The Chinese Ministry of National Defence spokesperson further stated that the move is in accordance with the consensus reached by both sides at the ninth round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting….reports Asian Lite News
China on Wednesday said that frontline troops of India and China at the southern and northern bank of the Pangong Lake at Line of Actual Control have started disengagement from Wednesday. India has made no statement in this regard so far.
Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of National Defence, in a written statement on Wednesday said, “The Chinese and Indian frontline troops at the southern and northern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake start synchronised and organised disengagement from February 10.”
The Chinese Ministry of National Defence spokesperson further stated that the move is in accordance with the consensus reached by both sides at the ninth round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting.
After a 16-hour-long marathon ninth round of military dialogue, both the countries issued a joint statement wherein it was stated that they have agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops at disputed border areas across Line of Actual Control.
India’s Defence Ministry issued a statement after India and China held a 16-hour-long marathon military dialogue to resolve the border dispute and thinning of forces along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh. It was the ninth round of Corps Commander level meet at Moldo.
“The two sides agreed that this round of meeting was positive, practical and constructive, which further enhanced mutual trust and understanding. The two sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops,a the joint statement stated.
It also stated that both the countries have also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation, and hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation.
“The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilise and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquillity,” said the statement.
India and China are engaged in a ten-month-long standoff at the LAC.
China’s offer in effect is cooperation on climate and trade matters in exchange for recognition of Beijing’s overlordship of the Himalayan massif, the South China Sea and both sides of the Taiwan straits…writes Prof. Madhav Nalapat
Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the US, left office prematurely after winning a second term. There was considerable heartburn within the White House during much of his 1969-75 stay there because it was Henry A. Kissinger, rather than his boss, who was appearing on magazine covers. Kissinger was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to prolong the Vietnam War uselessly for four more years rather than end it by 1971 on the same terms as were enforced by Hanoi in 1975.
Another contributory factor securing him the prize may have been the carpet bombing recommended by Kissinger of not just Vietnam but Laos and Cambodia as well. The deaths of millions in the latter country have been laid at the door of Pol Pot, who was backed by the PRC. The reality is that much of the carnage was caused by bombing. Kissinger followed the example of Winston Spencer Churchill in himself writing the history of his years in power. In both cases, these were presented as a triumph of genius over the shoddy thinking of others, when in fact Churchill and Kissinger erred more often than not.
Kissinger spent a considerable amount of time chatting up journalists and historians, and it was therefore no surprise that the credit for the opening out to the PRC was given to him rather than to Nixon, whose idea it actually was. A similar situation took place in India later, when it was Finance Minister Manmohan Singh who was given almost all the credit for economic reform rather than the actual architect, the unassuming, Pamulaparthy Venkata Narasimha Rao. The somewhat less spectacular performance of Manmohan Singh the “reformer” in his far more consequential post of Prime Minister during 2004-2014 indicates the manner in which, like a good civil servant, the gentle and intellectually gifted but unassertive economist adjusted his performance to the wishes of the boss.
Sonia Gandhi was a world apart from Narasimha Rao, and it showed in the quality of rule during 1992-96 as compared to the UPA period. Returning to Kissinger, it is a wonder that a statue of the man has not been erected in any Chinese city, for he gave away the store to Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, so charmed was he by the titans who led the PRC during its initial decades. Concession after concession was offered by the US and generously pocketed by the secretly surprised CCP negotiating team, who of course constantly complained that the giveaways were too little, always too little even when they were excessive.
There had been no need for Kissinger to have been so generous, including in his throwing Taiwan under the bus, besides seeking to instigate war between his new ally, the PRC, and India. Mao and Zhou had for years understood that there was no option but to move against the USSR, and needed very little prodding or concessions to continue do so. In much the same way as they had used the period of struggle against Japanese occupation to build up the PLA, the CCP leadership used the concessions offered by Washington (and soon by the allies of that superpower) to begin the process of making then backward China into a superpower itself, a task which their successors achieved a little over a decade ago.
