Among the three, Zhang Zhan was formally sentenced to four years in prison in December 2020 and has been transferred to the Shanghai Women’s Prison…reports Asian Lite News
Four citizen journalists were arrested last year for trying to share information about the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. On this World Press Freedom Day, a year after their arrests, they are yet to be free.
According to DW, only Li Zehua has appeared in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel on last April. The other three journalists haven’t been seen by the public.
Among the three, Zhang Zhan was formally sentenced to four years in prison in December 2020 and has been transferred to the Shanghai Women’s Prison. Authorities have not allowed her mother to visit her so far.
She was found guilty in December of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for her reporting on the pandemic in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected.
“After being informed that Zhang was transferred to prison, her mom tried to apply for visitation at the prison, but she was told that she had to make an appointment through a phone call,” a source told DW.
“When she called the number on the official document, she couldn’t reach the staff at the prison, and when she finally got in touch with them, they told her she could only send money but not clothes to the prison for Zhang,” the source further mentioned, adding that the government has also deprived Zhang of her right to write letters to her family.
Zhang was on a hunger strike in prison when her lawyer visited her the last time.
“After receiving some postcards written by her supporters, Zhang told her lawyer that if she could make it out of the prison alive, she wanted to go to Wuhan again and relive some of the experiences with her friends,” said the source.
Meanwhile, another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, has been out of public sight after his arrest in February 2020. A Chinese YouTuber revealed that he was sent back to his parents’ house in September, but the state of his physical and mental health remains unclear, reported DW.
The YouTuber, Xu Xiaodong, also revealed that Chen was not able to have any contact with the outside world.
“I think Qiushi could possibly re-appear in the public’s view by September or October, and he will maintain his long-term style, which is not forming any ties with international organizations or having any contact with them. He is patriotic and everything he does is for the country and the people of this country,” he said in his video.
Chinese human rights lawyer Li Dawei told DW that the family of journalist Fang Bin hasn’t been willing to share information about his case with Fang’s friends or anyone else.
“If he is willing to soften his stance, he may be released sooner, which is what happened to Chen Qiushi and Li Zehua. However, if he keeps insisting that he is right, then the chance of him being released will be very low,” said Li.
Last month, a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that China continues to take internet censorship, surveillance and propaganda to unprecedented levels making it one of the world’s worst countries for journalists and the ‘biggest jailer’ of scribes.
Is it possible to develop a healthy relationship with Social Media? (Photo: pixabay)
Al Jazeera reported that in its annual press freedom index, published on Tuesday, the global watchdog also highlighted an increase in repression and attacks on journalists worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Media outlets report that as many as seven journalists are still being held for their COVID-19 pandemic coverage, and more than 450 social media users were briefly arrested for sharing “false rumours” about the event.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses the standard operating procedures of “national security investigations” and surveillance systems to track and impose crackdowns on foreign journalists and they were subject to intimidation and harassment.
In 2020, just as the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) reported in 2019, foreign journalists, their Chinese colleagues, and all those whom they tried to interview were subjected to harassment, intimidation, and expulsion. (ANI)
There are many in the higher levels of policymaking in Washington and Delhi who cling to the belief that the possibility of large-scale kinetic conflict over the Himalayan massif, the South China Sea or Taiwan is an impossibility, writes Prof. Madhav Nalapat
The absence within the Joe Biden administration of high-level in-depth expertise on today’s India resulted in the earlier errors made by wings of the US Government in dealing with the 21st century’s most consequential partner for the United States. Despite its puny trade figures, the Sino-Pakistan lobby within the Biden administration ensured that India was placed alongside China both as a currency manipulator and as a country where freedom of worship has been severely curtailed. The claim is that this took place since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014. At the same time as assistance from the Indian side was needed to ensure that President Ashraf Ghani (the elected Head of State and Government in Afghanistan) does not go the Najibullah way at the hands of the Taliban and its GHQ-linked affiliates, a US Navy vessel not only entered India’s exclusive economic zone but made a public song and dance about the incursion, in tones that once again equated China with India.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price had during his long stint in the CIA established cosy relationships with that longstanding auxiliary force of the PLA, GHQ Rawalpindi. Where the Pakistan lobby is active, the China lobby cannot but be close, and Price lived up to their expectations by insensitive comments regarding the need for India to scale up vaccine production with the help of the US. If the State Department spokesperson were to be taken seriously as reflecting the views of the US Government, he would have made Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sound less than sincere in the latter’s outreach to India. Fortunately, unlike some of his subordinates, the US Secretary of State has shown a comprehensive understanding of the security paradigm consequent to the onset of Cold War 2.0 between the PRC and the US.
