Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attends a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and delivers an important speech, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Hong Kong, south China, July 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei/IANS)
Xi had not been seen in public since returning to Beijing from the summit on September 16…reports Asian Lite News
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made his first public appearance since returning from a trip to Uzbekistan where he attended the 22nd SCO Summit, quashing unfounded rumoUrs of a “coup” that sparked a frenzy of speculation ahead of a key Communist Party meeting.
Xi on Tuesday visited an exhibition in Beijing showcasing China’s achievements over his decade in power, CNN reported citing the state broadcaster CCTV.
On the network’s flagship evening newscast, the President was seen wearing a face mask and viewing displays at the Beijing Exhibition Hall, where photos of himself featured heavily.
He was accompanied by Premier Li Keqiang and other top leaders, including all members of the party’s supreme Politburo Standing Committee, CNN reported.
Xi had not been seen in public since returning to Beijing from the summit on September 16.
The visit was his first foreign trip in nearly 1,000 days since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
His absence gave rise to a swirl of online rumours, which claimed, without evidence, that he had been overthrown in a military coup and placed under house arrest, CNN reported.
The unsubstantiated rumours were further fueled by claims of mass flight cancellations, a common occurrence under China’s zero-Covid restrictions, and unverified videos of military vehicles on the road.
The wild speculation, which originated from Chinese dissident networks before being picked up and amplified by Indian media, was so intense that the hashtag “chinacoup” was trending on Twitter over the weekend.
That the rumour was able to spread so quickly is in no small part due to the highly opaque nature of the Chinese political system, in which important decisions are mostly made behind closed doors.
The absence of information means that even veteran observers of elite Chinese politics maintain a “never say never” approach, noting that while an occurrence such as a coup remains highly improbable, it’s impossible to know for sure what is really going on.
On this occasion, most were quick to point to the total lack of credible evidence supporting the supposed ‘coup’, CNN reported.
Instead, they noted that Xi was likely following his own quarantine rules and remaining in self-isolation after returning from abroad.
Even as the rest of the world has learned to live with the virus, China is sticking to a stringent zero-Covid policy favoured by Xi.
The Chinese border is still largely closed, with all international arrivals required to undergo seven days of hotel quarantine, followed by three days of home isolation.
Political and bureaucratic competition has ensured that the discussion around the issue remains as important as China’s global vision for hegemony…reports Asian Lite News
Chinese intentions to expand its nuclear and militaristic power are its methods of wolf-warrior portrayals that are on a path of wreaking havoc in and around its neighbourhood.
These aspirations, however, have already entered their next phase and are currently under execution. Therefore, it seems quite relevant and plausible to discuss Chinese implementation plans, as per Global Strat View analysis.
Political and bureaucratic competition has ensured that the discussion around the issue remains as important as China’s global vision for hegemony.
In its Defence White Paper from 2006, China resolutely asserted its ‘Self Defence Nuclear strategy,’ proclaiming an assured retaliatory measure leading to inflicting unacceptable damage to the attacker.
However, Beijing’s nuclear stand over the years has only deteriorated towards a far more hawkish view of the global world, reported Global Strat View.
In 2013, their Defence White Paper excluded mentions of a lifelong nuclear principle of ‘No First Use policy.’ This led many scholars to conclude that China was perhaps on its path to shedding an instrumental principle that had ensured peace and stability in the region and the world for decades.
Since then, China has been on a war footing to diversify and modernize its nuclear-armed forces. It is on the verge of attaining the nuclear triad status, defined as all three military forces consisting of land-launchable nuclear missiles, nuclear missile-armed submarines, strategic fighter jets, and aircrafts powered with nuclear warheads.
Chinese intentions to expand its nuclear and militaristic power are not a distant event that can be tackled later, said Global Strat View.
Such acts require immediately thought-out foreign policy objectives, which can also lead to regional cooperation amongst members who find themselves at the forefront of such intimidating tactics.
If China doubles its arsenal by 2029 as predicted, in the coming years, the People’s Liberation Army will field as many as 24 DF-41’s with a staggering 144 warheads leading to many consequential security threats to the region, reported Global Strat View.
China’s actions in the South-China Sea, Taiwan, and its boundaries with India have made it clear that the leadership is willing to provoke skirmishes and clashes in and around the area of contention.
Moreover, given Chinese reoccurring behaviour, it would be wise to state that as much as the Chinese nuclear capabilities and weapons increase and improve, Beijing will attempt to adopt an offensive nuclear posture, advised Global Strat View.
Thus, the region which is witnessing such threatening nuclear augmentations must come together to tackle such challenges that China, as a nuclear state, wishes to pose in front of other peaceful countries of the continent and the world. (ANI)
The world is being shown a country like China handling the outbreak in a harmonious way, but the reality apparently is far from that…reports Asian Lite News
China’s COVID mismanagement and stringent measures under its so-called ‘Zero Covid policy’ has created havoc in Tibet Plateau, while CCP maintains a tight information blockade from the information of and from Tibet.
There is an upsurge in COVID-19 cases in Tibet but China’s mishandling of the outbreak has outraged the Tibetans. Harsh lockdown conditions and repressive policies of the Beijing government have forced the locals to suffer, who are struggling to voice their concerns, reported Tibet Press.
The situation in Tibet is frightening. While Chinese censors have tried to keep ground realities hidden from international knowledge, the leaked information showed that at least three have died of coronavirus infection in Tibet so far as the authorities failed to give them timely medical care, according to reports.
The world is being shown a country like China handling the outbreak in a harmonious way, but the reality apparently is far from that. The measures being taken are too severe and not in the interest of the public at all.
China was the centre of the COVID-19 outbreak in the world, the whole suffered millions of deaths in the past 2 years. But when entire China and many parts of the world were reeling under the coronavirus crisis, Tibet remained untouched except for one case at the beginning of the pandemic. Tibet did not see a Covid-19 case for over 900 days.
While most of the world is free from coronavirus infections, many Chinese provinces are suffering from the viral disease. Now, Tibet has also come under its grip, for which people are blaming Chinese agencies, reported Tibet Press.
Tibetans blame that they did not get proper medical care or sanitation services from the Chinese authorities despite rising Covid-19 cases. Tibetans also complained of overbearing treatment by government officials, who are forcing people to go into mandatory quarantine without verifying if they are Covid-10 positive or not.
Chinese President Xi Jinping enforced similar stringent conditions in Tibet as they were in other parts of China earlier under the ‘Zero Covid’ policy.
Tibetans are taken to quarantine facilities or forced to stay inside their homes. This has caused them to lose their jobs and source of livelihood, besides mental harassment.
Amid this, China’s censorship of news and social media posts from Tibet has further raised concerns about the safety of Tibetans.
Several videos of China’s repression of Tibet have circulated on Social media showing Tibetans talking about poor quarantine facilities with harsh quarantine rules and crowded testing sites with no social distancing rules followed, reported Tibet Press.
The angered Tibetans are posting videos of mismanagement as well as the high-handedness of government agencies on social platforms. Videos show the unavailability of food and medicines, barely edible food, no potable water and unplanned lockdowns further raising concerns about the safety of Tibetans.
However, the Communist government has not taken it as a concern but is only aiming for a COVID-free region by taking measures that don’t work in favour of the ill.
The outbreak in Tibet began on August 7, 2022, and the lockdowns started happening right afterwards. The government was also in a state of shock due to the suddenness of the outbreak, according to reports.
The human rights issue in Tibet has gotten much worse over the years and the Chinese government has never backed down from strengthening its torturous hold on the Tibetans. Surveillance of the Tibetans in Tibet by the communist party has been extreme and any suspicious act is dealt with unlawful arrests, detentions and false convictions.
The conflict between Tibet and China has been a topic of debate for years, but the Tibetan freedom struggle has not received the attention or the justice that it deserves till now. (ANI)
Given their record of mistaking what they wish for as what is, Atlanticist media immediately reached the conclusion that Xi’s concerns were the same as Modi’s, writes Prof. Madhav Das Nalapat
Months before he initiated the Special Military Operation (aka war) against Ukraine, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin came to Delhi on a visit that barely lasted nine hours. Even during that brief period, it became clear that Putin was losing patience at the way in which the Ukrainian military and irregular “nationalist” groups such as the Azov Regiment were taking kinetic action against those parts of Ukraine that had broken away to form the Donetsk and Lugansk “republics”.
Such activities were being backed by NATO, which since 2014 had been conducting a proxy war against Russia, through the generous provisions of training, intelligence, weapons and other battlefield requisites to Ukrainian forces. Together with what may be called either mercenaries or “guest fighters” from parts of Europe, Ukrainian units sought to win back the territory lost to Russian-speaking separatists in 2014, the year that saw the forced exit and exile of President Viktor Yanukovych. The disquiet over developments in Ukraine manifested by Putin during his nine-hour 2021 visit to Delhi was interpreted in Washington, London, Berlin and Paris as evidence that his confidence was getting shaky.
