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.
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India and Pakistan are set to sign an agreement on Indian pilgrims visiting a Sikh shrine in Pakistan, rare cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours at a time of tension that has brought exchanges of fire on their disputed border.
The pact will introduce visa-free access from India to the Pakistani town of Kartarpur, home to a temple that marks the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, died.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement late on Monday an understanding had been reached on most issues and India was prepared to sign the agreement on Wednesday.
Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment but Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper cited a foreign ministry spokesman as saying agreement had been reached and the two sides would sign the pact soon.
The Sikh minority in India has long sought easier access to the temple in Kartarpur, which is just over the border in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
The collaboration comes at a time of tension between the rivals, with Pakistan particularly aggrieved over recent Indian government measures in its part of the divided Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Both countries claim the Himalayan region in full but rule it in part.
India in August revoked special autonomy in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which was accompanied by a crackdown on dissent by India’s security forces there, angering Pakistan.
The dispute over Kashmir has bedevilled relations since their independence in 1947 and sparked two of their three wars.
India said on Sunday two soldiers and a civilian were killed in cross-border shelling in Kashmir while Pakistan said one of its soldiers and three civilians had been killed.
In February, they came close to war following a suicide bombing in Indian Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary soldiers. In response, India launched an air strike on the Pakistani side and Pakistan shot down an Indian aircraft.
The new crossing will be inaugurated in early November, just before the 550th birthday of Sikhism’s founder on Nov. 12, officials from both sides have said.
The shrine is about 4 km (2-1/2 miles) from the border. The crossing and corridor, including a road, bridge over the Ravi River and immigration office, will replace a drawn-out visa process and circuitous journey through Pakistan.
But there is still disagreement over a $20 fee that Pakistan wants to charge each visitor.
India “has consistently urged Pakistan that in deference to the wishes of the pilgrims, it should not levy such a fee”, India’s foreign ministry said.
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, attends the opening ceremony of the sixth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Oct. 20, 2019. Before delivering his speech, Huang read Chinese President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter to the conference. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)
WUZHEN, Zhejiang Province, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — The sixth World Internet Conference opened Sunday in the river town of Wuzhen in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
With the theme of “Intelligent Interconnection for Openness and Cooperation — Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace,” the three-day conference will bring together more than 1,500 participants from over 80 countries and regions, including members of the Internet Hall of Fame, Nobel Prize winners and Turing Award winners.
Executives from major tech companies from home and abroad such as Microsoft, Qualcomm, Alibaba Group and Huawei will share their insight on the future development of the internet at 20 sub-forums, covering popular and cutting-edge topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and industrial digitization.
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, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference.
Fifty years after the birth of the internet, efforts should be made to seize new opportunities and address risks and challenges to build cyberspace into a shared community that benefits all humanity, Huang said.
The senior official also called for enhanced efforts to develop the digital economy, unleash the digital dividend, and protect the security and order of cyberspace.
During the conference, reports on China and world internet development will be released to forecast the future trend of internet development.
The reports will review global internet development over the past five decades and the history of Chinese internet during the last 25 years.
Around 15 top scientific and technological projects in the internet sector will also be unveiled, covering AI, 5G, big data, cloud computing, digital manufacturing, industrial internet and other internet-related fields.
The number of internet users in China hit 854 million in June 2019, with the internet availability rate reaching 61.2 percent, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
Vice-ministerial meeting was last held in 2014 as Seoul agreed to the deployment of a US anti-missile system
China and South Korea are expected to resume their vice-ministerial strategic defence dialogue after a five-year break. Photo: Reuters
China and South Korea are set to hold high-level defence talks on Monday for the first time since 2014, when tensions emerged over Seoul’s plans to allow deployment of a US anti-missile system.
Lieutenant General Shao Yuanming, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, is expected to meet South Korean defence vice-minister Park Jae-min in Beijing, according to Yonhap News Agency.
They will talk on the sidelines at the Xiangshan Forum, a three-day gathering on Asia-Pacific security and defence which started on Sunday.
The defence ministry in Seoul said the officials were expected to “have in-depth discussions on the Korean peninsula security conditions and issues of mutual concern”, Yonhap reported.
