<p>As Prime Minister Narendra <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/president-xi-welcomes-pm-modi-as-informal-wuhan-summit-begins-133136">Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping</a> began talks during the two-day summit on Friday, the Indian PM said the speed and scale with which China constructed the three gorges dam 'inspired him'.</p>

<p>Modi visited the&nbsp;Hubei Provincial Museum with President Xi as both leaders took a keen interest in looking at antique Chinese artefacts. They also&nbsp;exchanged views on boosting dialogue between their two ancient civilisations and exchanged notes on living peacefully together, China's state news agency Xinhua said.</p>

<p>"When I was chief minister of Gujarat, I had the opportunity to visit this province. I had heard a lot about the Three Gorges Dam. The speed with which you constructed it and the scale inspired me. So I came on a study tour, spent a day at the dam".</p>

<p>He added, "culture of both India and China is based along the river banks, if we talk about Mohenjo Daro and Harappa civilizations in India, all the development happened along river banks."</p>

<p>Received by Chinese President Xi at the guesthouse in Wuhan City, Modi arrived in China today for a two-day visit to participate in an unprecedented "informal summit".</p>

<p>"Resetting"&nbsp;and "stabling bilateral ties"&nbsp;between both countries is the main goal of this summit after India-China&nbsp;ties hit an unprecedented low during the 73-day standoff at Doklam last year.</p>

<p>President Xi will&nbsp;also host a dinner for Prime Minister Modi at Meiling Hall in the EastGuest Lake House.</p>

<p>Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/president-xi-welcomes-pm-modi-as-informal-wuhan-summit-begins-133136">Modi-Xi bonhomie on full display as Wuhan summit gets underway</a></p>

<p><em>(With inputs from news agencies)</em></p>


As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China president Xi-Jinping began talks during informal two-summit on Friday

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began talks during the two-day summit on Friday, the Indian PM said the speed and scale with which China constructed the three gorges dam 'inspired him'. Modi visited the Hubei Provincial Museum with President Xi as both leaders took a keen interest in looking at antique Chinese artefacts. They also exchanged views on boosting dialogue between their two ancient civilisations and exchanged notes on living peacefully together, China's state news agency Xinhua said. "When I was chief minister of Gujarat, I had the opportunity to visit this province. I had heard a lot about the Three Gorges Dam. The speed with which you constructed it and the scale inspired me. So I came on a study tour, spent a day at the dam". He added, "culture of both India and China is based along the river banks, if we talk about Mohenjo Daro and Harappa civilizations in India, all the development happened along river banks." Received by Chinese President Xi at the guesthouse in Wuhan City, Modi arrived in China today for a two-day visit to participate in an unprecedented "informal summit". "Resetting" and "stabling bilateral ties" between both countries is the main goal of this summit after India-China ties hit an unprecedented low during the 73-day standoff at Doklam last year. President Xi will also host a dinner for Prime Minister Modi at Meiling Hall in the EastGuest Lake House. Also read: Modi-Xi bonhomie on full display as Wuhan summit gets underway (With inputs from news agencies)

Watch: PM Modi on museum tour with Xi at Wuhan

<p>Ahead of PM Modi's<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/with-trade-deficit-on-mind-modi-heads-to-wuhan-for-informal-meeting-with-xi-jinping-132774"> "informal visit" to China</a>, the local media has already begun to praise the Indian prime minister's initiative.</p>

<p>The state-run China Daily said these development sends "positive signals" after the border standoff between the Chinese and Indian armies at Doklam last year.</p>

<p>"It was vice-foreign minister Kong Xuanyou's visit to New Delhi on April 5-6 to hold talks with India's foreign secretary, which set the tone for the meeting between Xi-Modi in Wuhan," China daily said.</p>

<p>The daily however cautioned that negotiations on "remodeling" the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) may prove difficult for Modi and Xi.</p>

<p>Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post(SCMP) said Xi and Modi's summit at Hubei's capital Wuhan on April 27-28 is in tune with "thaw in relations" in recent months.</p>

<p>China's right-leaning newspaper Global Times in its Oped page said the meeting between the two heads of state will help to "set the course"" for bilateral ties.</p>

<p>"Within China, hostility toward India is being replaced by hopes for friendly ties. The two countries need more communication to enhance mutual trust and eliminate the possibility of another border crisis," the editorial said.</p>

<p>The newspaper said China and India have a more "robust economic development than other emerging countries and are both independent."</p>

<p>"China and India cooled down soon after the Doklam standoff, which indicates the solid foundation for ties," it added.</p>

<p>In another article in SCMP, the writer said China has much to gain with the development of economic relations with India especially from a growing export economy.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JIm2a8Lu7yM" width="560"></iframe></p>


In an article in SCMP, the writer said China has much to gain with the development of economic relations with India

Ahead of PM Modi's "informal visit" to China, the local media has already begun to praise the Indian prime minister's initiative. The state-run China Daily said these development sends "positive signals" after the border standoff between the Chinese and Indian armies at Doklam last year. "It was vice-foreign minister Kong Xuanyou's visit to New Delhi on April 5-6 to hold talks with India's foreign secretary, which set the tone for the meeting between Xi-Modi in Wuhan," China daily said. The daily however cautioned that negotiations on "remodeling" the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) may prove difficult for Modi and Xi. Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post(SCMP) said Xi and Modi's summit at Hubei's capital Wuhan on April 27-28 is in tune with "thaw in relations" in recent months. China's right-leaning newspaper Global Times in its Oped page said the meeting between the two heads of state will help to "set the course"" for bilateral ties. "Within China, hostility toward India is being replaced by hopes for friendly ties. The two countries need more communication to enhance mutual trust and eliminate the possibility of another border crisis," the editorial said. The newspaper said China and India have a more "robust economic development than other emerging countries and are both independent." "China and India cooled down soon after the Doklam standoff, which indicates the solid foundation for ties," it added. In another article in SCMP, the writer said China has much to gain with the development of economic relations with India especially from a growing export economy.

Hostility towards India being replaced by hopes for friendly ties: Chinese media

<p>After meeting Chinese vice-president,&nbsp;India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj today met President Xi in Beijing on Monday.</p>

<p>Swaraj who is on a four-day visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) had met China's vice president Wang Qishan at Zhongnanhai on Monday afternoon.</p>

<p>On Sunday, Sushma Swaraj had met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and announced that PM Modi and President Xi will meet in Wuhan on April 27-28.</p>

<p>Earlier on Monday, &nbsp;Swaraj had met Kyrgyzstan foreign minister Erlan Abdyldaev to discuss trade and development. India's external affairs minister had also met Uzbekistan foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.</p>

<p>India's latest connect with China comes in the backdrop of China, US face-off on trade issues with the Communist state keen to improve relations with India focussing on trade and investment.</p>

<p>The Chinese side is keen to "reset" relations with India after both countries were involved in a huge border row over Doklam last year.</p>

<p>India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to discuss the Doklam issue with President Xi when he visits Beijing in on Friday with both sides eager to&nbsp;carve a new relationship.</p>

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<p>&nbsp;</p>


India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to discuss the Doklam issue with President Xi

After meeting Chinese vice-president, India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj today met President Xi in Beijing on Monday. Swaraj who is on a four-day visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) had met China's vice president Wang Qishan at Zhongnanhai on Monday afternoon. On Sunday, Sushma Swaraj had met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and announced that PM Modi and President Xi will meet in Wuhan on April 27-28. Earlier on Monday, Swaraj had met Kyrgyzstan foreign minister Erlan Abdyldaev to discuss trade and development. India's external affairs minister had also met Uzbekistan foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov. India's latest connect with China comes in the backdrop of China, US face-off on trade issues with the Communist state keen to improve relations with India focussing on trade and investment. The Chinese side is keen to "reset" relations with India after both countries were involved in a huge border row over Doklam last year. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to discuss the Doklam issue with President Xi when he visits Beijing in on Friday with both sides eager to carve a new relationship.

Sushma Swaraj meets China's President Xi, Vice-President Wang Qishan

<p>Just days after India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited China, the foreign ministry said India and China should foster a "more positive energy and expand to new cooperation fields".</p>

<p>India and China have been testing each other's strength at the border post-Doklam with reports of constant Chinese incursion into Indian territory along the Line of Control(LAC).</p>

<p>China's latest move comes after Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held talks with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval last Friday.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"China and India share extensive common interests and have a huge potential for cooperation. China attaches great importance to its relationship with India," the foreign ministry said.</p>

<p>The two countries also held the fifth meeting of the China-India Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing last Saturday.</p>

<p>"Our two sides should foster a more positive energy and expand to new cooperation fields in order to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations," foreign ministry spokesperson Hua said.</p>

<p>China has reportedly developed military infrastructure along the LAC with India setting sights on improving its own defense in the area although India and China haven't exchanged fire since 1962 but both forces have been keeping a keen eye on each other as Arunachal Pradesh and other areas have become the latest flashpoints in India-China relations.</p>


China's latest move comes after Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held talks with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval last Friday.

Just days after India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited China, the foreign ministry said India and China should foster a "more positive energy and expand to new cooperation fields". India and China have been testing each other's strength at the border post-Doklam with reports of constant Chinese incursion into Indian territory along the Line of Control(LAC). China's latest move comes after Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held talks with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval last Friday. "China and India share extensive common interests and have a huge potential for cooperation. China attaches great importance to its relationship with India," the foreign ministry said. The two countries also held the fifth meeting of the China-India Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing last Saturday. "Our two sides should foster a more positive energy and expand to new cooperation fields in order to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations," foreign ministry spokesperson Hua said. China has reportedly developed military infrastructure along the LAC with India setting sights on improving its own defense in the area although India and China haven't exchanged fire since 1962 but both forces have been keeping a keen eye on each other as Arunachal Pradesh and other areas have become the latest flashpoints in India-China relations.

Watch: China attaches great importance to its relationship with India, says Chinese foreign ministry

<p>The India-China boundary issue should not be "hyped up" and the two sides must abide by the agreements to maintain the peace and tranquillity along the border areas, the Chinese foreign ministry asserted on Monday.</p>

<p>The ministry skirted a direct response to a report that China has lodged a strong protest with New Delhi, alleging "transgression" by the Indian troops in the strategically sensitive Asaphila area along Arunachal Pradesh. The Indian side has dismissed Beijing's complaint.</p>

<p>"As for the situation on the India-China border, I am not aware of the detailed information," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing when asked about the report.</p>

<p>"Pending the resolution of the issue, we hope the two sides can abide by the agreements and instead of hyping up the relevant issue", Geng said, adding that peace and tranquillity should be upheld in the border areas.</p>

<p>He, however, reiterated China's repeated stand that Beijing never recognised Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as part of southern Tibet.</p>

<p>"China's position on the India-China border is consistent and clear-cut. The Chinese government never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh," Geng said.</p>

<p>"China and India are engaged in consultation and negotiation to resolve border issues and pursue a fair and just solution that can be accepted by both sides," he said.</p>

<p>Both the countries have Special Representative talks mechanism to resolve the boundary issue.&nbsp</p>

<p>The two countries so far have held 20 rounds of talks to resolve the boundary dispute and worked out different mechanisms to keep the peace along the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).&nbsp</p>

<p>Asked about the recent visit of Chinese vice-foreign minister Kong Xuanyou to New Delhi on April 6 and reports of several Indian top ministers visiting China this month, Geng said, "China and India have the sound momentum of exchanges and close cooperation. It is not strange to have such kind of cooperation."</p>

<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to due to visit China in June to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, (SCO) summit to be held in the Chinese city of Qingdao.&nbsp</p>


China and India are engaged in consultation and negotiation to resolve border issues and pursue a fair and just solution that can be accepted by the both sides.

The India-China boundary issue should not be "hyped up" and the two sides must abide by the agreements to maintain the peace and tranquillity along the border areas, the Chinese foreign ministry asserted on Monday. The ministry skirted a direct response to a report that China has lodged a strong protest with New Delhi, alleging "transgression" by the Indian troops in the strategically sensitive Asaphila area along Arunachal Pradesh. The Indian side has dismissed Beijing's complaint. "As for the situation on the India-China border, I am not aware of the detailed information," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing when asked about the report. "Pending the resolution of the issue, we hope the two sides can abide by the agreements and instead of hyping up the relevant issue", Geng said, adding that peace and tranquillity should be upheld in the border areas. He, however, reiterated China's repeated stand that Beijing never recognised Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as part of southern Tibet. "China's position on the India-China border is consistent and clear-cut. The Chinese government never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh," Geng said. "China and India are engaged in consultation and negotiation to resolve border issues and pursue a fair and just solution that can be accepted by both sides," he said. Both the countries have Special Representative talks mechanism to resolve the boundary issue. The two countries so far have held 20 rounds of talks to resolve the boundary dispute and worked out different mechanisms to keep the peace along the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC). Asked about the recent visit of Chinese vice-foreign minister Kong Xuanyou to New Delhi on April 6 and reports of several Indian top ministers visiting China this month, Geng said, "China and India have the sound momentum of exchanges and close cooperation. It is not strange to have such kind of cooperation." Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to due to visit China in June to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, (SCO) summit to be held in the Chinese city of Qingdao.

India-China boundary issue should not be 'hyped up': Beijing

<p>Fearing abduction of an Indian national in central China's Zhejiang province, Indian authorities in Shanghai have sought details of his whereabouts from the Chinese government, diplomatic sources said today.</p>

<p>The Indian Consulate in Shanghai filed a "note verbale", a diplomatic communication, with the local office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, seeking details of Tabrez Akbarali Bana, a resident of Mumbai, the sources said.</p>

<p>Bana has been reported missing from the Chinese commodity market Yiwu for the past a few days, amid concerns that he may have been abducted by local businessmen over a trade dispute.<br />
He visited the police station in Yiwu a few days ago to complain about threats by the businessmen and has been reported missing since.</p>

<p>Indian officials fear he may have been abducted by the traders, who aggressively pursue foreign businessmen who owe them money.</p>

<p>Family sources say Bana may have been picked up by the traders because of a mistaken identity.</p>

<p>Hundreds of Indian traders visit Yiwu, the world's biggest commodity market, to purchase goods and sell them via retail outlets in India.</p>

<p>Similar cases involving trade disputes have been reported in the past in China. Two Indian traders - Sunder Agrawal and Deepak Raheja - had to face cases for allegedly cheating Chinese suppliers in 2012.</p>


Indian officials fear he may have been abducted by the traders, who aggressively pursue foreign businessmen who owe them money.

