Posts tagged ‘politics’

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14/08/2012

* Surge in Tibetan self-immolations challenges Chinese rule-rights group

Reuters: “As many as five Tibetans set themselves ablaze in China in the past week to protest Chinese rule over Tibet, a U.S. broadcaster said, a surge highlighted by a rights group as a sustained campaign against Beijing’s grip on religious freedom.

Two self-immolations on Monday in the Aba prefecture, a mountainous and mainly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province, were followed by at least one clash between police and ethnic Tibetans that left one protester dead, Radio Free Asia said.

Lungtok, a monk from the restive Kirti monastery in Aba, and Tashi, believed to be a layman, set themselves ablaze on Monday “to highlight their opposition to Chinese rule in Tibetan-populated areas”, Radio Free Asia reported, saying three other Tibetans have died in self-immolations in the past week in China.

Many Tibetans have called for Beijing to allow the return of the Dalai Lama, their self-exiled Buddhist leader. China has branded the self-immolators “terrorists” and criminals and has blamed the Dalai Lama, for inciting them.

Calls to the Aba prefecture office were not answered.

Phelim Kine, senior Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the frequency of the Tibetan self-immolations is “a reflection of the ever-deepening frustration and despair” that many Tibetans feel about hopes for reform and protection for their culture, religion and language.

“We don’t see any inkling of such changes in the short to medium term, instead we see a hardening of position by the Chinese government,” he said. “This is an unfortunate trend that will continue till we head into the leadership transition.”

Chinese leaders typically clamp down on possible sources of unrest before a once in a decade congress, likely in October, to announce a new leadership team.”

via Surge in Tibetan self-immolations challenges Chinese rule-rights group | Reuters.

Tibet (and Xinjiang) continue to be sore point with China. Religious and ethnic self-determination doesn’t want to go away, despite the efforts by China to improve the social and economic conditions.

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14/08/2012

* Syria crisis: China hosts Assad aide Bouthaina Shaaban

BBC News: “A senior aide to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has flown to China for talks on the crisis, officials say.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Bouthaina Shaaban would meet Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi later.

The ministry said it was part of its effort to implement the UN’s six-point peace plan. China has twice vetoed UN resolutions against the Assad regime.

Meanwhile, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has arrived in Syria to assess the flow of emergency aid.

She is expected to ask for more visas for foreign aid workers as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent struggles to distribute food.

The UN says an estimated two million Syrian civilians have now been affected by the crisis and more than one million have fled their homes.

Tens of thousands of people have fled across Syria’s borders into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq amid continuing violence across the country.

In another development, foreign ministers of the Islamic Co-operation Organisation (OIC) have called for Syria to be suspended from the 57-nation bloc at an emergency two-day summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which starts on Tuesday.

Only ministers from Algeria and Iran, which is regarded as Syria’s closest ally, were against the recommendation, reports say.

“We certainly do not agree with the suspension of any OIC member,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said after a preliminary meeting in the city of Jeddah on Monday.

“We have to look for other ways, means and mechanisms for resolving conflicts and crises,” he said.”

via BBC News – Syria crisis: China hosts Assad aide Bouthaina Shaaban.

Despite the deteriorating situation in Syria, China resolutely sticks to its principle of non-military intervention and its position of not supporting any regime change.

Posted in China alert, GeoPolitics, non-military intervention, Politics, regime change | Leave a Comment »

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12/08/2012

* Bo Xilai scandal: Gu ‘admits Neil Heywood murder’

BBC News: “Gu Kailai has admitted murdering British businessman Neil Heywood and blamed her actions on a mental breakdown, Chinese state media report.

The state news agency Xinhua said the wife of former top politician Bo Xilai had apologised for what she described as the “tragedy” of Mr Heywood’s death.

She said she would “accept and calmly face any sentence”, the agency added.

Ms Gu was accused of poisoning Mr Heywood with cyanide last November, at her one-day trial on Thursday.

Her aide, Zhang Xiaojun, also admitted his involvement in the murder and said he wanted to apologise to Mr Heywood’s relatives, Xinhua reported in a detailed account of Thursday’s proceedings in court.”

via BBC News – Bo Xilai scandal: Gu ‘admits Neil Heywood murder’.

