January | 2019 | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

09/01/2019

Chinese, Djibouti presidents exchange congratulations on 40th anniversary of ties

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday exchanged congratulatory messages with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh to mark the 40th anniversary of bilateral relations.

In his message, Xi said that in the past 40 years, China and Djibouti have seen a healthy and stable development of their relations, with mutual understanding and support on issues of great concern to or concerning the core interests of each other, in addition to plentiful fruits of cooperation in various fields.

Xi recalled the top-level exchanges that included Guelleh’s state visit to China in November 2017 when they together announced the establishment of a bilateral strategic partnership; and their exchange in September 2018 when they reached a new consensus on further ties and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on pushing forward the Belt and Road construction.

Xi said he highly values the development of China-Djibouti relations, and is willing to work with Guelleh and take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties to consolidate the mutual political trust, deepen the cooperation in co-building the Belt and Road, and implement the results from the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit, so as to lift the bilateral strategic partnership to new heights.

In his message to Xi, Guelleh said he is satisfied with and proud of the smooth development of bilateral ties over the 40 years since his country and China established a diplomatic relationship.

The November 2017 decision to lift bilateral relations to a strategic partnership showed the two countries’ resolve to forge closer ties while providing the direction for their economic and trade cooperation, he said.

Guelleh thanks the Chinese government and people for the help and support to Djibouti. He said Djibouti will continue adhering to the one-China policy.

Guelleh added that he is willing to join Xi in the efforts to push bilateral relations further forward.

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08/01/2019

China deploys vehicle-mounted cannons in Tibet along border with India

China has either deployed or plans to induct cutting-edge weaponry for its land border troops to use. Last August, China said it was building rockets for its artillery brigades that will be propelled by the “electromagnetic catapult” technology and can be used in the high altitude plateaus of the TAR.

WORLD Updated: Jan 08, 2019 16:41 IST

Sutirtho Patranobis
Hindustan Times, Beijing

China has equipped its forces in Tibet, which has a long border with India, with new vehicle-mounted howitzers to improve combat capability at high altitudes, reports sourced from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said on Tuesday.(Reuters File Photo)

It is the same cannon used by an artillery brigade during the 73-day Sino-India border standoff at Doklam (Donglang in Chinese), a state media report said, indicating that since then it has been inducted in high-altitude brigades on a wider scale in the border areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

The deployment comes at a time with China’s border issues, with India and Bhutan, remain unresolved and “…challenged by pro-Tibet independence forces and terrorists,” an analyst told the state media.

The deployed weapon is said to be the rarely seen PLC-181 vehicle-mounted howitzer cannons, capable of firing and then rapidly changing positions. It is said to be a new addition in the arsenal of the PLA ground forces (PLAGF).

The information was first released on a social media app by the PLAGF, saying the PLA in the Tibet Military Command is equipped with the new howitzer, which Chinese military analysts said is supposed to be the PLC-181 vehicle-mounted howitzer.

Song Zhongping, a military expert, told the nationalistic tabloid Global Times the howitzer has 52-caliber cannon with a range of over 50 kilometres and shoots laser-guided and satellite-guided projectiles.

“It will boost the high-altitude combat capability of the PLA in Tibet,” Song said.

“As part of military training in 2019, an artillery brigade in the Tibet Military Command ordered soldiers to take part in a military skills competition at a training ground on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 3,700 meters above sea level,” the report said.

Video from the China News Service on Sunday shows soldiers engaged in military boxing, standstill shooting and firing in motion, as well as assembling guns on the snowfields to improve their attack capability.

The information about the new deployment comes within days of President Xi Jinping commanding China’s armed forces to be ready for combat and be prepared for unexpected crisis and war.

The armed forces should have enhanced awareness of danger, crisis and war, Xi told a meeting of the central military commission (CMC), the top military organisation in the country of which he is the chairperson.

The deployment is not to provoke neighbours but defensive in nature, Zhao Gancheng, director of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies told the Global Times.

China has either deployed or plans to induct cutting-edge weaponry for its land border troops to use.

Last August, China said it was building rockets for its artillery brigades that will be propelled by the “electromagnetic catapult” technology and can be used in the high altitude plateaus of the TAR.

Calling the innovation “unprecedented”, the report said the catapult-propelled rockets, which can hit targets beyond 200 km, will be more powerful and effective than conventional artillery guns.

Posted in border, cannon, China alert, India alert, Tibet, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

08/01/2019

China smartphone shipments seen down 12-15.5 percent last year – market data

(Reuters) – Smartphone shipments in China fell between 12-15.5 percent last year, market data indicated, suggesting a bleak outlook for the sector at a time when behemoths Apple (AAPL.O) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) have already issued dour forecasts.

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a research institute under the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said shipments dropped 15.5 percent to roughly 390 million units for the year, with a 17 percent slump in December.

Market research firm Canalys estimates shipments fell 12 percent in China last year and expects smartphone shipments in 2019 to dip below 400 million for the first time since 2014.