Fearing abduction of an Indian national in central China's Zhejiang province, Indian authorities in Shanghai have sought details of his whereabouts from the Chinese government, diplomatic sources said today. The Indian Consulate in Shanghai filed a "note verbale", a diplomatic communication, with the local office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, seeking details of Tabrez Akbarali Bana, a resident of Mumbai, the sources said. Bana has been reported missing from the Chinese commodity market Yiwu for the past a few days, amid concerns that he may have been abducted by local businessmen over a trade dispute. He visited the police station in Yiwu a few days ago to complain about threats by the businessmen and has been reported missing since. Indian officials fear he may have been abducted by the traders, who aggressively pursue foreign businessmen who owe them money. Family sources say Bana may have been picked up by the traders because of a mistaken identity. Hundreds of Indian traders visit Yiwu, the world's biggest commodity market, to purchase goods and sell them via retail outlets in India. Similar cases involving trade disputes have been reported in the past in China. Two Indian traders - Sunder Agrawal and Deepak Raheja - had to face cases for allegedly cheating Chinese suppliers in 2012.

India national may have been abducted in China, govt seeks details from Shanghai

<p>China said today it will resume sharing with India the hydrological data of the Brahmaputra river as top water resource officials of the two countries wrapped up two-day talks, the first after Beijing last year stopped providing the data crucial to predict floods.</p>

<p>"On the basis of humanitarian spirit and our shared will to develop bilateral ties we will continue with the cooperation on hydrological information cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here.</p>

<p>He was responding to a question whether China will resume sharing of the hydrological data on Brahmaputra river, which Beijing suspended last year stating that it could not share it with India due to upgradation of data collection station in Tibet.</p>

<p>China's announcement to not to share the data came soon after the 73-day long stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Dokalam over Chinese military's plans to build a road close to India's Chicken Neck corridor connecting North-Eastern states.</p>

<p>A team of officials of India's Ministry of Water Resources held talks with their Chinese counterparts on the cooperation of trans-border rivers in the last two days at the Chinese city of Hangzhou, the first after Beijing last year stopped providing the data. Lu said during the talks the two sides reviewed the achievements of the previous meetings as well as bilateral cooperation on emergency and response and hydrological information.</p>

<p>"The two sides have agreed to continue with such cooperation. On the grounds of humanitarian principles and the basis of bilateral relations China will continue with this cooperation with the Indian side on the provision of hydrological information and emergency response cooperation," Lu said.</p>

<p>Asked whether China would resume the data, Lu said "since you made it quite clear", China will continue with the cooperation on hydrological information cooperation. The two-day talks of the 11th meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) on Trans-Border Rivers concluded yesterday at Hangzhou, a statement from the Indian Embassy here said today.</p>

<p>The Indian side was led by Teerath Singh Mehra, Commissioner (B&B), Ministry of Water Resources and the Chinese side by Yu Xingjun, Consul, Department of International Cooperation Science and Technology, Ministry of Water Resources.</p>

<p>The meeting which was held in a "cordial and friendly" atmosphere reviewed the progress made since the earlier meetings of the ELM and their continued cooperation on provision of hydrological information and emergency management in respect of trans-border rivers, the press release said.</p>

<p>The officials also reviewed the data utilisation report upon provision of hydrological information provided by China to India in flood season on Brahmaputra and Sutlej Rivers.</p>

<p>The institutional mechanism of the ELM was established in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers. Under existing bilateral Memorandums of Understanding, China provides to India hydrological information of Brahmaputra River (Yarlong Zangbo) and Sutlej River (Langqen Zangbo) during the flood seasons.</p>

<p>Under the arrangement, China provides flood season data of the Brahmaputra river between May 15 and October 15 every year.</p>

<p>China has been building major dams on Brahmaputra river to generate hydel power. It operationalised Zangmu hydroelectric project in October, 2015 and three more are under construction.</p>

<p>While dams raised concerns of water shortages in India and Bangladesh, which are lower riparian states of Brahmaputra river, China said its dams were aimed at generating power and not storing water. The data shared by upper riparian state, China, to lower riparian states, India and Bangladesh is essential every monsoon to allow anticipation of the flow of the water and take necessary measures to deal with flooding in India's north-eastern States.</p>


The officials also reviewed the data utilisation report upon provision of hydrological information provided by China to India in flood season on Brahmaputra and Sutlej Rivers.

China said today it will resume sharing with India the hydrological data of the Brahmaputra river as top water resource officials of the two countries wrapped up two-day talks, the first after Beijing last year stopped providing the data crucial to predict floods. "On the basis of humanitarian spirit and our shared will to develop bilateral ties we will continue with the cooperation on hydrological information cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here. He was responding to a question whether China will resume sharing of the hydrological data on Brahmaputra river, which Beijing suspended last year stating that it could not share it with India due to upgradation of data collection station in Tibet. China's announcement to not to share the data came soon after the 73-day long stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Dokalam over Chinese military's plans to build a road close to India's Chicken Neck corridor connecting North-Eastern states. A team of officials of India's Ministry of Water Resources held talks with their Chinese counterparts on the cooperation of trans-border rivers in the last two days at the Chinese city of Hangzhou, the first after Beijing last year stopped providing the data. Lu said during the talks the two sides reviewed the achievements of the previous meetings as well as bilateral cooperation on emergency and response and hydrological information. "The two sides have agreed to continue with such cooperation. On the grounds of humanitarian principles and the basis of bilateral relations China will continue with this cooperation with the Indian side on the provision of hydrological information and emergency response cooperation," Lu said. Asked whether China would resume the data, Lu said "since you made it quite clear", China will continue with the cooperation on hydrological information cooperation. The two-day talks of the 11th meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) on Trans-Border Rivers concluded yesterday at Hangzhou, a statement from the Indian Embassy here said today. The Indian side was led by Teerath Singh Mehra, Commissioner (B&B), Ministry of Water Resources and the Chinese side by Yu Xingjun, Consul, Department of International Cooperation Science and Technology, Ministry of Water Resources. The meeting which was held in a "cordial and friendly" atmosphere reviewed the progress made since the earlier meetings of the ELM and their continued cooperation on provision of hydrological information and emergency management in respect of trans-border rivers, the press release said. The officials also reviewed the data utilisation report upon provision of hydrological information provided by China to India in flood season on Brahmaputra and Sutlej Rivers. The institutional mechanism of the ELM was established in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers. Under existing bilateral Memorandums of Understanding, China provides to India hydrological information of Brahmaputra River (Yarlong Zangbo) and Sutlej River (Langqen Zangbo) during the flood seasons. Under the arrangement, China provides flood season data of the Brahmaputra river between May 15 and October 15 every year. China has been building major dams on Brahmaputra river to generate hydel power. It operationalised Zangmu hydroelectric project in October, 2015 and three more are under construction. While dams raised concerns of water shortages in India and Bangladesh, which are lower riparian states of Brahmaputra river, China said its dams were aimed at generating power and not storing water. The data shared by upper riparian state, China, to lower riparian states, India and Bangladesh is essential every monsoon to allow anticipation of the flow of the water and take necessary measures to deal with flooding in India's north-eastern States.

China to resume sharing hydrological data with India on Brahmaputra

<p>India&#39;s permanent <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/empowered-xi-jinping-says-china-ready-to-fight-bloody-battle-36473">representative at the United Nations</a>, Syed Akbaruddin said today that India and China are &quot;frenemies&quot; who are working with each other despite disagreements.</p>

<p>While responding<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/chinese-fighter-planes-helicopters-conducting-reconnaissance-over-north-doklam-intelligence-sources-33036"> to questions at Georgetown University</a>, India&#39;s top diplomat said: &quot;In Hollywood there is a term, which has become quite popular. And that, I think, is called frenemies.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;That&#39;s what we have with China. We engaged with them, we compete with them. In some areas we work with them together and in some areas we agree to disagree and move on,&quot; Akbaruddin added.</p>

<p>India and China were engaged in a battle of nerves over Doklam last year with troops from both countries set on high alert, however, both sides decided to talk to each other and bring down tension in the region.</p>

<p>PM Modi later visited Beijing as both countries vowed to work with each other in the interests of the region.</p>

<p>While responding to China&#39;s controversial One Belt, One Road(OBOR) initiative which is widely resisted by India, Akbaruddin said: &quot;Belt and Road Initiative, to me, is not a normal multilateral or plurilateral approach...We are not party to that.&quot;</p>

<p>India had skipped China&#39;s high-profile Belt and Road Forum last year due to sovereignty concerns over the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).</p>

<p>On the contentious Kashmir issue and Pakistan&#39;s oft-repeated demand on plebiscite, Akbaruddin said: &quot;Frankly to me, issues of India and Pakistan, the way you framed it are yesterday&#39;s problems. This does not mean that we don&#39;t need to address them,&quot; he said, adding that Pakistan has no internal support on it.</p>


India and China were engaged in a battle of nerves over Doklam last year with troops from both countries set on high alert

India's permanent representative at the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin said today that India and China are "frenemies" who are working with each other despite disagreements. While responding to questions at Georgetown University, India's top diplomat said: "In Hollywood there is a term, which has become quite popular. And that, I think, is called frenemies." "That's what we have with China. We engaged with them, we compete with them. In some areas we work with them together and in some areas we agree to disagree and move on," Akbaruddin added. India and China were engaged in a battle of nerves over Doklam last year with troops from both countries set on high alert, however, both sides decided to talk to each other and bring down tension in the region. PM Modi later visited Beijing as both countries vowed to work with each other in the interests of the region. While responding to China's controversial One Belt, One Road(OBOR) initiative which is widely resisted by India, Akbaruddin said: "Belt and Road Initiative, to me, is not a normal multilateral or plurilateral approach...We are not party to that." India had skipped China's high-profile Belt and Road Forum last year due to sovereignty concerns over the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). On the contentious Kashmir issue and Pakistan's oft-repeated demand on plebiscite, Akbaruddin said: "Frankly to me, issues of India and Pakistan, the way you framed it are yesterday's problems. This does not mean that we don't need to address them," he said, adding that Pakistan has no internal support on it.

'India, China are 'frenemies',' says India's UN diplomat Akbaruddin

<p>China has emerged<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/now-india-china-battle-in-bangladesh-stock-exchange-32913"> as the winner against India in the</a> battle for supremacy in the Bangladesh stock exchange.</p>

<p>After reports of<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/want-to-deepen-ties-with-china-to-gain-greater-leverage-with-india-nepals-oli-33440"> India and China putting up bids in the </a>Bangladesh stock exchange took everyone by surprise, an official told AFP that Bangladesh has agreed to sell a large stake to a Chinese consortium, disregarding India&#39;s bid.</p>

<p>China&#39;s Shanghai and Shenzen stock exchanges made a joint higher bid of 22 <em>taka</em> ($0.26) per share, or $122 million including &quot;technical support worth nearly $37 million&quot;.</p>

<p>Reports had said earlier that the BSEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission) had declined China&#39;s bid, however, stock exchange spokesman Shafiqur Rahman said on Monday that the board had &quot;reconfirmed its decision&quot; about approving the Chinese consortium&#39;s bid as it is higher than its nearest competitor.</p>

<p>India&#39;s National Stock Exchange had offered 15 <em>taka</em><em> </em>($0.18) per share for a 25 per cent stake in the Bangladesh stock exchange.</p>

<p>Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission had intervened in the bids which led to Transparency International, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, issuing a statement &quot;strongly condemning&quot; what it called &quot;unethical&quot; and &quot;illegal meddling&quot;.</p>

<p>There were reports which said India was set to win the bid despite quoting a&nbsp;lower price as the Indian government was closer to Sheikh Hasina&#39;s government.</p>

<p>The Indian government has approved several multi-billion dollar contracts to Bangladesh spurring growth and ensuring long-term interests and trade with its neighbour which came into existence after a bruising war with Pakistan in 1971.</p>

<p>However, as China entered the frame with higher bids and ambitions of extending trade in the region, New Delhi has increasingly felt nervous.</p>

<p>Now, with China winning round-1 in Bangladesh, India will be looking at other ways to secure its long-term interests with its close neighbour.</p>

<p>According to reports, the combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the Dhaka stock exchange is over $40 billion.</p>

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There were reports which said India was set to win the bid despite quoting a lower price

China has emerged as the winner against India in the battle for supremacy in the Bangladesh stock exchange. After reports of India and China putting up bids in the Bangladesh stock exchange took everyone by surprise, an official told AFP that Bangladesh has agreed to sell a large stake to a Chinese consortium, disregarding India's bid. China's Shanghai and Shenzen stock exchanges made a joint higher bid of 22 taka ($0.26) per share, or $122 million including "technical support worth nearly $37 million". Reports had said earlier that the BSEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission) had declined China's bid, however, stock exchange spokesman Shafiqur Rahman said on Monday that the board had "reconfirmed its decision" about approving the Chinese consortium's bid as it is higher than its nearest competitor. India's National Stock Exchange had offered 15 taka ($0.18) per share for a 25 per cent stake in the Bangladesh stock exchange. Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission had intervened in the bids which led to Transparency International, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, issuing a statement "strongly condemning" what it called "unethical" and "illegal meddling". There were reports which said India was set to win the bid despite quoting a lower price as the Indian government was closer to Sheikh Hasina's government. The Indian government has approved several multi-billion dollar contracts to Bangladesh spurring growth and ensuring long-term interests and trade with its neighbour which came into existence after a bruising war with Pakistan in 1971. However, as China entered the frame with higher bids and ambitions of extending trade in the region, New Delhi has increasingly felt nervous. Now, with China winning round-1 in Bangladesh, India will be looking at other ways to secure its long-term interests with its close neighbour. According to reports, the combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the Dhaka stock exchange is over $40 billion.