Incidentally, many Chinese news items use the name Bogu Kailai. That is because of the convention that the wife adopts the husband’s surname  and prefixes her surname with his. See: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/04/05/deciphering-chinese-names/

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12/08/2012

* Cleaning up after Pranab Mukherjee leaves finance ministry

Reuters:”Pranab Mukherjee’s reign as Indian finance minister was stained by economic meddling and political favouritism. Now he is gone, and some of his excesses are being reversed. An enemy has been pardoned and a friend has not received a plum job. This could be the beginning of a better era.

Imagine if Tim Geithner had been accused of putting pressure on the securities regulator to protect some political friends. The U.S. Treasury Secretary would be in serious hot water. But when the former number two at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) accused Mukherjee of something similar – putting pressure on the SEBI chairman to “manage” some high-profile corporate cases – there was little attention.

Rather, in a move that was all too typical of the Mukherjee regime, the finance ministry countered with allegations against the whistle-blower, K.M. Abraham. But the post-Mukherjee government is different. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cleared Abraham.

In another development, the board of UTI, Asia’s oldest asset management company, is set to appoint a new chief executive. The position has been vacant for the past year and a half as the finance minister put pressure on the company, 26 percent owned by U.S. fund manager T. Rowe Price, to appoint the brother of one of Mukherjee’s most powerful advisors. The former political favourite, Jitesh Khosla, hasn’t made the new shortlist.

India’s new finance minister, P. Chidambaram, is also shaking up his own team. On Sunday he announced that the top officials in the revenue and expenditure departments would swap jobs. That seems to be a signal of a shift in the tax department’s priorities. It might pave the way for a reversal of Mukherjee’s damaging retrospective tax grabs.”

via India Insight.

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12/08/2012

* Pakistani Hindu pilgrims allowed to cross into India after detention

BBC News: “Pakistan officials have allowed a group of Hindu pilgrims who were detained at the border to cross into India.

More than 200 Pakistani Hindus were held at the Wagah crossing near Lahore after local media reported that they intended to emigrate.

Although the group had valid pilgrimage visas, it was rumoured they planned to remain in India because of growing attacks against minorities in Pakistan.

They were allowed to pass after they assured officials they would return.

A spokesperson for the pilgrims, Santosh Puri, told the BBC the group had assured the authorities that “this is a pilgrimage” and no one intends to emigrate.

Pakistani rights activists say dozens of Pakistani Hindu families have moved to India to escape killings, abductions and forced conversions in recent years.

According to Indian officials, Pakistani Hindus have often entered India on visit visas, only to settle there permanently.”

via BBC News – Pakistani Hindu pilgrims allowed to cross into India after detention.

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09/08/2012

* Bo Xilai scandal: Gu Kailai on trial for Neil Heywood death

BBC News: “The first day of the trial of the wife of former high-flying Chinese lawmaker Bo Xilai on charges of murdering UK businessman Neil Heywood has ended.

Gu Kailai is accused of poisoning Mr Heywood in 2011 in Chongqing, where her husband was the Communist party head.

State media has called the case against her and an aide “substantial”.

The country is preparing to install a new generation of leaders, and Bo Xilai had once been seen as a strong contender for one of the top jobs.

He was sacked in March and is currently under investigation for unspecified “disciplinary violations”.

The BBC’s John Sudworth says some Chinese leaders are said to welcome the demise of such an openly ambitious colleague, but the case still needs careful handling for fear it might taint the Communist Party itself.”

via BBC News – Bo Xilai scandal: Gu Kailai on trial for Neil Heywood death.

 

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08/08/2012

* Dollar losing its attraction

The Times: “Soft power is sometimes defined as a way of achieving the outcome you desire without using force. In Britain’s case, this has traditionally been exercised using subtle diplomacy, cultural and legal institutions.

The United States exercises soft power through its culture, films and music, too, but it also does through the ubiquity of the US dollar.

With power comes responsibility. There is a danger now that, in seeking to use the dollar’s reserve currency status to achieve US foreign policy aims, America is undermining that power. A key criticism of the US sanctions on Iran, particularly the ban on Iranian banks from using the Swift payments system, is that it has created incentives for other countries to trade with Iran without using dollars. Iran itself has exploited this by using its own currency in bilateral trade deals with India, China, Russia and Japan.

It is a small step from finding ways of trading with Iran without using dollars to trading with each other without using dollars, something that has been noted by the People’s Bank of China, whose officials are talking increasingly loudly about how and when the yuan might become a global reserve currency.

