The start of the New Orient Express. Sorry, Somali pirates!
14/01/2013
Central government appears determined to let the people’s voice be heard and not censored by local authorities. Good news – if enforced.
13/01/2013
Prof Chovanec is based in China and has great insights about all matters relating to China. This time about the likelihood of revolution in China.
A surprising number of people in China have been writing and talking about “revolution”. First came word, in November, that China’s new leaders have been advising their colleagues to read Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic book on the French Revolution, L’Ancien Régime et la Révolution (The Old Regime and the Revolution), which subsequently has shot to the top of China’s best seller lists. Just this past week, Chinese scholar Zhao Dinxing, a sociology professor at the University of Chicago, felt the need to publish an article (in Chinese) laying out the reasons China won’t have a revolution (you can read an English summary here). Minxin Pei, on the other hand, thinks it will.
In the midst of this debate, I happened across an interesting set of passages in retired Harvard professor Richard Pipes’ slender volume Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution. The first “why” he…
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13/01/2013
* China-wary Army for mountain strike corps
Times of India: “The Army has come up with a fresh proposal for the new mountain strike corps, apart from two “independent” infantry brigades and two “independent” armoured brigades, to plug operational gaps along the LAC (line of actual control) as well as to acquire “some offensive capabilities” against China.
The raising of the new formations will cost around Rs 81,000 crore, spread primarily over the 12th Plan period (2012-17), with a little spillover into the 13th Plan if necessary, say sources.
“The approved 12th Army Plan, as part of the LTIPP (long-term integrated perspective plan), already ca-ters Rs 62,000 crore for the corps. The Army is now asking for another Rs 19,000 crore,” said a source.
With additional armoured regiments and infantry units based in Ladakh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand, the new mountain corps (around 40,000 soldiers) will for the first time give India the capability to also launch a counter-offensive into TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region) in the event of a Chinese attack, say sources.
As with the development of the over 5,000-km Agni-V and 3,500-km Agni-IV ballistic missiles — coupled with the ongoing progressive deployment of Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, spy drones, helicopters and missile squadrons in the northeast — the overall aim is to have “strategic deterrence” in place to dissuade China from embarking on any “misadventure”.”
via China-wary Army for mountain strike corps – The Times of India.
Related articles
- India successfully test-fires Agni-I ballistic missile (ndtv.com)
- Army scuttles Arjun trials to push through Russian T-90 purchase (indianmilitarynews.wordpress.com)
- * India test-fires missile interceptor (chindia-alert.org)
12/01/2013
* India Industry Praises Modi at Gujarat Conference
WSJ: “India’s top industrialists and foreign diplomats met at a conference in Gujarat state Friday, singing praises for the pro-business policies set in place by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a man widely tipped to be a leading candidate for prime minister in 2014.
Mr. Modi took the compliments in his stride, smiling and clapping, and even rising to give billionaire Anil Ambani a hug after a particularly laudatory speech at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
“Narendra Modi is a king of kings, a leader of leaders,” said Mr. Ambani, chairman of the $76 billion Reliance Group.”
via India Industry Praises Modi at Gujarat Conference – WSJ.com.
11/01/2013
New Asean secretary general vows quick negotiations on South China Sea
Bangkok Post: “The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is seeking early talks with China to discuss a code of conduct to manage tensions over the disputed South China Sea, the bloc’s new chief said Wednesday.
China claims most of the sea, including a vital shipping lane and resource-rich areas. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei have overlapping claims in the area, as does Taiwan.
“Asean should speed up efforts towards an early start of negotiations with China with a view to achieving an early conclusion of a code of conduct on the South China Sea,” Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said.
Newly inaugurated Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh of Vietnam, left, shakes hands with outgoing former Surin Pitsuwan during the office handover ceremony. (Reuters photo)
The Vietnamese diplomat was speaking in Jakarta after officially assuming the post of Asean secretary, replacing Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand.
In 2011, Asean and China agreed on a non-binding set of guidelines to allow dialogue and cooperation during talks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
A binding code of conduct is aimed at reducing the chance of conflict among the claimants.
Mr Minh also vowed to push Asean to move ahead in launching the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
“Despite the many challenges, I fully believe that Asean will emerge triumphant.
“The Asean Secretariat will continue to play active roles in supporting and coordinating with member states to help facilitate and drive the establishment of the Asean Community,” Mr Minh said.
“The next five years will be exciting and critical ones. We in the secretariat are prepared to work closely with Asean member states to ensure we are able to deliver our major commitments and objectives,” he said.”
via New Asean secretary general vows quick negotiations on South China Sea | Bangkok Post: news.
