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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Image copyright PRESS INFORMATION BUREAUImage caption The area has become a hotspot in part because of a road India has built
The armies of the world’s two most populous nations are locked in a tense face-off high in the Himalayas, which has the potential to escalate as they seek to further their strategic goals.
Officials quoted by the Indian media say thousands of Chinese troops have forced their way into the Galwan valley in Ladakh, in the disputed Kashmir region.
Indian leaders and military strategists have clearly been left stunned.
The reports say that in early May, Chinese forces put up tents, dug trenches and moved heavy equipment several kilometres inside what had been regarded by India as its territory. The move came after India built a road several hundred kilometres long connecting to a high-altitude forward air base which it reactivated in 2008.
The message from China appears clear to observers in Delhi – this is not a routine incursion.
“The situation is serious. The Chinese have come into territory which they themselves accepted as part of India. It has completely changed the status quo,” says Ajai Shukla, an Indian military expert who served as a colonel in the army.
China takes a different view, saying it’s India which has changed facts on the ground.
Reports in the Indian media said soldiers from the two sides clashed on at least two occasions in Ladakh. Stand-offs are reported in at least three locations: the Galwan valley; Hot Springs; and Pangong lake to the south.
India and China share a border more than 3,440km (2,100 miles) long and have overlapping territorial claims. Their border patrols often bump into each other, resulting in occasional scuffles but both sides insist no bullet has been fired in four decades.
Their armies – two of the world’s largest – come face to face at many points. The poorly demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC) separates the two sides. Rivers, lakes and snowcaps mean the line separating soldiers can shift and they often come close to confrontation.
The current military tension is not limited to Ladakh. Soldiers from the two sides are also eyeball-to-eyeball in Naku La, on the border between China and the north-eastern Indian state of Sikkim. Earlier this month they reportedly came to blows.
And there’s a row over a new map put out by Nepal, too, which accuses India of encroaching on its territory by building a road connecting with China.
Why are tensions rising now?
There are several reasons – but competing strategic goals lie at the root, and both sides blame each other.
“The traditionally peaceful Galwan River has now become a hotspot because it is where the LAC is closest to the new road India has built along the Shyok River to Daulet Beg Oldi (DBO) – the most remote and vulnerable area along the LAC in Ladakh,” Mr Shukla says.
India’s decision to ramp up infrastructure seems to have infuriated Beijing.
Image copyright AFPImage caption There have been protests in Nepal against Indi’s new road link
“According to the Chinese military, India is the one which has forced its way into the Galwan valley. So, India is changing the status quo along the LAC – that has angered the Chinese,” says Dr Long Xingchun, president of the Chengdu Institute of World Affairs (CIWA), a think tank.
Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia programme at the Wilson Center, another think tank, says this face-off is not routine. He adds China’s “massive deployment of soldiers is a show of strength”.
The road could boost Delhi’s capability to move men and material rapidly in case of a conflict.
Differences have been growing in the past year over other areas of policy too.
The new federally-administered Ladakh included Aksai Chin, an area India claims but China controls.
Senior leaders of India’s Hindu-nationalist BJP government have also been talking about recapturing Pakistan-administered Kashmir. A strategic road, the Karakoram highway, passes through this area that connects China with its long-term ally Pakistan. Beijing has invested about $60bn (£48bn) in Pakistan’s infrastructure – the so-called China Pakistan Economic corridor (CPEC) – as part of its Belt and Road Initiative and the highway is key to transporting goods to and from the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar. The port gives China a foothold in the Arabian Sea.
In addition, China was unhappy when India initially banned all exports of medical and protective equipment to shore up its stocks soon after the coronavirus pandemic started earlier this year.
How dangerous could this get?
“We routinely see both armies crossing the LAC – it’s fairly common and such incidents are resolved at the local military level. But this time, the build-up is the largest we have ever seen,” says former Indian diplomat P Stobdan, an expert in Ladakh and India-China affairs.
“The stand-off is happening at some strategic areas that are important for India. If Pangong lake is taken, Ladakh can’t be defended. If the Chinese military is allowed to settle in the strategic valley of Shyok, then the Nubra valley and even Siachen can be reached.”
In what seems to be an intelligence failure, India seems to have been caught off guard again. According to Indian media accounts, the country’s soldiers were outnumbered and surrounded when China swiftly diverted men and machines from a military exercise to the border region.