By the time General Secretary Xi Jinping took charge of the CCP and CMC and through the party and its military the PRC, the country he now led was well on the way to becoming the predominant power on the planet. Small wonder that Xi discarded the camouflage of several of the CCP objectives favoured by his predecessors and adopted an unmistakable transparency about the direction in which the country was moving. From the early period of his rule, the General Secretary placed the PLA at the centre of PRC diplomacy , using the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the facilitator of the PLA’s moves and where needed, as a lubricant smoothening the path to them. Mao ensured that the regime that he installed in 1949 developed the characteristics of permanency, and it is the intention of Xi to ensure that the ascent of Beijing to the top of the table, displacing Washington, takes place during his tenure. As this may take longer than the two terms allocated by convention to PRC leaders since Jiang Zemin, that convention was put aside.
Xi Jinping has surrounded himself with a competent team of advisors, the “best and the brightest” that this country of 1.3 billion people with its ancient civilisation has to offer. They know that for at least five or six years more, they need to prevent stoppage of the concessions they are getting from entities in the US or linked to that country in alliances. Mao and Zhou offered Nixon and the smitten Henry Kissinger the offer of collaboration in bringing down the Soviet Union, a task that they were anyway committed to. In return for the faux favour, they demanded substantive concessions, which Henry Kissinger was only too willing to recommend to his boss be given. As in the case of Shimla in 1972, one side walked away with the goodies, while the other side was left holding the bill for the bag of concessions that it had handed over.
Now Xi Jinping, through the able Yang Jiechi, has offered a similar bargain to President Biden and Vice President Harris. Both Xi and Yang appear certain that there are enough friends of the Beijing nomenklatura (a charter member of which served in the Trump cabinet) in Washington, New York and San Francisco to ensure acceptance of their offer of cooperation on climate and trade matters in exchange for recognition of Beijing’s overlordship of the Himalayan massif, the South China Sea and both sides of the Taiwan straits. Of course, all that is asked for is acceptance in practice of such overlordship. The US would be at liberty to profess opposition to such moves by the PRC, as long as the opposition was verbal or comprised of media pyrotechnics without effect on the ground situation.
The reality is that there is no option for the CCP leadership but to push ahead with both climate mitigation as well as trade simplification, as both are in the PRC interest. Getting any concession from Washington (much less the Kissingerian ones explicitly asked for by Yang Jiechi) would be a bonus to the plans of the CCP General Secretary. Is there a Henry Kissinger within the Biden administration who will once again play Santa Claus in the manner that Nixon’s emissary did in the past? That would depend on whether Biden and Harris understand the nature of the one-sided bargain that is being dangled before them, or get taken in and make concessions that are wholly unnecessary to secure China’s compliance on trade and climate.
Liang Wannian, a member of the WHO-China joint study team, said that there is no evidence of transmission of the novel coronavirus before December 2019 in Wuhan….reports Asian Lite News
While saying that “accidents do happen,” a team of international experts, including those from the World Health Organisation (WHO), investigating the origins of Covid-19 said on Tuesday that laboratory leak of the virus is “extremely unlikely.”
Addressing a press conference at the end of the joint WHO-China study, more than a year after the initial cases of Covid-19 were reported from Wuhan in China’s western Hubei province, Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the WHO mission, said more work was required to identify the source of the virus.
Liang Wannian, a member of the WHO-China joint study team, said that there is no evidence of transmission of the novel coronavirus before December 2019 in Wuhan.
The experts did not even deny the possibility that novel coronavirus cases could have been prevalent in other regions even before the early cases were detected in Wuhan.
Their research suggests that Wuhan could just be one of the first places where the virus spread.
The “wet market” in Huanan which was linked to some of initial human cases was also one of the focus areas of the study.
While it is possible that the virus may have jumped from animals to humans, the team investigating the origin of the virus said they do not have any proof.
Bats and pangolins are thought to be possible sources of the virus, but conclusive evidence is still lacking.
The WHO team also emphasised on studying the possibility of the transmission of the virus through imported frozen food, along with other possibilities.
After the first cases of novel coronavirus emerged from Wuhan in December 2019, a theory circulated on social media that the virus may have leaked from a laboratory there.