Bangladesh stock exchange approves China's bid, rejects India

<p>China&#39;s<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/after-china-justifies-building-infrastructure-in-doklam-india-says-keeping-a-close-vigil-30065"> fighter planes and helicopters</a> have been undertaking reconnaissance sorties over north Doklam, intelligence report said.</p>

<p>The Chinese <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-china-begin-border-talks-first-after-doklam-standoff-27433">Air Force reconnaissance effort </a>is being backed up by the People&#39;s Liberation Army(PLA) on the ground, intelligence sources say.</p>

<p>According to intelligence sources, the Chinese Army has been carrying out &quot;intrusive patrolling&quot; near Doklam in the areas held by the Royal Bhutan Army at Lhariong, Sarithang, Sinchulumpa and Pangka La &nbsp;PLA. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Despite the onset of winter, the Chinese Army is continuing with &quot;force consolidation&quot; in the western sector, intelligence sources said.</p>

<p>The Chinese army has constructed &quot;field defences&quot; in north Doklam and has put around 25 &quot;small to medium-sized tents&quot; along open communication trenches in the Doka La Spur area, intelligence sources noted.</p>

<p>An Army observation post with a China flag has also been spotted in the area.</p>

<p>Chinese army convoy continue to ferry troops and logistics supplies towards Doka La Spur via Sinche La, intelligence sources confirm.</p>

<p><strong>Reporter: Manish Shukla</strong></p>


The Chinese Air Force reconnaissance effort is being backed up by the People's Liberation Army

China's fighter planes and helicopters have been undertaking reconnaissance sorties over north Doklam, intelligence report said. The Chinese Air Force reconnaissance effort is being backed up by the People's Liberation Army(PLA) on the ground, intelligence sources say. According to intelligence sources, the Chinese Army has been carrying out "intrusive patrolling" near Doklam in the areas held by the Royal Bhutan Army at Lhariong, Sarithang, Sinchulumpa and Pangka La PLA. Despite the onset of winter, the Chinese Army is continuing with "force consolidation" in the western sector, intelligence sources said. The Chinese army has constructed "field defences" in north Doklam and has put around 25 "small to medium-sized tents" along open communication trenches in the Doka La Spur area, intelligence sources noted. An Army observation post with a China flag has also been spotted in the area. Chinese army convoy continue to ferry troops and logistics supplies towards Doka La Spur via Sinche La, intelligence sources confirm. Reporter: Manish Shukla

Chinese fighter planes, helicopters conducting reconnaissance over north Doklam: Intelligence sources

<p>India and <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/relations-between-india-and-china-to-remain-tenseus-intelligence-chief-32776">China put up bids </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/relations-between-india-and-china-to-remain-tenseus-intelligence-chief-32776">in</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/relations-between-india-and-china-to-remain-tenseus-intelligence-chief-32776"> the Dhaka Stock Exchange</a> (DSE) as the struggle for supremacy in South Asia took a new turn in the Bangladesh stock exchange.</p>

<p>The bids immediately <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/china-dismisses-nasheeds-charges-of-land-grabbing-as-ridiculous-fabrications-32750">became the centre of controversy as</a> India&#39;s National Stock Exchange had offered 15 <em>taka</em><em> </em>($0.18) per share for a 25 per cent stake and China&#39;s Shanghai and Shenzen stock exchanges made a joint higher bid of 22<em> </em><em>taka</em> ($0.26) per share, or $122 million.</p>

<p>Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) chief executive Majedur Rahman confirmed the bids to AFP.</p>

<p>The Chinese bid also offered &quot;technical support worth nearly $37 million&quot;, however, Bangladesh&#39;s financial regulators rejected the Chinese bid.</p>

<p>&quot;The BSEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission) declined to give the order to go ahead,&quot; an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Saifur Rahman told AFP it could &quot;always override the exchange&#39;s decisions&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;No final conclusion has been drawn yet. The auction process is still at an early stage,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>Bangladesh has become an important strategic centre for both China and India with both President Xi and PM Modi having visited the country in the last two years.</p>

<p>President Xi signed deals worth more than $20 billion in 2016 with PM Modi who is believed to be at good terms with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has given large credits to the country and approved multi-billion dollar infrastructure contracts for its &quot;natural neighbour&quot;.</p>

<p>According to reports, the combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the Dhaka stock exchange is over $40 billion.</p>


Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) chief executive Majedur Rahman confirmed the bids to AFP.

India and China put up bids in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) as the struggle for supremacy in South Asia took a new turn in the Bangladesh stock exchange. The bids immediately became the centre of controversy as India's National Stock Exchange had offered 15 taka ($0.18) per share for a 25 per cent stake and China's Shanghai and Shenzen stock exchanges made a joint higher bid of 22 taka ($0.26) per share, or $122 million. Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) chief executive Majedur Rahman confirmed the bids to AFP. The Chinese bid also offered "technical support worth nearly $37 million", however, Bangladesh's financial regulators rejected the Chinese bid. "The BSEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission) declined to give the order to go ahead," an official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Saifur Rahman told AFP it could "always override the exchange's decisions". "No final conclusion has been drawn yet. The auction process is still at an early stage," he said. Bangladesh has become an important strategic centre for both China and India with both President Xi and PM Modi having visited the country in the last two years. President Xi signed deals worth more than $20 billion in 2016 with PM Modi who is believed to be at good terms with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has given large credits to the country and approved multi-billion dollar infrastructure contracts for its "natural neighbour". According to reports, the combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the Dhaka stock exchange is over $40 billion.

Now, India, China battle in Bangladesh stock exchange

<p>China&#39;s state-run Global Times today <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-japan-intimacy-poses-no-real-threat-to-china-says-chinas-state-run-daily-global-times-20211">said India&#39;s aircraft carrier INS Vikrant</a> does not compare in weaponry and technology with China&#39;s first home-made carrier which will enter service in 2020.</p>

<p>China had inaugurated its <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/china-can-play-constructive-role-in-resolving-kashmir-issue-says-state-run-global-times-21306">aircraft carrier in April last year</a> amid rising tension in the Korean peninsula. China hasn&#39;t revealed much about its carrier which is a &quot;state secret&quot;.</p>

<p>The government had said earlier that the new carrier&rsquo;s design draws on experiences from the country&rsquo;s first carrier - the Liaoning - bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in China.</p>

<p>China&#39;s military expert Song Zhongping told the Chinese daily that, &quot;India&#39;s home-made aircraft carrier cannot compare with China as it has taken a leap in construction technology and other relevant core technologies,&quot; adding,&quot;India still relies on other countries&#39; technology in building its aircraft carrier.&quot;</p>

<p>Another expert, Li Jie told the right-leaning Chinese daily that,&quot;INS Vikrant is more likely an assemblage of foreign technologies made by India.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;The aircraft carrier&#39;s design is from France and Italy, its power system from the US and the weapon system is also from overseas,&quot; Li Jie declared.</p>

<p>Song Zhongping said as far as combat capability was concerned China&#39;s first &quot;home-made aircraft carrier&quot; carried the &quot;Shenyang J-15, a large antisubmarine helicopter&quot;, which could also be used for early warning and search and rescue operations. &nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Its defence system was also developed domestically,&quot; Song added.</p>

<p>&quot;China&#39;s second home-made carrier may adopt an electromagnetic catapult system, and the domestically developed radar system will be more accurate and far-reaching. The destroyers and frigates which form the aircraft carrier fleet would also be stronger,&quot; Li said.</p>

<p>Li also said it was meaningless to merely compare the aircraft carriers of China and India as the competitiveness&nbsp;of the navies in the future lies in comprehensive combat capabilities and cooperation of different forces.</p>


The Chinese government had said that the new carrier’s design draws on experiences from the country’s first carrier - the Liaoning.

China's state-run Global Times today said India's aircraft carrier INS Vikrant does not compare in weaponry and technology with China's first home-made carrier which will enter service in 2020. China had inaugurated its aircraft carrier in April last year amid rising tension in the Korean peninsula. China hasn't revealed much about its carrier which is a "state secret". The government had said earlier that the new carrier’s design draws on experiences from the country’s first carrier - the Liaoning - bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in China. China's military expert Song Zhongping told the Chinese daily that, "India's home-made aircraft carrier cannot compare with China as it has taken a leap in construction technology and other relevant core technologies," adding,"India still relies on other countries' technology in building its aircraft carrier." Another expert, Li Jie told the right-leaning Chinese daily that,"INS Vikrant is more likely an assemblage of foreign technologies made by India." "The aircraft carrier's design is from France and Italy, its power system from the US and the weapon system is also from overseas," Li Jie declared. Song Zhongping said as far as combat capability was concerned China's first "home-made aircraft carrier" carried the "Shenyang J-15, a large antisubmarine helicopter", which could also be used for early warning and search and rescue operations. "Its defence system was also developed domestically," Song added. "China's second home-made carrier may adopt an electromagnetic catapult system, and the domestically developed radar system will be more accurate and far-reaching. The destroyers and frigates which form the aircraft carrier fleet would also be stronger," Li said. Li also said it was meaningless to merely compare the aircraft carriers of China and India as the competitiveness of the navies in the future lies in comprehensive combat capabilities and cooperation of different forces.

China's aircraft carrier superior to India's INS Vikrant: Chinese experts

<p>China&#39;s right-leaning daily newspaper Global Times in its editorial <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/india-objects-to-china-renaming-six-places-in-arunachal-pradesh-14724">said India has speeded up development</a> of infrastructure along the border with China, asserting that China has &quot;plenty of chips&quot; with which to bargain with India, through political, military and economic means.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In its op-ed page article, the daily mainly <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/nobody-should-have-any-problem-with-dalai-lamas-arunachal-pradesh-visit-india-says-14172">touched on India&#39;s ongoing dispute</a> with China over Arunachal Pradesh, which is called &quot;South Tibet&quot; in China. After reports surfaced&nbsp; of Arun Jaitley recently proposing the construction of a new tunnel, the newspaper said, &quot;if India seeks to break the status quo in the disputed region, relevant countermeasures by China should be in place.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;The development of infrastructure can only play a limited role in improving the military&#39;s combat capability, but it is more of a gesture by the Indian government to strengthen control in the region,&quot; the newspaper said, adding that despite backward &quot;connectivity infrastructure in the disputed China-India border areas, made-in-China products are quite popular&quot; in the local markets in northeast India.</p>

<p>&quot;Most of the goods are imported by India from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh, which serve as transit points for made-in-China goods,&quot; it said.</p>

<p>China had earlier announced that had &quot;standardised&quot; official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh and termed the provocative move as &quot;legitimate&quot;, India later opposed the move.</p>

<p>&quot;China can strengthen economic cooperation with the three countries to put pressure on India regarding issues related to the disputed region,&quot; the state-run newspaper said.</p>


In its op-ed page article, the daily mainly touched on India's ongoing dispute with China over Arunachal Pradesh

China's right-leaning daily newspaper Global Times in its editorial said India has speeded up development of infrastructure along the border with China, asserting that China has "plenty of chips" with which to bargain with India, through political, military and economic means. In its op-ed page article, the daily mainly touched on India's ongoing dispute with China over Arunachal Pradesh, which is called "South Tibet" in China. After reports surfaced of Arun Jaitley recently proposing the construction of a new tunnel, the newspaper said, "if India seeks to break the status quo in the disputed region, relevant countermeasures by China should be in place." "The development of infrastructure can only play a limited role in improving the military's combat capability, but it is more of a gesture by the Indian government to strengthen control in the region," the newspaper said, adding that despite backward "connectivity infrastructure in the disputed China-India border areas, made-in-China products are quite popular" in the local markets in northeast India. "Most of the goods are imported by India from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh, which serve as transit points for made-in-China goods," it said. China had earlier announced that had "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh and termed the provocative move as "legitimate", India later opposed the move. "China can strengthen economic cooperation with the three countries to put pressure on India regarding issues related to the disputed region," the state-run newspaper said.

If India breaks status quo on Arunachal, countermeasures by China should be in place: China Daily

<p>China&#39;s right-leaning daily <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-harbours-sense-of-superiority-with-south-asian-countries-china-daily-29644">newspaper Global Times said today</a> that the country has increasingly become an &quot;influential driver of India&#39;s foreign policy decisions&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-considers-obor-potential-hazard-new-delhis-clout-will-weaken-china-daily-28317">China&#39;s influence became</a> more palpable,&quot; the newspaper said, adding,&quot;This remains especially true of India&#39;s policy initiatives vis-a-vis the Asia-Pacific region.&quot;</p>

<p>The state-run daily said official expositions and press briefings denying China being the trigger &quot;only betray India&#39;s persistent vacillations&quot;, asserting that, &quot;China&#39;s $12 trillion economy and its $450 billion annual trade with ASEAN speaks volumes about leverages of India&#39;s $2.6 trillion economy and $70 billion trade with ASEAN.&quot;</p>

<p>The newspaper said both India and ASEAN see China as an important trade partner, therefore are &quot;conscious of not pushing the envelope on Beijing&#39;s core concerns too far.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Both India and ASEAN have become aware, even complacent, to these growing asymmetries and accepted Beijing&#39;s lead in several initiatives,&quot; the newspaper said.</p>

<p>&quot;Together India and ASEAN seek to balance, not confront, rising China,&quot; it said, pointing out that while India stayed away from China&#39;s OBOR initiative it is engaging with ASEAN for &quot;parallel connectivity projects&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;The Delhi Declaration commits them(ASEAN) to work for faster implementation of India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and to take it to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam,&quot; it said.</p>

<p>The newspaper said India is seeking to project its &quot;multicultural and leading epic Ramayana&quot; as its &quot;umbilical cord&quot; with Southeast Asian nations and trying to revive cultural links with ASEAN nations in which Buddhism is popular.</p>

<p>&quot;India is also conscious of China&#39;s decade-long lead in promoting World Buddhist Forum. So it seeks to revive cultural links with ASEAN nations in which Buddhism is popular,&quot; the newspaper reported.</p>


China's Daily Times said the Delhi Declaration commits ASEAN to work for faster implementation of India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and to take it to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

China's right-leaning daily newspaper Global Times said today that the country has increasingly become an "influential driver of India's foreign policy decisions". "China's influence became more palpable," the newspaper said, adding,"This remains especially true of India's policy initiatives vis-a-vis the Asia-Pacific region." The state-run daily said official expositions and press briefings denying China being the trigger "only betray India's persistent vacillations", asserting that, "China's $12 trillion economy and its $450 billion annual trade with ASEAN speaks volumes about leverages of India's $2.6 trillion economy and $70 billion trade with ASEAN." The newspaper said both India and ASEAN see China as an important trade partner, therefore are "conscious of not pushing the envelope on Beijing's core concerns too far." "Both India and ASEAN have become aware, even complacent, to these growing asymmetries and accepted Beijing's lead in several initiatives," the newspaper said. "Together India and ASEAN seek to balance, not confront, rising China," it said, pointing out that while India stayed away from China's OBOR initiative it is engaging with ASEAN for "parallel connectivity projects". "The Delhi Declaration commits them(ASEAN) to work for faster implementation of India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and to take it to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam," it said. The newspaper said India is seeking to project its "multicultural and leading epic Ramayana" as its "umbilical cord" with Southeast Asian nations and trying to revive cultural links with ASEAN nations in which Buddhism is popular. "India is also conscious of China's decade-long lead in promoting World Buddhist Forum. So it seeks to revive cultural links with ASEAN nations in which Buddhism is popular," the newspaper reported.