This triggered alarm in Delhi – and India has limited room for manoeuvre. It can either seek to persuade Beijing to withdraw its troops through dialogue or try to remove them by force. Neither is an easy option.
“China is the world’s second-largest military power. Technologically it’s superior to India. Infrastructure on the other side is very advanced. Financially, China can divert its resources to achieve its military goals, whereas the Indian economy has been struggling in recent years, and the coronavirus crisis has worsened the situation,” says Ajai Shukla.
What next?
History holds difficult lessons for India. It suffered a humiliating defeat during the 1962 border conflict with China. India says China occupies 38,000km of its territory. Several rounds of talks in the last three decades have failed to resolve the boundary issues.
China already controls the Aksai Chin area further east of Ladakh and this region, claimed by India, is strategically important for Beijing as it connect its Xinjiang province with western Tibet.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption India and China have a long history of border disputes
In 2017 India and China were engaged in a similar stand-off lasting more than two months in Doklam plateau, a tri-junction between India, China and Bhutan.
This time, too, talks are seen as the only way forward – both countries have so much to lose in a military conflict.
“China has no intention to escalate tensions and I think India also doesn’t want a conflict. But the situation depends on both sides. The Indian government should not be guided by the nationalistic media comments,” says Dr Long Xingchun of the CIWA in Chengdu. “Both countries have the ability to solve the dispute through high-level talks.”
Chinese media have given hardly any coverage to the border issue, which is being interpreted as a possible signal that a route to talks will be sought.
Pratyush Rao, associate director for South Asia at Control Risks consultancy, says both sides have “a clear interest in prioritising their economic recovery” and avoiding military escalation.
“It is important to recognise that both sides have a creditable record of maintaining relative peace and stability along their disputed border.”
Project will examine whether earthquake and changing wind speeds have affected peak’s snowcap
Survey team hoping the BeiDou satellite navigation system and other Chinese technology can help them find the answer
A Chinese team is preparing to determine the exact height of Mount Everest. Photo: AFP
China is sending a surveying and mapping team to the summit of Mount Everest this month in a bid to end the long-running debate over the precise height of the world’s tallest mountain.
The mission was announced on Wednesday at one of the mountain’s base camps in Tibet, where a team of 53 surveyors has been making technical preparations since March 2. The team will use China’s BeiDou navigation satellite system and Chinese surveying instruments for the project.
Mount Everest – known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet – lies in the Himalayas on the border between China and Nepal. The two countries have long disputed whether measurements of the mountain should include its snowcap or be limited to the rock base.
Nepal suspends Everest permits over coronavirus
In 2005, a Chinese expedition assessed the peak and measured the height from both the rock base and from the top of the snowfall. The result, a rock height of 8,844.43 metres (29,017.2 feet), was declared by China to be the most accurate and precise measurement to date.
Nepal has long held that Everest’s snowcap should be included, putting the iconic peak at 8,848 metres, a height which is widely accepted. However, geologists believe the snowcap may have shrunk by several centimetres after the magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 2015. Changing wind speeds are also believed to have affected it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Nepal in October. Photo: EPA-EFE
Following a state visit to Nepal by Chinese President Xi Jinping in October, the two countries agreed to jointly launch a scientific research project to determine the exact height of Everest, recognising the peak as “an eternal symbol of the friendship between the two countries”.
China’s natural resources ministry said the project indicated a new step in the friendship and highlighted the historical significance of the mission, which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the first Chinese ascent of the mountain’s north side as well as the 45th anniversary of China’s first precise measurement of the peak.
The results of the survey will be used for geodynamics research and the precise depth of the summit’s snowcap, meteorological and wind speed data will offer first-hand materials for glacier monitoring and biological environment protection.
In a separate development, China Mobile said on Thursday that the entire peak now had 5G coverage.
In a joint project with Huawei, 5G antennas were installed at the mountain’s advance base camp, at a height of 6,500 metres. Antennas were installed earlier in April at the lower base camp, at 5,300 metres and at 5,800 metres.
KATHMANDU, March 29 (Xinhua) — The emergency epidemic prevention materials donated by the Chinese side arrived here on Sunday to help Nepal fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The supplies that arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepali capital city Kathmandu in the wee hours of Sunday were formally handed over to the Nepali Health Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal by the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi.
