventuality in the Eastern Theatre. The border issue with China is being dealt with at all levels to ensure that there is no friction,” Lt Gen Kalita said He made the comments during an informal interaction with a group of visiting journalists in Kibithu, a key border post in the Lohit Valley facing China.
Lt Gen Kalita said that the Indian Army is continuously monitoring activities along the LAC and is well-poised to mitigate any challenges.
During her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II devoted herself to promoting national development and friendly exchanges between Britain and other countries, Mao stressed…reports Asian Lite News
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday that China expresses deep condolences over the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, adding the Queen made important contributions to expanding friendly exchanges between the two countries.
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch in history, has died aged 96, according to Buckingham Palace on Thursday.
Mao said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had sent condolences to British King Charles III over the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent condolences to British Prime Minister Liz Truss.
During her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II devoted herself to promoting national development and friendly exchanges between Britain and other countries, Mao stressed.
Noting that Queen Elizabeth II was the first British monarch to visit China and had also received a number of Chinese leaders to visit Britain, Mao said that the Queen made significant contributions to enhancing understanding between the Chinese and British people and expanding friendly exchanges between the two countries.
“China stands ready to continue to work with the British royal family and all sectors to promote the continuous development of bilateral relations,” Mao noted.
After Buckingham Palace announced the queen’s death, Chinese social media users shared photos from her China trip. On microblogging platform Weibo, 20 of the 50 top topics list were dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II on Friday morning, with many calling her a “legend.”
“She has probably witnessed the most striking parts of history in modern times, and now she has completed her mission,” one user commented.
As the world’s oldest and longest-serving head of state, Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne after her father King George VI died in 1952. She has witnessed a myriad of social changes and political upheavals both at home and abroad during her 70-year reign, from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to Brexit in 2020.
While Elizabeth II was a much revered figure, the institution has been censured for its colonial legacy, including in Hong Kong up until 1997. On Weibo, some comments criticized the British royal family for defending its colonial rule in other countries, arguing that the Chinese people should instead commemorate the nation’s founder Mao Zedong, as Friday marks the 46th anniversary of his death.
The British monarch’s death also made headlines in China’s domestic media. Many outlets highlighted Queen Elizabeth’s key role in stabilizing and unifying the country, while expressing concerns about the struggles Britain currently faces.
“The passing of Queen Elizabeth is another blow to the confidence of British people in the wake of inflation and the energy crisis,” Zhao Chen, a researcher focusing on European studies at China Academy of Social Sciences, told domestic outlet Time News, adding that her death could leave question marks for the monarchy and trigger a reputation crisis for the royal family in the future.
Were the conflict to remain confined to Taiwan, the PLA would have the upper hand. Once the field of operations widens into other PLA-afflicted theatres, from Djibouti to Gwadar to Hambantota to Kyaukpyu, etc., the PRC would lose control of the military situation even across the Taiwan Straits, writes Prof. Madhav Das Nalapat
War clouds are gathering across the Indo-Pacific, caused by the rush towards domination of that space by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping. Observers have studied the arbitrary, ruthless manner in which Xi has consolidated his grip over the higher echelons of the CCP, a political party that has over 90 million members and which controls China. Unlike Deng Xiaoping, who also worked to fulfil the goals of the CCP but was pragmatic in deciding how these were to be achieved, Xi is in what seems a reckless rush to PRC primacy, while further expanding the control of the party-directed state machinery over the population.
Although Xi has been compared to Chairman Mao Zedong on numerous occasions, the reality is that behind his sometimes-blustery rhetoric, Mao was a realist, who acted only when he was forced to (as in Korea in the 1950s war) or (as in the 1962 conflict with India) regarded conditions as opportune for success. There were his ill-fated initiatives such as the Great Leap Forward in the 1950s, which ended up as a Great Leap Backward where the economy was concerned.
The CCP Chairman believed that, inspired by the Chinese Communist Party led by himself, ordinary citizens could defy the laws of production and even triple the overall production of iron needed for infrastructure development. He turned out to be wrong, and infrastructure in the PRC remained in a doleful state. There was no room in Mao’s mind for himself or the PRC to play second fiddle to any country or individual except as a temporary tactic. He bristled at the assumption of Joseph Stalin and later Nikita Khrushchev that it was the USSR, not the PRC, that was the leader of the international communist movement, but kept his peace until the mid-1960s out of pragmatic considerations.