India seeking to revive cultural links with ASEAN through Buddhism, Ramayana: China daily

<p>Commander of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/indias-foreign-secretary-jaishankar-picks-four-big-disruptions-at-raisina-dialogue-30008">US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry</a> Harris during a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue said that nations should take &quot;tough decisions to keep the region safe and open.&quot;</p>

<p>Top officials comprising <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/need-to-identify-nations-who-are-sponsors-of-terrorists-army-chief-at-raisina-dialogue-29797">of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue</a> (QSD)&nbsp;-&nbsp;US, Japan, Australia and India pointed out that China needed to be countered.</p>

<p>Admiral Harris said he had &quot;no issues in engaging China&quot; if it is interested in keeping the region peaceful, safe and open, however, Japan&#39;s Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano it is very difficult to change &quot;China&#39;s aggressive policy&quot; which would make it &quot;isolated&quot; soon.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Admiral Kawano added that China had &quot;violated international rules in East China Sea and South China Sea&quot;.</p>

<p>India&#39;s naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba added that the region was &quot;facing trust deficiency&quot; and &quot;fear of insecurity&quot; and that there was a need for developing trust between countries in the region and &quot;transparent inter-operability&quot;.</p>

<p>Admiral&nbsp; Lanba&nbsp;said there is a &quot;change in the deployment of China&#39;s navy since 2008&quot;&nbsp;though there is no evidence of military purposes in its deployment.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Australia&#39;s Vice-Admiral Tim Barret echoed Admiral Kawano&#39;s statement, saying: &quot;There needs to be a meaningful outcome from discussions among like-minded nations to take on China.&quot;</p>


Top officials comprising of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) nations US, Japan, Australia and India pointed out that China needed to be countered.

Commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris during a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue said that nations should take "tough decisions to keep the region safe and open." Top officials comprising of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) - US, Japan, Australia and India pointed out that China needed to be countered. Admiral Harris said he had "no issues in engaging China" if it is interested in keeping the region peaceful, safe and open, however, Japan's Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano it is very difficult to change "China's aggressive policy" which would make it "isolated" soon. Admiral Kawano added that China had "violated international rules in East China Sea and South China Sea". India's naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba added that the region was "facing trust deficiency" and "fear of insecurity" and that there was a need for developing trust between countries in the region and "transparent inter-operability". Admiral Lanba said there is a "change in the deployment of China's navy since 2008" though there is no evidence of military purposes in its deployment. Australia's Vice-Admiral Tim Barret echoed Admiral Kawano's statement, saying: "There needs to be a meaningful outcome from discussions among like-minded nations to take on China."

At Raisina Dialogue, QSD nations point at 'China's aggressive policy'

<p>Even as political pundits in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/trump-modi-enjoy-anti-establishment-posturing-china-daily-22805">India predicted a win for the BJP in </a>Gujarat, China&#39;s state-run newspaper Global Times said if the BJP wins an overwhelming victory in Gujarat, the Modi administration may &quot;take more radical approaches to economic reform&quot;.</p>

<p>China should take a close look <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/born-of-chaos-india-lumbers-amid-turmoil-says-china-daily-21017">at the BJP&#39;s Gujarat campaign, the newspaper</a> asserted, observing that companies doing business in &quot;India should prepare for possible changes in economic policy.&quot;</p>

<p>However, a loss for the BJP in Gujarat would be the biggest setback yet for the economic reforms initiated by the Modi administration, the newspaper said.</p>

<p>&quot;Modi&#39;s BJP is making serious efforts to avoid electoral losses in Gujarat, where Modi served for 13 years as chief minister before he was sworn in as prime minister in 2014,&quot; the newspaper noted.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On a cautious note ahead of the Gujarat poll results, the newspaper said: &quot;It&#39;s possible that voters in other Indian states might be influenced by a BJP loss in Gujarat and Modi&#39;s economic reforms might then be abandoned halfway.&quot;</p>

<p>The newspaper said a loss in Gujarat would trigger a &quot;domino effect&quot; in India.</p>

<p>The newspaper said in its Op-ed page that people doubt that the &quot;reforms can bring enough benefits to the country&#39;s small businesses and ordinary people,&quot; adding,&quot; the Indian government must find a way to make the reforms gain public support.&quot;</p>

<p>The newspaper also cautioned against &quot;possible volatility in India&#39;s financial markets next week after the results are announced.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Modi&#39;s &quot;Make in India&quot; campaign and his economic reforms such as the goods and services tax(GST) have to some extent been seen as a continuation of the so-called &quot;Gujarat model of development&quot;,&quot; the Global Times said.</p>

<p>The newspaper declared that the Gujarat election may be a &quot;litmus test&quot; for Indian voters&#39; attitude toward PM Modi&#39;s reform agenda.</p>


China should take a close look at the BJP's Gujarat campaign, the newspaper asserted.

Even as political pundits in India predicted a win for the BJP in Gujarat, China's state-run newspaper Global Times said if the BJP wins an overwhelming victory in Gujarat, the Modi administration may "take more radical approaches to economic reform". China should take a close look at the BJP's Gujarat campaign, the newspaper asserted, observing that companies doing business in "India should prepare for possible changes in economic policy." However, a loss for the BJP in Gujarat would be the biggest setback yet for the economic reforms initiated by the Modi administration, the newspaper said. "Modi's BJP is making serious efforts to avoid electoral losses in Gujarat, where Modi served for 13 years as chief minister before he was sworn in as prime minister in 2014," the newspaper noted. On a cautious note ahead of the Gujarat poll results, the newspaper said: "It's possible that voters in other Indian states might be influenced by a BJP loss in Gujarat and Modi's economic reforms might then be abandoned halfway." The newspaper said a loss in Gujarat would trigger a "domino effect" in India. The newspaper said in its Op-ed page that people doubt that the "reforms can bring enough benefits to the country's small businesses and ordinary people," adding," the Indian government must find a way to make the reforms gain public support." The newspaper also cautioned against "possible volatility in India's financial markets next week after the results are announced." "Modi's "Make in India" campaign and his economic reforms such as the goods and services tax(GST) have to some extent been seen as a continuation of the so-called "Gujarat model of development"," the Global Times said. The newspaper declared that the Gujarat election may be a "litmus test" for Indian voters' attitude toward PM Modi's reform agenda.

Big win in Gujarat may lead Modi to take 'radical' approach to economic reforms: China daily

<p>From a strictly electoral perspective, the Scheduled Castes in Gujarat are not a very important factor. They constitute just seven per cent of the State&rsquo;s population. And since they are thinly spread across the State, their role in deciding the outcome of an election in the 182 Assembly seats is limited. Yet, their support is essential for both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress for a different reason. The BJP&rsquo;s &#39;Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas&#39; slogan would sound ineffectual if the Scheduled Castes failed to vote for the party. The Congress&rsquo;s &lsquo;pro-poor&rsquo; image would take a beating if it could not win over this most marginalised section of society.</p>

<p>On the other hand, the Scheduled Tribes form 15 per cent of the State&rsquo;s population. This significant presence alongside the fact that they are largely concentrated in eastern Gujarat, gives them political leverage in, at least, 25 Assembly constituencies in the general category. Besides, they are also important for the &lsquo;inclusive development&rsquo;, a message the two main political rivals in the State have adopted to sound credible.</p>

<p>Taken together, the 22 per cent they represent is a formidable number. Add to it the number of reserved seats they share between themselves &mdash; 40 in all, with 13 Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes and 27 for Scheduled Tribes &mdash; and it is evident that this taken together is crucial for any political party&rsquo;s prospects in the coming State election.</p>

<p>If this is true, there is another reality. It is that the two groups do not have a common leader who can optimally exploit the strength for political empowerment. Nor do the SC and ST groups have common concerns, other than the abstract desire to lead a life that has more of dignity and social justice. Political observers, and definitely political strategists, realise that sharply delineated issues and not generalities work in electoral campaigns.</p>

<p>The Scheduled Castes have, at least ostensibly, found a messiah in Jignesh Mevani. He came into the limelight after the Una incident in 2016, when a group of cow vigilantes professing Right-wing credentials attacked members of the &lsquo;low caste&rsquo; community. That turned him firmly against the BJP. Earlier, Mevani had led a number of protests demanding land rights for the Scheduled Castes, but in those days he had no political leaning &mdash; or at least he did not overtly display them. He positioned himself as a champion of the rights of the underprivileged and claimed to have no political ambition. But last month he filed his nomination from the Vadnagar reserved seat. The Congress has not fielded any candidate from the constituency though it has a sitting MLA from there, and has decided to back Mevani. The Scheduled Castes leader has also decided to support the Congress in its battle against the BJP.</p>

<p>While he has taken the political plunge, it may not be smooth sailing for him. Upset that a seat which their party has held has been given to a non-Congressman, many grassroots workers of the Congress are reportedly preparing to put a spanner in the works. The BJP is working overtime to exploit the situation to its benefit. In any case, his political relevance is only proportional to the percentage of Scheduled Castes population in the State, and the fact that he is involved in a contest of his own will curtail his ability to canvas for the Congress across the State.</p>

<p>There is a general perception that the Scheduled Castes in Gujarat have traditionally favoured the Congress. This is not borne out by the electoral result of the 2012 Assembly election. The BJP had then won in 10 of the 13 reserved constituencies. It remains to be seen whether, in the new context, the party retains the sway.</p>

<p>The Congress had performed better with the Scheduled Tribes. Of the 27 seats reserved for this group in 2012, the party had triumphed in 16. The BJP had secured 10 seats while one went to the Janata Dal (United) candidate, Chotubhai Vasava. In the 2007 Assembly election, there were 26 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, of which the Congress had won 16 and the BJP, nine; one seat had then too gone to the Janata Dal (United). The BJP&rsquo;s situation was worse in the 1998 election, when it could win only eight of the 26 seats.</p>

<p>The Bhil community is the single largest constituent of the Scheduled Tribes, forming an overwhelming 45 per cent. The other important sub-group is the Bhopa Rabari whose members are largely concentrated in north Gujarat. It is no surprise that the two national parties are putting everything they have to get the approval of these two communities especially and the Scheduled Tribes in general.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Congress is banking on the &lsquo;failure&rsquo; of successive BJP regimes in the State to effectively implement the Forest Rights Act of 2006, which was supposed to provide title deeds of land claimed by the tribals under this law. Although nearly 70 per cent of disputed claims forwarded under the Act have been settled in the State, Gujarat still lags behind other States in the matter. According to a Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs data, the Gujarat Government had managed to distribute land to just 38 per cent of the claimants. This is the record, the Congress has claimed, of the BJP regime and reflects the latter&rsquo;s neglect of tribal rights.</p>

<p>But the BJP is confident that the surge of tribal support it has seen since 1998 will continue. It has been pulling out all stops to win over the Scheduled Tribes. Only recently, a tribal museum opened in Surat with a grant of one crore rupees from the University Grants Commission. While speaking at a public meeting recently in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the contribution of tribal leaders in the country&rsquo;s freedom movement. He laid the foundation stone for a tribal museum close to the Sardar Sarovar dam in Narmada district, and promised more such museums across the country.</p>

<p>The BJP&rsquo;s push for tribal support has also to do with the Hardik Patel factor. Realising that some of the Patidar votes may migrate from its camp to the Congress, now supported by Patidar leader Hardik Patel, the BJP is keen to make up for the deficit through enhanced votes from the Scheduled Tribes. It has placed hopes in the work that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been doing in the tribal belt of the State over the years. However, the Congress is in no mood to give up its advantage. If it can hold on to its support base among the Scheduled Tribes and Hardik Patel manages to deliver on his promise, the BJP could be at some disadvantage.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).</em></p>


India and China usually withdraw troops as winter approaches, but this time China is reportedly retaining troops in the Doklam area

From a strictly electoral perspective, the Scheduled Castes in Gujarat are not a very important factor. They constitute just seven per cent of the State’s population. And since they are thinly spread across the State, their role in deciding the outcome of an election in the 182 Assembly seats is limited. Yet, their support is essential for both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress for a different reason. The BJP’s 'Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' slogan would sound ineffectual if the Scheduled Castes failed to vote for the party. The Congress’s ‘pro-poor’ image would take a beating if it could not win over this most marginalised section of society. On the other hand, the Scheduled Tribes form 15 per cent of the State’s population. This significant presence alongside the fact that they are largely concentrated in eastern Gujarat, gives them political leverage in, at least, 25 Assembly constituencies in the general category. Besides, they are also important for the ‘inclusive development’, a message the two main political rivals in the State have adopted to sound credible. Taken together, the 22 per cent they represent is a formidable number. Add to it the number of reserved seats they share between themselves — 40 in all, with 13 Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes and 27 for Scheduled Tribes — and it is evident that this taken together is crucial for any political party’s prospects in the coming State election. If this is true, there is another reality. It is that the two groups do not have a common leader who can optimally exploit the strength for political empowerment. Nor do the SC and ST groups have common concerns, other than the abstract desire to lead a life that has more of dignity and social justice. Political observers, and definitely political strategists, realise that sharply delineated issues and not generalities work in electoral campaigns. The Scheduled Castes have, at least ostensibly, found a messiah in Jignesh Mevani. He came into the limelight after the Una incident in 2016, when a group of cow vigilantes professing Right-wing credentials attacked members of the ‘low caste’ community. That turned him firmly against the BJP. Earlier, Mevani had led a number of protests demanding land rights for the Scheduled Castes, but in those days he had no political leaning — or at least he did not overtly display them. He positioned himself as a champion of the rights of the underprivileged and claimed to have no political ambition. But last month he filed his nomination from the Vadnagar reserved seat. The Congress has not fielded any candidate from the constituency though it has a sitting MLA from there, and has decided to back Mevani. The Scheduled Castes leader has also decided to support the Congress in its battle against the BJP. While he has taken the political plunge, it may not be smooth sailing for him. Upset that a seat which their party has held has been given to a non-Congressman, many grassroots workers of the Congress are reportedly preparing to put a spanner in the works. The BJP is working overtime to exploit the situation to its benefit. In any case, his political relevance is only proportional to the percentage of Scheduled Castes population in the State, and the fact that he is involved in a contest of his own will curtail his ability to canvas for the Congress across the State. There is a general perception that the Scheduled Castes in Gujarat have traditionally favoured the Congress. This is not borne out by the electoral result of the 2012 Assembly election. The BJP had then won in 10 of the 13 reserved constituencies. It remains to be seen whether, in the new context, the party retains the sway. The Congress had performed better with the Scheduled Tribes. Of the 27 seats reserved for this group in 2012, the party had triumphed in 16. The BJP had secured 10 seats while one went to the Janata Dal (United) candidate, Chotubhai Vasava. In the 2007 Assembly election, there were 26 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, of which the Congress had won 16 and the BJP, nine; one seat had then too gone to the Janata Dal (United). The BJP’s situation was worse in the 1998 election, when it could win only eight of the 26 seats. The Bhil community is the single largest constituent of the Scheduled Tribes, forming an overwhelming 45 per cent. The other important sub-group is the Bhopa Rabari whose members are largely concentrated in north Gujarat. It is no surprise that the two national parties are putting everything they have to get the approval of these two communities especially and the Scheduled Tribes in general. The Congress is banking on the ‘failure’ of successive BJP regimes in the State to effectively implement the Forest Rights Act of 2006, which was supposed to provide title deeds of land claimed by the tribals under this law. Although nearly 70 per cent of disputed claims forwarded under the Act have been settled in the State, Gujarat still lags behind other States in the matter. According to a Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs data, the Gujarat Government had managed to distribute land to just 38 per cent of the claimants. This is the record, the Congress has claimed, of the BJP regime and reflects the latter’s neglect of tribal rights. But the BJP is confident that the surge of tribal support it has seen since 1998 will continue. It has been pulling out all stops to win over the Scheduled Tribes. Only recently, a tribal museum opened in Surat with a grant of one crore rupees from the University Grants Commission. While speaking at a public meeting recently in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the contribution of tribal leaders in the country’s freedom movement. He laid the foundation stone for a tribal museum close to the Sardar Sarovar dam in Narmada district, and promised more such museums across the country. The BJP’s push for tribal support has also to do with the Hardik Patel factor. Realising that some of the Patidar votes may migrate from its camp to the Congress, now supported by Patidar leader Hardik Patel, the BJP is keen to make up for the deficit through enhanced votes from the Scheduled Tribes. It has placed hopes in the work that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been doing in the tribal belt of the State over the years. However, the Congress is in no mood to give up its advantage. If it can hold on to its support base among the Scheduled Tribes and Hardik Patel manages to deliver on his promise, the BJP could be at some disadvantage. (Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

In winter, Chinese troops establish 'permanent base' at Doklam: Report

<p>Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank specialising on South Asia in a paper presented recently <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/china-to-build-new-nuclear-reactor-in-pakistan-report-25055">said China is now &quot;India&#39;s primary source</a> of strategic&nbsp;envy&quot;, stating that India does not believe that China poses a &quot;compelling threat&quot; to its security.</p>

<p>The think tank in its article said<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/after-envoy-offers-china-mum-on-whether-itll-rename-cpec-24973"> India has steadily diluted its commitment </a>to an &quot;unambiguous nuclear first use(NFU) policy&nbsp;over the last fourteen years.&quot;</p>

<p>The article under the header: Asia in the &quot;second nuclear age&quot; wrote, &quot;in 2003, for example, an Indian government document listed an adversary&rsquo;s use of chemical or biological weapons as a triggering condition for the potential first use of nuclear weapons,&quot; adding,&quot;the issue of whether India has privately abandoned NFU, or will do so soon, is an unknown for even better-informed observers in New Delhi.&quot;</p>

<p>The think tank said senior Indian national security officials also indicate that India is &quot;rethinking its limited-conventional-war strategy against Pakistan&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;In the case of ballistic missiles, warheads will very likely be mated to the missiles during emergency flushing-out routines,&quot; the think tank concluded. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The Atlantic Council said China is the only &quot;nuclear power among the three which is actually modernizing&quot;&nbsp;replacing ageing delivery systems with newer and better designs.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The think tank said neither India nor Pakistan are conducting nuclear tests to develop or improve designs for nuclear warheads. The same holds for China.</p>

<p>However, the think tank cautioned that Pakistan is rapidly &quot;accumulating fissile material, which could increase to four hundred and fifty kilograms of&nbsp;plutonium, sufficient for ninety weapons, and more than 2,500 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU), sufficient for one hundred simple&nbsp;fission warheads by 2020.&quot;</p>

<p>The nuclear rivalry in South Asia remains ominous, because Pakistan wages LIC against India via non-state actors, while India has devised &quot;limited conventional-war options&quot; to punish the Pakistani military on Pakistani soil, the think tank observed.</p>

<p>The big difference between the &quot;first and second nuclear ages&quot; is the domestic stability of the nuclear-weapon powers, it said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;In Asia&nbsp;- China and India represent this continuity of strong state institutions, as well as checks and balances on the military.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Atlantic Council said Pakistan remains &quot;internally unstable, and increasingly unable to rein in &#39;praetorianism&#39;&nbsp;over national security and&nbsp;nuclear policy.&quot;</p>


The think tank in its article said India has steadily diluted its commitment to an "unambiguous Nuclear first use(NFU) policy"?over the last fourteen years.

Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank specialising on South Asia in a paper presented recently said China is now "India's primary source of strategic envy", stating that India does not believe that China poses a "compelling threat" to its security. The think tank in its article said India has steadily diluted its commitment to an "unambiguous nuclear first use(NFU) policy over the last fourteen years." The article under the header: Asia in the "second nuclear age" wrote, "in 2003, for example, an Indian government document listed an adversary’s use of chemical or biological weapons as a triggering condition for the potential first use of nuclear weapons," adding,"the issue of whether India has privately abandoned NFU, or will do so soon, is an unknown for even better-informed observers in New Delhi." The think tank said senior Indian national security officials also indicate that India is "rethinking its limited-conventional-war strategy against Pakistan". "In the case of ballistic missiles, warheads will very likely be mated to the missiles during emergency flushing-out routines," the think tank concluded. The Atlantic Council said China is the only "nuclear power among the three which is actually modernizing" replacing ageing delivery systems with newer and better designs. The think tank said neither India nor Pakistan are conducting nuclear tests to develop or improve designs for nuclear warheads. The same holds for China. However, the think tank cautioned that Pakistan is rapidly "accumulating fissile material, which could increase to four hundred and fifty kilograms of plutonium, sufficient for ninety weapons, and more than 2,500 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU), sufficient for one hundred simple fission warheads by 2020." The nuclear rivalry in South Asia remains ominous, because Pakistan wages LIC against India via non-state actors, while India has devised "limited conventional-war options" to punish the Pakistani military on Pakistani soil, the think tank observed. The big difference between the "first and second nuclear ages" is the domestic stability of the nuclear-weapon powers, it said. "In Asia - China and India represent this continuity of strong state institutions, as well as checks and balances on the military." The Atlantic Council said Pakistan remains "internally unstable, and increasingly unable to rein in 'praetorianism' over national security and nuclear policy."

China is now India's primary source of 'strategic?envy', says US think tank

<p>A day after India&#39;s defense <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/watch-nirmala-sitharaman-teaches-namaste-to-chinese-soldiers-21143">minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Army posts in Arunachal Pradesh</a>, China said the visit by the minister&nbsp;to the &quot;disputed area&quot; is &quot;not conducive to peace and tranquillity&quot;&nbsp;in the region.</p>

<p>&quot;As to Indian defence minister visit to Arunachal Pradesh, you must be very clear about China&rsquo;s position,&quot; China&#39;s defense minister Hua Chunying said.</p>

<p>Last month, Nirmala Sitharaman had visited the Nathu La border post in Sikkim, 30 km from Doklam, where the Indian and Chinese armies were involved in a two-month standoff.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is a dispute on the eastern section of the China-India boundary. So this visit by the Indian side to the disputed area is not conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the relevant region,&rdquo; Ms Hua said.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hope India will work with China for the shared goal, seek a solution acceptable to both sides and accommodate our concerns in a balanced way,&rdquo; Hua added.</p>

<p>During her visit Nathu La border post, Sitharaman was seen saying &quot;namaste&quot; to a Chinese solidier which was widely appreciated by the Chinese authorities, coming just a month after the Doklam crisis.</p>

<p>A few months back, China had said it had the &quot;right&quot; to rename of six places in Arunachal Pradesh. China had announced that it had &quot;standardised&quot; official names for six places in the north-eastern state and termed the provocative move as a &quot;legitimate action&quot;.</p>

<p>Dalai Lama&#39;s visit to Arunachal had also irked Chinese authorities earlier. China had said Dalai Lama&#39;s visit would have &quot;negative impact&quot; on the settlement of the &quot;border dispute&quot;.<br />
&nbsp;</p>


Last month, Nirmala Sitharaman had visited the Nathu La border post in Sikkim, 30 km from Doklam

A day after India's defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Army posts in Arunachal Pradesh, China said the visit by the minister to the "disputed area" is "not conducive to peace and tranquillity" in the region. "As to Indian defence minister visit to Arunachal Pradesh, you must be very clear about China’s position," China's defense minister Hua Chunying said. Last month, Nirmala Sitharaman had visited the Nathu La border post in Sikkim, 30 km from Doklam, where the Indian and Chinese armies were involved in a two-month standoff. “There is a dispute on the eastern section of the China-India boundary. So this visit by the Indian side to the disputed area is not conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the relevant region,” Ms Hua said. “Hope India will work with China for the shared goal, seek a solution acceptable to both sides and accommodate our concerns in a balanced way,” Hua added. During her visit Nathu La border post, Sitharaman was seen saying "namaste" to a Chinese solidier which was widely appreciated by the Chinese authorities, coming just a month after the Doklam crisis. A few months back, China had said it had the "right" to rename of six places in Arunachal Pradesh. China had announced that it had "standardised" official names for six places in the north-eastern state and termed the provocative move as a "legitimate action". Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal had also irked Chinese authorities earlier. China had said Dalai Lama's visit would have "negative impact" on the settlement of the "border dispute".

Indian defense minister Sitharaman's visit to Arunachal not conducive to peace?in the region: China

<p>In a bid to win the competition in<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/be-good-audience-china-state-media-says-after-india-skips-obor-15593"> satellite communication, China plans to build global positioning</a> and navigation system in the next three years to join the big two - US and Russia- as the war in space technology hots up around the world.</p>

<p>China had launched the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/india-skips-chinas-obor-summit-over-sovereignty-concerns-15556">two BeiDou satellites officially called &nbsp;BeiDou Navigation Satellite </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/india-skips-chinas-obor-summit-over-sovereignty-concerns-15556">system</a>(BDS) into space on Sunday to increase its global footprint.&nbsp;</p>

<p>According to China&#39;s Global Times, the satellites were aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket which took off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.</p>

<p>The BeiDou satellites named after Chinese term for the plough or the Big Dipper constellation was started in 1994.</p>

<p>&quot;China plans to build BeiDou into a global positioning and navigation system by around 2020, making it the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to operate its own navigation system,&quot; China&#39;s Global Times said.</p>

<p>&quot;New technology has significantly improved the performance of the BeiDou-3, with the signal accuracy in space higher than half a meter while its positioning accuracy has reached 2.5 to five meters,&quot; the Global Times quoted Yang Changfeng, chief designer of the BeiDou system as saying.&nbsp;</p>

<p>China hopes the BeiDou satellite will prove to be a game-changer by expanding its footprints to countries along the One Belt, One Road(OBOR) route. Pakistan is set to be the biggest bineficiary of the project as it is a key ally of China over the OBOR project.</p>

<p>&quot;The BeiDou-2 is strategically the second step. Its positioning accuracy in regional wide was higher than 10 meters. The BeiDou-3 is scheduled to offer service to countries along the Belt and Road routes in 2018 and will go global in 2020,&quot; Deputy chief designer of the BeiDou-3 Project Xie Jun told Reuters.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
By around 2020, when the system goes global, it will have more than 30 satellites,&quot; the Global Times said.</p>

<p>The third generation BeiDou-3 satellites developed by China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology has so far combined with various technologies such as big data, Internet of Things and telecommunications to provide richer comprehensive services, Reuters reported.</p>

<p>&quot;BeiDou-1 actually achieved providing positioning service to users on the ground or at low altitudes through satellites, which marked a milestone for China, &quot; Xie Jun told Reuters.</p>

<p>&quot;The satellite navigation system is actually a kind of space infrastructure. It is very important to traffic, power and statistics of cash flow among banks. These are lifelines to the nation. If we rely on foreign countries for these critical lifeline systems, strategically it is very dangerous to the national security,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>&quot;Our country must build its own self-developed BDS that can run independently,&quot; Xie asserted.</p>


The BeiDou satellites named after Chinese term for the plough or the Big Dipper constellation was started in 1994.

