India's ties with China are gradually becoming competitive, with a sentiment gaining ground among Indian policy elites that China is not sensitive to India's core security interests and does not acknowledge its status as a global player, says Harsh V Pant.
'Islamic State has declared that the liberation of Islamic Xinjiang from China is an objective. Beijing may well find that Pakistan is unable to assist in any meaningful way,' says China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
When China protested strongly over the August decision on J&K -- not once but twice -- we ignored it. And to compound matters, we simply turned our back and walked over to the 'Quad' alliance with the US, upgrading it to ministerial level, and thereafter began following the American footfalls on Taiwan and COVID-19 to taunt and humiliate Beijing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The incursions, according to Taiwan, were made by aircraft, including 12 J-11, 6 J-10, 18 J-16, six SU-30, CH-4, WZ-7, Y-8 EW, Y-8 ESW and KJ-500.
The number of millionaires in China crossed a million mark for the first in the Communist nation, putting it in the elite club of the wealthy nations like US and Japan.
The armies are working to schedule their seventh round of talks to take steps towards "early and complete" disengagement of troops along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.
The chaos on its stock markets, a fierce battle between the old and new guard in the Communist Party and the restive border provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang forebode tough times ahead for China, says Claude Arpi.
China's GDP took the worst hit since the disastrous Cultural Revolution in 1976, plummeting by 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 as the country took unprecedented measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic that brought the world's second largest economy to a standstill. China's gross domestic product stood at 20.65 trillion yuan (USD 2.91 trillion, approx) in the first quarter of 2020 amid the Covid-19 impact, down 6.8 per cent year on year, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.
'By not even acknowledging China's occupation of Indian territory Modi signalled to Beijing that he was not prepared to used forceful means to vacate the Chinese occupation, and that his government was reconciled to this loss of territory and accepted the fait accompli engineered by the PLA.'
Wang Junzheng, Tibet's new Communist party boss, is on a number of sanctions lists by the US, Britain, the EU and Canada, for his tough role in Xinjiang, aimed at China's Uyghur ethnic minority, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
This is a major policy shift. Since 1959, when the Dalai Lama escaped to political asylum in India, the Communist Party has insisted that the Tibetans are a happy lot. The communist apparatchiks have passed off growing public protests, like the 40 self-immolations by Tibetans in the last four years, as the work of a few malcontents, instigated from "foreign countries" by the "Dalai Clique".
Stepping up its crackdown against self-immolation protests in Tibet, China has detained 70 suspects for a string of suicides in November last year, coinciding with the once-in-a-decade leadership change in China's ruling Communist Party.
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.
'If we play our cards right, we may even benefit from the competition between the US and China as seen from increased investment from each of these countries into India.' 'The size of our market gives us an important lever of power which we shall have to play adroitly and intelligently,' points out Ambassador Gautam Bambawale -- who served as India's envoy to China -- in the Professor V M Dandekar Memorial Lecture 2019, delivered on March 8, 2019 in Pune.
China has said that its doors are open for talks with Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, but reiterated that no concessions would be made on issues concerning national sovereignty.
China's major economic problem has been that its heartland is an agricultural region with about one-third of the arable land per person as the rest of the world.
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.
Former Nepalese foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey observed that the current situation is not encouraging for India-Nepal ties, saying the "present leaders" created irritants in the relationship in the past.
His attack on the government came days after Indian Army personnel clashed with Chinese soldiers in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh.
India's stiff labour laws were one key issue that Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed with Prime Minister Modi on his recent visit.
According to an Amnesty report, at least 1,032 people were executed in the world, other than China, of which 87 per cent took place in just four countries -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.
United Spirits Ltd will launch five brands in China as part of its entry into the communist country's market.
China is worried about the situation post the Dalai Lama and that his reincarnation could surface in Arunchal Pradesh, a region it claims as its own, but which is part of the Indian Republic, says former RA&W Additional Secretary Jayadeva Ranade.
The death toll climbed to 2,592 with 150 new fatalities while the total number of confirmed cases increased to over 77,000, health officials said on Monday.
China on Thursday pledged to deal 'separatist forces' in the restive Xinjiang province with 'iron fists', as the region observed the third anniversary of the deadly ethnic riots that claimed nearly 200 lives.
Chian it was open to international efforts to identify the source of the deadly virus.
'All PoWs recounted that one of the worst aspects of their captivity in Tibet was the constant attempt at brainwashing by Chinese Communist propaganda,' reveals Claude Arpi.
China's ruling Communist Party has cracked down on Tibetans who planned to attend the Kalachakra Puja in Bodh Gaya. But the Tibetan people have dared the Communists by listening to the Dalai Lama's sermons on the Internet and sharing videos on social media.
General N C Vij who is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart and the defence minister of the Communist giant, said he was hopeful the talks would help in giving further boost to bilateral ties.
'Xi is keen that the remaining three territories still outside the Chinese ambit -- Taiwan, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Senkaku Islands in the East Sea -- be absorbed by the Communist regime by the time the centenary of the revolution rolls around in 2049.'
Glimpses of anti-Chinese government protests during vigils for victims of a apartment building fire in Urumqi, China, amid China's zero-COVID' policy in Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto.
'Significantly, Foreign Secretary Gokhale was received at very high level in Beijing.' 'It only shows China's keenness to move forward and put the relationship on a 'win-win' footing,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China's ruling Communist Party opens a Congress to usher in a new group of younger leaders. Rediff.com's takes a sneak peek inside Beijing's Great Hall of the People, which hosts one of the most-talked about political event, across the globe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told FIFA boss Gianni Infantino he hoped the Asian nation could host a World Cup "in the future", the world soccer governing body said on Wednesday, after the two met in Beijing.
China's 2.8 million strong People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing military, would continue to be part of ruling Communist Party of China, and resolutely oppose any attempt to separate from it, a military official said on Tuesday.
Ahead of the ruling Communist Party of China's key Congress to elect a new leadership, calls for political reforms in China's one-party system are getting louder, with a top official saying the CPC can no longer "dodge" the issue citing obstacles.
Kenneth Lieberthal, senior fellow in Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development at think tank The Brookings Institution and an expert on China, talks to Aditi Phadnis on the changes China is likely to see under the new leadership
'India and China are at new inflection points, domestically and internationally. India needs to throw up a new leader whose vision is clear, experience laden with wisdom and articulation brimming with restraint and tolerance,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