Rather than hold back the Ukrainian forces from their assault on the newly declared Lugansk and Donbass republics, they were encouraged to deliver blow after blow, with artillery shelling and military probes into Russian-speaking territories multiplying as a consequence of the misreading within NATO of Putin’s determination to not repeat his earlier example of doing little when Kosovo was formally detached from Serbia in 2008. That same year, Putin launched a military campaign against Georgia by annexing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as separate “republics”.
Vladimir Putin
NATO MISREAD PUTIN
Encouraged by NATO in his desire to reconquer the eastern territories lost to separatists in 2014, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began a military campaign that was explicitly designed to extinguish the separate status of the territories earlier lost to the Donetsk and Lugansk “republics”. In days, these and additional territories gained by the Russian advance during 2022 will be recognized by Putin as becoming part of the Russian Federation. Thereafter, an attack on them would be regarded by the Kremlin as an attack on the Russian Federation itself.
Assistance by NATO to Ukraine in kinetic action against such territories would be regarded as a direct attack by the alliance on Russia for the first time in that organisation’s history. NATO’s serial misreading of the intentions of the Kremlin appear to be leading the world towards an unprecedented escalation of the Ukraine conflict. In 2014, the misreading of the intentions of one side by another converted what was to be just a Balkan war into a European conflict. In that conflict, Serbia was the catalyst. In this, it could be Ukraine.
Much of the misreading of Putin has come through reliance on information provided by oligarchs who claimed to know his mind. They fed policymakers in Washington particularly with the impression that Putin was deeply unpopular, and that there would soon be a public revolt against him. They were wrong. Just as the June 1941 attack by Germany unified the Russian people behind Stalin, the activation of a proxy war by NATO on Russia (in an echo of Cold War 1.0) is mobilising the Russian people behind their leadership. For Vladimir Putin, either he is seen to succeed in his mission, or he will be removed from the Kremlin.
WHAT XI WANTED OF PUTIN
After the Samarkand meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a public admission was made by President Vladimir Putin that CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping had “concerns” about the war in Ukraine that Moscow “understood”. Unlike Xi, who even in this interaction was predictably reticent in public in matters of detail, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in full view of television cameras expressed to President Putin his view that “this was not the era of war”. It was a rebuke addressed as much to the Chinese as to the Russian leader, given that over the past six years, Xi Jinping has consistently upped the ante by taking aggressive actions in multiple theatres, including the Himalayan massif and more recently, Taiwan.
Given their record of mistaking what they wish for what is, Atlanticist media immediately reached the conclusion that Xi’s concerns were the same as Modi’s, namely seeking a speedy end of a war that has raged since February. According to impeccable sources in the capitals involved in the Xi-Putin conversation that took place on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, what had been conveyed by Xi to Putin was that he should adopt measures that would in a much faster way ensure an end to the war on terms favourable to Moscow. The mobilisation of 300,000 more troops and changes in the tactics and weaponry used thus far in the conflict indicate that Putin has operationalised this advice from his “no limits” partner.
Such a mobilisation was ordered for the Russian Army only twice before in history, first in July 1914 during World War I and subsequently in June 1941 after Germany invaded the USSR. Rather than going against Xi’s wishes, such a move only confirms that the CCP General Secretary advised President Putin to go all out in ensuring a rapid and favourable outcome to the conflict. Not a surprise, considering that the conflict is giving the PRC access at discounted prices to oil, gas and food grains, the prices of which have shot up worldwide as a consequence of the sanctions by NATO powers against Russia. Not for the first time, media pundits in Atlanticist outlets got a story wrong, in this case by making the erroneous assumption that Xi told his Russian counterpart to cut his losses and end the war immediately in the way that Prime Minister Modi had.
PUTIN’S UKRAINE PLAN NO SECRET TO XI
In the face of the logic of the Sino-Russian alliance, pundits in US and European media, government and academe continue to believe that Putin did not divulge to Xi his plan of beginning an outright war on Ukraine, in the meeting they had just a couple of days before the President of the Russian Federation launched the 2022 Ukraine-Russia war. In actuality, Putin got an assurance from his Chinese counterpart that, no matter what the public posture, the PRC would provide a lifeline to Russia sufficient to overcome the impact of Atlanticist sanctions.