Dhakal welcomed the Chinese support and expressed gratitude to the northern neighbor for helping the Himalayan country overcome the epidemic.
“I would like to thank the Chinese people and the Chinese government for supporting Nepal in this difficult time to fight the COVID-19,” the minister said during the handover ceremony.
At a time when many countries are fighting against this battle, China keeping Nepal in the priority list and sending supplies immediately is really commendable, the minister expressed, adding that Nepal expects China’s support in the coming days as well.
The donations from China’s Sichuan Province and the Chinese Embassy include different kinds of masks, thermometers, Chloroquine phosphate tablets, protective clothing and portable ventilators weighing 1.1 tons.
Similarly, the donation from Alibaba Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation includes 100,200 N95 masks and 20,064 PCR test kits weighing 1.4 tons.
“We will try our best to send other necessary supplies as soon as possible. In case of any emergency, we can send a medical expert team or arrange a video conference meeting as well to help the health workers here,” the Chinese ambassador said.
She also welcomed the national lockdown enforced by the Nepal government, stating that it has received encouraging support from the general public.
Nepal is reportedly in dire need for medical supplies as the entire situation escalates in the country. Nepal, facing the shortage of test kits and personal protective equipment for health workers, has recorded five confirmed cases of the COVID-19 so far.
But there is a growing concern over a possible spike in the cases due to the relatively low number of tests. Nepal has enforced a week-long nationwide lockdown since March 24 to prevent the spread of infection.
The health ministry said that the received support materials will be distributed to federal and provincial levels hospitals immediately and will be useful for the prevention and management of the COVID-19 in Nepal.
Mahendra Shrestha, director general at the Department of Health Services under the Health Ministry, told Xinhua on Saturday, “The procured test kits from China will help us in the situation of spike in positive cases of the COVID-19.”
The Lunar New Year’s Eve in Wuhan, ground zero of the novel coronavirus outbreak in central China, is nothing but special. Behind the seemingly quiet streets, people in all walks of life are racing against time to fight against the invisible enemy.
WUHAN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) — There were far fewer cars on the streets and bustling crowds were not seen in the shopping malls in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Jan. 24 — the Eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
The scene was quite different from the occasion in the previous years because of the novel coronavirus that has claimed over 40 lives and infected over a thousand nationwide. With a population of over 10 million, Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, is the center of the epidemic.
Photo taken on Jan. 24, 2020 shows a medical aid team of Army Medical University leaving for Wuhan in southwest China’s Chongqing. On the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, a group of 150 medical workers from the Army Medical University left for Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, to provide medical aid. (Xinhua)
Yang Yingchen, a volunteer of the Red Cross Society of China’s Wuhan branch, had a busy day answering calls.
“People from across the nation called to check on accounts and addresses to make donations,” said Yang. “Many would say ‘Come on, Wuhan’ to us, which makes me feel especially warm and deeply moved.”
Chen Li, a doctor in a Wuhan hospital, spent the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve at home to quarantine herself. She is a little bit worried about having had contact with infected patients, but luckily she has no signs of symptoms for the time being.
“Before joining the fight against the epidemic, I had sent my four-year-old son to my parents. I has disinfected all the articles in my house,” she said.
Chen’s husband is at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic. “We haven’t seen each other for over a week,” said Chen. On Saturday morning, she put on protective clothing again and returned to work.
“Actually, I can’t be isolated for too long. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” she said. “I just don’t know when I can see my boy again.”
Aerial photo taken on Jan. 24, 2020 shows mechanical equipment working at the construction site of a special hospital in the Caidian District of western suburb of Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province. The central China metropolitan of Wuhan will follow Beijing’s SARS treatment model to build a special hospital for admitting patients infected in the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
The virus had resulted in 41 deaths in China by the end of Friday, mostly in Wuhan, according to the National Health Commission. Nationwide, a total of 1,287 cases were confirmed, including 237 in critical condition.
Confirmed cases were also reported in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal and France.
Wuhan is following Beijing’s SARS treatment model in 2003 to build a makeshift hospital with a capability of 1,000 beds for admitting infected patients. Construction on the facility began Thursday night. It will be completed and put into use prior to Feb. 3, less than 10 days away.
“It’s going to be another all-nighter. We need to speed up work and complete the hospital as soon as possible,” said Lyu Jun, a young truck driver at the construction site. This is his first Spring Festival away from home.