In a bid to win the competition in satellite communication, China plans to build global positioning and navigation system in the next three years to join the big two - US and Russia- as the war in space technology hots up around the world. China had launched the two BeiDou satellites officially called BeiDou Navigation Satellite system(BDS) into space on Sunday to increase its global footprint. According to China's Global Times, the satellites were aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket which took off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The BeiDou satellites named after Chinese term for the plough or the Big Dipper constellation was started in 1994. "China plans to build BeiDou into a global positioning and navigation system by around 2020, making it the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to operate its own navigation system," China's Global Times said. "New technology has significantly improved the performance of the BeiDou-3, with the signal accuracy in space higher than half a meter while its positioning accuracy has reached 2.5 to five meters," the Global Times quoted Yang Changfeng, chief designer of the BeiDou system as saying. China hopes the BeiDou satellite will prove to be a game-changer by expanding its footprints to countries along the One Belt, One Road(OBOR) route. Pakistan is set to be the biggest bineficiary of the project as it is a key ally of China over the OBOR project. "The BeiDou-2 is strategically the second step. Its positioning accuracy in regional wide was higher than 10 meters. The BeiDou-3 is scheduled to offer service to countries along the Belt and Road routes in 2018 and will go global in 2020," Deputy chief designer of the BeiDou-3 Project Xie Jun told Reuters. By around 2020, when the system goes global, it will have more than 30 satellites," the Global Times said. The third generation BeiDou-3 satellites developed by China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology has so far combined with various technologies such as big data, Internet of Things and telecommunications to provide richer comprehensive services, Reuters reported. "BeiDou-1 actually achieved providing positioning service to users on the ground or at low altitudes through satellites, which marked a milestone for China, " Xie Jun told Reuters. "The satellite navigation system is actually a kind of space infrastructure. It is very important to traffic, power and statistics of cash flow among banks. These are lifelines to the nation. If we rely on foreign countries for these critical lifeline systems, strategically it is very dangerous to the national security," he said. "Our country must build its own self-developed BDS that can run independently," Xie asserted.

Eye on OBOR: After BeiDou satellite launch, China aims to build own global positioning system

<p>In a significant&nbsp;development <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/post-doklamindia-to-boost-infrastructure-along-india-china-border-22398">in the wake of Doklam border stand-off, China and India</a> have decided to hold &quot;Track Two&quot;&nbsp;meeting at Minjing resort hotel in the city of Cheng Du in China on November 3rd and 4th.</p>

<p>The Indian delegation led by<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/china-maintaining-sizeable-troops-near-dokalam-sources-21062"> former foreign secretary Shyam Saran would land in </a>China on November 2nd. The invitation for the &quot;Track Two&quot;&nbsp;was extended by China two weeks after the Doklam crisis.</p>

<p>Sources confirmed to WION&nbsp;that the task for this meeting is to understand both China and India in context of Xi and Modi, two powerful leaders of Asia who hold sway over their respective countries. The job of the participants would be to understand each other&#39;s concern.</p>

<p>Sources also said that both countries want to avoid a showdown like Doklam and to this end &quot;Track Two&quot;&nbsp;will have participation by PLA and military from the Chinese side. The idea is to know each other better and discuss contentious issues which cannot be developed outside the public eye. Issues ranging from belt and road project to terrorism would be discussed by the participants.</p>

<p>The issue of border dispute will be discussed between Chen Xiaogong and Jayadeva Ranade. Jayadeva Ranade is a&nbsp;member of the National Security Advisory Board and Chen is former Vice Commander of the Air Force of the PLA and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.</p>

<p>Professor Madhav Nalapat, Director of Geo Politics will address the session of regional stability and terrorism. His Chinese counterpart would be Hu Shisheng. Hu is the Director of Institute of Contemporary International Relations.</p>

<p>This visit assumes importance as many on the Indian side believe that China wants to understand India&rsquo;s concern on the belt and road project.</p>

<p>Sources have also told WION that the thrust would be to ensure that in future a situation like Doklam doesn&rsquo;t arise and China gets to understand the Indian mind under Prime Minister Narendra Modi&rsquo;s dispensation.</p>

<p>Dipankar Banerjee, the Director of Institute of Peace and Conflict in India and Ashok Kantha from Vivekananda Foundation will also attend the &quot;Track Two&quot; meeting.</p>


The visit assumes importance as many on the Indian side believe that China wants to understand India?s concern on the belt and road project.

In a significant development in the wake of Doklam border stand-off, China and India have decided to hold "Track Two" meeting at Minjing resort hotel in the city of Cheng Du in China on November 3rd and 4th. The Indian delegation led by former foreign secretary Shyam Saran would land in China on November 2nd. The invitation for the "Track Two" was extended by China two weeks after the Doklam crisis. Sources confirmed to WION that the task for this meeting is to understand both China and India in context of Xi and Modi, two powerful leaders of Asia who hold sway over their respective countries. The job of the participants would be to understand each other's concern. Sources also said that both countries want to avoid a showdown like Doklam and to this end "Track Two" will have participation by PLA and military from the Chinese side. The idea is to know each other better and discuss contentious issues which cannot be developed outside the public eye. Issues ranging from belt and road project to terrorism would be discussed by the participants. The issue of border dispute will be discussed between Chen Xiaogong and Jayadeva Ranade. Jayadeva Ranade is a member of the National Security Advisory Board and Chen is former Vice Commander of the Air Force of the PLA and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Professor Madhav Nalapat, Director of Geo Politics will address the session of regional stability and terrorism. His Chinese counterpart would be Hu Shisheng. Hu is the Director of Institute of Contemporary International Relations. This visit assumes importance as many on the Indian side believe that China wants to understand India’s concern on the belt and road project. Sources have also told WION that the thrust would be to ensure that in future a situation like Doklam doesn’t arise and China gets to understand the Indian mind under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dispensation. Dipankar Banerjee, the Director of Institute of Peace and Conflict in India and Ashok Kantha from Vivekananda Foundation will also attend the "Track Two" meeting.

Post-Doklam, India to hold 'Track Two' meeting inside China

<p>Ahead of US secretary of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/us-attempting-to-tie-india-to-its-chariot-says-china-daily-20971">state Rex Tillerson&#39;s visit to India, China&#39;s Global Times</a> said today President Trump and PM Modi are &quot;centre-right wing politicians&quot;&nbsp;who enjoy &quot;anti-establishment posturing&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;Trump identifies <a href="http://www.wionews.com/videos/chinese-daily-global-times-calls-indian-army-chief-a-big-mouth-4779">with white supremacy deep in his heart&quot;, the right-leaning newspaper</a> said, adding, ex-White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon had described Modi&#39;s 2014 election victory as a &quot;global revolt&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;Modi&#39;s brand of Hindu nationalism helped him become prime minister of a country about 80 per cent Hindu,&quot; the newspaper said in its op-ed page.</p>

<p>The newspaper said Trump strived for Indian-American support by &quot;wooing India&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;During the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Hindu coalition led by Shalabh Kumar offered important support for Trump, Kumar and Modi knew each other a long time and Kumar was said to provide a special communication method for Modi and Trump,&quot; it said.</p>

<p>&quot;During US Secretary of Defense James Mattis&#39; visit to India in September, the US sold 22 Sea Guardian remotely piloted vehicles to India, the first time that the US sold such advanced weapons to a non-NATO nation,&quot; the newspaper informed.</p>

<p>&quot;It was really a symbolic action,&quot; it added.</p>

<p>The newspaper also mentioned the Malabar military exercise conducted by India, US and Japan in July, which was also mentioned by Tillerson last week during a talk with a think tank in Washington.</p>

<p>&quot;Many contradictions still remain in India-US relations. Modi won&#39;t satisfy all Trump&#39;s demands in trade and market openness because of his &quot;India First&quot; policy,&quot; the influential Chinese daily said.</p>

<p>&quot;Ahead of Trump&#39;s upcoming visit to China, Sino-US relations are going through a sensitive time. Washington needs to be more cautious about the policy signals it sends,&quot; adding, &quot;Beijing still has high expectations for Tillerson to improve relations between the two countries.&quot;</p>


China's influential Global Times said Trump strived for Indian-American support by "wooing India".?

Ahead of US secretary of state Rex Tillerson's visit to India, China's Global Times said today President Trump and PM Modi are "centre-right wing politicians" who enjoy "anti-establishment posturing". "Trump identifies with white supremacy deep in his heart", the right-leaning newspaper said, adding, ex-White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon had described Modi's 2014 election victory as a "global revolt". "Modi's brand of Hindu nationalism helped him become prime minister of a country about 80 per cent Hindu," the newspaper said in its op-ed page. The newspaper said Trump strived for Indian-American support by "wooing India". "During the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Hindu coalition led by Shalabh Kumar offered important support for Trump, Kumar and Modi knew each other a long time and Kumar was said to provide a special communication method for Modi and Trump," it said. "During US Secretary of Defense James Mattis' visit to India in September, the US sold 22 Sea Guardian remotely piloted vehicles to India, the first time that the US sold such advanced weapons to a non-NATO nation," the newspaper informed. "It was really a symbolic action," it added. The newspaper also mentioned the Malabar military exercise conducted by India, US and Japan in July, which was also mentioned by Tillerson last week during a talk with a think tank in Washington. "Many contradictions still remain in India-US relations. Modi won't satisfy all Trump's demands in trade and market openness because of his "India First" policy," the influential Chinese daily said. "Ahead of Trump's upcoming visit to China, Sino-US relations are going through a sensitive time. Washington needs to be more cautious about the policy signals it sends," adding, "Beijing still has high expectations for Tillerson to improve relations between the two countries."

Trump, Modi enjoy anti-establishment posturing: China daily

<p>Post-Doklam&nbsp;India<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/solution-to-doklam-standoff-to-be-found-soon-says-rajnath-singh-19254"> is set to boost its infrastructure along the India-China </a>border&nbsp;with four passes in Uttarakhand&nbsp;to be connected by 2020, Indian officials have told WION.</p>

<p>The roads will connect <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/watch-racist-chinese-video-on-indias-seven-sins-in-doklam-19146">Niti, Lipulekh, Thangla and Tsangchokla pass</a>&nbsp;over the next three years, sources have told WION.</p>

<p>The&nbsp;Border Road Organisation(BRO)&nbsp;security force is pushing for more funds to&nbsp;develop&nbsp;infrastructure&nbsp;in India&#39;s northern command.</p>

<p>In a conference held by the Army, it was decided that &quot;infrastructure and capability development&quot; would be the key focus over the next few years.</p>

<p>Concerned about the delays in construction of the strategic road&nbsp;along the India-China border, India&#39;s defense ministry recently delegated more administrative and financial powers to the BRO&nbsp;for a speedy completion of the projects along the border with China.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Shakti Chaudhary, mayor of Gangtok had told WION earlier that roads are necessary so that the military can immediately access the border in times of crisis.</p>

<p>India&#39;s military has slowly over the months increased operational readiness along the Indian border with China after&nbsp;India and China agreed on &quot;expeditious disengagement&quot; at Doklam last month.</p>


The roads will connect Niti, Lipulekh, Thangla and Tsangchokla pass?over the next three years, sources have told WION.

Post-Doklam India is set to boost its infrastructure along the India-China border with four passes in Uttarakhand to be connected by 2020, Indian officials have told WION. The roads will connect Niti, Lipulekh, Thangla and Tsangchokla pass over the next three years, sources have told WION. The Border Road Organisation(BRO) security force is pushing for more funds to develop infrastructure in India's northern command. In a conference held by the Army, it was decided that "infrastructure and capability development" would be the key focus over the next few years. Concerned about the delays in construction of the strategic road along the India-China border, India's defense ministry recently delegated more administrative and financial powers to the BRO for a speedy completion of the projects along the border with China. Shakti Chaudhary, mayor of Gangtok had told WION earlier that roads are necessary so that the military can immediately access the border in times of crisis. India's military has slowly over the months increased operational readiness along the Indian border with China after India and China agreed on "expeditious disengagement" at Doklam last month.

WION Exclusive: Post-Doklam?India to boost infrastructure along India-China border

<p>Ahead of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/brics-summit-day-2-pm-modi-president-xi-set-to-meet-today-19868">President Xi&#39;s re-election on October&nbsp;18th</a> by the Communist Party of China, India is being seen more as a &quot;frenemy&quot;, especially post-Doklam.</p>

<p>In a move which can be seen as a shift in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/china-first-quarter-gdp-grows-69-per-cent-better-than-expected-14590">relations with India, China&#39;s right-leaning Global Times </a>in its op-ed piece said economic competition between China and India should not be just limited to the comparison of GDP growth rates.</p>

<p>&quot;China has done much<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/born-of-chaos-india-lumbers-amid-turmoil-says-china-daily-21017"> better than India in terms of poverty reduction</a> and raising living standards,&quot; the editorial said, &quot;thanks in large part to its effective and efficient policy implementation under the central government.&quot;</p>

<p>However, the editorial admitted that &quot;lifting the remaining poor out of poverty in China will be much more difficult&quot; compared with the past. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;China&#39;s Gini coefficient, a measure of income distribution, rose from 33 in 1990 to 53 in 2013, while the Gini coefficient in India jumped from 45 in 1990 to 51 in 2013, according to another IMF report released in March 2016,&quot; the daily observed.</p>

<p>The Chinese daily said in India, cultural and political diversity &quot;increase difficulties for unified policy implementation&quot;, hindering the progress of anti-poverty efforts - a fact which many India experts would agree.</p>

<p>&quot;During the past three decades, China lifted 800 million people out of poverty, &nbsp;as for India, it obviously faces more difficulties in poverty reduction, with 30 per cent of its population living below the globally accepted poverty line of $1.90 a day,&quot; the daily said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Given the consensus that high levels of inequality can do harm to the sustainability of growth, both countries have made great efforts to alleviate poverty in recent years,&quot; the daily said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, the China daily added that &quot;the key is which of them(China or India) can do more to reduce inequality and poverty&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;The outcome will also identify the ones that have more genuine potential for economic growth,&quot; the op-ed piece concluded.</p>


The editorial admitted that 'lifting the remaining poor out of poverty in China will be much more difficult' compared with the past ??