But for massively increased purchases by China of Russian resources, Putin would have been unable to finance what has become a long and costly conflict. Even while delighted at the misreading of western media of the CCP leadership’s position on the 2022 war, briefings and statements designed to mislead Atlanticist countries in particular have continued from Beijing in a steady flow. These have obscured the reality that Xi has been in favour of the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine continuing until any chance of reconciliation between Russia and the Atlanticist powers ends, thereby making Moscow even more dependent on Beijing than it already was.
TAKE PUTIN SERIOUSLY ABOUT NUKES
In this 2022 version of the 1962 game of “chicken” played between the US and Russia, it is disconcerting but unsurprising that senior levels within military HQ in Moscow are examining the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield not only in Ukraine but in Poland, the country that in 1939 was influential in persuading Neville Chamberlain and Eduard Daladier to ignore Joseph Stalin’s request that France, the USSR and the UK immediately join forces against Germany, a situation in which Soviet troops would need to march through Poland to attack Germany.
Among the more hawkish elements of the Russian military, the calculation is that NATO would lack the will to respond in kind to the use by Russia of nuclear weapons, a move that would achieve Xi’s objective of permanently fracturing the relationship between Moscow and Paris, Washington, Berlin and London. Given the pressure that Putin is under from those around him who seek a Chechenesque conclusion to the conflict, warnings of a possible use of nuclear weapons may not be a bluff, according to those aware of the thinking in the Kremlin. These are the sources who had first warned in the closing months of 2021 that Putin was losing patience with the way in which NATO was seeking to ensure that Ukrainian forces re-occupy the Donbass and Lugansk “republics” that have now been marked for incorporation into Russia on the Crimea model.
While the leader of a democracy may on retirement face pesky prosecutors levelling mostly unprovable charges against him, the leader of an authoritarian state may after a fall from grace lose his freedom, if not his life. The manner in which military planners in NATO ignore the fact that they are dealing with a Head of State & Military who has a briefcase with nuclear codes always close by may prove to be their most consequential error in the saga over the future of Ukraine that began with the ouster of President Yanukovych in 2014 and the grooming of Ukraine to be to Russia what GHQ Rawalpindi-controlled Pakistan is to India.
PUTIN UNDER PRESSURE TO INCREASE EFFORTS
Atlanticist media narratives, despite freedom of the press, usually hew closely to the spin that their governments seek to communicate to their public. For months, this analyst has cautioned that the Atlanticist view that Putin is the hard-liner is wrong. In fact, a complaint since May 2022 that is finally coming out in the open is that he has been too cautious in his war aims and in the way in which he achieves them.
The Putin who oversaw military operations in Chechnya (the factor that secured him his present job) has been absent in the Ukraine conflict. Outlets such as BBC, DW or CNN are filled with horror stories about Russian “atrocities” on civilians, the reality is that the President of the Russian Federation has sought to hold back his troops from going all out against the opposing side. The argument taking place within the precincts of the Kremlin is that Russia under Putin is anyway being demonised for its “brutality”, so why not let loose the dogs of war and actually earn the reputation that has been placed on Putin’s head from the very start of this conflict? An early sign of such a shift may come from the planned Russian response to efforts by Ukrainian forces to sabotage efforts at holding a vote in the referendums that are planned as a preliminary to annexation of those territories by Russia.
Such a response is unlikely to stop at the boundaries of the Russian-speaking zones sought to be absorbed, but is likely to be witnessed in other zones as well, especially those that are the strongholds of the Ukrainian “nationalists”. Once the territories holding the referendums get formally incorporated into the Russian Federation, any attack on them would be taken as an attack on Russia, an attack in which NATO would be considered as no longer an accessory but a combatant.
The danger to Putin is not from those wanting “peace at any price” with NATO, but from those unhappy with the constraints that he has imposed on Russian forces during their operations in Ukraine. The CCP leadership anticipates that such an escalation of the conflict and its consequence on future relations between Russia and NATO would drain the energy away from any moves by the Quad and other formations to seriously challenge China, should the PLA mount an effort at subduing the island country by force. Which is why adulatory reports of “Xi the peacemaker” that have been appearing since the start of the 2022 conflict are exercises in delusion.
MODI, XI VIEWS NOT SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT
The stated desire of Prime Minister Modi from the start of the 2022 Ukraine war was to see an early end to it. In contrast, the intention of CCP General Secretary Xi has been to ensure that the faultlines caused by the war between Russia and the Atlanticists become permanent. This is an objective in which Russophobic policymakers and commentators across both sides of the Atlantic are helping to achieve.
