With China emerging as the second largest economy after overtaking Japan, the ruling Chinese Communist Party made a surprise promise to loosen its firm grip on power structure saying that the gains made out of the economic reform would be lost without political reforms.
A top Chinese diplomat has described Jyoti Basu as "China's great friend" and India's "greatest communist" while paying floral respect to the departed leader.
Chinese hubris and the slippery slope it finds itself on have important lessons for authoritarian leaders elsewhere, including in India, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Dr John Lee, author of Will China Fail, discusses the reasons for the country's failure and predicts that India and China are headed for a stormy relationship going ahead as they compete for mineral assets and influence in Asia and Africa.
The "bumper" 40 per cent increase followed a number of sweeping reforms intended to transform the "bloated People's Liberation Army, into a more modern, nimble fighting force".
Congress President Sonia Gandhi arrived in Beijing on Thursday to meet and exchange views with the newly-elected Chinese Communist Party leadership on a range of bilateral issues. She is accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi on the five-day visit which is expected to boost bilateral relations that are already on the upswing. Gandhi is scheduled to meet Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao on Friday.
'There are reports of political dissent mounting on Xi Jinping's handling of the Wuhan fallout.'
Xi, who will turn 70 on June 15, was re-elected by the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the ruling Communist Party of China as its leader in October last year, becoming the first Chinese leader after Mao Zedong to continue in power beyond two five-year terms.
Indian intercepts have revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including the dead and seriously injured.
Xi Jinping's recent actions in South Asia have amply demonstrated the disastrous impact of China's embrace, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and China expert.
"I do not think there is any self-imposed deadline for action, but I think we are looking at weeks, not months," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters aboard Air Force One, flying with President Donald Trump form Atlanta.
Nearly eight out of 10 Chinese, who took part in a national poll said they believe China should stay on the path of political reform while according top priority to stability to avert a collapse similar to that of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991.
In its judgment delivered at a packed room, the court sentenced Bo to life in prison on the bribery charges, 15 years for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power
The crisis is the best thing to happen to the Chinese government in a long, long time.
Bracing for leadership changes in the ruling Communist Party of China due for next year, Chinese legislators on Sunday approved plans to change the course of their export-driven economy while firmly ruling out multi-party democracy. "Political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only correct road for China's development and progress as proved by practice," read a resolution approved by Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
It is believed that Huang suffered from prostrate cancer.
'The title of 'core' of the leadership gives Xi Jinping greater political authority at a time when China is beset by various problems as well as a slowdown in economic growth,' points out former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
China is trying to improve frayed relations with neighbours to pre-empt efforts by the US to intervene, says strategic expert B Raman.
The high-profile trial of the wife of disgraced Chinese Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, for murdering a British businessman, turned out to be a one-day affair, with court saying she had admitted guilt and the verdict would be announced soon.
Samdong Rimpoche's visit to China materialised against the backdrop of strained India-China relations consequent to the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam, says former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
While studying the remarks of the Chinese leaders during the NPC session, one could detect an under-current of concern that the conservative anti-reform elements in the party and the government might try to exploit the current difficulties by blaming them not on the US mismanagement of its banking sector, but on the Chinese policy of economic reforms and globalisation itself.
Chinese lawmakers on Friday expelled disgraced leader Bo Xilai from the parliament, completing his extirpation from politics and stripping him of immunity from prosecution for a series of corruption charges.
BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday charged that China, NewsClick website and the Congress are linked to an "anti-India umbilical cord" as he cited a news report which alleged that companies linked to China were funding the portal.
In what appears to be an astonishing revelation, a US-based scientist who worked at a controversial research lab in China's Wuhan, has said that Covid-19 was a "man-made virus" that leaked from the facility.
China appears to be making ground for claiming some 1,600 kms of Indian territory judging by reports in the state-owned media. Even as the two countries have been discussing the unresolved boundary issue for decades, the state-owned Xinhua and Global Times, an English language newspaper published by the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, have described the Sino-Indian border as nearly 2,000 km long.
'I was exhausted, hungry, unshaven and despondent.' 'My mouth was full of sores due to dehydration.' 'My clothes were in tatters due to walking through bushes and sliding down thorny slopes,' Brigadier John Parshuram Dalvi wrote of his capture during the 1962 War.
In Tokyo, hundreds of Japanese citizens came out on the streets to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Mass protests continued in south-western Chinese city of Chongqing, the base of the purged charismatic Communist party leader Bo Xilai, with the authorities maintaining that the upsurge had nothing to do with his axing.
'The MEA, hopefully, made it clear that the Indian PM can't be seen in Xi Jinping's company when China has, for all intents and purposes, annexed over 1,000 sq kms of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh, and essentially that the Wuhan spirit and the Mamallapuram spirit have turned into vinegar.'
China has been trying to build lobbies of influence and mould public opinion in India since at least 2017, and large sums have been invested in the effort, reveals former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'India imports 70 per cent of its bulk drugs from China. Are we going to live without antibiotics?' asks Debashis Basu.
Currently, the reserve forces are under the dual leadership of military organs and local Communist Party committees and they would be brought under the control of the ruling party and the CMC from July 1, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Xi asked about their condition and whether they were able to "receive fresh vegetables" in the inhospitable terrain.
Some US prominent lawmakers have urged the American government to follow suit as it is believed that the short video-sharing app is a major security risk to the country.
'Communist China continues to aggressively expand its domain in the Indo-Pacific region.' 'It's crucial for the USA to continue its support in countering these malicious tactics.' 'India, along with other nations in the region, is not alone.'
The External Affairs Ministry claimed that more than mere courtesies were exchanged between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China President Xi Jinping at Bali G20 Meet in November 2022.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to succeed President Hu Jintao, on Saturday made public appearance after over two week long absence which sparked speculation that he was seriously ill.
CIDCA is headed by Luo Zhaohui, the former vice foreign minister and ex-ambassador to India.
'This allows opportunities for (Chinese) entry into the domestic politics of Nepal, something that is also encouraged by Nepali politicians's willingness to play the China card (vis-a-vis India).'
'Unless India ups the ante, Beijing will continue to believe its transgressions are cost free and will feel encouraged to do more of the same.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances