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

11/05/2013

* Indian indigenous aircraft carrier to be launched in August: Antony

Times of India: “Indian Navy‘s indigenously-built aircraft carrier would be launched on August 12 this year, while INS Vikramaditya (purchased from Russia) will arrive before the end of 2013, Union defence minister A K Antony said here on Saturday.

“INS Vikramaditya is going to be a reality, as promised the ship would be delivered before the end of this year,” Antony told reporters after the commissioning of fighter aircraft MiG29K into Navy at INS Hansa here.

“While on one side Vikramaditya is coming this year, on August 12 we are going to launch indigenous aircraft carrier at Cochin,” he said, without elaborating further.

The carrier when it was Admiral Gorshkov (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Asserting that the country was giving a thrust to modernisation of defence forces, Antony said, “Navy modernisation is one area where we are going fast-paced now.

“Almost all the navies of important countries want close cooperation with the Indian Navy,” he said, adding that “Indian Navy is well-prepared, most modern and (one of) the most capable navies of the world.

“(Over) Last many years, there has been well-planned induction wherein we are replacing old platforms and adding new ones,” he said.”

via Indigenous aircraft carrier to be launched in August: Antony – The Times of India.

Indian Navy to mark 60 years of naval aviation (vancouverdesi.com)
India to commission its first supersonic naval fighter squadron of MiG-29K jets (nosint.blogspot.com)
The Future Chinese Carrier Force (news.usni.org)
Fighter aircraft MiG29K commissioned into Indian Navy (indiavision.com)
Indian aircraft carrier programme: The makings of a global naval power (indrus.in)

Posted in Defence, India alert, Military, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: admiral gorshkov, aviation, India, indian navy, INS Hansa, INS Vikramaditya, K Antony, naval fighter squadron, navies of the world, navy, Russia, Vikrant-class aircraft carrier

11/05/2013

* Should China Try to Feed Itself?

BusinessWeek: “For China’s leaders, there was one problem in an otherwise benign inflation report for April. First, the good news: The consumer price index rose 2.4 percent, about in line with economists’ expectations. While inflation accelerated from 2.1 percent in March, the April figure is still well below the government’s target of 3.5 percent for the year.

An aerial view of the fish farms in the countryside next to Hefei, in central China's Anhui province

So what’s the catch? Food prices. With vegetables getting more expensive, the cost of eating jumped 4 percent last month, compared with an increase of 2.7 percent in March. The rising cost of food could create more difficulties in the coming months, the People’s Bank of China warned yesterday.

The Chinese government is well aware of the political sensitivity of food, which is one reason the country is sticking to a policy that promotes self-sufficiency. The country’s farmers met about 98 percent of China’s demand for grain last year, Vice Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua said at a news conference in March.

If the country wants to ensure lower prices, though, China should rethink that self-sufficiency policy, argues Paul Conway, the vice chairman of Cargill. “As they become richer and more urbanized, they will have to become less self-sufficient in grain,” he says. The Minnesota-based agribusiness giant is a major player in exporting wheat, corn, and soybeans from the U.S. and other countries in the Western Hemisphere to Asia, so he certainly has a good business reason for wanting China to buy more food from abroad.

But, Conway says, China and other Asian countries with huge populations, such as India and Indonesia, stand to benefit from reducing their reliance on local farmers. “There is still a tendency in some parts of Asia to food security through food self-sufficiency,” he says from Singapore, where he gave a speech on May 8 about food security. Giving up on that idea and instead importing food from low-cost producers in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Argentina would be “the best guarantee of Asian food security,” he says. “For grains and oilseeds, Asia’s self-interest is to have access to the surpluses from the Western Hemisphere.”

In order to bolster its food security, China also should be investing in agricultural infrastructure in other countries, Conway says. Just as Chinese investors are helping to fund transportation projects in African countries that supply minerals to China’s factories, the country should also be putting money into projects that could make it easier for farmers in places like Brazil to get their crops to seaports. That, he argues, makes more sense than just buying farms overseas. “From a food security standpoint, the fact that you own land in another country doesn’t guarantee you anything. Borders can always be closed. If China wants to improve the flow of grains, instead of investing in land, invest in infrastructure.””

via Should China Try to Feed Itself? – Businessweek.

