News Report: Not All See China’s Great Power Diplomacy as Huge Success

Chinese President Xi Jinping

William Ide

BEIJING — Analysts say China’s foreign policy achievements are likely to be a key focus next month when the Communist Party hosts a crucial once-in-five-year leadership meeting. But don’t expect China’s leaders to say much about the challenges and setbacks they’ve faced since Xi Jinping came to power, even though a growing number of some scholars here are doing just that.

Since Xi began assuming leadership in China in 2012, the world’s second largest economy has been rapidly expanding its global footprint and influence. Beijing is engaging and seeking to play a more prominent role in international affairs, while laying out its own initiatives, such as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the near trillion-dollar trade program, the Belt and Road.

Xi has visited nearly 30 countries, five continents and championed what some here call “Great Power Diplomacy." He has also been advocating what he calls the “China Solution,” Beijing’s proposals and answers to the world’s toughest problems.

The foreign policy focus is so important that some analysts say China’s need to play a more central role in global affairs is likely to be added to the communist party’s constitution during the meeting, along with other changes.

State media recently released a six-party series ahead of the 19th Party Congress on “Great Power Diplomacy.” Advocates of that idea, argue that as a rising great power, China should do what it feels is right anytime and whenever it wishes.

News Report: China Has Reason to be Jittery About Indo-Japanese Geniality

Experts are optimistic that the counterweight presented by increased Indian and Japanese cooperation may make China more sensitive to international norms.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The grand hospitality extended by India to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the kick-starting of ambitious long-term joint projects and the trilateral talks of foreign ministers of India, Japan and the US on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, have clearly ruffled China's feathers, with its media mincing no words in deploring the India-Japan bonhomie.

Experts in international relations keeping a close watch on the developments say China has strong reasons to be uneasy about developments between India and Japan over the past month.

"China surely has to worry about India and Japan coming closer. Both Japan and India have been historically suspicious of China's intentions. These anxieties have been reinforced by recent Chinese behavior," professor Swaran Singh of the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University told Sputnik.

News Report: China Objects to Japanese Investment in India's 'Disputed' Northeastern Frontier

In a marked departure from traditional policy, India has opened up the northeastern frontier region to foreign investments, but China says the border is “disputed” and until a resolution is agreed upon, the involvement of third parties would not be welcomed.

New Delhi (Sputnik) – A day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrapped up his two-day India visit, promising enhanced bilateral strategic and economic ties, including stepping up investments in the remote northeastern states of India, China’s Foreign Ministry took the chance to remind India about its claims over the region.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China is against any foreign investments, including from Japan, in India’s northeast region and is opposed to any third party’s involvement in resolving its border disputes with the country.

“You also mentioned the Act East policy. You must be clear that the boundary of the India and China border area has not been totally delimited. We have disputes on the eastern section of the boundary,” Chunying said during a regular media briefing in Beijing.

News Story: Global split over Rohingya crisis as China backs Myanmar crackdown

By Sam JAHAN

International divisions emerged on Tuesday ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on a worsening refugee crisis in Myanmar, with China voicing support for a military crackdown that has been criticised by the US, slammed as "ethnic cleansing" and forced 370,000 Rohingya to flee the violence.

Beijing's intervention appears aimed at heading off any attempt to censure Myanmar at the council when it convenes on Wednesday.

China was one of the few foreign friends of Myanmar's former junta.

Beijing has tightened its embrace under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government as part of its giant trade, energy and infrastructure strategy for Southeast Asia.

The exodus from Myanmar's western Rakine state began after Rohingya militants attacked police posts on August 25, prompting a military backlash that has sent a third of the Muslim minority population fleeing for their lives.

Exhausted Rohingya refugees have given accounts of atrocities at the hands of soldiers and Buddhist mobs who burned their villages to the ground.

They can not be independently verified as access to Rakhine state is heavily controlled.

Myanmar's government denies any abuses and instead blames militants for burning down thousands of villages, including many belonging to Rohingya.

But international pressure on Myanmar heightened this week after United Nations rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the violence seemed to be a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Read the full story at TerraDaily

News Report: Pakistani PM Offers Joint Patrols With Afghanistan

Ayesha Tanzeem

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s prime minister has offered “joint patrols" and "joint posts" with Afghanistan as a means of bi-lateral verification of action taken against terrorist groups or their sanctuaries.

“Whatever it takes to fight terrorism ... Pakistan is totally open to that,” Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said while briefing foreign journalists Tuesday in Islamabad.

The details of the bi-lateral verification methods could be worked out at the operational level, he said. But Abbasi insisted Afghanistan in turn needed to do more to fight terrorism against Pakistan.

