Are we inching towards a military confrontation between thes two East Asian powers?
18/06/2013
Papua New Guinea reconsiders China as a partner
So not everyone who is wooed by China responds without reservations!
29/05/2013
Indian PM meets Japanese Emperor, discusses bilateral ties
Times of India: “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday called on Japanese Emperor Akihito and discussed bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest.
Singh accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur met the Emperor and the Empress of Japan at the luncheon at Imperial Palace ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Singh, who is on a three-day visit to Japan to strengthen bilateral strategic ties, yesterday said India sees Japan as a “natural and indispensable partner” in its quest for stability and peace in Asia.
Noting that India and Japan are among the major actors in this region, he said, “It is our responsibility to foster a climate of peace, stability and cooperation and to lay an enduring foundation for security and prosperity”.
“India’s relations with Japan are important not only for our economic development, but also because we see Japan as a natural and indispensable partner in our quest for stability and peace in the vast region in Asia that is washed by the Pacific and Indian Oceans,” he said.
“Our relationship with Japan has been at the heart of our Look East Policy,” Singh said.”
via PM meets Japanese Emperor, discusses bilateral ties – The Times of India.
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26/05/2013
* Chinese dream is dream of whole humanity: Nepal’s former PM
English: Mr. Baburam bhattarai the 35th Prime Minister of Nepal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Xinhua: “Nepal‘s former Prime Minister and Vice-Chairman of Unified Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) Baburam Bhattarai said that Chinese dream is a dream of whole humanity as well as of Nepalese people.
The former prime minister, who is known as a Communist ideologue in his party, said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, that Chinese dream is a dream of oppressed humanity of the world who has been dominated by foreign power for more than 200 years.
Referring to the significance of Chinese dream, Bhattarai said China has to play a leading role to bring peace, stability and development in the world.
In the interview, he said focus of development is now shifting to east and south Asia and China is going to lead that process through its new dream.
Comparing Chinese dream with American dream, the 59-year-old Maoist leader, said the earlier so-called western dream was the domination of world in the colonial form or neocolonialism form.
“But Chinese dream is ending of that domination and granting freedom to all people of the world and ensuring peace, prosperity and democracy to all. So Chinese dream is fundamentally different from the older day’s dream of the western world,” he opined.
The former Prime Minister Bhattarai who is known as architect of social and economic development said Chinese dream will contribute towards economic prosperity of Nepal and will ensure national independence and sovereignty as well.
Asked about Nepal’s dream, the Maoist leader who is second in command in his party, and also the key strategist during the ten- year-long people’s war, said after gaining political stability our dream of building a prosperous and develop Nepal will be realized.
“If there is political stability here and if there is correct political leadership, and if there is well balanced relations with our neighboring countries China and India, then we can develop and we can realize our dream,” said Bhattarai.
He said that after promulgation of a new constitution, Nepal will invite economic investment from both China and India and then will try to have some joint projects with both India and China.
“In that way gradually this dream of trilateral cooperation and Nepal emerging as a vibrant bridge between India and china will be realized,” he said.
Asked about the India’s unwillingness to strike a trilateral cooperation between Nepal, India and China, who gained his higher education from India said a section of people everywhere gets skeptical.
“I believe even in India, this opinion is slowly gaining momentum and soon there will be massive moments to have good relation between India and China and have a trilateral relation between Nepal. It will take some time but ultimately it will be realized, Bhattarai said.”
via Chinese dream is dream of whole humanity: Nepal’s former PM – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
See also:
- https://chindia-alert.org/2013/05/03/xi-jinpings-vision-chasing-the-chinese-dream/
- https://chindia-alert.org/2013/05/26/could-we-have-an-indian-dream/
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- Nepal, India and China: a vision of trilateral cooperation (thehindu.com)
- India should join hands in trilateral cooperation: Nepali experts (nzweek.com)
- * China Makes Inroads in Nepal, Stemming Tibetan Presence (chindia-alert.org)
15/05/2013
* Rotavirus: India unveils cheap Rotavac diarrhoea vaccine
Pharmaceuticals is one of India‘s advanced industries.
BBC: “Scientists in India have unveiled a new low-cost vaccine against a deadly virus that kills about half a million children around the world each year.
Rotavirus causes dehydration and severe diarrhoea and spreads through contaminated hands and surfaces and is rampant in Asia and Africa.
India says clinical trials show the new vaccine, Rotavac, can save the lives of thousands of children annually.
An Indian manufacturer said the vaccine would cost 54 rupees ($1; £0.65).
International pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Merck produce similar vaccines but each dose costs around 1,000 rupees.