The real moral FAILURE in the food security Bill debate (rediff.com)
Over half the world’s population could rely on food imports by 2050 – study (guardian.co.uk)

Posted in agriculture, China alert, economic inter-dependence, Economics, food security, food shortage, Infrastructure, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Brazil, China, climate, environment, Food security, food self sufficiency, India, Peoples Bank of China, science

11/05/2013

* India Congress ministers quit amid scandals

BBC: “Two Indian ministers have resigned in one day over links with corruption claims, plunging the Congress party into crisis.

Former Indian Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar resigned in separate incidents.Mr Bansal quit after police arrested his nephew for bribery, and Mr Kumar stepped down amid claims he influenced a report into the coal industry.Reports suggest Congress leaders are holding crisis meetings.The coalition government has been beset by corruption scandals recently.Mr Bansal called for a police investigation into the bribery allegations.”I have always observed the highest standard of probity in public life,” he told local media.”

via BBC News – India Congress ministers quit amid scandals.

Posted in corruption, India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Ashwani Kumar, Bansal, bribery allegations, Congress, India, Indian National Congress, manmohan singh, Pawan Kumar Bansal, politics, Railway Minister

10/05/2013

* Mao Zedong’s granddaughter among China’s richest people

SCMP: “Mao Zedong’s granddaughter has become one of China’s richest people, according to an annual ranking of the nation’s richest 500.

Kong Dongmei, right, granddaughter of the father of Communist China, Mao Zedong

Kong Dongmei, the granddaughter of the founder of the People’s Republic and his third wife He Zizhen, along with her husband Chen Dongsheng have the combined wealth of five billion yuan (HK$6.3 billion), putting them at number 242 in the annual ranking by the Guangdong-based New Fortune magazine.

Their marriage has only become publicly known last year. It was rumoured the couple of 15 years could only marry after Chen divorced his previous wife in 2011.

Chen is the founder of China’s first national auction house Guardian and the country’s fourth largest insurance house Taikang.

“The House of Mao will never engage in business,” Mao’s only known grandson Mao Xinyu, a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, reportedly pledged, perhaps to avoid suspicion of exploiting the illustrious ancestor for personal gain.

Xinyu’s comments came at a time when China was debating the legacy and business ties of disgraced Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, himself the son of one of the founding fathers of Communist China, Bo Yibo.

Mao Xinyu is Kong’s half-brother. His grandmother Yang Kaihui was Mao’s second wife. Both Kong and Mao Xinyu have written books titled My Grandpa Mao.

In stark contrast to their aristocratic background, the man who topped the list of China’s richest, Zong Qinghou, started his career as a salt harvester in Zhejiang province.

With an estimated wealth of 70 billion yuan, the co-founder of the Wahaha beverages group has 14-times the wealth of the Great Helmsman’s offspring.”

via Mao Zedong’s granddaughter among China’s richest people | South China Morning Post.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Chen Dongsheng, China, Communist China, great helmsman, He Zizhen, illustrious ancestor, Mao Xinyu, Mao Zedong, People's Liberation Army, Yang Kaihui, Zong Qinghou

09/05/2013

* China Dips a Toe Into Mideast Diplomacy

For the first time, China is taking its role as a world leader in international politics, rather than staying in the background.

NY Times: “China took a modest step into Middle East diplomacy this week, hosting back-to-back visits from Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

But this was not exactly Camp David by the Forbidden City.

The fact that the visits were timed so the two leaders would not meet — Mr. Abbas left Beijing on Tuesday, and Mr. Netanyahu arrived Wednesday after a swing through Shanghai — signaled that neither they nor Xi Jinping, China’s leader, were ready for actual talks. But Mr. Xi did present a four-point peace proposal to Mr. Abbas, which, though it did not contain any breakthrough ideas, hinted that China had given some thought to playing a more energetic, if very limited, role as mediator in one of the world’s most protracted conflicts.

“As China’s economy, national strength and international status grow, Arab countries are looking more to China,” said Guo Xiangang, a vice president of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing who follows China’s relations with Middle Eastern nations. “The expectations they place on China are growing.”

In their meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Li Keqiang of China told Mr. Netanyahu that “the Palestinian issue is a core issue affecting the peace and stability of the Middle East, and a peaceful solution reached through dialogue and negotiations is the only effective answer,” according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

“As a friend of both Israel and the Palestinians, China has always maintained an objective and fair stance, and is willing to strive together with all sides to actively advance the Middle East peace process,” Mr. Li said.

China has been careful to take a clear and consistent but not strong stand on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. China has growing trade ties with Israel — the value of their trade relationship has been estimated in official Chinese news reports to be nearly $10 billion a year — but it supports Palestinian statehood and relies on crude oil imports from Iran and Arab nations to meet its energy needs. About half of China’s oil imports come from the Middle East, and that dependency is expected to deepen.

The core of the four-point plan that Mr. Xi presented to Mr. Abbas was the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, based on the 1967 boundaries and with East Jerusalem as its capital. The plan was a formal version of China’s traditional stand on the conflict.

At the United Nations, where China sits on the Security Council, Mr. Abbas has pushed for greater status for the Palestinians, which has drawn economic reprisals from Israel and has led to a reduction in donations from foreign supporters. On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said at a news conference that Israel had to halt the building of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, stop violence against innocent civilians and end the blockade against the Gaza Strip to clear the way for peace talks.

But China’s measured stand on the conflict was evident in some of Mr. Xi’s comments during his meeting with Mr. Abbas. “Israel’s right to exist and its reasonable security concerns should be fully respected,” Mr. Xi said, according to a report by Xinhua.”

via China Dips a Toe Into Mideast Diplomacy – NYTimes.com.

Posted in China alert, Diplomacy, Economics, GeoPolitics, History, Neighbour conflict, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Abbas, Beijing, Benjamin Netanyahu, China, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, middle-east, minister benjamin netanyahu, mr netanyahu, netanyahu of israel, politics, Xi JinPing

09/05/2013

* China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization

WSJ: “China watchers are all abuzz about urbanization, which is supposed to be a focus of reform. But what does the term mean? After all, China has been urbanizing for 30 years, which has meant building roads, subways, ports — and relying more and more on infrastructure spending, which seems to have less and less payoff these days.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planning agency, is due to produce a report later this year laying out a path for a new kind of urbanization.

Li Tie, director general of the NDRC’s China Center for Urban Development, said the report involves a “new model of city development,” which would include three main parts:

First, there would be a focus on “low carbon” development — meaning trying to assure Chinese cities ease their horrendous pollution.

Second, would be reform of the household registration, or hukou, system. For smaller cities the system would be “totally liberalized,” Mr. Li said. He didn’t lay out his thoughts fully, but seemed to suggest that all residents would enjoy the same rights and benefits regardless of where they were born. For larger cities, migrants would get “resident cards” which assured them “improved treatment” and access to social services.

Third, China would look to increase “clustering” in big cities. Mr. Li didn’t explain what he meant by that, but in urban planning speak, clustering usually means trying to develop industries or specialties in a city or group of cities. That’s a way to build on the intellectual frisson of urban life, where new ideas can spawn new industries.

