Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
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Huang has been detained since being arrested nearly three years ago.
He has already served previous prison sentences related to his journalism.
The statement, from Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court, added Mr Huang would be deprived of his political rights for four years and had also been fined 20,000 yuan ($2,900; £2,360).
Huang has kidney and heart disease and high blood pressure. And supporters have voiced concern about the consequences of the 56-year-old remaining imprisoned.
“This decision is equivalent to a death sentence, considering Huang Qi’s health has already deteriorated from a decade spent in harsh confinement,” said Christophe Deloire, the secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders.
The press-freedom campaign group has previously awarded Huang its Cyberfreedom Prize. It has now called on President Xi Jinping to “show mercy” and issue a pardon.
Amnesty International has called the sentence “harsh and unjust”.
“The authorities are using his case to scare other human rights defenders who do similar work exposing abuses, especially those using online platforms,” said the group’s China researcher Patrick Poon.
Repeated arrests
Huang created his website in 1998 to help people search for friends and family who had disappeared. But over time it began covering allegations of corruption, police brutality and other abuses.
He was subsequently sentenced to a further three years in prison, in 2009, after giving advice to the families of children who had died in an earthquake in Sichuan the previous year.
The relatives had wanted to sue the local authorities over claims that school buildings had been shoddily built – a claim the central government denied.
Huang was detained again, in 2014, after 64 Tianwang covered the case of a woman who had tried to set herself on fire in Tiananmen Square to coincide with the start of that year’s National People’s Congress.
Then he was arrested in November 2016 and accused of “inciting subversion of state power”, since when he has been incarcerated.
Since then, several human rights organisations, including Freedom House and the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, have called for his release and raised concerns about reported threats to his 85-year-old mother, who had been campaigning on his behalf.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption Huang’s mother, Pu Wenqing, had travelled to Beijing to plead her son’s case
LONDON (Reuters) – Reckitt Benckiser (RB.L) cut its full-year revenue target after reporting lower than expected second-quarter sales in its last quarter under long-time chief executive Rakesh Kapoor, hurt by a surprise slowdown in demand for infant formula in China.
Shares of the British household goods maker, which had risen the previous day to near their highest level for the year, fell as much as 5.7% in early trade.
The Durex condom and Lysol disinfectant maker said it now expects full-year like-for-like sales growth of between 2% and 3%, down from its previous target of 3% to 4%.
Reckitt, which maintained its “broadly flat” operating margin target, said slowing birth rates over the past two years and increased competition had led to market share losses for its Enfamil infant nutrition products in China, its biggest market for baby food.
The company is also recovering from supply chain disruptions in China, after technical issues at a baby formula factory in the Netherlands, which supplies the Asian market, prevented it from supplying retailers with formula in the third quarter of 2018.
The disruption forced mothers to turn to rival products and in part helped rival Danone (DANO.PA), which last week reported strong infant nutrition sales in China as its strategy to focus on more premium products paid off.
For Reckitt, the slowdown resulted in a surprise 1% drop in like-for like sales in its health business, even as sales of its over-the-counter products, such as Mucinex cough medicine, rebounded after several quarters of decline.
Analysts were expecting Reckitt’s Health business, which also sells Scholl foot products and Nurofen tablets, to rise 1.3%.
“Within Health, Infant and child nutrition was a big negative surprise,” Bernstein analyst Andrew Wood said, adding he expects the business to grow in the third quarter as it faces an easier comparison with last year.
DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE
Overall like-for-like sales were flat in the second quarter, missing the 1.9% growth analysts on average had expected, according to a company supplied consensus.
Net revenue rose 2% to 3.08 billion pounds against analysts’ average estimate of 3.13 billion.
The second-quarter report is the last under Chief Executive Rakesh Kapoor, who in September hands over to PepsiCo executive Laxman Narsimhan.
Kapoor said on a media call he was disappointed by the company’s performance in the first half but was “confident growth would be second-half weighted.”