U.S. GAVE UNNECESSARY CONCESSIONS TO PRC
During the latter part of the 1960s, Chairman Mao intensified the sending out of feelers to Washington for a rapprochement against their common enemy, the USSR. Eventually, it was an affluent lady in Hong Kong who on behalf of CCP elements contacted an acquaintance, then Vice-President Richard M. Nixon, and gave him the idea that such a rapprochement was feasible, and that it would substantially boost Washington’s capability to hasten the fall of the Soviet Union, an eventuality that had also been pursued by Mao since the 1960s. Soon after he took over as President of the US in 1969, Nixon activated this Hong Kong channel and when a welcoming response was received from Beijing, he sent an initially sceptical Henry Kissinger to that capital.
It is another matter that because of the unlimited access that Kissinger used to give key media personalities, the credit (and now the blame) for Nixon’s opening towards the PRC was given to Kissinger. There began to appear glowing reports on his diplomacy, all quoting “high-level” anonymous sources, all of which comprised Kissinger himself. He soon got powerfully influenced by Premier Zhou Enlai, who would have become a billionaire selling used cars had he been a US citizen, and charmed his US interlocutor into ensuring that numerous concessions were given to the Chinese side that were far in excess of what the CCP leadership had anticipated and would have been satisfied with.
TAIWAN’S RISK WINDOW OPENING
Although troves of sensitive intelligence, including on India, began to be handed over to the PRC on a regular basis by Kissinger and his successors, it was after the ascent to power of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 before business-to-business links between the US and China grew. Among the most enthusiastic in investing money in China were Japanese businesspersons, who were followed a few years later by the Taiwanese. Fast forward to when Xi Jinping was in charge of Fujian province, from where in past times most of those who crossed the Taiwan Strait and settled down had come from. People in the province are considered to have a gambling instinct, and this may have been a factor in the exodus that began to significantly populate the island with Fujianese around two centuries ago.
The next wave of immigrants from China came in 1949, and was composed of individuals from all across China, which had by then fallen to the CCP, thereby forcing KMT supremo Chiang Kai-shek to seek refuge in Taiwan. While the original settlers from Fujian are known within the island country as “Taiwanese”, those who came ashore with Chiang are referred to as “Mainlanders”. The latter began grabbing much of the land and assets of Taiwan, breeding the dissatisfaction and desire for freedom from control by outsiders that became the dominant mood in Taiwanese society across all except the very old among the “Mainlanders” by the close of the initial decade of the 21st century. The “Taiwanese” segment of Taiwan’s population tilts towards the independence-minded DPP rather than the PRC-friendly KMT.
The people of the island country want overwhelmingly to retain their freedom from PRC control, but equally they crave a peaceful future. The train of Taiwanese democracy moves along these two tracks, but the vow by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping that Taiwan would by whatever means necessary be united with the PRC during his tenure has unsettled the status quo. That Xi will fulfil his objective of securing an unprecedented third term in office by next month is almost certain. However. in that process, Xi would have squandered almost all of the goodwill within the CCP that he had when taking charge in 2012. In his efforts at securing a fourth term in office, Xi would need to boost his popularity within the ruling party substantially, and is likely to consider the conquest of Taiwan the surest path towards that acclaim. Which is why the CCP General Secretary’s impending third 5-year term beginning in October 2022 and lasting into 2027 has created a window of risk for Taiwan unprecedented since 1949.
There have been past efforts at subduing Taiwan, such as during the 1958 Second Taiwan Straits crisis that saw the massive shelling of Taiwanese territory by the PRC, a crisis in which there were several thousand casualties on the Taiwanese side, and almost an equal number on the Chinese side, as the KMT government in Taiwan responded with all the firepower they had been given by the US. The Third Taiwan Straits crisis was in 1995, when there were efforts at intimidation through aggressive posturing by the PLA. These were puny in comparison with the level of attempted intimidation caused by the Fourth Taiwan Strait crisis, which erupted during and after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on 2 August 2022, a visit that was used as an excuse by Xi to resort to a brazen show of military force across the perimeter of the island country.