SINO-PAK LOBBIES TOGETHER IN U.S.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the idealism of Senator Bernie Sanders, his 2019 Presidential campaign staff got infiltrated by elements that were embedded in the Sino-Pakistan lobbies working hard in Washington to further the interests of Beijing and Rawalpindi. The Sanders campaign also contained idealists of the stamp of the Senator himself, and fortunately, such elements were a majority, but their “street smarts” were limited. In contrast, skill in inserting themselves into key slots within the US administration ensured that members of the Sino-Pakistan lobby infiltrated the government headed by President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris. It must be added that only a segment of the Pakistani-American community backs GHQ Rawalpindi and its longstanding and generous mentor, the PLA.
Most belonging to this group have family in Pakistan that are beneficiaries of the control of much of the economy by the army. Other Pakistani-Americans understand that the military in Pakistan is a parasitical force that is draining away the resilience of the country of their origins. The army has, especially since the resignation as Chief of Army Staff by General Pervez Musharraf in 2007, been firmly within the PRC camp while declaring fealty to US interests and occasionally performing errands for their former mentor. The GHQ Rawalpindi lobby within Washington functions closely with the PLA lobby, which is among the primary reasons why Beijing continues to be so generous to the Pakistan military even after the value of that force as a means of constraining India has declined. Both in India as well as the US, the Russian and PRC lobbies function apart from each other, while the Pakistan and China lobbies work closely together. Apart from “influence operations” seeking to ensure that India and the US do not get into a military alliance, Moscow is not active in any of the measures designed to weaken India, although its associates are intensely active in the US, much as the Sino-Pakistan lobby is in India.
Unlike earlier estimates about Joe Biden being “soft and predictable” on China, the 46th President of the US has shown himself to be no different from the O’Brien-Pompeo camp in the Trump administration in tackling the danger to US interests represented by the challenge posed by Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. Wall Street retains considerable influence within the Biden administration, mainly through the Clinton and Obama camps. However, both Biden as well as Kamala Harris have demonstrated their unwillingness to put the interests of Wall Street above those of Main Street. Financial barons in the US have long profited by the PRC at the cost of participating in the hollowing out US manufacturing and working against US influence and interests.
Their mindset appears to be that even if the country as a whole suffers, their own personal fortunes would grow. Those tasked with tracking developments in the ongoing battle being waged by China and Russia to displace the US dollar as the global reserve currency have suggested “active” rather than “passive” defence. This would involve (i) the delisting of PRC-linked ADRs that fail to comply with US accounting rules, and (ii) freezing of assets located in the US of Communist Party of China (CCP) bigwigs. Should Canada and some in the EU join in such a freeze, the impact on the personal wealth of the CCP tigers would be severe, unless they and their families were to relocate to the US or other major democracies. Even the “people’s President”, Barack Obama, gave a free pass to Wall Street operators even after they sent several million US citizens into poverty in 2008, but such immunity may not get continued under Biden, especially in the case of fund managers who send US capital to PRC-controlled entities active in the production of weapons such as missiles and aircraft carriers.
Experts in financial warfare have pointed out that the PRC is seeking to topple the US dollar from its perch at the top of the currency scale. The CCP leadership expects to take advantage of the fact that essential spending plus military expenditures closed in on 140% during the Trump administration, and the gap is rising further under Biden. The US Federal Reserve Board is printing trillions of dollars in order to enable President Biden and Vice-President Harris to restructure society in a manner that ameliorates the inequities of the past. Through hoarding gold rather than buying US treasury bills since the time Xi Jinping took charge of the PRC in 2012, his introducing the Digital Currency Electronic Payment system and the emphasis on overtaking the US in Artificial Intelligence by 2024, the primacy of the US is under a challenge led by Beijing that has not been seen for over a century.