Those proposals address some of the most vexing problems with life in China’s cities: pollution, widening social inequality and lack of innovation. They also suggest that China’s leaders are committed to making urbanization into something more than another building spree. But changes would be costly and could require China’s central government to take a much more active role in overseeing—and paying for—urban growth than it has in the past. Whether China’s new leaders are ready to take such steps will become clear over the next year or two.”

via China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Migrant workers, Politics, urban development | 2 Comments »

Tags: Beijing, China, China National Petroleum Corporation, environment, Kunming, Li Tie, National Development and Reform Commission, Public Security Bureau, Urbanization

09/05/2013

* China mouthpiece claims rights over Okinawa

This is most confusing. On the one hand China is proclaiming loud and clear that it will work with its neighbours and ASEAN nations to defuse conflicting territorial claims and to foster peace. Yet, on the other hand, pronouncements such as this works in the opposite direction. There must be something in Sun Tzu’s writings that will help to clarify this. Do any of my READERs know?

Bangkok Post: “The lengthy article in the People’s Daily, China’s most-circulated newspaper and the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, argued that China may have rights to the Ryukyu island chain, which includes Okinawa.

“Unresolved problems relating to the Ryukyu Islands have reached the time for reconsideration,” wrote Zhang Haipeng and Li Guoqiang, citing post World War II declarations which require Japan to return Chinese territory.

The authors are scholars at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, considered China’s top state-run think tank.

The article also repeated Chinese government arguments for China’s historical claims over a set of tiny uninhabited islets in the East China Sea known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese.

The two nations have stepped up a war of words over the dispute in recent months, with Beijing’s vessels regularly entering the waters around the Tokyo-controlled islands, stoking fears of armed conflict.

Okinawa is the biggest of the Ryukyu islands, which stretch for about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Japan’s mainland, and was the centre of the Ryukyuan kingdom which paid tribute to Chinese emperors until it was absorbed by Japan in 1879.

The island is home to major US air force and marine bases as well as 1.3 million people, who are considered more closely related to Japan in ethnic and linguistic terms than to China.

But some Chinese see historical ties as a basis for sovereignty and dismiss Japan’s possession of the islands as a legacy of its aggressive expansionism that ended in defeat at the end of the Second World War.

China’s government does not make such claims, but state media have from time to time carried articles and commentaries questioning Japan’s authority.”

via China mouthpiece claims rights over Okinawa | Bangkok Post: breakingnews.

Posted in China alert, GeoPolitics, Politics, Territorial dispute | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, East China Sea, Japan, politics, Ryukyu Islands, Senkaku Islands, Zhang Haipeng

09/05/2013

* China and Taiwan cross-strait representative offices: One offensive, the other defensive

Another illustration of the Chinese pragmatism. Why let ‘politics and dogma’ stand in the way of good mutual trade relationship?

Taiwan tests defenses against mock Chinese invasion (stripes.com)
Taiwan holds 1st large, live-fire drill in 5 years (stripes.com)
DPP politicians using microblogs to see China’s transformation (chinapost.com.tw)

Posted in China alert, Diplomacy, Economics, GeoPolitics, Politics, Taiwan | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, Beijing, China, Chinese language, Ma Ying-jeou, Penghu, Taiwan

08/05/2013

* Detention of petitioners denounced

China Daily: “Anti-graft officials vow protection of whistle-blowers from retaliation

Officials with China’s top anti-graft authority expressed firm opposition on Tuesday to the detention of petitioners.

Authorities are not allowed to detain petitioners at any level of petition offices and at public venues, said Zhang Shaolong, deputy director of the office of letters and calls of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.

It is a legal channel for petitioners to submit whistle-blowing materials face to face to the anti-graft authorities, and the petitioners should receive a warm welcome from anti-corruption agencies, he said.

Zhang made the remarks on Tuesday during an online interview with two other anti-graft officials from the commission.

Under the administrative mechanism in most places, the leading officials will not get promoted if too many petitioners appeal to higher authorities.

Many corrupt officials were exposed by online posts, Zhang said, adding that some inaccurate online information has also made the investigations of corrupt officials difficult.

Among all the cases investigated by the commission last year, about 41.8 percent of the clues were collected from the public whistle-blowers through online reports, letters and calls, Zhang said.

Guo Hongliang, Zhang’s colleague who also attended the online interview, said that the commission has received 301,000 online whistle-blowing reports from 2008 to 2012.