CMC DECIDES POLICY ON TAIWAN
For Xi Jinping, the key institution in China is the Central Military Commission (CMC), which he has headed from the start of his tenure as the party General Secretary. CMC planners are as eager as Xi himself to win control of Taiwan during his third term in office. Whether in the matter of economic or foreign policy, or in the way the military is showcased and used, Xi is as different from Deng as the diminutive but extraordinary leader of the CCP was from Mao. Within the CMC, Xi has steadily transferred responsibility in the planning of operations from older, more cautious senior officers to a youthful cohort of Senior Colonels and Major-Generals who share his aggressive confidence towards a future conflict across the Taiwan Straits.
Through a show of force and by psychological and other covert operations in Taiwan, the US and Japan in particular, the CMC together with intelligence and asymmetric warfare specialists, is seeking to create a situation where (a) the Taiwanese population does not put up resistance to an invasion by the PLA but “accepts the inevitable by refusing to try and repel the PLA”, (b) that the Quad will remain on the sidelines of the conflict and not actively involve itself in operations designed to frustrate PLA moves to take over Taiwan, which means that (c) the conflict will remain confined to Taiwan with no recoil anywhere else. There is confidence in the CMC, especially after his 2022 decision to hand over power in Afghanistan to the Taliban, that President Joe Biden lacks a “tiger mindset”, and will recoil from putting US lives in danger should his forces join in the battle to defend Taiwan.
LIVES DON’T MATTER TO XI
In these calculations by the CMC, the feelings of the population of Taiwan are regarded as inconsequential. It may be remembered that in the 2019 elections in Hong Kong, over 85% of seats and 80% of the vote went to individuals and groups that favoured complete autonomy for Hong Kong from the control of the PRC. From that time onwards, “winning over the people” was dropped as a strategy by the use of the bludgeon. In mid-2020, the National Security Law was passed in the always almost wholly compliant PRC legislature. Soon after that, autonomy was extinguished in Hong Kong, and the HKSAR was converted in effect as just another province of China.
A similar use of armed force is expected to extinguish any effort by the elements within Taiwan (and these account for the overwhelming majority of the population) that favour dissociation from the PRC. After the occupation, “traitors” (i.e. those known to be opposed to Beijing’s control) are to be put on trial, and most will escape with jail sentences, while a few of the “extreme independence elements” would be slated for an assisted entry into the afterlife. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are to be identified and “re-educated so that they love the Party and Motherland” i.e. the PRC.
In many ways, this would be similar to what has been happening for decades in Xinjiang, where the Uygur population is being taught to “love Party and Motherland” by being put in “re-education centres” where they are being subjected to teaching methods not normally found in schools where pupils are not “re-educated” but simply educated.
IMMEDIATE ESCALATION KEY TO QUAD VICTORY
Given that US bases in Japan would be within range of PLA artillery firepower were Taiwan to be invaded, it is improbable that even a US President not known for his “tiger” instinct would repeat an Afghanistan 2021 scenario in Taiwan and allow the PLA to take control of a country that is central to US and allied primacy in the Indo-Pacific over the Sino-Russian combine. What would send the PLA plans for a six is the rapid initiation, after initiation of hostilities by the PLA, of Escalation Dominance by the Quad members. This would involve broadening the arena of conflict to the whole of the Indo-Pacific. It may be remembered that in 1965, Prime Minister L.B. Shastri frustrated the plan of General Ayub Khan to grab the entirety of Kashmir by broadening the conflict across the entire India-Pakistan border.
Were the conflict to remain confined to Taiwan, the PLA would have the upper hand. Once the field of operations widens into other PLA-afflicted theatres—from Djibouti to Gwadar to Hambantota to Kyaukpyu and other locations where the PLA has set up overt or covert capability—the PRC would lose control of the military situation even across the Taiwan Straits. Only in a scenario that involves the confinement of operations to Taiwan can the CMC scenario of taking control of the island nation in the 12-16 days that its planners believe is the time that they judge to be too short for the US in particular to respond in force sufficient to an invasion by the PLA.