Lieutenant General Shao Yuenming is expected to resume China’s part in a high-level defence dialogue with South Korea. Photo: Minnie Chan
Relations between China and South Korea were strained by Seoul’s decision to host American Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) but ties have warmed as both countries have pushed back against pressure from the US.
Washington and Seoul are at odds over a cost-sharing agreement for the US military, with US President Donald Trump demanding South Korea contribute more for the presence of US forces.
Hwang Jae-ho, director of the Global Security Cooperation Centre at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said the meetings, formally known as the China-South Korea vice-ministerial strategic defence dialogue, resumed mainly because the countries now had more mutual interests.
Seoul fears US is delaying envoy’s approval in retaliation for scrapping of security pact, sources say
“Now China has to make more friends in the international community as its ties with the United States have gone bad, and South Korea is looking for China to help rein in Pyongyang. At a time like this, it’s inevitable for the two countries to want to move closer,” Hwang said.
The deployment of THAAD, a proposed military hotline, and South Korea’s air defence identification zone are expected to be high on the agenda.
First held in 2011, the defence dialogue was hosted alternately by Seoul and Beijing. It was suspended in 2015 when South Korea, then under president Park Geun-hye, said it was considering THAAD as a deterrent against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Beijing disapproved and said China was the real target. Each country then placed unofficial economic and cultural bans on the other. These included Chinese sanctions against South Korea’s Lotte supermarket chain and a ban on TV airtime for South Korean bands.
Tensions began to slowly ease after November 2017, when the two countries said they had decided to set aside their differences and advance their strategic partnership. Seoul also promised not to host additional THAAD missiles nor join a US-led missile defence system that involved Japan.
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption The Giant salamander is ironically referred to as a “baby fish” in China
What do you get when you cross a baby with a fish?
It’s not the start of a dad joke, but one of a series of pictures drawn by Shanghai-based illustrator Frankie Huang.
Chinese is already one of the most pictorial languages in the world, but she’s taking it to the next level – by literally turning words into pictures. Her series, Putong Animals, re-imagines animals according to what they’re called in Mandarin Chinese – or Putonghua – the official language of China.
In Mandarin a zebra, for example, is literally a “patterned horse”. The dolphin has unflatteringly been turned into a “sea pig”.
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption The Zebra is referred to literally as a “patterned horse” in Mandarin
Frankie says she came up with the idea for the series after seeing people on Twitter discussing how some animals had “really funny names when you translate them literally”.
“I realised no-one had done a series of this and I thought to myself ‘I suppose it’s time then’,” she told the BBC. “I wanted to create something that was not just pretty but also interesting.”
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption Turkeys are “fire chickens” in Mandarin
“The turkey – or fire chicken – was the first one I drew. It was just a bunch of chickens on fire and a guy in a hazmat suit feeding them,” she said. “You can see that my technique actually developed as I got more into it.”
Frankie was born in the Chinese capital, Beijing, but grew up in the US, exposing her to both English and Mandarin from a young age.
“I’m both an outsider and insider [to the Chinese language] because of my upbringing, I think sometimes you need to be an outsider in order to really appreciate something,” said the illustrator.
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption The celestial lobster is known as a “dragon prawn”
Another one of Frankie’s favourite illustrations is the “dragon prawn” – or lobster.
“I wanted to make it look really majestic and godlike,” said Frankie. “Someone commented that it’s a celestial crustacean, I thought that was such a nice name for it.”
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption While the dolphin is given the less than graceful name of “sea pig”
It takes Frankie around three hours to produce one illustration, from conceptualisation to sketching it out and eventually colouring it in.
She has for now completed her series on Putong Animals, but she is looking into turning the animals into characters of their own.
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption Kangaroos are known as “pocket mice”, though they are far from tiny
“Even as far back as ancient Greece with Aesop’s fables, people were telling stories through animals,” she said.
“I actually started to write a story about the lives of the fire chicken. They’re on a planet where people use them in their lives, [like] putting them under their beds during winter to keep them warm. I want to eventually give them more personality.”
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption The tiny gecko on the other hand, has earned the imposing name of “Wall Tiger”
But it’s not just animals that she illustrates – she’s also delved into Chinese phrases.
This picture showing a cat in a pipe is meant to illustrate the Chinese phrase “xi mao”, which literally translated, means to “inhale cat”.