Among the reasons why Putin had thus far held back substantial elements of his fire in the conflict was the influence of the St Petersburg school of strategic thinking in Russia, which has remained obsessed with the possibility of Russia and both sides of the Atlantic coming together in a repeat of the 1941-45 USSR-US-UK Grand Alliance. Among the casualties of the war has been the hold of the St Petersburg school on strategic planning by the Russian leadership. The war has, to the delight of Xi, majorly widened the faultlines already present between the Atlantic Alliance and the Russian Federation.
LONG WAR SUITS XI
Where India is concerned, from the start of the conflict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, assisted by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, stressed that by far the most significant theatre of potential threat to the democracies was in the Indo-Pacific and no longer in the Atlantic, and implicitly that the country to watch out for was not Russia but China, especially under Xi Jinping. Those who seek to avoid the abyss of war and economic distress back Modi’s counsel to Putin at the SCO to end this war soonest.
However, such a view conflicts with the logic of Communist China, which sees in the Ukraine conflict an opportunity to realise several of its most important strategic goals, including a permanent rift in relations between Moscow and the Atlantic Alliance, and a de facto extinguishing by the PRC of the sovereignty of Taiwan. All this by taking advantage of a world in which the US and the rest of NATO have become embroiled in a global disaster, in the magnification of which their own contribution has not been trivial.
Xi has been absent from the public eye since he returned to China from the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan last weekend. Observers said he is likely to be quarantining…reports Asian Lite News
Purges of senior officials and unfounded rumours of military coups in Beijing have fed into feverish speculation ahead of a key meeting of Chinas ruling party next month, when President Xi Jinping is expected to be granted an unprecedented third term.
The jailing of a clique of senior security officials for corruption, followed by days of strange and quickly dispelled rumours of Xi being under house arrest, have fuelled what one analyst called a “hothouse” environment mired in secrecy and suspicion, The Guardian reported.
Last week, a Chinese court jailed the former vice-minister of public security Sun Lijun, the former justice minister Fu Zhenghua, and former police chiefs of Shanghai, Chongqing and Shanxi on corruption charges.
Fu and the police chiefs had been accused of being part of a political clique surrounding Sun, and being disloyal to Xi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at a meeting commending role models of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo – RC2RIT993BUJ
Xi is expected to be re-appointed as leader of the party and military commission at the meeting, after he abolished the two-term limit in 2018 and waged a years-long anti-corruption campaign that also targeted many political opponents.
On Sunday, the state media announced the list of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central committee delegates, numbering almost 2,300, had been finalised.
Xi’s inclusion on the list further refuted social media rumours that had been swirling since September 24 of a military coup.
The unfounded claims, accompanied by unsourced videos of military vehicles and based mostly on mass flight cancellations, were debunked, but not before it began trending on Twitter, The Guardian reported.
There was no specific mention of the coup rumours on China’s social media, but a Weibo hashtag related to “airports across the country cancel flights” was viewed by more than 200,000 people over the weekend.
CCP at 100 (Source twitter@ChinaAmbUN) (5)
Some made fun of the rumours, noting the lack of evidence of a political takeover on the ground in Beijing, The Guardian reported.
Drew Thompson, a scholar with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said a coup in China wasn’t entirely implausible, and Xi had reportedly shown concern about the prospect in the past, but the weekend’s rumours looked more like “wishful thinking”.
They appeared to originate in accounts associated with the Falun Gong movement, which Thompson said was “essentially not credible”.
“The rumour that Xi Jinping has been arrested has legs because it is such a sensitive political moment in China, and the recent trials (and convictions) of long-serving senior officials creates a hothouse atmosphere,” he said on Twitter.
Other analysts like Sinocism author, Bill Bishop, said he thought the rumours were “BS” but the “inherent opacity” of the CCP mechanisms easily fuelled their spread.
The party congress is a secretive process of power distribution, with the most senior positions not announced until the final day.
Government control of the domestic narrative and crushing of dissent has intensified in recent weeks as the meeting approaches.
Xi has been absent from the public eye since he returned to China from the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan last weekend. Observers said he is likely to be quarantining, The Guardian reported.
“I think the fact this rumour spread so far, and was considered plausible enough to analyse is really a reflection of an underlying shortcoming of Chinese governance,” said Thompson.
China’s government has not responded to the rumours, but public security authorities were among those posting under the hashtag “the truth about large-scale cancellation of flights across the country”, disputing the significance of the cancellations which they said was normal for the pandemic.
The party congress begins on October 16, The Guardian reported.
The event, in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, is closed to the public but is the most important date on the CCP’s five-year political cycle.
