continuously updated blog about China & India
You will be living in their world, very soon
Beware the Waking Dragon
Times of India: “Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai on Wednesday met secretary of state Hillary Clinton and held a series of meetings at the State Department and the White House on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
On his first bilateral visit to the US as the foreign secretary, Mathai is understood to have presented India’s perspective on a wide range of regional and global issues including Iran, the peace talks with Taliban and situation in the region.”
Xinhua – “Vice President Xi Jinping is scheduled to pay official visits to the United States, Ireland and Turkey from Feb. 13 to 22, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
Xi is visiting the three nations at the invitation of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, spokesman Liu Weimin said at a news briefing.
Xi’s U.S. visit is aimed at further implementing an important consensus reached by state leaders of the two countries to establish a China-U.S. cooperative partnership of mutual respect and reciprocity, Liu said.
He added that China hopes the visit will enhance the two sides’ strategic mutual trust, expand bilateral cooperation, and aid in the maintenance of the sound and stable development of China-U.S. ties.”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/07/c_131396185.htm
Xi Jinping is the President-to-be when the top leadership changes occur between late 2012 and early 2013. For more on this go to http://chovanec.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/primer-on-chinas-leadership-transition/#comment-4286
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/geopolitics-chinese/
Times of India: “Britain today defended its multi- million pound aid to India, amid demands by ruling Conservative party MPs and others to end it, saying “now is not the time to quit”.
The passionate debate was reignited on Sunday with the re-publication of remarks by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who said in 2010 that in the overall context of funds that India spends on development, British aid was “peanuts”, and one that India could do without.”
McKinsey has made the following prediction: Despite food price inflation and a stagnant housing market, China should maintain a rapid rate of growth. In detail:
1. Government policies will spur consumption and investment.
2. Dominant models will emerge for reforming rural land ownership.
3. Real estate will stagnate.
4. The fundamentals will cause further inflation in food prices.
5. Chinese investment in green tech will spike upward.
6. Accounting scandals will continue.
7. Private-equity and venture capital funds may go ‘walkabout.’
8. Chinese acquirers will be bolder.
9. The automobile segment will be slow.
10. Hospital reform will accelerate.
For full report: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Economic_Studies/Productivity_Performance/Whats_in_store_for_China_in_2012_2925
For a summary of the key events affecting China in 2011 go to http://chindiapedia.org/China2011roundup.aspx
Business Week: “Dassault Aviation SA, seeking its first export order for Rafale fighters, will begin exclusive negotiations to supply 126 jets to India after being selected as the lowest bidder.
“The French company and India’s defense ministry will begin talks within 15 days, an Indian government official told reporters in New Delhi yesterday. Negotiations will probably extend beyond the March 31 end of India’s fiscal year.”
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1377-aQTsvG2MxPoI-73IQMDIULOJV791GE0FE2Q4NAD
This news is particularly disappointing to Mr Cameron who had paid a visit to India a couple of years ago and got reassurance that India will try and increase its trade with Britain. Presumably either the British supplier was not able to make as good an offer or the timing was just wrong (or both).
Declaring the allocation of 2G spectrum by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government “illegal” and an example of the arbitrary exercise of power, the Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled all 122 telecom licences allotted on or after January 10, 2008 to 11 companies during the tenure of the former telecom minister, A. Raja.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2853159.ece
Mr Raja is charged with corruption.
This ruling, although deemed to be a step in the right direction, makes foreign investors nervous as it means any past deals, if proven to be corrupt, could be overturned, several years later.
For a view about corruption in India go to http://chindiapedia.org/Indianpitfalls.aspx
New Delhi, February 1
“Faced with persistent threats from pirates operating off the coast of Somalia, uneasy neighbours India and China have started cooperating with each other, roping in Japan to tackle piracy. This is the first working relationship on the high seas between the Indian Navy and China’s People Liberation Army (Navy).”
31/01/12 update: Indian Express – “In the wake of protests by Tibetans in Sichuan province over self-immolations by monks, China has tightened its control over Buddhist temples and monasteries in Tibet and is taking steps to prevent “trouble-makers” from entering the region.
“The official Chinese media also defended the recent police firing on Tibetan demonstrators as “justified response and accused “Dharmashala” of instigating protests, without directly naming the Dalai Lama.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/china-raises-security-to-contain-tibet-protests/906045/
24/01/12: Many demonstrators were injured and one shot dead when Chinese police fired into a crowd of demonstrators in Luhuo, which is known in Tibetan as Draggo and located in westernmost Sichuan Province, near the border with Tibet.
It was the second reported shooting of Tibetan protesters this month. The previous one, on Jan. 14, in which two people were reported wounded, took place in Aba, also located in Sichuan Province and 100 miles northeast of Luhuo.
On 16 January, the Chinese government allowed a non-governmental organisation to lodge a suit concerning the probably causes of cancer in a village due to industrial pollution. This is the first such case and breaks new ground.
The reasons could be; a loosing up of court procedure in the face of increasing anger at industrial pollution bighting lives; an attempt at making owners of factories causing pollution to realise that not only the law is against them, but now non-governmental organisations can take up the cause of the little man in the village and, finally, it makes good press in the run up to leadership changes later in the year.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=china-cancer-village-tests-law-versus-pollution
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 