Related articles
- * Southeast Asia calls for talks with China on sea dispute (chindia-alert.org)
- ASEAN Leader to Push Consensus on South China Sea Disputes (voanews.com)
- South China Sea Dispute Flares at ASEAN Summit (voanews.com)
09/01/2013
* Security tsar Meng Jianzhu criticises interference in court proceedings
Time will tell if central criticism like this makes any differences away from Beijing. But at least the centre is trying to improve the judicial process.
SCMP: “Security tsar Meng Jianzhu has criticised excessive interference by officials in court proceedings – a practice so rampant that judges frequently receive notes at the bench telling them how to rule.
Meng, the newly appointed secretary of the Central Politics and Legal Affairs Committee, attacked the “passing of paper slips” at a video conference with top law-and-order officials on Monday, sources said.
Such notes are usually passed by members of lower-level politics and legal affairs committees based in the courts.
“Meng criticised the old system in which the party’s committee always gives concrete instructions to the courts to tell them how to rule on individual cases,” said one participant who declined to be named.
The source had often witnessed committee members passing notes to judges.
The remarks, in which Meng also announced an eventual end to the “re-education through forced labour” system, were not reported by state media.
The committees have been condemned by legal experts as a source of obstruction of justice, especially in regard to political lawsuits. The committees, which have overriding authority in courts, exist in all jurisdictions.
“The existence of the committees is a violation of the constitution by damaging judicial independence,” said Hu Jinguang, a constitutional law professor at Renmin University.
“Laws are only as good as the party authorities who allow them to be enforced.””
via Security tsar Meng Jianzhu criticises interference in court proceedings | South China Morning Post.
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- Meng Jianzhu replaces Zhou Yongkang as China’s legal enforcement chief (wantchinatimes.com)
09/01/2013
* China censorship storm spreads, Beijing paper publisher resigns in protest
Another editor stands for press freedom. Brave man, indeed.
SCMP: “In the aftermath of a rare confrontation between Chinese journalists and Communist Party censors, the publisher of a large Beijing-based newspaper has resigned.
Dai Zigeng, the Communist Party-appointed publisher of the Beijing News, announced his resignation on Tuesday night after a heated argument with propaganda officials over the publication of a controversial editorial, three senior editors at the paper told the Post on Wednesday. They were all at the scene and heard Dai tell his Communist Party bosses, “I now verbally submit my resignation to you,” in the early hours on Wednesday.
It remains unknown whether Dai’s resignation has been officially accepted by Beijing propaganda authorities.
The Beijing News has a daily circulation of more than half a million, according to its Web site.
The editorial in question, originally published in the nationalistic tabloid Global Times on Sunday, was seen as an official response to the recent strike and protest at the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly. It blames the clashes at the Guangzhou paper on freewheeling journalists and “hostile foreign forces”. Global Times is a subsidiary publication of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily.
Propaganda authorities had ordered an unknown number of daily newspapers throughout the country to run the editorial in their Tuesday editions, but only a small number of newspapers complied on that day. Dai and his staff had refused to publish the editorial after they received orders from Beijing Party censors to do so. But a Beijing propaganda official threatened to disband the newsroom and close the newspaper if they continued to disobey.
The Beijing News ran the Global Times editorial on page A20 in Wednesday’s edition . But page editors refused to put their names at the bottom of the page in protest, editors told the Post.”
Related articles
- China anti-censorship protest attracts support across country (guardian.co.uk)
- China celebrities back censorship protest (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
- ‘Get rid of censorship:’ Protesters Gather in Front of Chinese Newspaper (theepochtimes.com)
- Anti-Censorship Protest in China (worldnewscurator.com)
- Chinese Journalists Go On Strike Over Communist Party Censorship (ibtimes.com)
- Southern Weekly negotiates with government amid protests – South China Morning Post (scmp.com)
09/01/2013
* Pak’s action highly objectionable: Defence minister
Following from the death of a Pakistani soldier, this retaliation – if proven to be accurate – is not acceptable of any national army in the 21st century.
Times of India: “Defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday blasted Pakistan for the gruesome way in which an Indian soldier was beheaded by its troops who intruded into Indian territory in the Mendhar sector of J&K on Tuesday.
“The Pakistan Army’s action is highly objectionable and also the way they treated the body of the Indian soldier is inhuman,” said Antony.
“We will take it up with the Pakistan government and our Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) will talk to his counterpart in Pakistan. We are closely monitoring the situation,” he added.
As reported by TOI, an Indian soldier was beheaded and another’s body mutilated by Pakistani troops after they crossed over into Indian territory in Mendhar at about 11 am on Tuesday, in a grim reminder of the barbarism exhibited in the Captain Saurabh Kalia case during the bloody Kargil conflict in 1999.”
via Pak’s action highly objectionable: Defence minister – The Times of India.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/indian-tensions/
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