Former US President Donald Trump also made similar suggestions.
In an open letter issued in February 2020, the Wuhan Institute of Virology said that assumptions were false rumours and the conscience of the staff in the institute was “absolutely clear”.
The pandemic has so far killed over 2.3 million people worldwide and caused widespread economic and social disruptions.
Trudeau also warned that China’s repressive measure are counterproductive for itself and the rest of the world…reports Asian Lite News
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has slammed China over its “coercive diplomacy,” repressive actions in Hong Kong and detention of Uyghur Muslims.
Trudeau also warned that China’s repressive measure are counterproductive for itself and the rest of the world, The Times of India reported.
“We will remain absolutely committed to working with our allies to ensure that China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens alongside other citizens of other countries around the world is not viewed as a successful tactic by them, The Times of India quoted Trudeau as saying.
Meanwhile, Trudeau has urged citizens not to worry about the increasing concerns on the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the country.
“When the vaccines are going to come? That’s why there’s a lot of anxiety and there’s a lot of noise going on right now. I want to reassure Canadians: we are on track,” Xinhua news agency quoted Trudeau as saying at a press conference here on Friday.
The Prime Minister said that he has spoken with Pfizer and Moderna.
“I speak almost every week with CEOs of these vaccine companies, and they have assured me that they will meet their obligations.
“I want to reassure Canadians that we’re on track,” he said, adding that as many as 20 million more doses will start to arrive in the spring as his government keeps its sight on vaccinating all people who want a shot by the end of September.
Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh,
Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh, who is also a former Army chief, made the remarks to a question on the China border row when he was visiting Madurai in Tamil Nadu on Sunday….reports Asian Lite News
Beijing has called Union Minister VK Singh’s comment on India “transgressing the Line of Actual Control” as an “unwitting confession”.
Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh, who is also a former Army chief, made the remarks to a question on the China border row when he was visiting Madurai in Tamil Nadu on Sunday.
“With China our border has never been demarcated. Over a period of time, there have been transgressions where China says this is my perception of the LAC. Similarly, none of you come to know how many times we have transgressed as per our perception. We don’t announce it. Chinese media doesn’t cover it. But let me assure you, if China has transgressed 10 times, we must have done it at least 50 times, as per our perception,” NDTV quoted Singh as saying to reporters.
The Minister of State was also quoted as saying that China had been attempting to expand its area by taking advantage of its perception of the LAC, but the government had ensured that this did not happen.
Following the remarks made by Singh, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said “India’s transgressions” were the root cause of tensions at the de-facto border between the two countries.
“This is an unwitting confession by the Indian side. For a long time, the Indian side has conducted frequent acts of trespass in the border area in an attempt to encroach on China’s territory and constantly created disputes and frictions, which is the root cause of the tensions at the China-India border,” Wang Wenbin said, according to the report.
“We urge the Indian side to follow through on the consensus, agreements and treaties it reached with China, and uphold peace and stability in the border region with concrete actions,” he added.
Meanwhile, no immediate response was reported from Indian officials to the comments of Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.
Myanmar, where the military has blocked the outcome of the recent parliamentary elections and arrested State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who was the de facto head of the nation, and other leaders of the National League for Democracy, came up in their discussion….Arul Louis.
US President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi have committed themselves to work closely on a range of issues from fighting terrorism and upholding territorial integrity to defeating the Covid-19 pandemic and rebuilding the global economy, according to the White House.
The call to Modi on Monday was among the first by Biden after he assumed office to the leader of a country outside the tight network of neighbours and treaty allies.
During their phone conversation, the White House statement said that they pledged to “stand together against the scourge of global terrorism.”
“The leaders agreed to continuing close cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, including support for freedom of navigation, territorial integrity, and a stronger regional architecture through the Quad” (the regional group of democracies, India, the US, Japan and Australia), it added.
“The leaders agreed to stay in close touch on a range of global challenges and look forward to what the United States and India will achieve together for their people and for their nations,” the White House said.