“If you want statistics, there is much more happening across the border from Afghanistan than anything that happens from Pakistan into Afghanistan."

Previously, Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed on coordinated, complementary operations on their respective sides of border. Pakistan has repeatedly faced criticism that it is sheltering militants who planned or carried out attacks inside Afghanistan. 

Think Tank: More than just about Belt and Road - does China hold territorial ambitions in Central Asia?

Connor Dilleen

During a speech at the National Press Club in August, the political leader of the Tibetan diaspora, Lobsang Sangay, speculated that China may use the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to seize territory in the same way that it used a road project in Tibet as the first step in taking control over the country.

While Sangay’s claim was likely intended to draw attention and sympathy to Tibet, it provides an interesting perspective from which to assess China’s relationship with its Central Asian neighbours and the scale of BRI investments in the region.

As noted by Geremie Barme, a former head of the ANU’s Centre for China in the World, in a rebuttal of Sangay’s comments, for China ‘Tibet was about resources, while it sees most of the rest of the world as markets’. China is investing heavily in BRI projects across Central Asia, and much of that investment is focused on exploiting local resources and developing critical transportation hubs, rather than pursuing domestic markets. Thus, Central Asia potentially fits Barme’s ‘Tibet’ characterisation rather than the ‘market’ model.

But China’s investment in Central Asia carries significant risks, and those risks give rise to questions about China’s risk calculus in Central Asia. Barme’s riposte to Sangay—which contained an interesting point on the extent of China’s imperial ambition and China’s willingness to pay the price associated with such ambition—potentially sheds some light on what China’s risk calculus may be.

News Story: China 'Creating' Consensus In Region To Fight Terrorism

By Nematullah Ahmadi

Yao Jing, the Chinese Ambassador to Kabul, on Wednesday paid a visit to Eshkashem district in north-eastern Badakhshan province and said insurgent activity in the north of Afghanistan is a threat to the region.

Yao said that Beijing is currently working with Kabul and other countries in the fight against insurgency “to prevent their influence in China.”

“We are concerned that the insurgents or the terrorist movements in this region is a threat not only to China but I believe to Afghanistan itself, to Tajikistan and to all neighbors,” he said.

He visited the district to review the security situation and also to increase assistance to Afghanistan in its fight against insurgents.

“In fact we are working with your government, with the regional countries. First we are working for anti-terrorism, second we are increasing our capacitybuilding and certainly we have more regional consensus and coordination as far as anti-terrorism is concerned,” he said.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Report: Cause of Friction - Why Pakistan Has Chosen China Over the US

The cooperation between the US and Pakistan has recently been put to the test as Donald Trump accused Islamabad of supporting terrorists. In response, the Pakistani authorities canceled a planned visit by a representative of the State Department. Sputnik attempts to identify the real reason behind the fall out between the two long-term allies?

On August 21, during a speech at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, US President Donald Trump announced Washington's readiness to change its approach to relations with Islamabad if the Pakistani side continues to support terrorists.

“The next pillar of our new strategy is to change the approach in how to deal with Pakistan. We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe-havens for terrorist organizations,” Trump said.

Such a direct accusation of sponsoring terrorism provoked Islamabad's response, and the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that the criticism from US President Donald Trump is disappointing.

News Story: Xi, Putin agree to enhance strategic coordination, appropriately deal with DPRK nuclear test

XIAMEN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, calling for enhancing mutual support and strategic coordination.

The two leaders also agreed to appropriately deal with the latest nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Putin is in the southeastern Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian Province, to attend the ninth BRICS summit and the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries scheduled for Sept. 3-5.

The two sides should consolidate the high-level mutual political trust, firmly strengthen mutual support and enhance strategic coordination, Xi said.

The role of bilateral cooperation mechanisms should be well played to advance projects in key areas including energy, aerospace and aviation, as well as nuclear power.

He urged advancing the integration of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union.

Mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples should be promoted through closer people-to-people and cultural exchanges and those at local levels, he said.

Xi also called on enhancing military cooperation as well as coordination on multilateral arenas.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: China’s “Hegemonic Ambitions” Not Compatible With BRICS’ Intent

A former Indian diplomat is of the view that with China’s growing hegemonic ambitions and seeking of parity with the US are no longer compatible with BRICS’ main aim to curb America’s post-Cold War unilateralism, which was conceptualized during the Russia-India-China dialogue and led to the formation of the economic grouping.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for bilateral talks on September 4 on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit being hosted by China from 3-5 September 2017.