There is speculation that Xi could further consolidate power with the promotion of stronger allies to senior positions, and that the party will resurrect the ‘people’s leader’ title not used since Mao Zedong.
The drone was a Harbin BZK-005, while the two planes were a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft and a Shaanxi Y-8 reconnaissance plane..reports Asian Lite News
China’s 16 military aircraft and four ships crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, as per the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense.
The Ministry of National Defense said it had tracked 16 aircraft and four ships from China’s military around the country by 5 pm on Saturday, reported Taiwan News.
“One unmanned drone and two planes entered the southwest sector of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ),” the ministry tweeted.
The drone was a Harbin BZK-005, while the two planes were a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft and a Shaanxi Y-8 reconnaissance plane, it said.
Taiwan issued radio warnings, tasked aircraft and naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems to monitor and respond to Chinese activities, said the Taiwanese military, reported Taiwan News.
Video screenshot shows warplane aerial refueling as the air force and naval aviation corps of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fly warplanes to conduct operations around the Taiwan Island, Aug. 4, 2022. The Eastern Theater Command on Thursday conducted joint combat exercises and training around the Taiwan Island on an unprecedented scale. (Xinhua/IANS)
China’s recent incursions come as the US showed interest in helping Taiwan and approved USD 1.1 billion arms package to the self-governed nation.
The deal covered Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles, and radar equipment.
China’s embassy in Washington threatened counter-measures if the US did not revoke the latest weapons agreement, while Taiwan’s Presidential Office and Ministry of National Defence expressed gratitude for the Biden administration’s support for the country’s defence needs, reported Taiwan News.
In the recent past, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwan’s ADIZ, with most occurrences taking place in the southwest corner.
In 2021, Chinese military planes entered Taiwan’s ADIZ on 961 instances over 239 days.
Gray zone tactics are defined as “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force.”
Taiwan has faced the threat of invasion ever since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated Nationalists fled there to set up a new government, having been chased out of the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communist Party.
More than 70 years later, the Communist Party continues to view Taiwan as something akin to a breakaway province that must be “reunified” with the mainland at all costs — and it has made clear it is prepared to use force, if necessary, to fulfill that objective.
If China were to invade, the Kinmen islands — most of which have been controlled by Taiwan since the end of the war — would make a tempting first target. Lying just a few miles from the mainland Chinese city of Xiamen — and hundreds of miles from Taiwan’s capital Taipei — they are acutely vulnerable, reported CNN.
For Taiwan, the problem is that the nature of that invading force is changing. The Kinmen islands’ proximity to the mainland puts them well within the range of commercially available drones, which are cheap and plentiful in China, home to the world’s second-largest market for the machines and no shortage of potential operators among its population of 1.4 billion.
Financial experts have asserted that the BRI has become a big contributor to the debt distress in Africa and the rest of the world…reports Asian Lite News
After eyebrows were raised on China’s debt trap policy under its Belt Road Initiative (BRI), it announced a loan waiver for African countries to change the narrative, however, the amount of these loans was not even 1 per cent of its total lending to the continent, forcing the poor countries to continue to suffer.
The recent cancellation of 23 loans to 17 African countries is not complete cancellation of these loans but just a waiver of the outstanding balance. So these loans are likely to be those that were nearing their end, which means the African countries would continue to suffer under China’s poor debt trap policy.
The Chinese government with its debt trap policy has offered loans to various African countries with higher interest rates that continue to add to the economic woes of the poor African countries.
China has recently emerged as a major lender in more than 32 African countries including Angola ($21.5 billion in 2017), Ethiopia ($13.7 billion), Kenya ($9.8 billion), Republic of Congo ($7.42 billion), Cameroon ($5.57 billion) and Zambia reaching $11.2 billion in 2019.
Financial experts have asserted that the BRI has become a big contributor to the debt distress in Africa and the rest of the world.
Over the last few years, China has extended a total of 1,188 loans to various African countries, which amount to a total sum of USD159.9 billion in loans, according to data compiled by the Global Development Policy Center of the Boston University.
Of the loans, a majority of loans have been extended for transportation and power generation projects, as has been the pattern of Chinese investment elsewhere.
However, as many as 27 of these loans, that amount to USD 3.5 billion have been extended toward defence-related projects. Of these, 13 loans have been provided to the country of Zambia alone, which has received a total loan amounting to USD 2.1 billion exclusively for defence purchases.
Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Namibia are other recipients of Chinese defence-related loans.