“This is an important scientific breakthrough against rotavirus infections, the most severe and lethal cause of childhood diarrhoea, responsible for approximately 100,000 deaths of small children in India each year,” India’s Department of Biotechnology official K Vijay Raghavan said.
“The clinical results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed, could save the lives of thousands of children each year in India,” he added.
Rotavac will be made by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. The company said it could mass-produce tens of millions of doses after clearance is given, expected in eight or nine months.”
via BBC News – Rotavirus: India unveils cheap Rotavac diarrhoea vaccine.
See also – https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/indias-services/
15/05/2013
* Companies turn to India to boost their business
FT: “Oil company Shell’s technology centre in the Indian high-tech hub of Bangalore is actually a facility in two halves, with a couple of campuses in different locations around the city.
Originally unable to find one suitable site for its growing efforts, the Anglo-Dutch company decided to split the difference, setting up dual facilities, working on everything from next-generation chemicals to underwater modelling.
But now the company plans to bring everything back together, having announced plans late last year to build a giant new research and development campus on a patch of land close to Bangalore’s airport, with room for 1,500 staff, and even plans for a cricket pitch on the grounds.
Shell’s move is part of a pattern in which many of world’s largest companies are turning to India in their search for new ideas that will boost its business, and follows similar moves to open up innovation facilities around Bangalore by the likes of GE, Cisco and Siemens.”
via Companies turn to India to boost their business – FT.com.
14/05/2013
* A shift in Chinese strategy on North Korea?
Wonder if North Korea is finally getting the message, that if it does not change its ways, its only friend, China, will be forced to abandon it.
05/05/2013
* Plans to Harness China’s Nu River Threaten a Region
NY Times: “From its crystalline beginnings as a rivulet seeping from a glacier on the Tibetan Himalayas to its broad, muddy amble through the jungles of Myanmar, the Nu River is one of Asia’s wildest waterways, its 1,700-mile course unimpeded as it rolls toward the Andaman Sea.
The Nu River at Bingzhongluo, China. The government stunned environmentalists by reviving plans to build dams on the river. More Photos »
But the Nu’s days as one of the region’s last free-flowing rivers are dwindling. The Chinese government stunned environmentalists this year by reviving plans to build a series of hydropower dams on the upper reaches of the Nu, the heart of a Unesco World Heritage site in China’s southwest Yunnan Province that ranks among the world’s most ecologically diverse and fragile places.
Critics say the project will force the relocation of tens of thousands of ethnic minorities in the highlands of Yunnan and destroy the spawning grounds for a score of endangered fish species. Geologists warn that constructing the dams in a seismically active region could threaten those living downstream. Next month, Unesco is scheduled to discuss whether to include the area on its list of endangered places.
Among the biggest losers could be the millions of farmers and fishermen across the border in Myanmar and Thailand who depend on the Salween, as the river is called in Southeast Asia, for their sustenance. “We’re talking about a cascade of dams that will fundamentally alter the ecosystems and resources for downstream communities that depend on the river,” said Katy Yan, China program coordinator at International Rivers, an advocacy group.
Suspended in 2004 by Wen Jiabao, then the prime minister, and officially resuscitated shortly before his retirement in March, the project is increasing long-simmering regional tensions over Beijing’s plans to dam or divert a number of rivers that flow from China to other thirsty nations in its quest to bolster economic growth and reduce the country’s dependency on coal.
According to its latest energy plan, the government aims to begin construction on about three dozen hydroelectric projects across the country, which together will have more than twice the hydropower capacity of the United States.
via Plans to Harness China’s Nu River Threaten a Region – NYTimes.com.
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- China-backed dams escalating ethnic tension in Myanmar (eco-business.com)
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- Bring China in on a rule-based Asian regional water order (dailystar.com.lb)
- China’s great water wall (washingtontimes.com)
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27/04/2013
* Turkey becomes partner of China, Russia-led security bloc
One day Europe may well come to regret not wqelcoming Turkey into the EU.
Reuters: “NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a “dialogue partner” of a security bloc dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia.
“This is really a historic day for us,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty after signing a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev.
“Now, with this choice, Turkey is declaring that our destiny is the same as the destiny of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries.”
China, Russia and four Central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – formed the SCO in 2001 as a regional security bloc to fight threats posed by radical Islam and drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan.”
via Turkey becomes partner of China, Russia-led security bloc | Reuters.
16/04/2013
* Central authority fails to face up to surge in emigration
Given that China has 1.3 billion people and there are over 1 million millionaires – according to Huran survey, does it matter that some successful people are emigrating? All it will do is open the way for the ‘next level’ to step up and be successful too.
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