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption If someone is addicted to cats, they are “inhaling cat”
It’s a phrase that’s spread across young people in China, to describe someone who is a cat addict.
Another one she’s done shows stuffing spilling out of a dumpling – a literal translation of the Chinese phrase “lou xian”, or “for stuffing to leak out”. The phrase refers to a situation where truth is revealed.
“If you look closer, you’ll actually see some tentacles coming out of the dumpling, because I drew it after I watched Stranger Things 3,” Frankie laughingly admits.
Image copyright FRANKIE HUANGImage caption And the stuffing is out on this one
But she’s of course not the first person to have put a clever play on Chinese words – and sometimes others have done so for more political reasons.
Social media in China is heavily censored, and it’s not uncommon for social media companies in China to remove “sensitive” content. This was one of the obstacles that #MeToo – the movement that encouraged people to openly talk about their experiences of sexual harassment – faced in China.
The phrase #MeToo was heavily censored but to get around this, many instead began posting the Chinese words “rice bunny”, which is pronounced “mi tu” in Mandarin.
“One of the things that made me look more closer into pulling together and dissecting the Chinese language was the [phrase] mi tu,” said Frankie.
“The censorship forces [Chinese people] to constantly stay ahead of the government so they come up with these wonderful creations, sort of like how diamonds are created under enormous pressure. All these gems of wit are found on the Chinese internet.”
This is part of what Frankie hopes her illustrations will do – help people to recognise “humour and wit of the Chinese culture”.
“I want to hopefully reach more people to help them be interested in the Chinese language and culture,” she said.
“In this day and age, China is in the press constantly. [I want to show] there’s so much more to China than just the politics.
“I want to be independent of all these things and show people that you can love and enjoy the culture without all the politics. The politics are new, but this [language] is not.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with delegates to the first Party congress of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Joint Logistic Support Force in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, Oct. 18, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Gang)
WUHAN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with delegates to the first Party congress of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Joint Logistic Support Force and senior officers stationed in central China’s Hubei Province, respectively.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, extended congratulations on the convening of the congress and sincere greetings to all the delegates and service personnel in the joint logistic support force.
The congress opened Wednesday in Wuhan, during which the delegates discussed the development of the joint logistic support force since its establishment and the plan for the next five years.
When meeting with senior officers stationed in Hubei, Xi extended sincere greetings to all officers and soldiers of the armed forces stationed in the province.
Xi encouraged them to faithfully perform their duties, forge ahead with determination, push for new progress in all work, and contribute to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and the dream of a strong military.
A visitor views an exhibit at the Erlitou Relic Museum in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province, Oct. 19, 2019. The Erlitou Relic Museum, which exhibits the history of ancient China’s first recorded dynasty of Xia (2070-1600 B.C.), opened Saturday in Luoyang. It exhibits over 2,000 items, including bronze wares, pottery wares and jade wares. Covering an area of 32,000 square meters, the museum exhibits the history of the Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty recorded in ancient China. Construction of the museum cost 630 million yuan (about 89 million U.S. dollars). The Erlitou Relics date back to 3,500 to 3,800 years ago in ancient China’s late Xia or early Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) dynasties. (Xinhua/Li An)
ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) — The Erlitou Relic Museum opened Saturday in Luoyang city in central China’s Henan Province, unveiling the history and culture of ancient China’s first recorded dynasty of Xia (2070-1600 B.C.).
Covering an area of 32,000 square meters, the museum exhibits over 2,000 items, including bronze wares, pottery wares and jade wares.
Construction of the museum cost 630 million yuan (about 89 million U.S. dollars).
The Erlitou Relics date back to 3,500 to 3,800 years ago in ancient China’s late Xia or early Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) dynasties.
Discovered in 1959 in Luoyang by historian Xu Xusheng, Erlitou was identified by Chinese archaeologists as the relics of the capital city of the middle and late Xia Dynasty.
Over the past 60 years, archaeologists have excavated over 10,000 items out of a total area of 40,000 square meters from the site.
Zhao Haitao from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Erlitou archaeological team, said that China’s earliest palace complex, bronze ware workshop and urban road network were all found at the site.
The museum has three display areas where visitors can experience and better understand the archaeological achievements of the Xia Dynasty, and probe into the history and culture of the Xia Dynasty via various kinds of projects, such as virtual reality, embossment and sand tables.