Modi tweeted, “President @JoeBiden and I are committed to a rules-based international order. We look forward to consolidating our strategic partnership to further peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”
In another tweet, Modi said, “We discussed regional issues and our shared priorities. We also agreed to further our co-operation against climate change.”
Spoke to @POTUS@JoeBiden and conveyed my best wishes for his success. We discussed regional issues and our shared priorities. We also agreed to further our co-operation against climate change.
The White House said that Modi and Biden agreed to work on rebuilding the post-coronavirus global economy “in a way that benefits the people of both countries.”
They also committed themselves to “work closely together to win the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic (and) renew their partnership on climate change,” according to the White House.
Myanmar, where the military has blocked the outcome of the recent parliamentary elections and arrested State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who was the de facto head of the nation, and other leaders of the National League for Democracy, came up in their discussion.
Modi, Biden
Modi and Biden “resolved that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld in Burma,” the statement said.
Biden has said that promoting and defending democracy around the world would be a cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda.
The statement said that during his call, “the president underscored his desire to defend democratic institutions and norms around the world and noted that a shared commitment to democratic values is the bedrock for the US-India relationship.”
It appeared to allude to the criticism of India by some politicians from his party as well as entertainment figures who back him over the farmers’ protest and by organisations and media outlets about what they say are curbs on freedom of expression.
Biden had not mentioned in his first foreign policy agenda-setting speech last week the Indo-Pacific region, which had been elevated by his predecessor Donald Trump in the US strategy to face the China challenge, or India.
But in that speech he had made clear that China is the prime adversary for the US.
In his call to Modi he has reaffirmed the importance of the Indo-Pacific region and the ties among the Quad, which was rekindled during Trump’s presidency.
The White House statement on the call with Modi did not directly mention China, as it had in readouts of Biden’s calls with Prime Ministers Scott Morrison of Australia and Yoshihide Suga of Japan during which it said that they had also discussed the Indo-Pacific.
But the mention of support for “territorial integrity” in the discussion with Modi can be seen as a reference to the threats to India from China in the context of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks at his Senate confirmation hearings about “working with India so that no country in the region including China could challenge its sovereignty.
Leading Senators from the US, prominent politicians from the rest of the world and various global human rights groups have expressed shock and anger, calling for a UN-led investigation after a BBC report has revealed systemic torture and sexual abuse against Uyghur Muslims, Kazakhs and other groups interned in the prison camps of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)…reports Ateet Sharma.
Based on rare first-hand accounts from inside the internment camps, the BBC exposed depraved and dehumanising treatment of those detained in such facilities, officially called Vocational Education and Training Centers or ‘re-education camps’ by the Chinese government.
The BBC said that several former detainees and a guard told their reporters on how they have experienced or saw evidence of an organised system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture in Xinjiang.
Uyghur Muslims
Tursunay Ziawudun, now based in the US after fleeing Xinjiang, told the BBC’s David Campanale, Matthew Hill and Joel Gunter that women were removed from the cells “every night” and raped by one or more masked Chinese men. She said she was tortured and later gang-raped on three occasions, each time by two or three men.
The BBC also interviewed a Kazakh woman from Xinjiang who was detained for 18 months in the camp system.
Gulzira Auelkhan told the network that she was forced to systematically “remove the clothes (of women detainees) above the waist and handcuff them so they cannot move”, so that police and even Han Chinese civilians introduced from the outside, who “would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates”, could rape them.
Another woman, Qelbinur Sedik, an ethnic Uzbek, said that she went to the camps as a Chinese language teacher and befriended a policewoman who told her that “the rape has become a culture” there.
“It is gang rape and the Chinese police not only rape them but also electrocute them. They are subject to horrific torture,” Sedik was told by the policewoman.
Chinese Police
It is not for the first time that the alleged genocide and crimes against humanity taking place in the Xinjiang region have been brought to the notice of the world community.
Human rights organizations believe that the Chinese government has detained over a million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and people from other Turkic Muslim nationalities in these camps over the last three years.
Last September, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), had nailed China’s lies on the human rights violations being committed in Xinjiang by releasing a comprehensive data, including latest satellite imagery, of more than 380 detention facilities still operating in the country’s far west.