Apart from the conflict being confined to Taiwan, another calculation is that the armed forces of Taiwan would very quickly cease to resist, once it became clear to them that external help would be too late and insufficient to affect the final outcome. Similar calculations were made by Corporal Hitler when he approved Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of the British Isles, in 1940. That failed to work, and in the case of Taiwan as well, Xi appears to be making the miscalculation that CCP-resistant forces would fold as rapidly as they did in Hong Kong, a location that has been occupied by the PLA since 1997.
MISSTEPS BY PRESIDENT BIDEN
The glad tidings for the CMC are that the significantly Eurocentric band of senior officials accumulated by the 46th President of the US are coming up with absurd scenarios that envisions a Ukrainian-style resistance by the Taiwanese people to a PLA invasion. They are therefore discouraging the Taiwanese military from going in for the longer-range weaponry needed in an actual conflict, and are asking them to confine their purchases (unlike in the case of Ukraine, which gets all its armaments free of cost, Taiwan is made to pay for each round of artillery) to items that are designed to defend against a beach landing. Some in the Biden administration are talking of getting the Taiwanese to purchase MANPADS so that every citizen becomes a defender, as in Ukraine.
The hi-tech Taiwanese are very different from the oil drilling and farming communities of Ukraine. And having seen what has been happening to Ukraine, most Taiwanese appear to be in no rush to follow the example of that unfortunate country.
Both the State Department as well as the National Security Council in the US are led by Europeanists in the Biden mould, and both are pitted against the Pentagon in insisting that Taiwan should be given only the means to launch a response to a PLA offensive on the landing shores rather than an active defence strategy in which east coast cities in the PRC would be at risk in the event of PLA aggression. The State Department and NSC’s unreal and wholly reactive strategy that is also favoured by many in the White House plays to the CMC playbook of a quick, sharp cross-strait localised war that accomplishes its tasks before any opposing force can react in force.
Should the CMC be convinced that broadening of the conflict by the Quad to other theatres within the Indo-Pacific and active rather than reactive defence by the Taiwanese are outside the realm of possibility, the prospects for initiation of war by the PLA during 2023-27 increase substantially, just as they did in the 1930s as a consequence of the policy of appeasement followed by France and Britain. And even when that was abandoned, the French army did what the PLA now wants the Taiwanese military to do, which is to surrender at speed.
Whether it be Taiwan or India, both the State Department as well as the NSC analyse the situation from the Europe First (when not Europe Only) perspective that was a feature of the Clinton administration. Hence the inability to understand the full impact of the economic and other consequences on the policy of the White House to try and grind the Russians down at the cost of Ukrainian lives and land, and to plead for help to Beijing when that capital is seeking to prolong that conflict for as long as needed to complete preparations for Xi’s China Dream (and Taiwan’s Nightmare) to come into operation.
NATO CHASING THE WRONG ENEMY
Immediate escalation of a cross-strait invasion of Taiwan into other theatres and arming the Taiwanese military with the weapons needed for active defence may persuade Xi that the risks of an attempted takeover are too high for him to take. Not for the first time, policymakers in a democracy that are frantic to prevent a war end up creating the conditions for its initiation.
The clock will begin ticking as soon as Xi gets his third 5-year term, and thus far, NATO appears to still believe that it is Moscow that represents the most potent threat to its membership and not China. This has, however, not discouraged countries ranging from the Marshall Islands to Tuvalu to Taiwan, not to mention the key members of ASEAN, to boost their defences against any aggressive move by the PLA. Their morale and confidence have been strengthened by the resolute manner in which India has been dealing with the threat posed by a revisionist superpower out to upend the status quo to its exclusive benefit.
After being revised upwards by $4.6 billion, Pakistan owes a debt of $30 billion to China, from $25.1 billion in February
Pakistan owes 30 per cent of its foreign debt to China, the latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, which includes state-owned commercial banks, local media reported.
Bloomberg, citing the global money lender’s document, reported that the debt is now 3% up as compared to February’s statistics – when it was at 27 per cent.
After being revised upwards by $4.6 billion, Pakistan owes a debt of $30 billion to China, from $25.1 billion in February, Geo News reported quoting the IMF report.
Chinese assistance to Pakistan is three times greater than IMF debt and exceeds both World Bank and Asian Development Bank funds combined, it said.