For ordinary people, this year’s Lunar New Year’s Eve lacks some gatherings but is still a time to extend greetings and wishes.
Yin Yeqiong, from Hunan Province, refunded her tickets back home after much debate. “I had it in my mind to still go home, but finally decided to stay in Wuhan,” she said. “Our stay will help reduce panic in other places.”
Liu Jie, a dough sculptor, put on a New Year costume and watched the Spring Festival Gala with his family. “We’re now at a critical period, so I texted New Year wishes to friends and relatives this year. I believe this is the best way,” he said.
Liu Jiapeng, a children’s book editor, stayed in Wuhan during the Spring Festival for the past four decades. “I always stayed with my family, and we would have every meal together,” said Liu. “But this year, I haven’t had one meal with them.”
On the day of the Lunar New Year’s Eve, he and his wife bought some goods for their parents, brought them to their house and briefly chatted. As they were waiting for the elevator, Liu looked back and saw his father standing at the windowsill, watching them leave.
Medical workers of Army Medical University assemble before leaving for Wuhan in southwest China’s Chongqing, Jan. 24, 2020. On the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, a group of 150 medical workers from the Army Medical University left for Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, to provide medical aid. (Xinhua)
China is mobilizing medical resources nationwide to aid Wuhan and control the epidemic. Doctors, nurses and experts from across the nation have been selected to join the battle, and manufacturers have restarted their plants to produce medical consumables that have been running short in many places.
A national research team of 14 experts, headed by renowned respiratory scientist Zhong Nanshan, has been set up to help prevent and control the outbreak on Friday.
“This is going to be an unforgettable Spring Festival,” said Chen Ying, a writer. “Because I feel that at this moment, there are so many families that I do not know, in every corner of this city, praying for our home.”
“My New Year wish is simple,” said Liu Jie. “I hope the virus will soon be conquered and everyone in Wuhan and the whole nation would be safe and healthy.”
BEIJING (Reuters) – The death toll from China’s coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41 as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start, with Hong Kong declaring a virus emergency, scrapping celebrations, and restricting links to mainland China.
Australia on Saturday confirmed its first four cases, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europe’s first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday declared a virus emergency in the Asian financial hub, with five confirmed cases, immediately halting official visits to mainland China and scrapping official Lunar New Year celebrations.
Inbound and outbound flights and high speed rail trips between Hong Kong and Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, would be halted, and schools, now on Lunar New Year holidays, would remain shut until Feb. 17. The territory was also treating 122 people suspected of having the disease.
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The death toll in China rose to 41 on Saturday from 26 a day earlier and more than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.
Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, made an appeal on Saturday for masks and protective suits. Hospitals in the city have made similar pleas.
“We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention … But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis,” he told a news briefing.
Vehicles carrying emergency supplies and medical staff for Wuhan would be exempted from tolls and given traffic priority, China’s transportation ministry said on Saturday.
Wuhan said it would ban non-essential vehicles from its downtown starting Sunday to control the spread of the virus, further paralysing a city of 11 million that has been on virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.
Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.
In Australia, three men, aged 53, 43 and 35 in New South Wales were in stable condition after they were confirmed to have the virus after returning from Wuhan earlier this month.
A Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan, was also in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital after arriving from China on Jan. 19, Victoria Health officials said.
State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.
Police officers stand guard in front of the closed gate of Lama Temple where a notice saying that the temple is closed for the safety concern following the outbreak of a new coronavirus is seen, in Beijing, China January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.
U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald’s in five Hubei cities.
PROTECTIVE SUITS
In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China’s Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.
The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287. The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, and the United States.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases. While China has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after cover-up of the 2002/2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spread, officials in Wuhan have come in for criticism over their handling of the current outbreak.
In rare public dissent, a senior journalist at a Hubei provincial newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party on Friday called for a “immediate” change of leadership in Wuhan on the Twitter-like Weibo. The post was later removed.
REINFORCEMENTS TO WUHAN
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an “emergency in China” this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.
Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus.
China’s National Health Commission said it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan.
Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000 bed hospital in six days to treat patients, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.
The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.
Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.
NEW YEAR DISRUPTIONS
Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings.
There are fears the transmission could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which began on Saturday, although many have cancelled their plans, with airlines and railways in China providing free refunds.
The virus outbreak and efforts to contain it have put a dampener on what is ordinarily a festive time of year.