China’s debt trap policy BRI is often criticised which China is alleged to be using to take control of vital installations in other countries and expand its military presence,the European Times reported.
The economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the deteriorating financial situation in Pakistan has been linked to the stringent conditions of BRI loan repayment.
Think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies said while the BRI is crucial for development but “China’s hostile economic practices, military expansion, and coercive political and ideological tactics in Africa should not be ignored.”
A report by the US Secretary of States aid the BRI projects became unsustainable due to heavy economic and environmental costs,the European Times reported.
“Largely debt-financed, 23 China’s projects in Africa often fail to meet reasonable international standards of sustainability and transparency, and burden local economies with heavy debt and other problems,” reads the report.
The elite group of G7 countries has time and again slammed the harsh terms of financing for the BRI loans. They made frequent references to the “debt trap” that made Beijing uneasy. Moreover, they proposed an alternative to the BRI, which would be sustainable and transparent.
This and what is happening in Sri Lanka and Pakistan caused the world to look at the BRI with suspicion. Thus, Beijing played a trick of loan cancellation in Africa, observers believed.
China has been cancelling interest-free loans for decades. Hannah Ryder, chief executive of Beijing -based Development Reimagined, said the debt forgiveness move was “the lowest hanging fruit” which helped Beijing hide the harsh repayment conditions of the other bulk BRI loans, the European Times reported.
Harry Verhoeven, senior research scholar at Columbia University, asserted that China tried to counter the debt-trap narrative by forgiving the 23 African loans. “It is not uncommon for China to do something like this [forgive interest-free loans] … now obviously it is connected to the overall debt-trap diplomacy narrative in the sense that clearly there’s a felt need on the part of China to push back,” he said.
Political economist Shahar Hameiri said Chinese loans are given in a hurry, skipping the important part of analysing debt sustainability.”Chinese lending has contributed to debt problems in a number of countries, although it is not necessarily the only or even the primary cause as in Sri Lanka,” Hameiri said, as quoted by the European Times.
Many African countries have voiced their concerns over the unsustainable BRI loans. Zambia has already cancelled its foreign loans which mainly constitute Chinese ones to stop aggravating its debt distress. This means 14 projects under the BRI are withdrawn.
He said, “We should stand against the drawing ideological lines and expand the common ground to promote world peace and development.”…reports Arul Louis
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi took aim at the Quad and other such initiatives, saying, “We should jointly oppose group politics and block confrontation.”
“Pursuing one’s own absolute security can only undermine global strategic stability,” he said on Saturday at the high-level UN General Assembly meeting.
The Quad, made up of India, the US, Japan and Australia, is committed to security in the Indo-Pacific region and cooperation on development and has been criticised by China, and India is entering into similar arrangements elsewhere also.
Wang did not name the Quad or India in making the criticism that was implied.
After a long confrontation with India that escalated in recent years, he said, “We must address differences by peaceful means and resolve disputes through dialogue and consultation.”
“We must uphold peace and oppose war,” he added. “Turbulence and war can only open pandora’s box.”
“No country is above others and no country should abuse this power to bully other sovereign countries,” Wang said.
Those principles can also apply to the Ukraine war, about which he added, “We call on all parties concerned to keep the crisis from spilling over and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.”
Developing countries have been hit hard by the spillover effects of the invasion that have caused food shortages and resulted in high energy prices, the Chinese Foreign Minister said.
“China supports efforts conducive to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis. The pressing priority is to facilitate talks for peace,” he added.
“The fundamental solution is to address the legitimate security concerns of all parties and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture,” he said, bringing up Russia’s objections to NATO expansion.
His statement did not reflect any substantial change in Beijing’s approach to Russia’s invasion even though Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has admitted that China had “questions and concerns” about the war.
Regarding the criticism from the West about China’s human rights record and its dictatorial system, Wang added, “A difference in systems should not be used as an excuse to create division. Still, as should democracy and human rights be used as tools or weapons to achieve political ends.”
He said, “We should stand against the drawing ideological lines and expand the common ground to promote world peace and development.”
Wang expressed concern over what he called protectionist trends and, by extension.
“Protectionism can only build around and decoupling a supply chain disruption will hurt everyone. We should stay true to open this and candour, inclusiveness and tear down fences and barriers that hinder the free flow of factors of production.”
On threats to cybersecurity, the Chinese Foreign Minister added, “We have launched a global initiative on data security as our contribution to formulating rules on global data security.”
With tension rising between China and Taiwan and the US, especially after US Speaker’s visit to the island along with Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Wang reiterated Beijing’s hardline “One China” policy on Taiwan, warning that anyone trying to change it would be “crushed under the wheel of history”.