Kapoor, CEO for the past eight years, said he was bullish that increased investments behind its brands and in medical channels, as well as new products such as Mucinex Night Shift and Enfagrow Pro Mental, and its expansion into new cities in China would help drive that growth.
He also said a plan to split the group into two business units – one for health and one for hygiene and home products – was on track for completion in mid to late 2020.
Still, analysts said the new CEO has a tough task.
“The patchy half-year figures mean the incoming CEO Laxman Narasimhan has a difficult job on his hands to try and put the business back on track, as well as decide the strategic future direction of the group,” investment firm AJ Bell said.
Reckitt shares were down 3% at 6,469 pence by 0830 GMT and were among the biggest losers in the FTSE .FTSE index.
But a selfie with a sapling does not guarantee one of the much sought after licences. It merely means the application will be “considered” for processing.
The order was issued on 5 June to coincide with world environment day, but has only now picked up traction in local media as more people have started complying.
Mr Gaind says they have received at least 100 applications – along with selfies – since the order was passed.
But simply planting saplings and taking selfies with them is not enough – applicants also have to submit follow-up selfies a month later, proving that they are nurturing the plants.
URUMQI, July 28 (Xinhua) — A group of Chinese experts have criticized the United States for adopting double standards on counterterrorism and deradicalization and using Xinjiang-related issues as a tool to interfere in China’s domestic affairs.
The experts, who specialize in studies in the fields of human rights, international relations and anti-terrorism, made the remarks at a seminar held recently in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Wang Yu, an associate researcher with the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, said China’s anti-terror measures implemented in Xinjiang in recent years have provided a new solution to the global fight against terrorism.
For some time China’s Xinjiang has seen frequent incidents of terrorist attacks, but over the past nearly three years, there have been no such incidents in the region, Wang noted.
Gu Liyan, a researcher with the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, accused the United States of using human rights issues to erode public trust in governments of some other countries and create social conflict and unrest there, so as to attain its global hegemony.
“Whatever measures or policies China implements on counterterrorism and deradicalization will never accord with the so-called human rights standards of the U.S.,” she said.
Li Wei, a researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said education and training centers were established in Xinjiang in order to prevent trainees from falling victim to terrorism and extremism.
China’s measures on deradicalization offer a successful case study to the international community and have won widespread recognition and acclaim, said Li.
Shu Hongshui, an anti-terror expert at Northwest University of Political Science and Law, said the U.S. adoption of double standards on counterterrorism and deradicalization is intended to curb China’s development.
The propaganda warfare waged by the United States and some other Western countries against China on Xinjiang-related issues is unable to conceal their strategic anxiety and predicament, Shu said
Sailors in full dress line up on the deck of Chinese missile destroyer Xi’an during the military parade marking Russia’s Navy Day on the sea near Kronshtadt islet off the shore of St. Petersburg, Russia on July 28, 2019. Chinese missile destroyer “Xi’an” of the 32nd Chinese naval escort fleet participated in a military parade here marking Russia’s Navy Day on Sunday. (Photo by Li Hao/Xinhua)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, July 28 (Xinhua) — Chinese missile destroyer “Xi’an” of the 32nd Chinese naval escort fleet participated in a military parade here marking Russia’s Navy Day on Sunday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reviewed the Chinese warship along with Russian vessels and an Indian frigate on the sea near Kronshtadt islet off the shore of St. Petersburg.
The audience stood up cheering and applauding when the Chinese missile destroyer with its sailors in full dress lining up on the deck passed them.
A total of 12 Russian warships and submarines as well as dozens of aircraft took part in the parade.
Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, meets with a delegation of the French Communist Party (PCF) led by PCF’s National Secretary Fabien Roussel in Beijing, capital of China, July 28, 2019. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)
BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) — Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with a delegation of the French Communist Party (PCF) on Sunday.
Huang, also head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, said the CPC cherishes its traditional friendship with the PCF. He called on the two parties to enhance dialogues and exchanges and forge closer relations.
The Chinese side will make joint efforts with the French side to safeguard multilateralism, cope with global challenges and build a community with a shared future for mankind, Huang added.