Ahead of President Xi's re-election on October 18th by the Communist Party of China, India is being seen more as a "frenemy", especially post-Doklam. In a move which can be seen as a shift in relations with India, China's right-leaning Global Times in its op-ed piece said economic competition between China and India should not be just limited to the comparison of GDP growth rates. "China has done much better than India in terms of poverty reduction and raising living standards," the editorial said, "thanks in large part to its effective and efficient policy implementation under the central government." However, the editorial admitted that "lifting the remaining poor out of poverty in China will be much more difficult" compared with the past. "China's Gini coefficient, a measure of income distribution, rose from 33 in 1990 to 53 in 2013, while the Gini coefficient in India jumped from 45 in 1990 to 51 in 2013, according to another IMF report released in March 2016," the daily observed. The Chinese daily said in India, cultural and political diversity "increase difficulties for unified policy implementation", hindering the progress of anti-poverty efforts - a fact which many India experts would agree. "During the past three decades, China lifted 800 million people out of poverty, as for India, it obviously faces more difficulties in poverty reduction, with 30 per cent of its population living below the globally accepted poverty line of $1.90 a day," the daily said. "Given the consensus that high levels of inequality can do harm to the sustainability of growth, both countries have made great efforts to alleviate poverty in recent years," the daily said. However, the China daily added that "the key is which of them(China or India) can do more to reduce inequality and poverty". "The outcome will also identify the ones that have more genuine potential for economic growth," the op-ed piece concluded.

India has lessons to learn from China's poverty reduction campaign: China daily

<p>China&#39;s state-run daily Global Times&nbsp;today<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/india-a-retail-power-china-ready-to-offer-help-says-state-run-daily-times-20523"> took a dig&nbsp;at India-US relations declaring &quot;Washington</a> was attempting to tie New Delhi to its chariot&quot; as US Defense Secretary James Mattis&nbsp;visited India last week.</p>

<p>The daily said India would have <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-japan-intimacy-poses-no-real-threat-to-china-says-chinas-state-run-daily-global-times-20211">to rely on itself rather than &quot;a few weapons the US sells to it for its ambitions&quot;.</a><br />
&nbsp;<br />
&quot;The development of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/us-defence-secretary-james-mattis-holds-talks-with-indian-defence-minister-in-new-delhi-20666">US-India relationship is subtly connected to the </a>development of the China-US and China-India relationship,&quot; the daily said.</p>

<p>&quot;While Beijing has not considered India a factor in handling its ties with Washington, the Washington-New Delhi relationship has taken the need to contain China into account,&quot; the daily said in its Op-ed piece.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The daily was particularly bitter over India&#39;s reluctance to join China&#39;s ambitious One Belt One Road(OBOR) project asserting that &quot;India&#39;s lack of self-confidence is impeding it from sharing the development dividends of OBOR initiative and depriving the country of the opportunity for development.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;New Delhi&#39;s status in Asia should not be determined by Washington&#39;s China strategy. The peaceful solution to the Doklam standoff suggests that China and India have the capability to eliminate exterior interventions and diplomatically handle crises,&quot; the daily opined.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;India would be more mature and confident if it could view high-level exchanges with the US without regard for any perceived need to contain China,&quot; Global Times concluded.</p>

<p>The Global Times had earlier taken a swipe at India-Japan relations during Japanese PM Shinzo Abe visit to India last month saying it posed &quot;no real threat to China&quot;.</p>

<p>The Chinese daily had said: &quot;Japan has been more narrow-minded in looking for allies globally to encircle China.&quot;</p>


The daily said India would have to rely on itself rather than "a few weapons the US sells to it for its ambitions".

China's state-run daily Global Times today took a dig at India-US relations declaring "Washington was attempting to tie New Delhi to its chariot" as US Defense Secretary James Mattis visited India last week. The daily said India would have to rely on itself rather than "a few weapons the US sells to it for its ambitions". "The development of the US-India relationship is subtly connected to the development of the China-US and China-India relationship," the daily said. "While Beijing has not considered India a factor in handling its ties with Washington, the Washington-New Delhi relationship has taken the need to contain China into account," the daily said in its Op-ed piece. The daily was particularly bitter over India's reluctance to join China's ambitious One Belt One Road(OBOR) project asserting that "India's lack of self-confidence is impeding it from sharing the development dividends of OBOR initiative and depriving the country of the opportunity for development." "New Delhi's status in Asia should not be determined by Washington's China strategy. The peaceful solution to the Doklam standoff suggests that China and India have the capability to eliminate exterior interventions and diplomatically handle crises," the daily opined. "India would be more mature and confident if it could view high-level exchanges with the US without regard for any perceived need to contain China," Global Times concluded. The Global Times had earlier taken a swipe at India-Japan relations during Japanese PM Shinzo Abe visit to India last month saying it posed "no real threat to China". The Chinese daily had said: "Japan has been more narrow-minded in looking for allies globally to encircle China."

'US attempting to tie India to its chariot,' says China daily

<p>Rather than the Xiamen BRICS summit making to the recent headlines, it was the much-needed meeting between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping which captured more eyes. If the two and half month long Doklam border tension made Modi&rsquo;s visit to China significant, it was Modi&rsquo;s ingenious articulation on India-China relations while promoting India&rsquo;s developmental narratives during the 9th BRICS Summit in Xiamen that was really impressive.</p>

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<p>To begin with, the Modi-Xi meeting promised for a stable and forward-looking India-China relationship. The moot point of the Xiamen meeting was to offer a forward-looking narrative to India-China relations that have been on the downside due to the Doklam border tension. As India&rsquo;s Foreign Secretary Jaishankar briefed, after the bilateral meeting between the two leaders, Modi was candid in telling Xi Jinping that &ldquo;differences between India, China should not become disputes&rdquo;. On China&rsquo;s part, it was reported, Xi Jinping urged Prime Minister Modi to put the bilateral relationship on the &ldquo;right track&rdquo;. Xi was reported saying that China would be seeking India&rsquo;s partnership under the five principles of &lsquo;Panchsheel&rsquo;.</p>

<p>Stressing on &ldquo;peace and tranquillity&rdquo; as a pre-requisite for confidence-building in border areas, both leaders agreed that they can&rsquo;t afford to &ldquo;let India-China relations change&rdquo; at a time when the world is changing. The move was to push ahead the relationship under a &ldquo;forwarding framework&rdquo; that was agreed between the two leaders during the Astana meeting this year. These statements appearing from Xiamen certainly indicate that there is a fresh approach to rebuild the relationship after the Doklam border tension. Still one needs to see whether these statements would be confined to their rhetoric best or would these really be translating into any action, resulting in a more nuanced relationship that would be &#39;forwarding&#39; in nature.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The effort to rebuild India-China relations in Xiamen is certainly a welcome step. The intent to have a &lsquo;forwarding relationship&rsquo; complements their official &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo; which was framed during Xi Jinping&rsquo;s visit to India in September 2015. The essence of this &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo; was to forge a closer economic partnership, enhancing the decade-old Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. Therefore, the Xiamen meeting between Modi and Xi holds a strategic significance in the overall context of current India-China relationship.</p>

<p>It needs to be however asked: Will the Xiamen meeting between Modi and Xi really reconstruct the relationship?&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>Both India and China need to note that they both must employ a pragmatic approach so that the relationship can be reconstructed even though tensions surrounding classical boundary disputes may come to haunt the relationship from time to time.</h5>
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<p>Xiamen meeting between Modi and Xi was a brief one. A thorough discussion to rebuild the relationship and any concrete outcome from this short meeting was hence unexpected. Both India and China need to note that they both must employ a pragmatic approach so that the relationship can be reconstructed even though tensions surrounding classical boundary disputes may come to haunt the relationship from time to time.</p>

<p>This stated &#39;forwarding&#39; partnership, however, can be built under an intensive economic cooperation and multilateral engagement. The effort should be made to expedite trade and economic engagement, which used to be the most stabilising factor in India-China relations over the last one and half decade. Similarly, multi-lateral engagement must be accelerated where forums like BRICS could allow them to rebuild confidence even though the tension re-emerges. In fact, the need of the time is to have an introspection of their past trajectory of engagement wherein both decided to design a &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The proposal for a &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo; was primarily a Chinese suggestion. In fact, China under Xi Jinping today has similar &lsquo;developmental partnerships&rsquo; with a number of countries. But it was Narendra Modi who had initially sown the seeds of the partnership between the two countries during his visit to China as Chief Minister of Gujarat. Modi had identified China as an &lsquo;economic hub&rsquo; and had ardently backed initially for a greater China-India economic engagement.</p>

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<p>As Prime Minister, Modi had elevated this by suggesting a &lsquo;bilaterally global&rsquo; proposition and importantly by defining the relationship as &lsquo;Inch (India and China) towards Miles (Millennium of Exceptional Synergy). It brought the developmental course to the forefront where the central label of India-China engagement was to establish sectoral engagement where domestic constituencies were supposed to play stronger roles through &lsquo;sister-city&rsquo; and &lsquo;sister-provincial&rsquo; engagements. In fact, the fundamentals of the sectoral engagement were crafted to expedite cooperation in areas, such as industrial parks, railways, credit and leasing, infrastructural development, skill development, etc.</p>

<p>Notably, under his &lsquo;make in India&rsquo; campaign, Modi had offered an open invitation to the Chinese companies to invest, collaborate and create conditions for sustainable foreign direct investment, skill development and for an export-led development model that could be the basis of a &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo;. The intent for Modi was to engage with China on a wider spectrum of areas where India can have an equipoise advantage as an economic partner.</p>

<p>In fact, Modi&rsquo;s diction on economic engagement was not only to enhance the &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo; but to enhance it further within a spectrum of &lsquo;sustainable partnership&rsquo; that will be comprehensive and wide-ranging. This inventive way of rephrasing China-India relations on Modi&rsquo;s part witnessed a serious setback during Xi Jinping&rsquo;s India visit when the troops of the People&rsquo;s Liberation Army (PLA) of China entered India&rsquo;s Chumar region in Ladakh, triggering a border standoff on the Western sector of China-India boundary in 2014. This indeed tested Modi&#39;s pulse: how to diffuse the tension while readying to receive Xi as a &lsquo;state guest&rsquo;.</p>

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<p>Modi successfully managed to persuade Xi to order the PLA to return to Chinese territory while affirming that &lsquo;even such small incidents can impact the biggest of relationships&rsquo;.</p>

<p>The urge to promote a &lsquo;developmental partnership&rsquo; has not died down on Modi&rsquo;s part. A similar trait is noticed in Modi&rsquo;s speech at the Xiamen BRICS summit that unveils his original intent to cooperate with China as a partner. Modi&rsquo;s BRICS plenary session speech was a memo on how China along with other emerging powers must view India&rsquo;s national developmental path more intently.</p>

<p>There were many shades to Modi&rsquo;s BRICS plenary speech, but the most notable one was&nbsp;how India is fast emerging as an open economy through its biggest ever reform of Goods and Services Tax (GST) that unites India as a unified single market. Modi pitched for India&rsquo;s proposition for a BRICS credit rating agency to pawn western rating assessments keeping in view that how India&rsquo;s stable and impressive GDP growth should be noted across the world without any prejudices. The effort behind Modi&#39;s speech at BRICS was international: positioning India as a progressive economic power in making. The intent was also to pass the message to the international community that India is on the move and China must take a note of that.</p>

<p>Underneath the intent was to reiterate Modi&rsquo;s &ldquo;India first&rdquo; approach of not only promoting Indian brand of development but also to urge the international community to acknowledge India better. This was a clear signal to China since Modi used the Xiamen BRICS forum to speak about this. Similarly, Modi&rsquo;s speech at the session on Dialogue for Emerging Markets and Developing Countries in Xiamen called for an &ldquo;inclusive world&rdquo;. Modi revealed an Indian approach to global governance by stating that the needs of the poor must be aligned to the global economic mainstream and here both India and China could play a constructive role. Will China really respond to this positive appeal from Narendra Modi?&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Hopes from Beijing in this regard are low though. China may genuinely be aiming to have good relations with India, but the global ambition of China to emerge as a &lsquo;super power&rsquo; equal to the American supremacy will restrict the goodwill of Beijing towards India. China under Xi Jinping is fast emerging as a different power where preserving China&rsquo;s national interests and having a higher stake in any bilateral relationship is the bottom line of China&rsquo;s foreign relations practice. India&rsquo;s rise under Modi as a stable power is seen in China today as a competing chapter in China&rsquo;s foreign relations trajectory in Asia if not beyond. Beijing has become more circumspect to matters relating India and would not like to offer many advantages to India, bilaterally or regionally.</p>

<p>The intent on China&rsquo;s part is pretty obvious: keep India engaged in neighbouring affairs which will define India&rsquo;s image as a limited power. In fact, unlike most of China&rsquo;s contemporary debate on foreign affairs, the debate on India in China remains relatively less known and less perceptible to the outside world. India is debated quite frequently though restrictedly, and unlike in the past, China&rsquo;s India debate is quite serious today.</p>

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<p>The fundamental notion of this Chinese seriousness is that &lsquo;India is rising, and rising steadily&rsquo;. Beijing sees India as a &lsquo;potential power&rsquo; in making which provokes China&rsquo;s rise in the region, more than any other powers. This Chinese perception will override any Chinese pragmatic thinking to cooperate with India as a &lsquo;developmental partner&rsquo;. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The Xiamen bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi was a much-needed one to restore normalcy in the relationship. However, the effort to rebuild India-China relations is nothing new, rather a past practice that has not really worked. Neither the novelty of the &lsquo;Panchsheel&rsquo; framework has worked nor the plethora of agreements that their relationship currently possess hold any cogency to the overall architecture of India-China relations. Since its formulation officially on 29 April 1954, the Panchsheel principles have been a matter of great relevance in international relations discourse. But that has not worked in India-China relations: the historic 1962 India-China war made it permanently a deceptive principle, mainly from the Indian outlook.</p>

<p>Therefore, to India, Xi Jinping&rsquo;s stress to reframe the current relationship within the principles of Panchsheel will hold little value. On the contrary, India&rsquo;s resolute foreign policy and national developmental path under Modi have bothered the Chinese most in recent times. India&rsquo;s resolute stance on the Doklam border tension has challenged the Chinese resilience as a power, one fact that Beijing would not forget easily. Therefore, the Modi-Xi meeting in Xiamen may reinstate India-China relations temporarily, but it would have little lasting significance to change the fundamentals in this relationship.</p>


China sees India as a ?potential power? in making, and this perception will override any Chinese pragmatic thinking to cooperate with India as a ?developmental partner?. ?