The ASPI research suggested that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiang’s vast “re-education” network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labour assignments.
It has also been revealed that in 2018, 80 per cent of all the Intrauterine Device (IUD) placements in China were performed on women in the Uyghur region, despite the region making up only about 1.8 per cent of China’s total population.
After the the BBC report on Tuesday, a group of senior politicians representing the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said it stood united in horror and in condemnation of sickening reports of the torture and rape of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the internment camps of Xinjiang.
“Eyewitness testimonies broadcast by the BBC have exposed depraved and dehumanising treatment of those detained in several camps… The time for mere words has long passed. We must now move towards a coordinated effort to hold the Chinese government to account,” said the IPAC statement signed by 30 parliamentarians representing 16 legislatures.
“These atrocities must be stopped. We again call for a UN led or international legal investigation of crimes against humanity and genocide that are taking place in Xinjiang, and in the mean time for individual states to respond to their obligations under the genocide convention and take collective urgent political action in response to this evidence,” it added.
Signatories to the statement included US Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio, German Greens MEP Reinhard Butikofer, former Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani and Australian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching.
“Reports of torture, systemic rape and forced sterilization of detainees suggests the Chinese Communist Party is perpetrating a most barbaric and inhumane persecution of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region,” said British MP Iain-Duncan Smith, a former leader of the UK Conservative Party.
China, meanwhile, maintains that anti-China forces continue to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the progress in the cause of human rights in Xinjiang.
“They have never been to Xinjiang and do not know the real situation of Xinjiang, but on the pretext of alleged human rights violations, they unscrupulously splash dirty water on Xinjiang, instigating the media and think tanks they control to concoct eye-catching false evidence and spread sensational fallacies,” Elijan Anayat, spokesperson of Information Office of XUAR, said during a press conference organised on Xinjiang-related issues in Beijing on Wednesday.
Xinjiang government was also asked if it was prepared to welcome US government officials of high rank to visit the region for field investigations, free from any interference instead of a publicity tour, to change the identification with Xinjiang-related issues in the US that has transcended party politics?
“I would like to say that Xinjiang is following the right path in the world. Everything it has done is open and honest. There is nothing that cannot be open. We welcome US officials, including the officials of new US government, to take a walk and have a look in Xinjiang, so as to understand the real situation in Xinjiang in case that you would be blinded by (Mike) Pompeo’s lies. But we also have the bottom line of our principle, and we will never accept any so-called ‘investigation’ of presumption of guilt,” remarked Deputy Director General of CPC Publicity Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Xu Guixiang.
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A U-turn on the Colombo port’s East Container Terminal and then an attempt to create negativity around the India-supplied Covid-19 vaccine signals that there could be more powerful forces than just mere trade unions and some local groups which are nudging Sri Lanka to adopt an aggressive stand against India right now…reports Ateet Sharma.
Experts believe that Sri Lankan government’s decision to scrap an agreement with India and Japan to jointly run the East Container Terminal in the Lankan capital is a result of persistent external pressure applied by China which has developed high stakes in the country through its expansionist and debt trap Belt and Road Initiative.
It isn’t just about going back on its word in a Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the three countries in 2019. Efforts are also being made to give a spin to India’s noble gesture of donating five lakh doses of Covishield Covid-19 vaccine under the ongoing ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative.
The Island reported that Ravi Kumudesh, President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science, has urged the government to give general public an access to “the most suitable” Covid-19 vaccine instead of the ones sent by India. Kumudesh questioned the decision of National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to only register Covishield vaccine.
“Given that the Medical Research Institute (MRI) only checks documents, there can’t be a reason for the delay in registering other vaccines. We are glad that India gave us some vaccine doses for free, but we can’t just import more of the same without a proper study,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Sri Lanka
The statement would certainly disappoint India considering that in spite of a massive number of requests received from all over the world, the Narendra Modi government had prioritised Sri Lanka for the supply of the Indian vaccine and sent the first consignment of 5,00,000 doses as Indian grant on January 28.