PCF’s National Secretary Fabien Roussel, also head of the PCF delegation, said the PCF will beef up cooperation with the CPC for better development of the two countries’ relations and benefits for the two peoples.
CAIRO, July 28 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Embassy in Cairo hosted a ceremony on Sunday evening to celebrate the 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which falls on Aug. 1.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is always an army that serves the people wholeheartedly,” said Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang in the opening speech, noting the PLA has made great historic contributions to China’s national liberation and prosperity for the past 92 years under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
As challenges are on the rise around the world, the PLA is always determined to preserve global peace. So far, China has participated in 24 UN peacekeeping missions and has sent more than 40,000 peacekeepers, Liao added.
In terms of the cooperation between Chinese and Egyptian militaries, Liao stressed that the two armies have made great achievements by strengthening high-level exchanges and cooperation in personnel training, equipment technology and other areas.
During the ceremony, guests lauded China’s contributions to regional and global peace and development, looking forward to strengthening military cooperation between China and Egypt.
’s affordable labour market and strong economic growth provide a healthy breeding ground for young tech outfits.
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Led by heavyweights such as Shunwei Capital, Fosun International, Tencent Holdings, Xiaomi and Alibaba Group Holding – which owns the South China Morning Post –
, the knowledge and technology of Chinese investors act as the backbone of their business, along with the operational expertise of Indians in the domestic market,” said Ntasha B, co-founder of Venture Gurukool, a mentoring platform for start-ups which works closely with Indian diplomatic missions in China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to meet again in October. Photo: Xinhua
She added that Chinese investors usually had a hands-on approach and were a bit inflexible, unlike their American counterparts, who gave some elbow room in hiring local teams.
A senior executive with an Indian start-up, who did not wish to be identified, said it was sometimes straightforward to convince Chinese investors as they could relate to Indian business models and requirements that were dissimilar to those from the Western world.
The world’s second-largest economy invested nearly US$2.5 billion in Indian start-ups last year, a figure that has touched almost US$1 billion so far this year, according to finance research firm Venture Intelligence. The number of such deals jumped from just one in 2013 to 27 last year.
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Indian start-ups are estimated to have raised US$3.9 billion from around the globe in the first six months of this year, and the inflow from Chinese behemoths played a key role in pushing them to turn east to source funding.
“What’s more interesting about [Chinese investors’] strategy is that they’re paying more attention to rural India. If you look at the companies they’ve invested in, a fair amount of their businesses target the rural segment,” said Sandeep Murthy, managing partner at venture capital firm Lightbox Ventures, which keeps a close watch on Chinese investments. He said the brisk economic activities in India’s tier two and tier three towns are more attractive to Chinese investors than India’s urban centres.
Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency, is drawn to the size and rapid advancement of the Indian market. Photo: Bloomberg
WHY INDIA?
For Ctrip – China’s largest online travel agency, which in April took a 49 per cent stake in MakeMyTrip – the appeal of India was its whirlwind technological advancement and the disposable income of its massive young population.
“[MakeMyTrip has] achieved fast growth in the online travel market and is becoming well recognised in the Indian market. Their comprehensive products and services, management team and the opportunities in India result in our confidence that they will continue to succeed,” said Wei Yuan Min, a member of Ctrip’s global team. Behind the US and China, India houses the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem in terms of the number of companies. As for the number of unicorns – start-ups valued at over US$1 billion – India ranks third, offering a vibrant habitat for entrepreneurial ventures. The country is home to 32 such firms, with the addition of nearly half a dozen so far this year and 15 last year.
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New Delhi expects there to be 12,000 tech start-ups in the country by next year, up from 7,200 last year. There were 1,200 new tech firms in the sector last year, according to industry body Nasscom.
One of those capitalising on this opportunity is the Beijing-headquartered technology company Xiaomi, which last year promised to pump US$1 billion into 100 Indian start-ups over the next five years. Most of these Indian firms are involved in businesses that are ancillary to Xiaomi’s key operations.