The commission established 12388.gov.cn, its online whistle-blowing website, in October 2009, and the Internet has become one of the most important channels for the commission to collect information, he said.

Deng Jixun, another colleague of Zhang who attended the interview, said that real-name whistle-blowing activities should be encouraged to promote the efficiency of anti-corruption work.

The anti-graft authorities should protect real-name whistle-blowers from being victims of retaliation, he said.

Zhang acknowledged that some officials try to prevent people from petitioning to higher levels of government, and these officials’ behavior should be firmly opposed.

A report in People’s Daily revealed that many petitioners had been detained by the government of Hai’an county in Jiangsu province since March when they tried to visit the anti-graft officials from an inspection team sent by the provincial government.”

via Detention of petitioners denounced |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.

Shanghai Petitioners Stage Protest Over Illegal Detentions (theepochtimes.com)
Petitioners Unite Against Illegal Detention Centers (theepochtimes.com)
Wronged Chinese Policemen Join Petitioners in Beijing (theepochtimes.com)

Posted in Censorship, China alert, Freedom, Good news, Human rights, Illegal practices, Internal politics, Justice, Petition, Politics, public protest, Reform, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, China, communist party of china, Jiangsu, Petitioner, politics, whistle blowers, whistle blowing, Whistleblower

08/05/2013

* Indian government to deploy 10,000 more personnel in four states to fight Maoists

Times of India: “With the government moving towards a fight to finish war against Maoists in Red Zone, the Union home ministry has decided to deploy additional 10 bBattalions (10,000 personnel) of paramilitary forces in four highly naxal-affected states — Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar.

CRPF, Central Reserve Police Force (www.crpf.nic.in), Group Centre Pune, at Talegaon, on Old Mumbai Pune Highway (NH4) (Photo credit: Ravi Karandeekar)

Five (5,000 personnel) out of the 10 battalions will be drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) while the remaining five will be spared by SSB, BSF and ITBP for anti-naxal operations.

Disclosing the decision in response to a Parliament question, the ministry said that the additional 10 battalions had been sanctioned on the basis of requests made by the respective state for stepping up operations against the Red Ultras.

At present, a total number of 532 companies (53,200 personnel) of paramilitary forces have been deployed in the seven Maoist-affected states — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.

Officials in the ministry said that Jharkhand — which is currently under the President’s rule — would see the maximum deployment where the security forces had already been engaged in intensive operations against the Red Ultras under the leadership of ex-CRPF chief K Vijay Kumar who is posted there as one of the advisors of the state governor.

“Idea is to continue the intensive operations against Maoists before the onset of Monsoon in these states”, said an official.”

via Government to deploy 10,000 more personnel in four states to fight Maoists – The Times of India.

* 10 Maoists killed in encounter on Andhra, Chhattigarh border: Police (chindia-alert.org)
Chhattisgarh gun battle blow to Andhra Maoists (News Analysis) (vancouverdesi.com)
Indian state and media cast a worried eye on Maoist-led people’s movement (revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com)
Prospect Of Elimination Of Maoists In India’s Jharkhand Now Real – Analysis (eurasiareview.com)

Posted in Dissident, India alert, Inequalities, Instability, Insurgency, Internal politics, Politics, unrest | 1 Comment »

Tags: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Central Reserve Police Force, Chhattisgarh, India, Jharkhand, Odisha, red ultras, talegaon, union home ministry, vijay kumar, West Bengal

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

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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* Indian indigenous aircraft carrier to be launched in August: Antony

* Should China Try to Feed Itself?

* India Congress ministers quit amid scandals

* Mao Zedong’s granddaughter among China’s richest people

* China Dips a Toe Into Mideast Diplomacy

* China’s Vision for a ‘New’ Urbanization

* China and Taiwan cross-strait representative offices: One offensive, the other defensive

* Detention of petitioners denounced

* Indian government to deploy 10,000 more personnel in four states to fight Maoists

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