Sanya, a popular resort destination on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, announced that it was shutting all tourist sites, while the island’s capital city, Haikou, said visitors from Wuhan would be placed under 14-day quarantine in a hotel.
Shanghai Disneyland was closed from Saturday. The theme park has a 100,000 daily capacity and sold out during last year’s Lunar New Year holiday.
Beijing’s Lama Temple, where people traditionally make offerings for the new year, has also closed, as have some other temples.
Comic crusader Priya, a gang-rape survivor who earlier campaigned against rape and acid attack, is back in a new avatar. This time she is fighting the trafficking of girls and women for sex.
The “modern-day female superhero” was first launched in December 2014, exactly two years after the horrific gang rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi, to focus attention on the problems of gender and sexual violence in India.
In the latest edition – Priya and the Lost Girls – she takes on the powerful sex-trafficker Rahu, the evil demon who runs an underworld brothel city where he has entrapped many women, including Priya’s sister Lakshmi.
Indian-American actor and writer Dipti Mehta, who wrote the script of the comic, draws on ancient Indian mythology to create larger-than-life fantastical characters and delivers a powerful feminist statement.
The story of Lost Girls begins when the protagonist returns home to find that there are no girls in her village.
She then mounts her flying tiger Sahas (Hindi for courage) and arrives in Rahu’s den. It’s a city ruled by greed, jealousy and lust, where women exist only to serve and please men – and those who resist are turned into stone.
Image copyright PRIYASHAKTI
Priya is threatened and attacked, a woman who works for Rahu tries to lure her into the sex trade saying: “If you work for us, you’d serve only five to six men and not 20”, but in the end, good wins over evil and she manages to vanquish Rahu and liberate her sister and all the other trafficked girls.
But victory still eludes her. The families of rescued girls refuse to take them back. The survivors are treated like “lepers”, facing stigma, scorn and ridicule.
But Priya and the other girls stand up to confront patriarchy, says Ms Mehta, “just as women have broken their silence to talk about MeToo”, the campaign against sexual harassment and abuse that started in Hollywood in October 2107 and later spread to many other parts of the world.
“I was very clear from the start that Lost Girls can’t be just another comic book where good guy wins and evil dies, it had to be much more than that,” Ms Mehta says.
Image copyright PRIYASHAKTI
Ram Devineni, the Indian-American creator of the comic series, told the BBC that he had decided to focus on sex trafficking in this edition after visiting Sonagachi, India’s largest red-light area in the eastern city of Kolkata, where he met several women engaged in sex work.
“Half of them told me they had been tricked into coming there and, once there, they were forced into the sex trade. The other half said they’d agreed to do this for a living because they were dirt poor and they had no alternative.
“Often there were two to three women sharing a small dingy room, many of them had young children who lived with them, and some of them said their children slept in the same bed where they serviced clients.
Mr Devineni says that from his conversations with them, he realised that many of the women there could leave, but chose not to.
“Most believed in the idea of sacrifice, for the sake of their families, their children. The shackles that hold them back are mostly emotional and psychological coercion.”
Some of their stories, he says, have found their way into the Lost Girls, which will be launched digitally on Monday to coincide with the start of United Nation’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence.
Image copyright PRIYASHAKTIAccording to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is the second largest organised criminal business in the world after the arms trade. It is even ahead of the drugs trade.
“It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry,” anti-trafficking activist Ruchira Gupta told the BBC on the phone from New York.
Ms Gupta, who supports trafficked girls and women in India through her charity Apne Aap Women Worldwide, says there are 100 million people trapped in human trafficking globally, of which 27 million are in India alone, and most of the trafficking is in girls and young women.
India, Bangladesh and Nepal, she says, make up “the epicentre” of global sex trafficking.
Ms Gupta, who collaborated on Priya and the Lost Girls, says she plans to take the comic to schools and colleges in India and the US to use it as a talking tool, “as a conversation starter on what is a very difficult topic”.
The only way to fight trafficking, she believes, is to “de-normalise” sex trade – and cinema, art and pop culture are tools that can help do that.
The comic is made to appeal to young people. After its launch, it can be downloaded for free anywhere in the world; it also has “augmented reality features”, which means people can see special animation and movies by scanning the artwork with their smartphones.