The latest figures show that, unlike the World Bank-style concessionary-project financing, Beijing is now playing a role similar to the global money lender by providing funds during a balance of payments crisis.
Islamabad managed to secure a much-needed bailout package from the IMF this week when the Fund’s executive board approved the release of $1.1 billion to Pakistan – averting the threat of imminent default.
For the ongoing fiscal year, the IMF report mentioned that official financing includes $7 billion as rollovers of existing and $4 billion in additional financing commitments, including from China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and IFIs – such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Islamic Development Bank.
“Pakistan’s external debt is low, predominantly held by the public sector and mainly sourced from concessional multilateral and bilateral sources, the central bank said in a presentation it made in July,” Bloomberg said.
The proposed sales come amid increased tension between Washington and Beijing over a contentious trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reports Asian Lite News
With an aim to outcompete China, the US will speed up its arms sales to allies and partners.
The US will expedite arms sales to allies and partners by removing several bureaucratic road bumps that could cause delays in order to better compete with countries such as China, reported Wall Street Journal.
The report said on Friday that the Defence Department launched an initiative to streamline US arms sales to foreign countries, especially to allies and partners that have provided military equipment to Ukraine.
The US promised European allies who have provided military equipment to Ukraine that it would be able to replenish their stocks, but the US defence industry is facing a backlog, reported Wall Street Journal.
The US could speed up arms sales by having US defence officials help countries draft initial requests for military equipment that would help avoid delays caused by requests that trigger security concerns, the report said.
The Defence Department only approves contracts once a year for certain military equipment, which means countries that fail to submit their orders by the Defence Department’s deadline must wait until the following year, the report added.
However, the State Department is currently consulting with the Defence Department on this matter in light of the mission to speed up arms sales to allies, according to the report.
United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.
The proposed sales come amid increased tension between Washington and Beijing over a contentious trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan this month triggered a new round of tensions in the region. Ever since the visit of the US delegation, Beijing launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island, which included live-fire drills and military aircraft overflights close to Taiwan’s airspace.
Meanwhile, two United States Navy warships entered the Taiwan Strait in the first such transit since China staged unprecedented military drills around the island.
On Sunday, the guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville were making their voyage “through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with the international law,” the US 7th Fleet in Japan said in a statement as quoted in CNN.
A 110-mile strait is a stretch of water that separates the democratic self-ruled island of Taiwan from mainland China.
Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite China’s ruling Communist Party never having controlled the island — and considers the strait part of its “internal waters.” (ANI)
At the same time, the average age of newlyweds is inching up, with nearly half of those married last year aged 30 and above…reports Asian Lite News
China registered the fewest marriages last year since its public records began more than three decades ago — adding to concerns that the country faces a looming demographic crisis, media reports said.
There were 7.6 million marriage registrations in 2021, data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs last week showed, CNN reported.
That’s the fewest since 1986, when the ministry began publicly releasing the figures, according to the state-run Global Times, marking a 6.1 per cent decrease from the previous year. It was the eighth consecutive year when marriage rates have fallen.
At the same time, the average age of newlyweds is inching up, with nearly half of those married last year aged 30 and above.
The figures reflect a trend that is increasingly a cause for concern among officials in the world’s most populous nation, home to 1.4 billion people. Young people, especially millennials, are increasingly choosing not to get married or have children and even when they do, they tend to do so later in life, CNN reported.
Experts say the knock-on effect on what is already a shrinking workforce could have a severe impact on the country’s economy and social stability.
In just six years, the number of Chinese people getting married for the first time fell by 41 per cent, from 23.8 million in 2013 to 13.9 million in 2019, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
The decline is partly due to decades of policies designed to limit China’s population growth, which mean there are fewer young people of marriageable age, according to Chinese officials and sociologists.
But it’s also a result of changing attitudes to marriage, especially among young women who are becoming more educated and financially independent, CNN reported.
The Uyghurs from 20 countries urged UNHRC to take up the issue in a Special Session or Urgent Debate with the aim of establishing a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to independently examine the treatment of Uyghurs …reports Asian Lite News
A group of 60 Uyghur organizations from 20 countries are calling for an immediate response to put an end to atrocities against Uyghurs, following the release of a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today. Uyghurs are calling for seven concrete actions by governments, multilateral bodies, and corporations.