Chinese firm Xiaomi is banking on Indian start-ups to strengthen its own products. Photo: Reuters
“These start-ups help us in building a stronger product offering,” a Xiaomi spokesperson said. “The idea is to invest in start-ups which can further boost the mobile ecosystem in India. They could be into mobile gaming, service providers, value-added services or servicing the mobile industry.”
Xiaomi has been rapidly expanding its businesses in India, selling smartphones, television sets, security cameras, speakers, power banks, and more. India was the first market outside China where Xiaomi introduced its television sets.
Asked which sector would be Xiaomi’s focus for investment in the coming years, the spokesperson said the company was looking to focus on hardware-related start-ups in the ecosystem which could offer “robust solutions” to its Indian requirements.
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While hopes for India’s start-up sector are high, there have been some disappointments. There were reports this month that Alibaba, a major shareholder in Paytm, was unhappy with the Indian firm’s performance, pressuring it to realign its strategies and looking unlikely to provide fresh capital.
Paytm, a digital-payment-system unicorn, launched its own e-commerce Paytm Mall in 2016 when Walmart-backed Flipkart and Amazon were dominating the market.
However, the venture has yet to take off and is burning through cash.
Paytm refused to comment on the matter.
Paytm has attracted investment from Alibaba, but its Paytm Mall venture is struggling. Photo: Bloomberg
NEW REVENUE STREAMS
Chinese firms’ coordinated effort to enter the Indian start-up scene has made it easy for Indian ventures to access new sources of revenue. For instance, the state-run Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country’s largest lender, launched an India-specific investment fund for Chinese investors in May last year.
Several Chinese venture capitalists are also providing platforms for entrepreneurs through fellowship schemes. Four Indian ventures – Zefo, Healthy Buddha, NowFloats and Grozip – took part in one such fellowship initiative run by Alibaba last year.
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India has warmly welcomed these initiatives. Amitabh Kant, chief executive of state-backed policy think tank Niti Aayog and a close aide of Modi, has publicly said China should become the topmost investor in its neighbour.
Vikram Misri, India’s ambassador to China, has also been pushing for increased economic cooperation and Chinese investment since he took charge in January, despite expressing concerns over New Delhi’s widening trade deficit with Beijing.
Vikram Misri, India’s ambassador to China, is looking for more economic cooperation between the two countries. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
The increased Chinese investment in Indian ventures has coincided with the Modi administration’s 2015 launch of the Startup India initiative, an umbrella scheme aimed at easing related activities through measures such as tax exemptions and simplified paperwork.
Industry pundits say active cooperation between Chinese investors and Indian entrepreneurs holds a multitude of benefits for both sides.
“The cooperation gives Chinese investors global scale and opportunity to diversify their investments,” said Neil Shah, partner and research director at the technology market research firm Counterpoint.
The cooperation gives Chinese investors global scale and opportunity to diversify their investmentsNeil Shah, Counterpoint
“For Indian start-ups, this gives cross-border learning, guidance from their global investors on dos and don’ts, tactical and long-term strategy, how to create value, run operations efficiently as well as expand beyond India.”
Nilaya Varma, partner and leader of markets enablement at KPMG India, said there was a cultural shift happening in the country where young Indians brimming with ideas wanted to pursue their dreams rather than work for someone else. This brought out the entrepreneurial spirit of this generation, he said.
“The knowledge, concepts, ideas and innovations of the small start-ups in India will have a global appeal. So it makes a lot of sense for Chinese big players to invest here,” he said.
Chinese scientists say they have developed controls to help steer spent boosters crashing back to Earth
Lattice-like grid fins are used to guide spent boosters as they fall to Earth. Photo: Science and Technology Daily
China says it has successfully tested new fins on its Long March rockets to help guide spent boosters away from populated areas, possibly paving the way for development of reusable technology like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
China successfully launched a Long March 2C rocket on Friday using grid-fin technology to guide its spent booster to a landing spot in Guizhou province in the country’s southwest, state-run Science and Technology Daily reported on Sunday, citing China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), a key contractor for the Chinese space programme.