Li Boqian, a professor with the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University, said the Erlitou Relic Museum presents daily utensils, manufacturing tools and decorations for visitors to understand the social development, history and culture of the Xia Dynasty.
The museum will help people around the world learn about ancient Chinese history and culture, said Liu Yuzhu, director of China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration, at the opening ceremony.
In addition, the museum will become a demonstration site for the protection, preservation and exhibition of China’s major cultural heritage sites and a research center for the origin of Chinese civilization.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will launch test flights for the next two space rockets in its Smart Dragon series meant for commercial use in 2020 and 2021, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, as an expected boom in satellite deployment gathers pace.
The release of the flight schedule by China Rocket Co, a unit of state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, comes two months after the firm’s first reusable rocket, the 23-tonne Smart Dragon-1, delivered three satellites into orbit.
China envisions constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Reusable designs will enable frequent rocket launches and help keep costs down.
The solid-propellant Smart Dragon-2, weighing about 60 tonnes and with a total length of 21 metres, will be capable of sending 500 kg payloads into orbit at an altitude of 500 km (310 miles), Xinhua said. It is expected to conduct a flight test next year.
At about 116 tonnes and with a length of 31 metres, the Smart Dragon-3, set for a test flight in 2021, will be capable of sending 1.5 tonne payloads into orbit, Xinhua added.
In July, Beijing-based iSpace became the first private Chinese firm to deliver a satellite into orbit on its rocket. Since late last year, two other startups have attempted to launch satellites but failed.
Image copyright ANIImage caption The photographs drew mockery and scorn on social media
An Indian school official has apologised after a bizarre set of images went viral showing students wearing cardboard boxes on their heads.
The images were taken during a chemistry exam at Bhagat Pre-University College in Haveri, Karnataka state.
They showed students wearing boxes, cut open on one side, to prevent them from being able to copy other people’s work.
A junior college administrator has spoken publicly and apologised to district officials for the incident.
MB Satish told BBC Hindi he was sorry for trying to use the unusual anti-cheating technique.
He said the school has only implemented the measure on an “experimental basis” after hearing of its use elsewhere.
Image copyright ANIImage caption The school official said he had heard of the technique being used in Mumbai
He also insisted it had been done with the students’ consent – in fact they had brought in their own boxes.
“There was no compulsion of any kind. You can see in the photograph that some students were not wearing it,” he said. “Some who wore it removed it after 15 minutes, some after 20 minutes and we ourselves asked them to remove it after one hour.”
Regional officials reportedly rushed to the school to complain as soon as they were made aware of the images.
SC Peerjade, deputy director of the local pre-University Education Board, described the practice as “inhumane”.
“When I got a message on this, I immediately went to the college and ordered the management to stop the practice,” he was quoted by the Times of India as saying. “I also issued a notice to the college management and am contemplating disciplinary action against them for implementing this idea.”
School officials have said they have ceased the practice and are co-operating with the school board’s directive.
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – India and Pakistan blamed one another for cross-border shelling in the disputed Kashmir region which killed and injured soldiers and civilians on both sides and made it one of the deadliest days since New Delhi revoked Kashmir’s special status in August.
India said there was heavy shelling by Pakistan across the border in northern Kashmir’s Tangdhar region late on Saturday night, killing two Indian soldiers and one civilian. Islamabad said one of its soldiers and three civilians died after India violated the ceasefire, according to the spokesman for the Pakistani Armed Forces.
Kashmir has been a disputed subject between the two nuclear-armed neighbours since they both got independence in 1947, and they have fought two of their three wars over the region.
Tensions between the two countries have flared and there has been intermittent cross-border firing since Aug. 5 when New Delhi flooded Indian Kashmir with troops to quell unrest after it revoked the region’s special autonomous status.
Islamabad has warned that changing Kashmir’s status would escalate tensions but India says the withdrawal of special status is an internal affair and is aimed at faster economic development of the territory.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the claims made by both sides on the shelling, which marks an escalation from the small arms fire usually exchanged by the two armies.
There was an unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan, said Indian defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia.
“Our troops retaliated strongly causing heavy damage and casualties to the enemy,” Kalia said.