Image copyright PRIYASHAKTI
“People often make flippant comments to say that prostitution is the oldest occupation in the world, but they don’t realise that trafficking is not some poor woman getting money in exchange for having sex with a man. It is the extreme exploitation of most vulnerable girls,” Ms Gupta says.
To stop this “commodification” of girls, she adds, we need to create revulsion in men’s minds about sex trade – and it’s best to catch them young.
“We must work with young boys and teenagers, 13 to 14 year olds, through storytelling and pop culture. They learn about sex from porn sites which portray sex workers as happy hookers, and no-one sees the girl behind her.
“I want to demolish that myth of the happy hooker. I want to ensure that people see the girl behind her.”
Artwork by Syd Fini and Neda Kazemifar
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Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari hosts a grand farewell ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 13, 2019. Nepali Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, cabinet members and senior army generals also attended the ceremony. Chinese President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing from Kathmandu on Sunday. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing Sunday evening after his second informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and a state visit to Nepal.
Xi’s entourage, including Ding Xuexiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee; State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi; and He Lifeng, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and head of the National Development and Reform Commission, also returned to Beijing on the same plane.
As Xi and his entourage were leaving Kathmandu on Sunday noon local time, people of Nepal flocked to both sides of a road leading to the airport, waving flags and playing music to see the Chinese guests off.
Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari hosted a grand farewell ceremony for Xi at the airport. Nepali Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, cabinet members and senior army generals also attended the ceremony, which featured a 21-gun salute and the playing of national anthems of China and Nepal.
Calling his visit to Nepal a “very successful” one, Xi told Bhandari that upon his arrival, he had been warmly welcomed by the Nepali government and people.
Xi said he was convinced that the China-Nepal friendship enjoyed lasting popularity among the two peoples and will be unbreakable.
Expressing his appreciation for the arrangements made by the Nepali president, government and people, Xi said he was very satisfied with the visit that had resulted in the upgrading of bilateral relations.
He called for joint efforts to further develop the friendly relations between the two countries.
Bhandari said Xi’s successful and fruitful visit has become a milestone in the history of bilateral ties.
The Nepal-China relationship has entered a new era and stepped on a new height, Bhandari said, adding that Nepal will resolutely work with China to promote friendly and good neighborly relations and strategic cooperative partnership.
Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari hosts a grand farewell ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 13, 2019. Nepali Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, cabinet members and senior army generals also attended the ceremony. Chinese President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing from Kathmandu on Sunday. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing Sunday evening after his second informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and a state visit to Nepal.
Xi’s entourage, including Ding Xuexiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee; State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi; and He Lifeng, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and head of the National Development and Reform Commission, also returned to Beijing on the same plane.
As Xi and his entourage were leaving Kathmandu on Sunday noon local time, people of Nepal flocked to both sides of a road leading to the airport, waving flags and playing music to see the Chinese guests off.
Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari hosted a grand farewell ceremony for Xi at the airport. Nepali Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, cabinet members and senior army generals also attended the ceremony, which featured a 21-gun salute and the playing of national anthems of China and Nepal.
Calling his visit to Nepal a “very successful” one, Xi told Bhandari that upon his arrival, he had been warmly welcomed by the Nepali government and people.
Xi said he was convinced that the China-Nepal friendship enjoyed lasting popularity among the two peoples and will be unbreakable.
Expressing his appreciation for the arrangements made by the Nepali president, government and people, Xi said he was very satisfied with the visit that had resulted in the upgrading of bilateral relations.
He called for joint efforts to further develop the friendly relations between the two countries.
Bhandari said Xi’s successful and fruitful visit has become a milestone in the history of bilateral ties.
The Nepal-China relationship has entered a new era and stepped on a new height, Bhandari said, adding that Nepal will resolutely work with China to promote friendly and good neighborly relations and strategic cooperative partnership.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 12, 2019. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
KATHMANDU, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) — China and Nepal agreed on Saturday to upgrade their relations to a strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity.
The agreement was made and announced when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Nepali counterpart, Bidya Devi Bhandari.
Xi said that he came to Nepal as scheduled after Bhandari warmly invited him for a visit this year when they met in Beijing in April. He also agreed that as what Bhandari has said there is only friendship and cooperation between China and Nepal.
Xi said that he saw sincere smile on the faces of the Nepali people and felt the friendship from the deep of their heart toward the Chinese people, adding that he felt once again that the China-Nepal friendship enjoys broad consensus and solid foundation in Nepal.
