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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Beijing’s Chaoyang district remains the last high-risk area in China, with virus preventive measures continuing to impact on travel and shopping plans
China faces the dilemma of preventing a re-emerge of the pandemic, while also pushing to get its economy back to normal
China’s continued pandemic prevention measures, coupled with still hesitant consumer demand, will inevitably lead to persistent limitations on the nation’s economic recovery, analysts said. Photo: Bloomberg
After nearly three months of being quarantined by herself in Beijing, Mary Zhao was looking forward to the upcoming long weekend at the start of May to be able to finally reunite with her parents.
But Zhao was forced to abandon her plan for the Labour Day holidays as Beijing’s upmarket Chaoyang district, where she lives, remains the only high-risk zone for coronavirus in the entire country.
If she travelled the five hours by car, or two hours via bullet train, to the neighbouring Hebei province, she would first have to undergo a 14-day quarantine before seeing her parents. Her parents would also have the same two week quarantine to look forward to once they returned home if they came to visit their daughter in Beijing.
These strict controls to prevent a re-emergence of the coronavirus outbreak are making a return to normal life impossible for many, and mean the final economic and social cost
from China’s draconian preventive measures could be much larger than expected.
Wuhan declares ‘victory’ as central Chinese city’s last Covid-19 patients leave hospital
It underscores the dilemma facing China’s leaders on how to balance the need to
and to avoid a fresh outbreak. On the surface, China may be able to declare victory as even Wuhan, the city where the virus was first detected, announced that the last Covid-19 patient had left hospital on Sunday. But fears of a renewed outbreak have kept the country’s cinemas and most schools closed, with travel between provinces discouraged.
China’s national borders also remain largely closed, with flights being cut to a minimum, and a mandatory 14-day quarantine for every arrival. In the number of places where new cases have been reported, quarantine requirements have been tightened, including Harbin and a few other cities near the border with Russia.
Chaoyang, the home to one of Beijing’s main business districts and most foreign embassies, changed its risk rating to high from low in the middle of April after three new cases were reported, dealing a fresh blow to the district’s
and forcing many of the 3.5 million residents to cancel their travel plans.
On the outskirts of Beijing, near Beijing Capital International Airport, returning migrant workers to Picun village were ordered to stop at entrance and could only be escorted inside by their landlord, with many villages and residential compounds remaining closed to outsiders.
In the high-end shopping district of Guomao, some shops also remain closed as there are few potential customers, while over in the popular Sanlitun area, metal barriers restrict access and temperature checkpoints are still required.
The landmark Apple Store in the popular Taikoo shopping centre is open, but with limited customers allowed inside, there are long queues outside. Customers are required to scan a QR code to check their movements over the last few days before entering.
Coronavirus: More schools reopen in China for students preparing for university entrance exams
“Why do I have to spend 20 minutes just to get into the Apple Store? The sun has almost melted me down,” one visitor complained to the security guards at the front of the shop.
China’s continued pandemic prevention measures, coupled with still hesitant consumer demand, will inevitably lead to persistent limitations on the nation’s economic recovery, analysts said.
Ernai Cui, an economist at research firm Gavekal Dragonomics, said on Monday that China’s cautious approach to lifting restrictions “points to a weak second quarter for consumer services”, adding additional pressure to the economic recovery.Mao Zhenhua, a researcher at the China Institute of Economics at Renmin University, said China’s preventive measures will inevitably be a drag on production, employment and exports.
Zeng Zhenguo (L), a member of the medical assistance team supporting the virus-hit Wuhan in Hubei Province, hugs his wife after 14-day quarantine at the Xianghu area of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University in Nanchang, east China’s Jiangxi Province, April 15, 2020. The 141 members of the medical assistance team reunited with their families on Wednesday after 14-day quarantine. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)
Duaa Bhat is a 17-year-old girl in Indian-administered Kashmir, one of the most heavily militarised zones in the world. Two years ago, she became pen pals with Saumya Sagarika, 18, from the country’s capital, Delhi, in a bid to understand the different worlds they were growing up in.
The army has been deployed in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region, since the rise of an armed rebellion in 1989. As Saumya discovered through her letters, Duaa’s studies were interrupted by strikes and school shutdowns. The problem was often compounded by the Indian government who would deliberately shut down or “snap” internet and social media.
Then, in August last year, the government removed Kashmir’s special status – which provided a degree of autonomy under article 370 of the country’s constitution – and imposed a communication clampdown. Schools were closed, thousands including politicians were placed under detention, and phone lines and internet were blocked.
Five months later, as the government began to ease communication restrictions, Saumya began writing to Duaa again. Here are edited excerpts from their letters.
A warm hello from Delhi. How are you? How is everyone in your family? We didn’t really continue our promise of staying “pen pals” after our last round of letters, but I am very happy to restart our conversation.
A lot must have changed in your life and the circumstances around you in the past two years too. I got to know that Section 370 was removed from Kashmir a few months back and for some time telecommunications were snapped there, and internet is probably still not working.