An Indian army source said the shelling was cover to assist militants enter India because of which a “calibrated escalation of area weapons was undertaken”. The Indian army “retains the right to respond at a time and place of it’s choosing” if the Pakistani army continues to do this, he said.
Pakistan, meanwhile, also claimed that India’s attack was unprovoked and deliberately targeted at civilians.
Major General Asif Ghafoor, a spokesman for the Pakistan Armed Forces, said Pakistan responded “effectively,” killing 9 Indian soldiers, injuring several others and destroying 2 bunkers.
“The Indian army shall always get a befitting response,” he said.
Indian forces in Kashmir have gone “berserk”, Raja Farooq Haider, prime minister of Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir region, said, adding that six civilians died and 8 were injured.
“This is the height of savagery. The world must not stay silent over it. #KashmirNeedsAttention,” he said in a tweet.
on Saturday reiterated his promise to keep opening up the nation’s markets to companies and investors from around the world.
“The door of China’s opening up will only open wider and wider, the business environment will only get better and better, and the opportunities for global multinational companies will only be more and more,” he said in a congratulatory letter read out by Vice-Premier Han Zheng at the inaugural Qingdao Multinationals Summit in the east China city.
The two-day event, which ends on Sunday, was organised by China’s commerce ministry and the provincial government of Shandong with the aim, according to its website, of giving multinational companies “the opportunity to articulate their business values and vision” and “promote cooperation with host countries”.
In his letter, Xi praised multinational companies for the role they had played in China’s opening up and reform over the past four decades, describing them as “important participants, witnesses and beneficiaries”.
China was willing to continue opening up to benefit not only itself but the world as a whole, he said.
“Only when the world is good, China is good. Only when China is good, can the world get better.”
Despite its upbeat tone, Xi’s message comes as Beijing is facing intense scrutiny from the international business community over its state-led economic model – one of the main bones of contention in its trade war with the US – and its attempts to prevent foreign firms from speaking out on issues it deems too sensitive, from Hong Kong to human rights.
Foreign firms have also long complained about the barriers they face when trying to access China’s markets and the privileged treatment it gives to state-owned enterprises. Even though Beijing has promised to reform its state sector, foreign businesses have complained of slow progress, and just last month the European Union Chamber of Commerce urged the EU to take more defensive measures against China’s “resurgent” state economy.
Xi promised “more and more” opportunities for global firms. Photo: AP
Sheman Lee, executive director of Forbes Global Media Holding and CEO of Forbes China, said at the Qingdao summit that foreign firms were facing a difficult trading environment in the world’s second-largest economy.
“Multinationals have seen their growth in China slow in recent years because of the growing challenge from local firms, a gradually saturating market and rising operation costs,” he said.
Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, said that many multinational companies were reluctant to release their best products in China out of fear of losing their intellectual property.
China still not doing enough to woo foreign investment
In his letter, Xi said that over the next 15 years, the value of China’s annual imports of goods would rise beyond US$30 trillion, while the value of imported services would surpass US$10 trillion a year, creating major opportunities for multinational companies.
China would also reduce tariffs, remove non-tariff barriers and speed up procedures for customs clearance, he said.
Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said at the opening ceremony that China would also continue to improve market access and intellectual property protection.
The country supported economic globalisation and would safeguard the multilateral trade system, he said, adding that it was willing to work with the governments of other countries and multinational corporations to promote economic globalisation.
Xi Jinping says the value of China’s annual goods imports will rise beyond US$30 trillion over the next 15 years. Photo: Bloomberg
The promise to continue to open up China’s markets came after the State Council
– the nation’s cabinet – made exactly the same pledge at its weekly meeting on Wednesday.
After the latest round of trade war negotiations in Washington, Beijing said it had achieved “substantive progress” on intellectual property protection, trade cooperation and technology transfers, all of which have been major bones of contention for the United States.
Despite its pledge to welcome multinational companies into its market, China is in the process of creating a list of “unreliable foreign entities” it considers damaging to the interests of Chinese companies. The roster, which is expected to include FedEx, is seen as a response to a similar list produced earlier by the United States.
Xi’s gesture would also appear to have come too late for South Korean multinational
, which announced on October 4 it had ended the production of smartphones at its factory in Huizhou, Guangdong province – its last in China – with the loss of thousands of jobs.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 