He said Taiwan issues were an internal matter of China and warned against anyone promoting the island’s independence.
“Chinese have never ceased our efforts to realise reunification,” he added.
Ahead of the meeting with Secretary Antony Blinken, Chinese Foreign Minister said the Taiwan question is growing into the biggest risk in China-US relations, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
The Foreign Ministers of China and the United States are set to meet in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as soaring tensions between the world’s largest economies show signs of easing.
In a sign of smoother ties, Wang said he met in New York with US climate envoy John Kerry despite China’s announcement after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit that it was curbing cooperation on the issue, a key priority for Biden, Agence France-Presse reported.
But Beijing has issued a new warning against Washington’s support for Taiwan.
In a speech before his talks with his US counterpart Antony Blinken, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wang reiterated anger over US support for Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.
“The Taiwan question is growing into the biggest risk in China-US relations. Should it be mishandled it is most likely to devastate bilateral ties,” he said at the Asia Society think tank.
“Just as the US will not allow Hawaii to be stripped away, China has the right to uphold the unification of the country,” he said.
He denounced the US decision to “allow” the Taiwan visit by Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president. The Biden administration, while privately concerned about her trip, noted that Congress is a separate branch of government, the AFP reported.
The talks between top diplomats of both countries are expected to lay the groundwork for a first meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping, likely in Bali in November on the sidelines of G20 Summit.
Recently during his address at the UNGA, President Biden has acknowledged that there are “shifting geopolitical trends” in relation to China, but said that the US does not seek conflict or want another cold war.
He said: “Let me be direct about the competition between the United States and China. As we manage shifting geopolitical trends, the United States will conduct itself as a reasonable leader.”
“We do not seek conflict. We do not seek a Cold War. We do not ask any nation to choose between the United States or any other partner”, he said.
But the US will “be unabashed in promoting our vision of a free, open, secure, and prosperous world,” he added.
With tensions rising between Beijing and Taipei, especially after US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island in August, Biden said, “We seek to uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.”
He reiterated Washington’s commitment to “‘One China’ policy, which has helped prevent conflict for four decades. And we continue to oppose unilateral changes in the status quo by either side”.
He also criticised Beijing’s nuke programme, saying “China is conducting an unprecedented, concerning nuclear buildup without any transparency”.
He said that Washington was engaged in “new, constructive ways to work with partners to advance shared interests” and was “elevating” the Quad – a group of India, the US, Australia and Japan in the Indo-Pacific”.
In a dig at Beijing’s programmes such as the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and others for infrastructure programmes that have led to serious economic problems for countries like Sri Lanka, Biden tried to contrast them with Washington’s.
Earlier in an interview with CBS News, President Biden reiterated that Washington will defend Taiwan in the event of an “unprecedented attack” by China.
Biden was asked “what should Chinese President Xi know about your commitment to Taiwan?”, to which the President replied: “We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago… And that there’s one China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence.
“We are not moving, we’re not encouraging their being independent. We’re not… That’s their decision.”
To the next query if US forces would defend the island, Biden said: “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack…”
Shortly after Biden made the remarks, the White House said that “our Taiwan policy hasn’t changed”, clearing the notion that the US policy since 1979 to recognise Taiwan as part of China remained unchanged.
The two leaders came face-to-face for a BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting which was hosted by South Africa…reports Asian Lite News
After attacking China for blocking the designation of Pakistan-based terrorists in the relevant UN sanctions committee, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) ministerial meeting in New York.
The two leaders came face-to-face for a BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting which was hosted by South Africa.
The meeting also witnessed the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In the BRICS meeting, the ministers exchanged views on major global and regional issues on the United Nations (UN) agenda in the political, security, economic, financial and sustainable development spheres, as well as on intra-BRICS activities.
The ministers also discussed the possibilities for mutual support for their initiatives at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). They expressed support for the continued cooperation of BRICS members in areas of mutual interest, including through regular exchanges among their Permanent Missions to the UN.
Since its inception, BRICS, which added South Africa in 2011, has been united in calling for more representation of major emerging economies on the world’s stage — and against what it views as a disproportionate dominance of the Western powers. However there is the longstanding source of internal friction within BRICS remains unresolved while tensions between India and China, which in 2020 spiralled into a violent border clash. Critics say BRICS significance may be eroded when China violated two decades of agreements with India. BRICS went on life support in the Galwan Valley, not in New York.