The Chinese smartphone market, the world’s largest, could shrink another 3 percent this year, Canalys said, in what would be a third straight year of declines. Smartphone shipments in the country had fallen 4 percent in 2017.

Shipments are the number of smartphones that manufacturers deliver to retailers and carriers, different from sales that happen when customers actually buy these smartphones.

The plunge in Chinese shipments expected in 2018 could lead to a 1 percent contraction in the global smartphone market, Canalys said.

Apple triggered a selloff in global markets last week after it took the rare step of cutting its quarterly sales forecast citing slowing iPhone sales in China.

China boasts the world’s biggest smartphone market, but a slowing economy, exacerbated by a trade war with the United States, has seen demand for gadgets drop across the tech sector.

TuanAnh Nguyen, a Singapore-based analyst for Canalys, told Reuters that China was now a fully mature market and lengthening refresh cycles for smartphones would be the new normal.

“Weaker economic growth and lower consumer confidence will likely hit the premium segment well into the first half of 2019,” Nguyen said.

“Apple certainly was the biggest victim of this trend, with added effects from the fact that it’s lagging behind local competitors in innovation and attractive pricing,” he said.

Apple rival and supplier Samsung on Tuesday estimated that its fourth-quarter earnings plunged 29 percent and that profitability would remain subdued in the current quarter due to weak demand for its memory chips.

Also, Samsung’s display business is struggling due to the lack of growth of its own devices as well as worse-than-expected performance of Apple’s X/XS/XS Max iPhone series, Nguyen said.

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U.S., China could settle immediate trade issues – Ross

Chinese firms Huawei and Xiaomi (1810.HK) are challenging Samsung’s dominance in many key markets, he added.

Huawei dominates the Chinese market, where the once-market leading Korean firm is now nearly a bit player.

Samsung controls over a fifth of the global market, followed by Huawei, which has a 14-percent market share, Canalys said.

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08/01/2019

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un visits China’s Xi Jinping

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju as they prepare to leave for China from Pyongyang, North Korea, 7 January 2019 — Image captionMr Kim is visiting China with his wife Ri Sol-ju, state media report

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Beijing for an unannounced visit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Mr Kim will be in China until 10 January with his wife Ri Sol-ju, according to state media reports.

The visit comes amid reports that negotiations are under way for a second summit between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump.

The two met last June, the first such meeting for a sitting US president.

Speculation had grown on Monday that Mr Kim was possibly making his way to China after South Korea’s Yonhap news reported that a North Korean train had been seen crossing the border.

Dozens of security vehicles and officials blocked roads around the train station in the border town of Dandong.

Hotel guests in Dandong had also not been allowed to enter rooms that faced the border, with news outlet Kyodo calling this an “apparent move to prevent the train from being seen”.

A vehicle that is part of a motorcade that is believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un makes its way through central Beijing

Both countries’ media confirmed the visit on Tuesday morning. Mr Kim’s distinctive green and yellow train arrived at a station in Beijing later in the day.

The train, the same one used during Mr Kim’s first visit to China, resembles the one used by his father Kim Jong-il during his visits to China and Russia in 2011.

A motorcade with heavy security was later seen driving through central Beijing.

A train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, China January 8, 2019. — Image captionMr Kim travelled to Beijing on his distinctive personal train

Mr Kim’s visit, during which he is being accompanied by several leading North Korean officials, is his fourth to China in less than a year.

Tuesday is also reportedly Mr Kim’s 35th birthday, though his date of birth has never been confirmed by Pyongyang.

China is an important diplomatic ally for North Korea, and one of its main sources of trade and aid.

“[Mr] Kim is eager to remind the Trump administration that he does have diplomatic and economic options besides what Washington and Seoul can offer,” Harry J Kazianis, director of defence studies at the Centre for the National Interest told Reuters.

Images of Xi Jinping with Kim Jong Un, are displayed at a newspaper stand in Beijing on March 28, 2018 — Image captionMr Kim’s first visit to China came in March last year

Mr Kim, unusually, did not meet Mr Xi for the first six years of his leadership of North Korea.

But last year, he visited China three times. None of the trips was announced in advance.

The BBC’s Laura Bicker in Seoul says two of the trips, which took place ahead of the historic summits with the South Korean leader Moon Jae-in and Mr Trump, were seen by some as a chance to co-ordinate strategy.

The latest three-day visit, our correspondent says, is likely to fuel speculation that a second US-North Korean summit will take place soon.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump said a location for another meeting between the two would be announced in the not-too-distant-future.

Mr Trump told reporters in Washington DC that “a good dialogue” was taking place with North Korea, but that sanctions on Pyongyang would remain in place.

North Korea condemns latest US sanctions

In his annual new year’s speech last week, Mr Kim said he was committed to denuclearisation, but warned that he would change course if US sanctions remained.

Diplomatic progress between Mr Trump and Mr Kim has stalled since the Singapore summit. Both parties signed a pledge at the time to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, though it was never clear what this would entail.

Posted in China alert, Kim Jong-un, President Xi, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

08/01/2019