The two peoples have shared weal and woe, and set an example of friendly exchanges between neighboring countries, said Xi, adding that he hopes to carry forward the traditional friendship and take the bilateral relationship to a new and higher level via the visit.
Xi called on the two sides to consolidate the political foundation of bilateral ties, and set the building of a community with a shared future as a long-term goal for the development of China-Nepal relations.
The Chinese president appreciated Nepal’s firm adherence to the one-China policy, saying that China will as always support Nepal in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The two sides should build an all-round cooperation pattern, carry out the construction of a trans-Himalayan connectivity network, and expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, Xi said.
Noting that China just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Xi said that China will continue to deepen reform and expand opening-up so as to advance high-quality development.
A stable, open and prosperous China will always be a development opportunity for Nepal and the rest of the world, the Chinese leader added.
For her part, Bhandari warmly welcomed Xi’s state visit to Nepal and congratulated again on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, saying that Nepal is willing to learn from China’s successful experience of development.
Bhandari said she believes that the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, will realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, which will definitely bring benefits to Nepal, and help promote regional peace, development and prosperity.
Noting that Xi is the first Chinese president to visit Nepal in 23 years, Bhandari said the visit is of historic significance, adding that the two countries’ announcement of establishing a strategic partnership of cooperation will consolidate the two countries’ traditional friendship, enrich the contents of bilateral ties and usher in a new era for the Nepal-China relationship.
Nepal, she said, respects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never allow any anti-China force to engage in anti-China activities in Nepal, adding that Nepal is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and the building of a trans-Himalayan connectivity network.
Nepal is the second leg of Xi’s two-country trip, which also took him to the southern Indian city of Chennai for an informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The leaders agreed to set up a mechanism to boost economic ties and tackle India’s trade deficit with China after their second informal summit
As 2020 is the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between both countries, India and China will hold 70 events next year to promote relations
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Mamallapuram, Chennai. Photo: EPA
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi concluded their second informal summit on Saturday by pledging to overcome trade differences and appreciate “each other’s autonomous foreign policies”, signalling an effort to focus on mutual interests rather than on long-standing contentious issues.
Modi remarked that both sides had agreed to be “sensitive” to each other’s concerns and not let differences escalate into disputes, while Xi called for communication to “alleviate suspicions” and for India and China to enhance strategic mutual trust, according to state news broadcaster CCTV.
Their desire to look beyond irritants in diplomatic ties, including a decades-long border row and China’s close military ties with India’s arch rival, Pakistan, comes as Beijing is embroiled in a tariff war with Washington that has rocked the global economy.
In a sign of China’s willingness to address India’s trade deficit with it, the leaders agreed to launch a “High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue”.
As Xi meets Modi, Chinese in Chennai hope to witness the ‘Wuhan spirit’
Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua and Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet regularly to discuss ways to boost two-way trade and investments, Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said in a media briefing.
India has a US$53 billion trade deficit with China, which makes up almost a third of its total trade deficit. It is also facing pressure to decide if it will commit to the China-led
(RCEP), which aims to create the world’s largest trading bloc involving 16 countries before the end of the year.
Narendra Modi exchanges gifts with Xi Jinping. Photo: AFP
Negotiations are ongoing with talks taking place in Bangkok this week, but India’s domestic producers have opposed the agreement over fears of a flood of Chinese imports. On Friday, the Indian government rejected clauses in the agreement related to e-commerce, according to reports.
Gokhale told the media briefing that both leaders, who met in the coastal town of Mamallapuram about 50km away from Chennai, briefly discussed the RCEP.
“PM Modi said India was looking forward to the RCEP but it is important that RCEP is balanced, that a balance is maintained in trade in goods, trade in services and investments,” he said, adding that Xi agreed to further discussions of India’s concerns on the issue.
Narendra Modi with Xi Jinping in Mamallapuram. Photo: EPA
CCTV said Xi had six suggestions for how China and India could further improve ties, including assessing each other correctly and stepping up cooperation between their militaries. Besides economic and trade dialogue, China welcomed Indian pharmaceutical and IT companies to invest there, he said.
“We should look at disputes with a correct mind, and not let disputes affect cooperation.
“Both sides should properly and fairly get a solution for border disputes that are acceptable to each other … [and] cautiously handle each other’s core interests, and take proper measures to control issues that cannot be resolved immediately,” the president reportedly said.
Gokhale told reporters that both countries had agreed to pursue, through special representatives, an ongoing dialogue on their disputed border. China and India have held more than 20 rounds of talks to resolve their boundary dispute, over which they went to war in 1962. Different mechanisms have been set up to maintain peace along the 4,000-kilometre (2,485-mile) so-called Line of Actual Control.
Xi and Modi bank on chemistry as they talk trade and terrorism
Gokhale confirmed that the leaders – who met for a total of seven hours over Friday and Saturday, with the bulk of their time spent in one-on-one talks – did not discuss
has lobbied its allies – including its all-weather friend China – to support its opposition to the move. New Delhi had reacted sharply to Beijing’s move to take the matter to the United Nations, insisting that it was a purely bilateral issue. Two days before the summit, Xi had hosted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and had assured him of China’s support on all core issues, a statement that had irked India.
Gokhale said both leaders “emphasised the importance of having independent and autonomous foreign policies”.
“President Xi said that the two countries needed to have more extensive dialogue in order to understand each other’s perspectives on major global and regional issues,” he added.
Narendra Modi exchanges gifts with Xi Jinping. Photo: AFP
The leaders also discussed terrorism, with a statement issued later by New Delhi saying both sides would make efforts to ensure the international community strengthened its framework “against training, financing and supporting terrorist groups throughout the world and on a non-discriminatory basis”.
The China-led multilateral Financial Action Task Force, which has been investigating Pakistan’s efforts to stamp out the financing of terrorism, is expected to decide soon if it would add Islamabad to its blacklist along with Iran and North Korea, a move that could invite stringent economic sanctions and drive away international financial institutions, both of which could affect Pakistan’s already-indebted economy adversely.
Gokhale added that as 2020 is the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between both countries, India and China will hold 70 events next year to promote people-to-people ties, with Modi accepting an invitation by Xi for the next informal summit to be held in China.
Both leaders had struck positive notes on the summit – with Xi describing their discussions as “candid” and between friends and Modi hailing the “Chennai Connect” meeting as marking a new era of cooperation between both countries.
War games, Kashmir and a US$57b question: the issues as Xi meets Modi
But analysts said they would be looking to see how the newly-announced high-level mechanism on trade panned out.
Narayani Basu, a New Delhi-based author, foreign policy analyst and China watcher felt the summit had achieved its purpose of bagging small wins for both sides.
“Discussing contentious issues would have defeated the purpose of the summit. The idea behind such a summit must be that despite the overarching posturing on different divergent issues, the two countries can achieve the easily-achievable wins. That is what the summit seems to have tried doing.”
But in terms of actual outcomes, she said she remained sceptical.
“I don’t think there has been much progress in the ties between the two countries since the last summit in Wuhan. Hence, this time, there is a lot more caution and scepticism towards such a summit,” she said, referring to the first summit last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
During Xi’s visit to southern India, which lasted 24 hours in all, Modi took him on a personal tour of temple monuments dating back to the seventh and eighth century in Mamallapuram when regional leaders had trade ties with Chinese provinces. He was also shown local artisan handicrafts and art forms, and gifted a handwoven silk portrait, a lamp and a painting.
Xi gave Modi a porcelain plate with the image of the prime minister’s face printed on it.
Xi Jinping with Narendra Modi in Mamallapuram. Photo: Reuters
On Friday, New Delhi announced that visa rules for Chinese nationals visiting India would be relaxed, with multiple-entry visas with a validity period of five years available from this month onwards. At present, most visas are single-entry and usually for between 30 and 60 days. Visa fees would also be reduced, the government said, with the multiple-entry visa costing US$80.
This was aimed at further enhancing “people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and [encouraging] more Chinese tourists to choose India as a destination for tourism purposes,” it said in a statement.
Xi left Chennai on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Nepal, which lies in between India and China. He will be the first Chinese president to visit Nepal in 22 years and is expected to sign a slew of deals with Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, including the planned extension of the rail link from remote, mountainous Tibet to Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
The link will be part of Beijing’s ambitious infrastructure project to boost trade, the
More than 120 countries have signed on to the BRI, including Pakistan, where a series of projects worth US$46 billion are being constructed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). India has snubbed the BRI and questioned the transparency of funding agreements.
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