“This UN report is extremely important. It paves the way for meaningful and tangible action by member states, UN bodies, and the business community,” said World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa. “Accountability starts now.”
“This is a game-changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis,” said Uyghur Human Rights Project Executive Director Omer Kanat. “Despite the Chinese government’s strenuous denials, the UN has now officially recognized that horrific crimes are occurring.”
The report offers the most definitive assessment of the issues faced by Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples from the world’s leading human rights body. Most notably, it finds that “arbitrary and discriminatory detention” of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples, within the context of other restrictions, “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
The report also notes that the human rights abuses have included “far-reaching, arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international norms and standards,” and that documentation of “patterns of torture or ill-treatment” is credible, including “incidents of sexual […] violence.”
On the crime of state-imposed forced labour, the report affirms the “deep concerns” of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), stating that the “OHCHR shares, from the human rights perspective, the concerns laid out by the ILO supervisory bodies.”
The report recommends for the Chinese government to take steps to release those arbitrarily detained; clarify the whereabouts of detained family members; cease intimidation and reprisals against Uyghurs in connection with their advocacy; to cooperate with the ILO Committee of Experts recommendations; and provide “adequate remedy and reparation to victims” of human rights abuses.
The report recommends that governments should “refrain from returning [Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples] to China” and “provide humanitarian assistance, including medical and psycho-social support, to victims in the States in which they are located.”
The report also makes recommendations to the business community to strengthen human rights risk assessments in the surveillance and security sector in particular, and for companies to respect human rights across activities and business relationships.
Uyghur
What are the demands?
The UN Human Rights Council to take up the issue in a Special Session or Urgent Debate with the aim of establishing a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to independently examine the treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples;
The UN Special Procedures to consider evidence presented in the report and respond with recommendations for the UN and the international community;
The UN Office on Genocide Prevention to immediately conduct an assessment of the risks of atrocities—including genocide and crimes against humanity—targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples, and to alert relevant actors and advocate for a proportionate response;
The ILO to take note of the report, include additional evidence of forced labour in its Committee of Experts annual report, and for delegates at the International Labour Conference to lodge a complaint against China for failure to uphold its obligations;
UNESCO to urgently investigate cases of destruction or marginalisation of natural and cultural heritage, including UNESCO-listed heritage (Muqam, Karez well system, Manas, Meshrep, and the Tianshan mountain range);
The global business community to immediately cut all ties with entities assisting the government to carry out the atrocities, especially the programs of high-tech surveillance and state-imposed forced labour; and
Governments and international organizations to take urgent steps to protect Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples at imminent risk of refoulement, in line with a recent joint statement from 22 refugee and human rights groups and 50 Uyghur organizations.
“The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has waited far too long to deliver its report. The truth of China’s atrocities has once again been documented, and there can be no shying away from the obligation to act. Stopping genocide was a foundational purpose of the UN, and it must be upheld now,” said Campaign for Uyghurs Executive Director Rushan Abbas.
‘’Now that the leading UN office on human rights has spoken, there are no more excuses for failure to hold the Chinese government accountable,” said Elfidar Iltebir, Uyghur American Association President.
“Our people are enduring genocide that has been documented through research, exposed by the Uyghur Tribunal, and designated by parliaments,” said Hidayet Oghuzhan, President of the International Union of East Turkistan Organizations. “As the diaspora community, we call on international human rights organizations and governments to take immediate action to stop the ongoing genocide.”
In September 2021, OHCHR confirmed it was “finalizing its assessment” and in December a spokesperson announced that the report would be released in a matter of weeks. In an open letter in March 2022, over 200 human rights groups urged the High Commissioner to promptly release her Office’s report following the long delay.
The report comes after the visit of the High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, to East Turkistan in May 2022, amidst criticism from governments, international organisations, and Uyghur groups that the trip amounted to little more than a propaganda victory for the Chinese government.
Since China’s review by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in August 2018, where members registered “alarm” at reports of mass detention, UN experts have indicated deep concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in China—and the Uyghur region in particular.