The report said China was the second country to master the technology, after the United States.
Grid fins are aerodynamic control surfaces that are folded during the launch but deployed in flight. In the more sophisticated applications such as the Falcon 9, the fins manipulate the direction of the rocket during re-entry.
A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying remote sensing satellites blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Xichang, Sichuan province, on Friday. Photo: Xinhua
Shanghai-based online news outlet The Paper reported that the 2C’s grid fins were developed by a team of about a dozen engineers, all under the age of 35.
The team also designed a new companion electrical control system to control the fins, taking about six months to complete the task.
China has conducted frequent satellite launches in recent years, including 38 last year, the highest total for any country in 2018. But landing safety has become an issue as traditional zones grow more populated.
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Chinese media reported in January 2018 that a booster from a Long March 3B rocket created a massive fireball after it fell from the sky and exploded in a residential area, though no casualties were reported.
And Shaanxi Television reported in May this year that debris was found on a motorway in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, with residents saying they heard a loud noise and saw an object fall to the ground.
Under existing arrangements, authorities in projected landing zones have to evacuate the areas each time, not only inconveniencing residents but adding to the economic cost and difficulty of the work, according to the The Paper. The grid fins are expected to help ease some of those problems.
“The successful test of the [grid-fin] technology is of great significance to solving the landing issue,” the report quoted CASC assistant director He Wei as saying.
“It also lays a solid foundation for recoverable and reusable technologies.”
China plans more satellites to build up navigation system to rival GPS
Long Lehao, chief commander and designer of Long March 3A rocket series, said the development of reusable technologies could support large-scale development and use of space in the future, as well as make the space programmes more commercially competitive, The Beijing News reported.
Beijing sees space as an important driver for growth and an opportunity to promote hi-tech industries.
Image copyright AFPImage caption India is now estimated to be home to 70% of the world’s tigers
India is now home to nearly 3,000 tigers, a third more than it had four years ago, according to the latest tiger census.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who presented the findings on Monday, said the tiger population had risen from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2018.
He added that India is “now one of the biggest and most secure habitats of the tiger”.
India is now estimated to be home to around 70% of the world’s tigers.
India counts its tigers once every four years – it’s a long, arduous task that involves forest officials and scientists trekking across half a million square kilometres (193,000 sq miles) looking for evidence of the tiger population.
The results of the just declared tiger census would make every Indian, every nature lover happy.
Nine long years ago, it was decided in St. Petersburg that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022. We in India completed this target four years early: PM
This is a major conservation success, correspondents say. By one estimate, between 1875 and 1925 alone, some 80,000 tigers were killed in India. Bounty and sports hunting were rampant – kings and officials killed tigers in their thousands, using guns, spears, nets, traps and poison. By the 1960s the number of tigers had dwindled precipitously.
But a number of government initiatives to streamline tiger conservation – including a ban on hunting and awareness drives in villages -are said to be behind the increase of the population.
A strict wildlife protection law implemented in 1972 made it virtually illegal to kill or capture wild animals even when “problem animals” were involved in severe conflict situations. Under pressure from global conservationists, India also upped investments to hire more forest guards and improve protection of reserves.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption India has seen an uptick in tiger numbers since 2006
The results began to show in 2006, and since then there has been a healthy uptick in tiger numbers.
But there has also been an increase in human-tiger conflict recently and one reason is that India has too many tigers and too few forests that can sustain them unless more protected reserves are added.
According to one estimate, big cats breed and live in only about 10% of India’s total potential tiger habitat of 300,000 sq km (115,830 sq miles). Animal density in many of these forest areas is high, and surplus tigers sometimes venture outside for food, bringing them into conflict with people who live nearby.
Conservationists say conflict with humans is largely restricted to the edges of protected areas, forests and plantations – and that unless India expands tiger reserves, such conflicts will increase.
Media caption Tigers ‘on brink of extinction’ brought to wildlife park
Source: The BBC
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
the procedure of counting tigers in India
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 