The developments also raise a concern if the island nation, having already ceded control of its strategic port of Hambantota to China, is taking orders from Beijing, fulfilling its global agenda by becoming its pawn.
China has greatly enhanced its access to the Middle East through Pakistan’s Gwadar port and continues to play dangerous games in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) through its various projects, not just in Lanka but also Bangladesh (Chittagong and Mongla), Maldives (Feydhoo Finolhu Port), Myanmar (Kyaukphyu) and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
While Japan, which too has provided continuous support for the development of the Port of Colombo since the 1980s and also that of Port of Trincomalee, has reportedly “regretted” the Rajapaksa government’s move to scrap the deal, India is still hoping that Lanka would adhere to international commitments and reconsider its decision.
Not just as a part of the ongoing vaccine diplomacy, India had made its intentions of developing a closer bond with its neighbour clear with two high-profile visits to Colombo in the last few months to set the stage for an increased bilateral cooperation.
While National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had met all the key stakeholders in the island country on the sidelines of the NSA-level meeting on Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation last November, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also paid an official visit to Sri Lanka from January 5-7 January at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Dinesh Gunawardena.
Apart from holding talks with his counterpart, Jaishankar also discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues with Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
During his three-day visit, the minister had also made a strong pitch for Tamil reconciliation by meeting the Tamil leadership — delegations of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil Progressive Alliance — in Colombo.
Yesterday, in a statement made in Rajya Sabha on the talks held between the two countries, the EAM reiterated that the Government of India has consistently called upon Sri Lanka during bilateral discussions at all levels to fulfill its commitments on addressing the issues related to protecting the interest of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
This, the minister said, was done during the visits of President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka to India in November 2019 and February 2020 respectively and during the recently held India- Sri Lanka Virtual Bilateral Summit on September 26, 2020 between the two Prime Ministers as also his own visit earlier this month.
“It is in Sri Lanka’s own interest that the expectations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace and dignity within a united Sri Lanka are fulfilled. That applies equally to the commitments made by the Sri Lankan Government on meaningful devolution, including the 13th Amendment to the Constitution,” said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar’s statement assumes a great significance in the prevailing circumstances.
While Beijing has only taken advantage of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, India has for last many decades played a major role in promoting peace and socio-economic development of Sri Lanka.
Much before the Chinese arrived, India batted for the strengthening of the regional connectivity which was a key to the peace and prosperity of the entire region.
All of it, and not just the freedom of the high seas and maritime order based on the rule of law but also Lanka’s political and economic development, will be in a grave danger if the current regime continues to fall to China’s googly.
Irrigation tunnel
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has inaugurated the construction of an irrigation tunnel to be undertaken by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd (CSCEC), local media reported.
On Friday, President Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone at the groundbreaking ceremony for the 28 km-long irrigation tunnel which stretches from Elahera Konduruwewa to Palugaswewa Mahamigaswewa and passes through three wildlife sanctuaries, Xinhua news agency reported.
Rajapaksa with Jaishankar
The tunnel is part of the North Central Province Maha Ela Project to divert excess water from the Moragahakanda and Kalu Ganga reservoir.
Construction is estimated to cost $244 million and is financed by the Sri Lankan government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
South Asia General Manager of CSCEC Wang Zhouya told Xinhua that the tunnel would be the longest irrigation tunnel in Sri Lanka and help mitigate droughts and floods while providing water for agriculture.
China will try to assert itself more across the world as it now feels confident that it has the economic, political and military capabilities to ensure that its views are heard on the global stage. It will assert itself in the immediate neighbourhood, the Indo-Pacific region and also across the world.…reports Rahul Kumar
Dr Jabin Jacob, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University, says that China sees itself in rivalry and competition with the USA and whatever the US is doing China will want to do that and try to do it better than the US. He says: “One thing is certain that China sees itself as a global power.”
As part of this assertiveness, China might be seen as officially arguing for multi-polarity in global politics but it will try to assert itself as a global hegemon. It will not brook competition from any other country. Driven by this thought, China sees democracies everywhere as a threat to the legitimacy of the Communist Party. The country will, therefore, continue to undermine democracies and other political systems.