Getting countries to de-link from the US dollar to other currencies, preferably the RMB, has been an objective of the CCP leadership that has been visible since 2017. As a Hong Kong-based expert on currency wars pointed out, what the CCP leadership seeks to displace is the US dollar as the “unit of account”. To this end, even US allies such as Saudi Arabia are being encouraged to abandon the petrodollar in favour of a more unwieldy basket of currencies. President Biden is aware that although 80% of world trade is still denominated in dollars, as is 63% of foreign bank reserves, these could slide towards the much smaller share of the US in global GDP. Such a reset of the dollar would affect global demand for the currency and make it more difficult to keep printing trillions of dollars to fund the operations of the US Government in the manner both Republican as well as Democratic administrations have been doing. Losing the currency war would significantly degrade the ability of Washington to prevail over Beijing in matters of trade, security and technology, besides limiting its longstanding superpower freedom of action significantly.
President Xi Jinping Speaks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan
SINO-PAK LOBBY TARGETS INDIA
The Russian lobby in the US has been seeking to ensure that the Democratic Party loses control of the House of Representatives in 2022, besides losing further ground in the US Senate and in gubernatorial races. The Pakistan lobby has a single-point agenda, which is to drive apart the US and India, mainly through scare stories about the domestic policies of the Narendra Modi government. The PRC lobby is focused on ensuring that its “kaizen” tactics of constantly improving its overall trade and military competitiveness vis-a-vis the US are ignored in practice by the US administration, so that its continuing expansionism passes without any, except verbal and symbolic, challenges. While the Sino-Russian lobby has been active in using social media to increase fault lines in US society, the Sino-Pakistan lobby has been similarly active in performing the same task in India.
They see an opportunity in the lack of preparations by the Union Government to the second wave of Covid-19 infections. The last thirteen months could have been used in creating local stockpiles of medication, oxygen supply and hospital bed space across India, but attention appears to have been diverted towards Assembly elections, especially in Bengal. Rather than decentralise authority and operations, these were concentrated in the Central government and appears to have been lost sight of until the full force of the second wave struck two months ago, by which time it was too late to save tens of thousands of lives and to ensure that unbearable misery in millions was avoided. For the first time since 2013, there has been a visible dip in the personal popularity of the Prime Minister, the fulcrum on which the present government rests, but which is expected to get rectified through innovative action and personnel choices by the close of July.
GIVE INDIA THAAD
The Lutyens Zone is characterised by the silo model of functioning, in which each agency views a situation or a project from its own perspective without factoring in its impact on others. Given the accumulated knowledge on the US side of the mode of functioning of GHQ Rawalpindi, the adoption of the THAAD system would have ensured a sufficient body of information and intelligence sufficient to neutralise Pakistan’s lethal force in the event of a kinetic conflict involving that country. At the same time, the technological consanguinity of China and Russia makes it risky to believe that methods of dealing with the challenges to an attacking force caused by the S-400 system have not been shared by Moscow to Beijing.
A missile defence system of the magnitude of the S-400 (which is undoubtedly a testament to Russia’s excellence in matters of defence production) needed to be looked at through a comprehensive scan, rather than through the lens of a particular service or agency. It may still be possible to persuade the Biden-Harris administration to install the THAAD system in India in the manner that it is already functional in Japan and the Republic of Korea. Given the benefits to US security interests of such a move by India, it would be worthwhile for Washington to install the system at concessional rates, thereby defraying part of the expense that would be involved in walking away from the S-400 deal. Not that relations with Russia should be put on a lower trajectory than at present. Whether it be in the Vladivostok-Chennai corridor or in the development of Siberian resources, Moscow and Delhi need to substantially increase their engagement, including in terms of capital expended.
Someday in the future, it may become possible that the Russian Federation emerges as a neutral player during the PRC-US Cold War 2.0, rather than as an essential part of one side, in the manner that Moscow is now. Russia, a close friend of India, may also “do a China” in Cold War 2.0, and switch to the US side in the manner that Beijing pivoted to the side of Washington during the latter part of Cold War 1.0 (between the USSR and the US). President Putin must surely be aware of what happened during Cold War 1.0, grandmaster of geopolitical chess that the President of the Russian Federation is.
PREPARE OR LOSE
Given the rise in expectations generated among the Chinese people by President Xi, it is essential for him to ensure that China and its allies are seen to be prevailing over the US and its partners in the ongoing contest between them. The present crisis created in India by the second wave of SARS CoV-2 was caused by the refusal to factor in the possibility that things could get much worse rather than continue to improve. In much the same way, there are more than a few in the higher levels of policymaking in Washington and Delhi (although no longer in Moscow or Beijing) who cling to (a) the belief that the possibility of kinetic conflict over the Himalayan massif, the South China Sea or Taiwan is an impossibility, and who (b) ignore the manner in which what may be termed “comprehensive war” is being waged by the PRC against countries that it regards may challenge it in future, if not kneecapped in the present.