UN experts have issued 83 communications and 27 press releases to China since 2018, but noted they “have yet to see any signs of political will to address the concerns raised.” The Chinese government has not replied to 19 pending visit requests and rejected all Universal Periodic Review recommendations to provide unhindered access to experts.
In June 2020, 50 UN experts called for “decisive measures” to protect fundamental freedoms in China, including the creation of a UN mechanism to “closely monitor, analyse and report annually on the human rights situation in China.” On June 10, 2022, this call was reiterated by 42 UN experts, noting a lack of political will to address the concerns raised.
A growing number of governments have also expressed alarm about the human rights situation in China—notably the atrocities perpetrated against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. The U.S. State Department determined in January 2021 that this treatment amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity, and parliaments in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and the European Parliament have all passed motions or resolutions condemning the atrocity crimes.
During the talks, the Indian and Chinese sides under the leadership of the division commanders discussed issues related to peace in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector and other areas…reports Asian Lite News
The Indian and Chinese armies have once again held talks on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It is being told that this conversation has taken place at the Division Commander level.
According to defence sources, an Indian Army and Chinese Army Division Commander level meeting was held on Wednesday to discuss routine matters related to maintaining peace along the Line of Actuality in the Ladakh sector.
Sources familiar with the matter said such meetings are held regularly after every three months at various levels to discuss the issues of maintaining peace and border management.
The meeting comes at a time when it is being claimed that the Chinese PLA is continuing heavy construction activities along the LAC to further upgrade its military infrastructure and connectivity in the region.
During the talks, the Indian and Chinese sides under the leadership of the division commanders discussed issues related to peace in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector and other areas.
Earlier, India and China held talks in the Chushul sector in the wake of recent airspace violations by the Chinese Air Force, where India warned China against any misadventure.
EAM Jaishankar’s remarks come amid ongoing talks between the two sides to reduce tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)…reports Asian Lite News
The state of the border would determine the state of relations between India and China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
For ties to return to a positive trajectory and remain sustainable, they must be based on the three mutuals: mutual sensitivity, mutual respect and mutual interest, EAM Jaishankar said while speaking at the launch of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi on Monday.
Arguing that much of the future of Asia depends on how relations between India and China develop in the foreseeable future, he said, “Their current status is, of course, well known to all of you. I can only reiterate that the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship”.
He also spoke about the concept of the Asian century and said, “When we speak of a rising Asia, the term Asian Century naturally springs to mind. To the sensible and sober, that signifies a greater weight for Asia in the overall global calculus.”
However, he also added that it contains triumphalist implications with which India at least shouldn’t be comfortable.
“That is why ‘rising but divided’ is such a strong concern. It is said that the pre-requisite for an Asian Century is an India and China coming together. Conversely, their inability to do so will undermine it,” he argued.
EAM Jaishankar also referred to Asia’s prospects and challenges, saying they were today very much dependent on developments in the Indo-Pacific. “In fact, the concept itself is a reflection of divided Asia, as some have a vested interest in keeping the region less cohesive and interactive,” he remarked in an apparent reference to China’s expansionist and exclusivist policies as well as aggressive posturing.
“That the global commons and the international community are better served by collaborative endeavours like the Quad apparently leaves them cold. Developing even a basic strategic consensus in Asia is, therefore, clearly a formidable task,” he added.
EAM Jaishankar’s remarks come amid ongoing talks between the two sides to reduce tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Matters had come to a head in June 2020 when a violent face-off took place between Indian and Chinese troops in Eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley. Twenty India soldiers lost their lives. A large number of Chinese solidiers also died.
Since then, India and China have been engaged in talks at the military as well as diplomatic levels for disengagement along friction points in the border areas of Eastern Ladakh.
India and China had in-depth discussions for disengagement at the remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh during the 16th round India-China Corps Commander Level Meeting held on July 17.
“Building on the progress made at the last meeting on 11th March 2022, the two sides continued discussions for the resolution of the relevant issues along the LAC in the Western Sector in a constructive and forward looking manner,” said a joint press release issued after the meeting.
Interacting with the media in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, earlier last month, EAM Jaishankar had said India would not countenance any unilateral attempts to change the present position of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