The aggression shown by the New York State Department of Financial Services towards Standard Chartered has just created another incentive to avoid doing business in dollars.”

via It may be unfair, but the damage is done | The Times.

It’s called shooting oneself in the foot. It’s also another case of the Law of Unintended Consequences.  See also:

 

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05/08/2012

* Gorkhaland demand still alive

The Hindu: “Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured the people of the Darjeeling hills that their demands would be met and urged them to refrain from getting into a conflict with the government, the spectre of a separate Gorkhaland loomed over the swearing-in of the elected and nominated representatives of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha here on Saturday.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung addressed the gathering as the people of “Gorkhaland,” and said the newly-elected representatives would work to usher in development and peace for those who live in the “Gorkhaland region.” After they were sworn in, most of the members of GTA Sabha hailed “Jai Gorkhaland” from the podium. The GJM leadership used the word “Gorkhaland” repeatedly, but avoided mentioning the party’s earlier demand for a separate State. The GJM leadership has already stated that it isn’t giving up on its demand for a separate State.

The Darjeeling hills have been on the boil in recent years, with a series of agitations and bandhs called by the GJM. On July 18 last year, a tripartite treaty was signed among the Centre, the State government, and the GJM and it paved the way for the setting up of the GTA — a development for which Ms. Banerjee takes the credit, for “having restored peace to Darjeeling in three months” (since her government came to power). “The process that began on July 18 has reached its final conclusion with the swearing-in of all members of the GTA Sabha,” said Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh.”

via The Hindu : States / Other States : Gorkhaland demand still alive.

Indian ethnic minorities continue to demand separate states.

See also: ability of the Indian central government to continue to hold the country together

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04/08/2012

* Corruption’s Reach in India Spawns New Political Party

NY Times: “The anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and his team said Friday that they plan to create a “political alternative” for India in the form of a new political party. While Mr. Hazare said he would not himself enter the general elections in 2014, he pledged to spend the next year and a half campaigning across the country.

Arvind Kejriwal, an activist widely believed to be the main strategist behind Mr. Hazare’s movement, said the party’s name and agenda are open to suggestions from the people.

“The movement against corruption will now take place both outside and inside Parliament,” he said in front of a crowd of thousands in New Delhi. He denounced India’s large parties, including the ruling Congress Party and the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, calling them “corrupt.”

“It is a daring, adventurous move,” said Yogendra Yadav, a political analyst and one of the signatories of a letter encouraging Team Anna to take on the existing political establishment. But it’s not going to be easy, he said, given the scale and complexity of India’s parliamentary elections and the diversity of its electorate.

Transitioning from a single-issue movement to a political party, with positions on a broad spectrum of topics, from national security and terrorism to the economy, is likely to be a complicated process that may test the unity of the group, analysts said.

And there are few such precedents in independent India’s history. Movements in the past have successfully transformed themselves to enter the political mainstream, but they have been based on religion or ethnicity. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, for instance, which governed India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh for a full term of five years, started as a movement for the rights of India’s so-called “backward” classes.

It will be very tough for a non-regional, non-ethnic, non-caste group to replicate the success of Mayawati’s party with a policy issue like corruption, said E. Sridharan, a political analyst in Delhi. “Team Anna has a diffused constituency. They don’t have a ready-made, mobilizable base,” he said, attributing the movement’s rise to prominence to an urban population and a sympathetic media.”

via Corruption’s Reach in India Spawns New Political Party – NYTimes.com.

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03/08/2012

* 20 Sentenced in Terrorism Case

NY Times: “China has sentenced 20 people to up to 15 years in prison for advocating violence and separatism in the western region of Xinjiang, where the central government has clamped down on dissent and restricted religious practices. The state-run newspaper Xinjiang Daily said Thursday that courts in the region had found that the 20 had organized and participated in terrorist groups. The courts said four of them made illegal explosives, the newspaper reported.

The report did not cite any violence linked to the defendants. It named only five people, all with Uighur names. Xinjiang is home to a large population of minority Uighurs but is ruled by members of China’s Han ethnic majority. Violence between the groups in recent years has left nearly 200 people dead. Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said that the accused used the Internet to obtain government-controlled information and to express political views. He said the terrorist charges and verdicts were politically motivated.”

via China – 20 Sentenced in Terrorism Case – NYTimes.com.

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