China has grabbed territory in Ladakh as it sees India as a power that threatens its interests and ambitions. And to mount pressure on India, it will take a different stand against India’s neighbours. Because of this, the Chinese are capturing Nepalese territory and have walked into Bhutan as well-just to make a point against India.
Both India and China are currently stuck. India wants to restore status quo ante at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh while China wants that their bilateral and economic relations restored even as they keep occupying Indian land. Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had made it clear that it is impossible to restore bilateral relations till China moves out of India. It is unwilling to detach the boundary issue with China to resolve its border dispute.
Jacob says that on the face of it, people might feel that India has lost face at the LAC by losing territory which India used to patrol that we cannot control now. “But that does not mean India is beaten or that India is down and out. China still has a problem on its hand as they say a wounded tiger is more dangerous and, therefore, the Chinese want to see that India behaves as the Chinese would like them to. But that is not happening.”
Modi with Chinese PM Xi
Within China the PLA is a powerful entity. It is much more powerful and higher in hierarchy than the Chinese Foreign Ministry. With the Indian military response, the PLA is under pressure to prove and respond to Indian actions. China will continue to create situations for skirmishes not just in Ladakh but also in Sikkim and Arunachal. China will keep creating problems for India across the LAC as the PLA is under pressure.
The Ladakh incident and the Depsang incursion in 2013 show that China has violated all laws in force since the nineties. India has shown its strength and determination by brazening it out in Ladakh – keeping its icy borders well defended even in the harshest winter. With China militarising the LAC with heavy armour and tens of thousands of soldiers, Ladakh will now remain permanently militarised on both sides of the border. But to deter China in future from violating its territory, India will have to take punitive action.
To be able to take on China, India will have to embrace reforms in all sectors-diplomacy, economy as well as military. This need for reform for the military has to come from within the defence forces as it is not coming from the civilian administration. If India has to take on China, India also needs to build up its navy. India will have to scale up its military diplomacy as well.
Also, the country lacks in its global understanding of other countries and cultures, including friendly ones. India will have to do more-cultivate countries like Vietnam and Japan by investing there, having better relations with them. India will have to build more understanding of other countries by investing in languages, culture, opening up more departments of research and study so that India and its leadership understand the world better. India should study various countries well, go to these countries and understand them more.
Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat
Regarding its Middle Kingdom approach, Jacob says that China is a Communist Party State. Moreover, President Xi Jingping’s model is clear that the idea of China is a political and economic model which other countries should try to emulate.
Both the Tibetan government in exile and even the Indian establishment believe in Mao’s doctrine of Five Fingers–taking over Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. However, there is more to this doctrine. It is not just the capture or occupation of territory but is also about exercising complete influence in all dimensions that matters to China. Even if it does not capture Bhutan or Nepal physically, China wants its voice heard in these capitals as the first and the most important voice that these countries listen to.
Talking about the neighbourhood, Indian leaders will need to look at China as the longer-term challenge and to fix relations with Pakistan also. “We have continued to look at Pakistan as the adversary, ignoring China all through, even though we understand the country well. Now is the time to rectify that approach,” says Jacob.
China and Turkey are going all out to consolidate Pakistan’s defence arsenal even as the country’s external debt continues to accumulate and the Imran Khan government finds itself on a sticky wicket yet again ahead of this month’s plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog…reports Ateet Sharma. While ‘iron brother’ China launched a second advanced warship for Pakistan in Shanghai last week, Turkey – its only other all-weather ally – also held a welding ceremony of third ship of MILGEM class corvettes for Pakistan Navy at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard (INSY).
The launch of the second Type 054 Class Frigate was held at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard on Friday with the Pakistani Navy highlighting how warship’s induction will enhance country’s maritime defence and deterrence capabilities.
The first of the four warships of Type-054 Class Frigate constructed by China for Pakistan was launched in August, last year.
“Technologically advance platform fitted with latest Surface, Subsurface, Anti-air weapons, Combat Management System & Sensors will strengthen PN combat capabilities & maintain peace & stability in IOR,” Pakistan Navy tweeted Saturday.