Understanding the situation and preparing for a scenario which may not just be “worst case”, but an inevitability is needed on the part of both Prime Minister Modi and President Biden. A series of steps are needed to ensure that the kinetic challenge of the future will end with the victory of the two biggest democracies on the planet. The lobbies that are working to stifle the action needed to prepare for the evolving situation need to be neutralised. Had some hitherto unknown elements in the bureaucracy not succeeded in ensuring that hospitals across India were denied the oxygen generation equipment that they needed, equipment that was easy to install were the necessary permissions given for supplying them, lives would have been saved. Prime Minister Modi acted about a month ago to remove some of these, and lives will be saved because of his move, although those lost can never be brought back.
The time has come for Prime Minister Modi and President Biden to discuss and agree upon what is essential for both countries to do to ensure that the sovereignty and territorial rights over sea and land of the littoral states of the Indo-Pacific are protected from extremist violence and expansionary authoritarianism. Otherwise, both will face the anger and dismay of their people as they confront a situation that will be much more difficult to control than would have been the case, had they made better preparations to face the storm that is coming the way of both democracies. The time for ensuring such readiness is now, just as the time for the Government of India and the state governments to prepare for the second wave of Covid-19 was this time last year, rather than last month this year.
The consignments were then loaded on to large trailers and transported to Linde’s plant in Jamshedpur, around 280km away….reports Asian Lite News
At a time when India is struggling to contain the pandemic and fighting with oxygen shortages, 12 cryogenic containers — each of 20 tonne capacity — were airlifted to Kolkata airport from Tianjin in China on Sunday morning on a Russian cargo flight, according to reports.
Imported by Linde, which is one of the prime manufacturers of medical oxygen in India, the consignment reached the airport on a Volga-Dnepr cargo aircraft that touched down at 6.30am, the Times of India reported.
The consignments were then loaded on to large trailers and transported to Linde’s plant in Jamshedpur, around 280km away.
SpiceXpress, the air cargo arm of SpiceJet, on Monday airlifted 700 oxygen concentrators from China’s Guangzhou to New Delhi, said the airline adding that it has airlifted more than 4,400 oxygen concentrators from the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore and China in the last two weeks.
According to a statement issued by SpiceJet, SpiceXpress used its B737 freighter aircraft to airlift the concentrators from Guangzhou, which aircraft landed in Delhi at 10 am on Monday.
SpiceXpress airlifts 1650 oxygen concentrators from Nanjing, China(Twitter)
The airline informed that SpiceXpress had on April 24 airlifted 800 oxygen concentrators, followed by another consignment of 1,000 oxygen concentrators on April 28 from Hong Kong to Delhi. These oxygen concentrators had been ordered by SpiceHealth for emergency use and distribution across India, it said.
With a network spanning 63 domestic and 50 international destinations and a fleet of 19 cargo planes, SpiceXpress is capable of flying over 600 tonnes of cargo daily to domestic and international destinations, SpiceJet said.
The airline in its statement further said that ever since the lockdown began in March 2020, it and SpiceXpress have played critical roles and worked relentlessly to ensure that the country’s supply chain remained intact.
The airline has helped in the transportation of vital goods, medical supplies and fruits and vegetables to all corners of India and the world, it said.
The airline also stated that it has transported more than 1.5 lakh tonnes of cargo since March 25, 2020, and a record 88,802 kg of Covid vaccine shipment with a total dosage of 34 million Covid vaccines between January 12 and April 12 this year. (with inputs from ANI)
The recruitment rallies began in February and are still continuing….reports Anwesha Bhaumik
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is for the first time forming exclusive military formations manned by ethnic Tibetans.
India’s external and military intelligence officials told IANS that senior PLA officials are touring specific areas of Tibet to raise the Tibetan-only force.
But they said that most of the recruits are mixed Tibetans — mostly children of Tibetan mothers and Han Chinese fathers or otherwise.
Most of them are children of ex-PLA Han Chinese soldiers who got married to Tibetans, intelligence officials said.
PLA officers based in Lhasa have been to Ngari Prefecture in the far west of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and then to the border county of Zanda or Tsamda County to recruit for the Special Tibetan Army Unit.
