China's newly-formed Rocket Force has held an exercise with advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile with a range of over 1,000 kms that could threaten a number countries, including India, Japan and the United States.
President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed to build China's military into a "Great Wall of steel" to protect its sovereignty and developmental interests as he sought a bigger role for Beijing in global affairs, days after brokering a Saudi Arabia-Iran detente, regarded as a diplomatic coup.
52 world leaders, including Narendra Modi, will attend this week's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. Obama will meet separately only with the Chinese president.
Henry Kissinger once said, 'It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.' India will have to wait and see, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
'If the Chinese intent is to be gauged based on its aggression in the South China Sea, greater forays in the Indian Ocean, a hawk's attitude towards Taiwan, flying its fighters repeatedly over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea and creating strategic assets globally, there would be a requirement for strategic partnerships for India,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Leaders of the United States, India, Australia and Japan did discuss the 'challenge' posed by China during the first meeting of the Quad, and they made clear that none of them have any 'illusions' about Beijing, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said.
"CCP's (Chinese Communist Party) territorial aggression is also apparent on its Indian border where China has attempted to seize control of the Line of Actual Control by force," US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said in a remark on China early this week in Utah.
'India has ramped up infrastructure on its side, so the Chinese military is finding Indian soldiers in locations where they are not used to seeing an Indian footprint,' points out Harsh V Pant.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set for an unprecedented third five-year term as he was 'elected' to the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday while several top leaders including Premier Li Keqiang have been left out in the major shake-up at the top.
The S&P BSE Sensex plunged 128 points to end at 25,102.
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.
Equity mutual funds attracted Rs 8,898 crore in July, a 43 per cent decline compared to the preceding month as markets continued to remain volatile amid concerns over inflation and rate hike expectations. For the 17th straight month, equity mutual funds witnessed inflows in July. The net inflows in July were lower compared to Rs 15,495 crore seen in June, Rs 18,529 crore in May and Rs 15,890 crore in April, according to data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) on Monday.
Xi ordered the military to think about worst-case scenarios, scale up training and battle preparedness, promptly and effectively deal with all sorts of complex situations and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, without mentioning any specific issues that posed a threat to the country.
In his opening remarks at a ministerial meeting in Tokyo of the Quadrilateral coalition, also known as 'Quad', External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India remained committed to a rules-based world order, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, and peaceful resolution of disputes.
The coming together of the Quad and the Australia-UK-US grouping would be a formidable adversary, moving toward the creation of a 'thousand ship navy' that reins in the PLA navy in the Indo-Pacific.
TheWhat led to Pakistan not taking advantage of India's difficulty is the hold that the US has over the Pakistani ruling elite, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
China will increase its defence spending by "around seven per cent" this year, as it vowed to guard against "outside meddling" in its territorial disputes.
Analysts suggest investors remain in a wait-and-watch mode and not jump in to buy stocks across-the-board.
Market breadth was marginally lower with 1,474 losers and 1,395 gainers on the BSE.
BSE Power, Realty, Auto and PSU indices ended almost 1% down
US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin described China as a pacing challenge for the United States.
Realty stocks ended firm on expectations that the central bank will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy.
Markets have slipped into the red after opening on the positive zone. The Sensex is down 35 points at 17,394. Nifty is down 10 points at 5,269.
Flexing its muscles over Taiwan, China on Monday sailed its aircraft carrier close to the estranged island amid tensions with the US following President-elect Donald Trump's telephone call with the Taiwanese president.
The market breadth in BSE ended healthy with 2,019 advancing and 740 shares declining.
Tremendous strength in the realty, IT and metal stocks helped the BSE benchmark index to keep the upward momentum alive.
Jonatan Christie gifted Indonesia the Asian Games gold medal they most yearned for when he beat Taiwan's Chou Tienchen in an exciting men's singles badminton final in front of a vociferous home crowd on Tuesday.
'The world is finally recognising that China is pushing a form of government that many only now are beginning to recognise as problematic'
The NSE Nifty ended at 3,513, down 93 points. The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,652 stocks traded, 2,164 declined, 442 advanced and the rest were unchanged on Wednesday.
The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,724 stocks traded, 1,782 advanced, 858 declined and the rest were unchanged today.
Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong was convicted of spying for archrival Taiwan.
India and China have not ruled out a Modi-Xi meeting during the summit.
'If the almost literally heart-stopping Suez block has any positive outcome, it is to be hoped that it will accelerate the setting up of a fab (perhaps Taiwanese) in India,' asserts Rajeev Srinivasan.
Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei has enjoyed double good fortune at Melbourne Park this week.
The markets opened flat on the back of weak Asian cues. At 9:58 am, the Sensex was trading at 11933 up 15 points and the Nifty was trading at 3474 up 3 points.
Hydrography (underwater geography) prevents the Indian Navy for opting for an all-conventional, or all-nuclear submarine fleet.
Confronting a slowdown in growth, China says it will only increase its defence budget by 7.6% this year, against the anticipated rise of between 20% and 30%. 'It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget,' says Claude Arpi. 'Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!'
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