In Istanbul, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi jointly kicked off the MILGEM class corvettes project by performing the block welding.
The contract for four MILGEM class corvettes for Pakistan Navy with concurrent Transfer of Technology (ToT) was signed with ASFAT Inc, a Turkish state owned Defence contractor in 2018. The ToT entails construction of two corvettes at Istanbul Naval Shipyard and another two at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KS&EW).
Erdogan highlighted deep-rooted relationship between the “two strategically aligned nations” and underscored the defence collaboration for construction of MILGEM class warships as major milestone in Pak-Turkey defence ties.
The MILGEM class corvettes will be surface platforms equipped with modern surface, subsurface and anti-air weapons and sensors integrated through a network centric Combat Management System.
These ships, said Pakistan Navy, will augment its “kinetic punch” and will significantly contribute in maintaining peace, stability and “balance of power” in Indian Ocean Region.
Pakistan Navy’s top officers are now regular visitors to Ankara and Beijing, just like the country’s ships now frequently call at their ports.
Last month, after taking over the command of the Pakistan Navy in October, Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi visited the Turkish Fleet Headquarters at Golcuk Naval Base and also the Istanbul Naval Shipyards where he was briefed on the current status of the ongoing construction of the first corvette of the ‘Jinnah’ Class Corvette Project.
During his visit, Niazi, who was conferred with ‘Legion of Merit of the Turkish Armed Forces’ by Turkish Naval Forces Commander Admiral Adnan Ozbal, also called on Turkey’s President of Defence Industries Ismail Demir.
After being commissioned in November at the Black Sea Port of Constanta in Romania, Pakistan Navy’s new Corvette e a Damen OPV 1900 named PNS Tabuk – visited Turkey’s Port Aksaz on her return passage to Pakistan. On departing the port, Tabuk participated in coordinated patrol with Turkish Navy ships.
The Commanding Officer of the ship, in a meeting with Aksaz Naval Base Commander Rear Admiral I Kurtulus Sevinc discussed “matters of mutual interest”, including Kashmir.
Discussing Kashmir to further foster the “brotherly relations” between both the countries comes naturally to Pakistan and Turkey.
Pakistan Navy Ship Zulfiqar, with embarked helicopter, had visited Port Aksaz in October 2020 to participate in Turkey-led Mavi Balina 2020 multinational Anti Submarine Warfare exercise. During the stay, Commanding Officer of the ship had called on senior naval officials and dignitaries, including Sevinc and Flag Officer Commanding Aksaz Naval Base to discuss Kashmir.
In March, another Pakistan Navy Ship Yarmook – the first ship commissioned at Constanta Port – had visited Golcuk during its voyage back to “develop interoperability” with Turkish Navy. The Commanding Officer of PNS Yarmook had also called on important authorities of Turkish Navy to discuss Kashmir.
At the same time, China continues to strengthen Pakistan Navy, enhancing its ability with new assets and joint Sino-Pakistani naval exercises.
“Pakistan Navy is enlarging its marines, which now operates from Gwadar into a division-sized force. China funds the marines defending Chinese interests at Gwadar and PN’s Special Service Group Navy (SSGN) originally trained by US Seals is planned to grow into a brigade-sized force by 2023. China is enabling Pakistan to set up a network-enabled warfare capability with satellite feeds to monitor the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) like the Indian Navy employs Centrix provided by the US Navy,” Commodore Ranjit B Rai, a former Naval Intelligence and Operations Director, wrote in Indian Defence Review, last year.
Meanwhile, India and the new Joe Biden administration in Washington will be closely watching the proceedings at this month’s Aman-2021 exercise scheduled to be held in the water area of the Pakistani port of Karachi.
Besides China and Turkey, the Russian Navy has confirmed the participation of its Black Sea Fleet (BSF), including a frigate, a patrol ship, a rescue tug, a Marine Corps unit, a demining squad and a sea-based helicopter, in the exercise.
It is expected to be held at around the same time when FATF meets virtually from February 22 to 25 to consider blacklisting Pakistan as it continues to abate terrorism.