“At the invitation of the President of the People’s Republic of China, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will visit Xiamen in China’s Fujian province… to attend the 9th BRICS Summit,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. “Subsequently, Prime Minister will pay a State visit to Myanmar from 5-7 September at the invitation of U. Htin Kyaw, President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,” it added.

In June this year, the Indian Prime Minister had turned down Beijing’s request to participate in its multi-billion dollar Belt & Road Initiative. In the immediate aftermath, the Doklam standoff ensued, casting a shadow over Modi’s participation in the BRICS summit.

News Story: US Might ‘Stay In Afghanistan For Another Five Decades’

By Karim Amini

Colonel Lawrence B. Larry Wilkerson, a retired military officer and head of the Colin L. Powell office, the former US State Secretary has warned over the possible fight between the world and region super-power countries in Afghanistan.

In an interview with The Real News on Thursday, Wilkerson said the United States might stay for over 50 years in Afghanistan, because according to its strategic location, Afghanistan is the only place from where the US can take action against Russia and China.

He said the new US strategy on Afghanistan has designed the presence of US in Afghanistan in a way that the United States army will remain in Afghanistan for an unknown period of time.

The same plane was designed before this for Germany, South Korea and Japan, he said.

“What we have seen right now is a begging of the new great game that it involves China, it involves Russia, it involve the United States and it involves all those people who get in the way in Central Asia. The United States will probably be in Afghanistan, I have said repeatedly, for the next fifty plus years. Because it is the only place geographically speaking in that region from which the United State with high military power can affect China’s …One Belt One Road…,” said Wilkerson.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Story: S. Korea's parliamentary speaker makes thinly veiled defense of THAAD

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's parliamentary speaker on Thursday made a thinly veiled defense of Seoul's move to host a U.S. missile defense system, saying all countries have the right to take "self-defense" measures against external threats.

During his remarks at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between South Korea and China, Chung Sye-kyun also called for joint efforts to remove the root cause of the threats, alluding to the North's nuclear and missile programs.

"Every sovereign state has the right to take self-defense steps to cope with external threats," Chung said.

"Rather than getting embroiled in arguments over the responses (to the threats), it is time for us to muster up our power and wisdom to do away with the cause. When the cause disappears, there will naturally be no need for such measures," he added.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: China, Indonesia to further comprehensive strategic partnership

BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- China and Indonesia held the sixth meeting of vice-premier-level dialogue on Monday, vowing to improve the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and visiting Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto co-chaired the meeting in Beijing.

Yang called on both sides to implement the consensus reached by their leaders.

China-Indonesia ties have seen rapid development and the two countries have maintained frequent high-level visits, while expanding cooperation in various fields, Yang said.

As major developing countries, both China and Indonesia shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding national security and boosting economic development, Yang said, noting that China is willing to work with Indonesia to integrate development strategies and enhance pragmatic cooperation.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Pakistan to firmly support China on core interests - foreign secretary

BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan firmly supports China on issues concerning its core interests, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said when meeting with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi in Beijing Monday.

During their meeting, Yang said it is especially important for China and Pakistan to enhance strategic communication under current global and regional circumstances.

He called on both sides to maintain close high-level contacts, promote the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, forge ahead cooperation in different areas and intensify coordination in multi-lateral organizations such as the United Nations and Shanghai Cooperation Organization, according to a press release issued after the meeting.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: China ups ante in high-altitude standoff with India

China has stepped up its rhetoric in an increasingly tense border row with India, hinting at the possibility of military action in a propaganda push that analysts are calling "genuinely troubling."

For more than a month, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff on a remote but strategically important Himalayan plateau near where Tibet, India and Bhutan meet.

On Thursday, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang warned that Beijing had shown restraint but had a "bottom line."

"No country should underestimate the Chinese forces'... resolve and willpower to defend national sovereignty," he said in a post on the ministry website.

It is a line that has been echoed almost word for word this week by the foreign ministry, the official Xinhua news agency, the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, the official military news website of the Chinese armed forces, and other outlets.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministry released a 15-page document of "facts" about the border dispute, which included a map of alleged intrusions and photographs of what it stated were Indian troops and military vehicles on China's side of the frontier.

Calling for the "immediate and unconditional" withdrawal of Indian troops, it warned Beijing would "take all necessary measures" to safeguard its interests.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Thursday that India was building roads, hoarding supplies and deploying a large number of troops in the area.