I am sure the situation must have changed. I hope everyone is safe there?
Dear Saumya
A chilling salaam from Kashmir.
Chilling because it is really, really cold here these days. I am good and, Allhamdullilah, everyone in my family is doing good. We didn’t continue being pen pals because the internet here is down most of the time and staying in touch with anyone outside the valley is a task in itself.
I was really happy to know that you’ve started college and your studies are going well. People like me have suffered the most in the past few months. We used to study ourselves with some help from the magic of the internet. Only the Almighty knows how we’ve completed our syllabus in time for exams.
People here are not happy with the removal of our special status. Personally, I feel depriving people of even talking to their near and dear ones is a violation of human rights.
Saumya, most people, including myself, do not understand the protests in the rest of the country. News channels here do not give us enough information to understand what the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) really is. Can you brief me about them?
In December, India’s parliament passed the CAA, which offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from the three nearby Muslim-majority countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It sparked massive protests as many considered it discriminatory against Muslims, something the government denies. Saumya, a Hindu, joined the hundreds of mostly Muslim women in a Delhi street protest against the new citizenship laws.
Dear Duaa
It is quite cold in Delhi too but the mood is really hot.
A few days back, I went to the protest at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh. Women have been protesting against this act there for the past 26 days. These women are not university professors or activists but homemakers, women who remain in purdah, who have stepped out on to the streets to protest. They are fighting this battle so their children are able to lead their lives in peace.
After witnessing the enthusiasm among people at Shaheen Bagh, I’ll say people are prepared to fight this battle for our rights.
In your last letter, you wrote that you’d heard slogans like, “They wanted Kashmir to become like India but have made India into Kashmir”, were being chanted in Delhi. You are 100% right.
Since this protest movement started, all of Delhi is feeling like Kashmir. Like internet/phone shutdowns, section 144 (curfew) being imposed, stone-throwing and police lathi-charge (using long batons) during protests. So I can say that today I understand Kashmir and the situation facing people living there quite well.
Dear Saumya
From what you said about CAA, I feel we are going back in time instead of moving forward. I still can’t believe that even in the 21st Century some people discriminate against others on the basis of caste, religion and, in some parts of society, even gender.
These protests are a proof that people still believe in taking a stand for each other and that humanity is still alive. Unlike other places in India, Kashmir has been really calm about this act. In our hearts we know this act is wrong but these days we Kashmiris couldn’t care less about what’s happening outside the valley. Our voices, our rights have been neglected in the past and are being neglected right now.
A couple of days ago, a Niti Aayog (a government think tank) member VK Saraswat defended the communication ban and he went as far as saying that Kashmiris do nothing but watch “dirty films” online. Even though he apologized later, these remarks cannot be just thrown out of our minds. Do people there really think that way about us? No one is talking about the problems we are facing right now due to the internet ban. Are we really invisible to the rest of the country?
Religious identities come up repeatedly in Saumya and Duaa’s letters. In 1989-90, at the start of the rebellion, hundreds of thousands of Hindus – referred to as Pandits – were terrorised into leaving by Muslim militants. It tore apart the centuries-old harmony that existed between the two communities.
I feel that people here consider Kashmir a precious property of the country and don’t give any importance to its people. Just last week, there was a discussion on the film Shikara on TV. The film is based on Kashmiri Pandits. There has been no discussion of their plight for the past 30 years here. And I don’t think that people will go to watch this film or talk about it even now.
Through our letters I have been able to understand a lot about Kashmir and Muslims, which is different from common perceptions. We have lots of family friends who are Muslim but are unable to discuss such issues with them openly, lest we offend them. This CAA issue motivated me to protest, even though I am a Hindu.
As I have understood Kashmir through your letters, it has removed my apprehensions and made me even more curious about Kashmir and Kashmiris. Earlier I was afraid because of the image created by society and the media. But after our conversations, I am excited to go to Kashmir to understand and experience it myself. Is the Kashmir valley open for people from outside now?
Dear Saumya
I am writing this letter not from Kashmir, but from one of the most holy cities of the world – Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It’s an amazing feeling to watch Muslims from all around the world come to pray here.
I feel glad that you know the truth about Kashmir. The valley is open for tourists now (officially) but for us Kashmiris it was and will always be open for the people outside.
You know there is a place in the Khanyar area of Kashmir, where worshipping places of different religions are located on one hill. At the bottom is a Gurdwara (Sikh temple), in the middle a shrine and at the top a temple. My mother’s maiden home was near that area and they had Pandits as neighbours. In my childhood, my mother used to tell me various stories about the brotherhood between different communities.
Kashmir is a really beautiful place to live and I pray to the Almighty in this holy city of Mecca to make Kashmir a peaceful place again and to restore the brotherhood that was lost. I’m closing this letter with the hope that my dua (wish) comes true and you will come to Kashmir to meet me.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 