People’s Liberation Army(Wikipedia)
The recruitment rallies began in February and are still continuing.
“It is a fairly long process because the security vetting process after the initial selection on the basis of a tough physical and IQ test is very extensive,” said an intelligence official monitoring the process.
He said the Chinese authorities are keen to ensure that no anti-Beijing Tibetan sneaks into the force.
“So not only are Tibetan localities with a history of protest against Beijing’s rule scrupulously avoided, but past records of individual recruits even in the most secure places are screened extensively,” the official said, but on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons.
The PLA also carried out a phased recruitment drive in Lhasa to induct many Tibetans.
People’s Liberation Army(Wikipedia)
The plan is to raise a four battalion force initially for special operations on the lines of India’s secretive Tibetan force, the Special Frontier Force or SFF.
The SFF was raised in 1960s by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary expert in irregular warfare, for special operations inside Tibet in the event of a conflict with China.
During last year’s Ladakh standoff, the SFF commandoes unleashed take-and-hold operations on some unoccupied heights around Pangong Tso which finally forced the Chinese to settle on a mutually agreed pullback.
The SFF’s success and the ease with which these Tibetans negotiated the icy heights on the Himalayas convinced PLA commanders they would do better than Han Chinese troops.
“These new recruitment drives are happening because units with Han Chinese troops are suffering serious health problems such as severe mountain sickness and high altitude pulmonary edema,” said an Indian medical service expert in high altitude sickness.
According to PLA Daily, China’s military has framed guidelines to help troops serving in Tibet save themselves from altitude sickness.
In the 2 million plus PLA, only 3,000 to 4,000 Tibetans serve at the moment.
A video of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel is doing the rounds on the Internet with the national flag celebrating Republic Day at 17000 feet in snow today. The temperature in Ladakh at present is minus 20 degrees Celsius. In the 1 min 57 sec video the Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s “Himveers” could be seen chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.
“So this recruitment is significant,” said Lt Gen J.R. Mukherjee, former Chief of Staff in India’s Eastern Army.
He told IANS the Chinese have been looking to recruit both Tibetans and Nepali Gurkhas.
“They have failed to get Gurkhas because they are tied to the Indian army for historical and emotional reasons, so they have to find Tibetans because an average Chinese soldier cannot match our boys in the high Himalayas physically,” Mukherjee said.
Pakistan Health minister expressed gratitude for the China’s support to Pakistan at this difficult time…reports Asian Lite News
Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said on Monday that the local production of China’s single-dose CanSino Covid-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country to facilitate its vaccination drive.
Thanking China for supporting Pakistan in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Sultan told local media that China remains a strong partner which had donated vaccines and other supplies and is also transferring technology of vaccine production to Pakistan, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The start of the local production of the CanSino vaccine will gradually make Pakistan largely self-sufficient in meeting its Covid-19 vaccine needs, he said.
vaccine jabs
Sultan said that out of 100 million people eligible for vaccination in the country, the government aimed to vaccinate 70 million by the end of 2021, adding that currently, Pakistan is vaccinating nearly 150,000 people every day, while the government is making efforts to reach a target of 300,000 vaccinations daily.
Pakistan has a population of 220 million and over 2.5 million people have already been vaccinated owing to the proactive strategy of the government for vaccine procurement, the official said.
Urging people to continue to observe the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to stop the spread of the virus, he said “vaccines are very important to prevent the virus from spreading, but what is even more important is following SOPs.”
According to Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center, the country had reported 834,146 confirmed cases with 18,149 deaths and 728,044 recoveries as of Sunday.
The top US diplomat stressed “Our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down”….reports Asian Lite News
An increasingly confident China is acting “more aggressively abroad”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a televised interview.
“What we’ve witnessed over the last several years is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact,” dpa news agency quoted Blinken as saying in a CBS News interview broadcasted on Sunday.
Asked what he considered Beijing’s long-term goal, Blinken said: “I think that over time China believes that it can be and should be and will be the dominant country in the world.”
When queried about a potential military confrontation with China, the Secretary of State replied: “I think it’s profoundly against the interests of both China and the US to get to that point or even to head in that direction.”
The top US diplomat stressed “Our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down”.
“It is to uphold this rules-based order that China is posing a challenge to. Anyone who poses a challenge to that order, we’re going to stand up and defend it,” Blinken continued.