"This is by no means for peace," Geng said.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: India Wary of More Chinese Presence in Kashmir Through Dam Projects

India has strong reservations against the string of projects undertaken by China in the Kashmir region under the Belt and Road Initiative. Addition of a project as big as the Indus Cascade to that list is likely to lead to more protests from India and to raise tension in the region.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — India has termed the collaboration between Pakistan and China in the construction of six dams over the Indus River in Kashmir region as "illegal collaborative activity." China is investing around $50 billion for the construction of these dams that form part of the North Indus Cascade that would generate up to 40000 MW of hydro electricity for Pakistan's consumption.

"India has a clear and consistent position that these territories are illegally occupied by Pakistan and that any collaborative activity there is in violation of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said in Parliament.

News Report: China, Move Over! India Considers Its Own 'Silk Road', Invites Iran to Join In

India has pitched the idea of a transport corridor to Iran, Russia, the Caucasus region and Central Asia as an alternative to China’s “One Belt, One Road” project.

The proposed corridor, dubbed North-South, would stretch to Russia via Iran and connect the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean with the Caspian Sea, thus making the Islamic Republic a key player in the region.

In an interview with Sputnik Persian, Iranian political analyst Pir Mohammad Mollazehi spoke about the potential benefits the North-South project  promised Iran and Russia.

“What makes the North-South corridor so important is that it would bring transportation costs and travel time down by 30 percent. It is with these considerations in mind that Iran, Russia and India are now discussing the use of the Chabahar or Bender Abbas ports to bring cargoes to the Iranian ports on the Caspian Sea,” Pir Mohammad Mollazehi said.

News Story: For Pakistanis, China 'friendship' road runs one way

By Ben Dooley

The China-Pakistan Friendship Highway runs over 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the far western Chinese city of Kashgar through the world's highest mountain pass and across the border.

For China, the two-lane thoroughfare symbolises a blossoming partnership, nourished with tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure investment.

But for many Pakistani businessmen living and working on the Chinese side of the border, the road is a one way street.

"China says our friendship is as high as the Himalayas and as deep as the sea, but it has no heart," said Pakistani businessman Murad Shah, as he tended his shop in Tashkurgan, 120 kilometres from the mountain pass where trucks line up to cross between China's vast Xinjiang region and Pakistan.

"There is no benefit for Pakistan. It's all about expanding China's growth," Shah said, as he straightened a display of precious stones.

The remote town of around 9,000 is at the geographic heart of Beijing's plans to build a major trade artery -- the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) -- connecting Kashgar to the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.

The project is a crown jewel of China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, a massive global infrastructure programme to revive the ancient Silk Road and connect Chinese companies to new markets around the world.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Sri Lanka completes controversial $1 billion port deal with China

By Amal JAYASINGHE

Sri Lanka on Saturday sealed a billion-dollar deal to let a Chinese state firm take over a loss-making port in a move that worries many, including its giant neighbour India.

The long-delayed $1.1 billion sale of a 70 percent stake in Hambantota port, which straddles the world's busiest east-west shipping route, was confirmed by Sri Lanka's Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.

The government used tough laws against industrial action to stop workers going on strike this week to oppose the sale to China Merchants Port Holdings.

India is nervous about China's infrastructure moves into its traditional sphere of influence.

"We have addressed geo-political concerns," the minister said at a signing ceremony in Colombo. "China has accepted that everything in this agreement will operate under Sri Lankan law."

Negotiations over the deal were held up for months amid opposition from trade unions and political parties.

The minister said this week that several countries had raised fears about the sale. India and the United States are known to be concerned that China getting a foothold at the deep-sea port could give it a military naval advantage in the Indian Ocean.

Samarasinghe said that Hambantota, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Colombo, will not be a military base for any country.

China Merchants built and operates Sri Lanka's only major deep-sea terminal in Colombo, which can accommodate the world's largest container carriers.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: China Won’t Get Port for Naval Base, Sri Lanka Assures India

China will not be able to use the Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka as a naval base and limit its presence to commercial activities as part of a revised agreement approved by the Sri Lankan government on Tuesday, allaying strategic concerns raised by India.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — As part of the revised pact, the Sri Lankan government has limited the role of the Chinese to just commercial operations, while retaining oversight of security operations at the port. The earlier terms of the agreement had sparked a controversy and protests in the island nation.

“Some [diplomatic] missions here were worried that the port would be used as a military naval base. As per the revised agreement, Sri Lanka will manage the port security. Our foreign policy today is reaching out to everyone and not giving special treatment to anyone,” The Hindu quoted Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lankan Ports Minister, as saying.

The strategically located port was built with Chinese loans in 2010 during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure. In 2016, the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government decided to sell 80% stake in the port to the state-run China Merchants Port Holdings in order to service the massive $8 billion debt the island nation owes to China.