Concern has been growing over China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, its growing tensions with Taiwan and human rights issues regarding the Muslim minority Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang. Also read:China’s new maritime law may escalate tensions in Indo-Pacific
The agency can also block overseas ships from intruding into the territorial waters if they do not fall under innocent passage under international law, reported the japan times…reports Asian Lite News
China has passed a new legislation to strengthen the power of its maritime safety authorities sparking fears that tensions between Beijing and other Asian countries, including Japan, may escalate in the Indo-Pacific region.
The latest revision was passed at the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body on Thursday (April 29). It is scheduled to be put into force on September 1, citing Xinhua, the Japan Times reported.
The legislation will enable China’s maritime safety agency, which belongs to the transportation ministry, to order foreign vessels to leave what Beijing claims as its territorial waters if it thinks that they could threaten security.
The agency can also block overseas ships from intruding into the territorial waters if they do not fall under innocent passage under international law, reported the japan times.
China has conflicting territorial claims with four of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — as well as Taiwan in the South China Sea and Japan in the East China Sea.
Beijing claims that the Senkaku Islands, administered by Tokyo, in the East China Sea are part of its territory, the amendment of the Maritime Traffic Safety Law could target Japanese vessels navigating around the uninhabited islets, called Diaoyu in China.
In February, China also enforced a controversial law allowing its coast guard to use weapons when foreign ships involved in illegal activities in waters it claims do not obey orders, making Sino-Japanese relations fragile over maritime security.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
Recently, the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping has adopted a hard-line posture in the South and East China seas as part of its goal of making the Communist-led country a “maritime power”, reported the japan times.
China has frequently sent official vessels to waters around the Senkakus in an attempt to lay claim to them, while Washington and Tokyo have agreed that the islets fall under the scope of a Japan-US security treaty.
In April, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at their summit in Washington affirmed the significance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, irritating the Chinese government.
Suga (ANI)
Immediately after the summit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned a senior official of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing to lodge a protest against the agreement between Washington and Tokyo, a diplomatic source familiar with bilateral relations said.
“China has started to take a tougher attitude toward Japan,” the source said, with Beijing announcing that the country is conducting military drills in the East China Sea for two days through Friday, reported the japan times.
Beijing, meanwhile, has rapidly built artificial islands with military infrastructure in the South China Sea, claiming sovereignty over almost the entire maritime area.
US warships have carried out “freedom of navigation” operations there in an apparent bid to counter Chinese claims and actions in the sea, a strategic waterway through which more than one-third of global trade passes.
Foreign affairs experts say that the move is a warning against the United States and other Western democratic countries that have been stepping up their involvement in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, reported the japan times. (ANI)
A health worker analyses samples of COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Chinese company Sinovac
The donated vaccines, promised by China earlier this year, was handed over at a critical stage of prevention and control against the pandemic, demonstrating the “Paukphaw” (fraternal) friendship…reports Asian Lite News
A batch of Covid-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government has arrived at the Yangon International Airport, according to a release from the Chinese embassy.
The donated vaccines, promised by China earlier this year, was handed over at a critical stage of prevention and control against the pandemic, demonstrating the “Paukphaw” (fraternal) friendship and spirit of a community with a shared future, said the embassy on Sunday, hoping that the vaccines can help protect life and health of Myanmar people and combat the pandemic, Xinhua reported.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, China and Myanmar have carried out effective cooperation, with China not only donating medicines and equipment, but also sending medical experts to assist Myanmar in combating the pandemic.
The Tibet infrastructure development projects have been included in the 14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025)…reports Subir Bhaumik.
China is planning to develop a massive defence logistics infrastructure in Tibet that will turn the once independent kingdom into a military hub to dominate the Himalayas.
The plans were approved during the plenary session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in March this year and also by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The Tibet infrastructure development projects have been included in the 14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025).
The Long Range Objectives-2035 additionally identifies a number of strategic military projects for completion by 2025 and 2035.
The G318 Sichuan-Tibet Highway and the G219 and G331 national highways will be upgraded and extended to run along China’s southwestern border.
The new 1,800-km Chengdu-Lhasa high-speed railway network will be the second strategic railway connecting from Tibet to the Mainland, reducing travel time from Chengdu to Lhasa to just 10 hours.
Chengdu is now the headquarters of the integrated Tibet-Sichuan military command that makes it possible for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to move strategic reserves swiftly from the borders with other Southeast Asian nations to beef up both offensives and strategic defence on the India front.
Shigatse (Rikaze), Tibet’s second-largest city, will emerge as a rail transportation hub as work has begun on railways to link Shigatse with Jilong in Guizhou province and Hotan in Xinjiang province.
To make up for aerial defence weakness, China will construct at least 20 new border airports by 2025 in Tibet, in places like Tashkurgan and Longzi.
Tashkurgan, the last stop before the Karakoram Pass, is under the jurisdiction of the South Xinjiang Military District and the PLA could easily threaten the Daulat Beg Oldi and the Depsang Plains from there.
The airport at Longzi in Tibet’s Shannan County will also boost the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in the middle sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Analysts like Jayadeva Ranade, former Cabinet Secretariat’s Chiba expert, say that “in just over a decade, China will have a much-improved strategic border defence infrastructure”. “The considerably enhanced Chinese military presence will be a long-term potential threat for India,” Ranade said.
Ranade has closely studied the 142-page, 70,000-character “14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025) and the Long Range Objectives through the Year 2035 for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China”, whose English version is yet to be released.
“The document clarifies China’s national strategic intent and identifies the core areas of national security and development. It has a definite focus on strategic science and technology programmes in the frontier areas. The document details the projects that have direct implications for India,” said Ranade.
He said that India’s worst concern is over the Chinese plan to construct a massive dam on the Great Bend on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra).
Serious discussions on diverting the waters of the Brahmaputra had started in the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics in Beijing in 1995.
Details of a comprehensive plan emerged in a book authored by former military officer Li Ling titled ‘Tibet water can save China’, which was published in 2005.
The 14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025) and the Long Range Objectives-2035 confirms that a number of hydroelectric projects will be built along its lower reaches and a massive dam three times the size of the Three Gorges Dam in Sichuan province will be constructed on the Great Bend on the Tsangpo.
“The dams constructed on the fragile Himalayas will pose a constant danger to those living downstream and adversely impact the livelihoods of over a billion people residing in the Indo-Gangetic plain,” said Ranade.
He said the planned infrastructure projects in Tibet and the anticipated huge influx of labour and engineers will raise the temperature on the Tibetan Plateau and accelerate the retreat of Tibet’s glaciers.
These glaciers are the source of the Indus and a number of rivers that feed into the Ganges. This will seriously reduce the flow of water even leading to the rivers drying up.
It is reported that China mobilised 60,000 troops ostensibly for military exercises, but were in fact used to occupy contentious positions in Eastern Ladakh against India…reports Asian Lite News
China continues its military modernisation and aims for advances in high technology that will give it an edge over its adversaries, posing a major threat to global security.
Fabien Baussert for Modern Diplomacy writes that China mobilised 60,000 troops ostensibly for military exercises, but were in fact used to occupy contentious positions in Eastern Ladakh against India and was very much a part of the offensive strategy adopted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) across its periphery, displaying new weapons and equipment.
Western analysis of China’s defence budget over the years has claimed that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) does not officially reveal its actual expenditure on defence and that available figures are way below the expenses actually incurred by the PLA.
DF-21Ds at the 2015 Victory Parade(wikipedia)
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which had originally estimated China’s defence expenditure for 2019 as being USD 261 billion, has reduced its estimates for expenditure in 2019 to USD 240 billion.
However, this assessment fails to take into account the rapid pace of China’s military modernisation in the last decade or so, including specific attention given to the rocket and missile forces, the PLA Navy and Air Force.
The new SIPRI estimates also exclude the idea that arms imports expenses came from outside the national budget, writes Baussert for Modern Diplomacy. Only the money spent on military research and development and testing has been retained in the official defence expenditure.
Official figures released by China for 2021 indicate that the defence budget is around Chinese Yuan 1.355 trillion (USD 209 billion), a 6.8 per cent increase over the core 2020 budget. However, the UK’s IISS estimates show that in real terms, the 2021 defence budget growth is slightly lower than in 2020, owing to the three per cent annual inflation rate in China. But in value terms, the increase amounts to USD 13 billion, a figure comparable with the entire defence budget of Taiwan.
Baussert further writes that while China’s central government budget is slated to fall by 0.2 per cent, total national government spending will probably increase by 1.8 per cent. Spending on the military as a share of overall national government spending according to the IISS rises from 5.1 per cent in 2020 to 5.4 per cent in 2021, the highest in several years. (ANI)