Rather than the Xiamen BRICS summit making to the recent headlines, it was the much-needed meeting between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping which captured more eyes. If the two and half month long Doklam border tension made Modi’s visit to China significant, it was Modi’s ingenious articulation on India-China relations while promoting India’s developmental narratives during the 9th BRICS Summit in Xiamen that was really impressive. The Modi-Xi meeting promised for a stable and forward-looking India-China relationship. × To begin with, the Modi-Xi meeting promised for a stable and forward-looking India-China relationship. The moot point of the Xiamen meeting was to offer a forward-looking narrative to India-China relations that have been on the downside due to the Doklam border tension. As India’s Foreign Secretary Jaishankar briefed, after the bilateral meeting between the two leaders, Modi was candid in telling Xi Jinping that “differences between India, China should not become disputes”. On China’s part, it was reported, Xi Jinping urged Prime Minister Modi to put the bilateral relationship on the “right track”. Xi was reported saying that China would be seeking India’s partnership under the five principles of ‘Panchsheel’. Stressing on “peace and tranquillity” as a pre-requisite for confidence-building in border areas, both leaders agreed that they can’t afford to “let India-China relations change” at a time when the world is changing. The move was to push ahead the relationship under a “forwarding framework” that was agreed between the two leaders during the Astana meeting this year. These statements appearing from Xiamen certainly indicate that there is a fresh approach to rebuild the relationship after the Doklam border tension. Still one needs to see whether these statements would be confined to their rhetoric best or would these really be translating into any action, resulting in a more nuanced relationship that would be 'forwarding' in nature. The effort to rebuild India-China relations in Xiamen is certainly a welcome step. The intent to have a ‘forwarding relationship’ complements their official ‘developmental partnership’ which was framed during Xi Jinping’s visit to India in September 2015. The essence of this ‘developmental partnership’ was to forge a closer economic partnership, enhancing the decade-old Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. Therefore, the Xiamen meeting between Modi and Xi holds a strategic significance in the overall context of current India-China relationship. It needs to be however asked: Will the Xiamen meeting between Modi and Xi really reconstruct the relationship? Both India and China need to note that they both must employ a pragmatic approach so that the relationship can be reconstructed even though tensions surrounding classical boundary disputes may come to haunt the relationship from time to time. × Xiamen meeting between Modi and Xi was a brief one. A thorough discussion to rebuild the relationship and any concrete outcome from this short meeting was hence unexpected. Both India and China need to note that they both must employ a pragmatic approach so that the relationship can be reconstructed even though tensions surrounding classical boundary disputes may come to haunt the relationship from time to time. This stated 'forwarding' partnership, however, can be built under an intensive economic cooperation and multilateral engagement. The effort should be made to expedite trade and economic engagement, which used to be the most stabilising factor in India-China relations over the last one and half decade. Similarly, multi-lateral engagement must be accelerated where forums like BRICS could allow them to rebuild confidence even though the tension re-emerges. In fact, the need of the time is to have an introspection of their past trajectory of engagement wherein both decided to design a ‘developmental partnership’. The proposal for a ‘developmental partnership’ was primarily a Chinese suggestion. In fact, China under Xi Jinping today has similar ‘developmental partnerships’ with a number of countries. But it was Narendra Modi who had initially sown the seeds of the partnership between the two countries during his visit to China as Chief Minister of Gujarat. Modi had identified China as an ‘economic hub’ and had ardently backed initially for a greater China-India economic engagement. The proposal for a ‘developmental partnership’ was primarily a Chinese suggestion. × As Prime Minister, Modi had elevated this by suggesting a ‘bilaterally global’ proposition and importantly by defining the relationship as ‘Inch (India and China) towards Miles (Millennium of Exceptional Synergy). It brought the developmental course to the forefront where the central label of India-China engagement was to establish sectoral engagement where domestic constituencies were supposed to play stronger roles through ‘sister-city’ and ‘sister-provincial’ engagements. In fact, the fundamentals of the sectoral engagement were crafted to expedite cooperation in areas, such as industrial parks, railways, credit and leasing, infrastructural development, skill development, etc. Notably, under his ‘make in India’ campaign, Modi had offered an open invitation to the Chinese companies to invest, collaborate and create conditions for sustainable foreign direct investment, skill development and for an export-led development model that could be the basis of a ‘developmental partnership’. The intent for Modi was to engage with China on a wider spectrum of areas where India can have an equipoise advantage as an economic partner. In fact, Modi’s diction on economic engagement was not only to enhance the ‘developmental partnership’ but to enhance it further within a spectrum of ‘sustainable partnership’ that will be comprehensive and wide-ranging. This inventive way of rephrasing China-India relations on Modi’s part witnessed a serious setback during Xi Jinping’s India visit when the troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China entered India’s Chumar region in Ladakh, triggering a border standoff on the Western sector of China-India boundary in 2014. This indeed tested Modi's pulse: how to diffuse the tension while readying to receive Xi as a ‘state guest’. The intent for Modi was to engage with China on a wider spectrum of areas where India can have an equipoise advantage as an economic partner. × Modi successfully managed to persuade Xi to order the PLA to return to Chinese territory while affirming that ‘even such small incidents can impact the biggest of relationships’. The urge to promote a ‘developmental partnership’ has not died down on Modi’s part. A similar trait is noticed in Modi’s speech at the Xiamen BRICS summit that unveils his original intent to cooperate with China as a partner. Modi’s BRICS plenary session speech was a memo on how China along with other emerging powers must view India’s national developmental path more intently. There were many shades to Modi’s BRICS plenary speech, but the most notable one was how India is fast emerging as an open economy through its biggest ever reform of Goods and Services Tax (GST) that unites India as a unified single market. Modi pitched for India’s proposition for a BRICS credit rating agency to pawn western rating assessments keeping in view that how India’s stable and impressive GDP growth should be noted across the world without any prejudices. The effort behind Modi's speech at BRICS was international: positioning India as a progressive economic power in making. The intent was also to pass the message to the international community that India is on the move and China must take a note of that. Underneath the intent was to reiterate Modi’s “India first” approach of not only promoting Indian brand of development but also to urge the international community to acknowledge India better. This was a clear signal to China since Modi used the Xiamen BRICS forum to speak about this. Similarly, Modi’s speech at the session on Dialogue for Emerging Markets and Developing Countries in Xiamen called for an “inclusive world”. Modi revealed an Indian approach to global governance by stating that the needs of the poor must be aligned to the global economic mainstream and here both India and China could play a constructive role. Will China really respond to this positive appeal from Narendra Modi? The effort behind Modi's speech at BRICS was international: positioning India as a progressive economic power in making. × Hopes from Beijing in this regard are low though. China may genuinely be aiming to have good relations with India, but the global ambition of China to emerge as a ‘super power’ equal to the American supremacy will restrict the goodwill of Beijing towards India. China under Xi Jinping is fast emerging as a different power where preserving China’s national interests and having a higher stake in any bilateral relationship is the bottom line of China’s foreign relations practice. India’s rise under Modi as a stable power is seen in China today as a competing chapter in China’s foreign relations trajectory in Asia if not beyond. Beijing has become more circumspect to matters relating India and would not like to offer many advantages to India, bilaterally or regionally. The intent on China’s part is pretty obvious: keep India engaged in neighbouring affairs which will define India’s image as a limited power. In fact, unlike most of China’s contemporary debate on foreign affairs, the debate on India in China remains relatively less known and less perceptible to the outside world. India is debated quite frequently though restrictedly, and unlike in the past, China’s India debate is quite serious today. The global ambition of China to emerge as a ‘super power’ equal to the American supremacy will restrict the goodwill of Beijing towards India. × The fundamental notion of this Chinese seriousness is that ‘India is rising, and rising steadily’. Beijing sees India as a ‘potential power’ in making which provokes China’s rise in the region, more than any other powers. This Chinese perception will override any Chinese pragmatic thinking to cooperate with India as a ‘developmental partner’. The Xiamen bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi was a much-needed one to restore normalcy in the relationship. However, the effort to rebuild India-China relations is nothing new, rather a past practice that has not really worked. Neither the novelty of the ‘Panchsheel’ framework has worked nor the plethora of agreements that their relationship currently possess hold any cogency to the overall architecture of India-China relations. Since its formulation officially on 29 April 1954, the Panchsheel principles have been a matter of great relevance in international relations discourse. But that has not worked in India-China relations: the historic 1962 India-China war made it permanently a deceptive principle, mainly from the Indian outlook. Therefore, to India, Xi Jinping’s stress to reframe the current relationship within the principles of Panchsheel will hold little value. On the contrary, India’s resolute foreign policy and national developmental path under Modi have bothered the Chinese most in recent times. India’s resolute stance on the Doklam border tension has challenged the Chinese resilience as a power, one fact that Beijing would not forget easily. Therefore, the Modi-Xi meeting in Xiamen may reinstate India-China relations temporarily, but it would have little lasting significance to change the fundamentals in this relationship.

Will India-China relationship take a different turn with Modi meeting Xi in Xiamen?

<p>China today remained non-committal on the issue of stopping road construction in Dokalam, a day after Indian and Chinese troops ended the 73-day standoff that was triggered by China&#39;s move to build a road in the border area.</p>

<p>&quot;In order to meet the needs of defending the borders, improving the living conditions, China has long engaged in infrastructure development including the road construction,&quot; Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.</p>

<p>India and China yesterday ended their<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/china-downplays-disengagement-of-troops-from-doklam-warns-india-to-draw-lesson-19600"> standoff in Doklam by withdrawing their troops from the area</a>, just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s visit to China to attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.</p>

<p>When asked if China will continue with building the road in the area, Hua said, &quot;we will take into consideration all relevant factors, including the weather, to make relevant construction plan in accordance with the situation on the ground.&quot;</p>

<p>Hua reiterated that Chinese border troops &quot;will continue to station and patrol the Doklam area. We will continue to exercise our sovereignty with historical conventions.&quot;</p>

<p>She also parried a question whether China is in consultation with Bhutan, which has protested the Chinese troops&#39; road building in Doklam.</p>

<p>&quot;So far we have resolved the issue of illegal trespass of the Indian troops,&quot; she said.</p>

<p>When asked whether China halted the work on a road in Doklam to end the standoff so that the BRICS summit could be held, Hua said, &quot;Peaceful resolution of the issue through the diplomatic channels serves the common interests of all relevant parties.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;It shows the sincerity and responsible attitude of China as a major country,&quot; Hua added.</p>

<p>Welcoming the end of the standoff, senior Chinese scholars said major lesson out of border tensions is that China and India should be sensitive towards each other&#39;s&nbsp;concerns to avert future conflicts.</p>

<p>&quot;I am very glad to hear that finally the two governments demonstrated their maturity and far reaching and farsighted decision to peacefully end the conflict,&quot; Hu Shisheng, Director of the official China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told PTI.</p>

<p>Hu said China and India should be sensitive to each other&#39;s concerns.</p>

<p>Rong Ying, Vice President and Senior Research Fellow of the China Institute of the International Relations, which is affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the resolution of Dokalam standoff showed maturity and resilience of India-China bilateral relations.</p>

<p>&quot;This is by far the most the serious incident between the two countries on the boundary. Ten weeks of very serious and grave situation. So the fact that both sides through the diplomatic means solved it in a peaceful (way), I think it should be definitely welcomed,&quot; said Rong, who served as a diplomat in the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.</p>


India and China yesterday ended their standoff in Doklam by withdrawing their troops from the area

China today remained non-committal on the issue of stopping road construction in Dokalam, a day after Indian and Chinese troops ended the 73-day standoff that was triggered by China's move to build a road in the border area. "In order to meet the needs of defending the borders, improving the living conditions, China has long engaged in infrastructure development including the road construction," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. India and China yesterday ended their standoff in Doklam by withdrawing their troops from the area, just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China to attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit. When asked if China will continue with building the road in the area, Hua said, "we will take into consideration all relevant factors, including the weather, to make relevant construction plan in accordance with the situation on the ground." Hua reiterated that Chinese border troops "will continue to station and patrol the Doklam area. We will continue to exercise our sovereignty with historical conventions." She also parried a question whether China is in consultation with Bhutan, which has protested the Chinese troops' road building in Doklam. "So far we have resolved the issue of illegal trespass of the Indian troops," she said. When asked whether China halted the work on a road in Doklam to end the standoff so that the BRICS summit could be held, Hua said, "Peaceful resolution of the issue through the diplomatic channels serves the common interests of all relevant parties." "It shows the sincerity and responsible attitude of China as a major country," Hua added. Welcoming the end of the standoff, senior Chinese scholars said major lesson out of border tensions is that China and India should be sensitive towards each other's concerns to avert future conflicts. "I am very glad to hear that finally the two governments demonstrated their maturity and far reaching and farsighted decision to peacefully end the conflict," Hu Shisheng, Director of the official China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told PTI. Hu said China and India should be sensitive to each other's concerns. Rong Ying, Vice President and Senior Research Fellow of the China Institute of the International Relations, which is affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the resolution of Dokalam standoff showed maturity and resilience of India-China bilateral relations. "This is by far the most the serious incident between the two countries on the boundary. Ten weeks of very serious and grave situation. So the fact that both sides through the diplomatic means solved it in a peaceful (way), I think it should be definitely welcomed," said Rong, who served as a diplomat in the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.

China non-committal on halting road construction in Doklam

<p>The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed on Friday that India is contradicting its own stand on the border road building by constructing a road near the Pangong Lake in Ladakh near the Indo-Chinese border.</p>

<p>China&#39;s remarks come&nbsp;after a report in the <em>Hindustan Times</em> that the Indian Home Ministry has approved the construction of a road from Marsimik-La, barely 20 kilometers away from the northwest end of the Pangong Lake, a tourist attraction in the region of Ladakh, near the border of China.</p>

<p>Reacting to the report, Chinese Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, &quot;I think the report shows what India did is embarrassing itself. As we all know recently, India illegally crossed the border, under the pretext of so called &#39;security concern&#39;, to obstruct China from building a road on its own territory. Now, what India did has proved again that India did not match its words with actions in terms of China-India boundary issues&quot;.</p>

<p>The &nbsp;Chinese spokeswoman called India&#39;s initiative of road building unfair and accused India of not&nbsp;adhering to maintaining peace and stability. She claimed&nbsp;that the western section of India-China border has not yet been demarcated and till then both countries have agreed to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area.</p>

<p>&quot;I want to reiterate that the western section of the China-India boundary has not been demarcated yet, and both China and India have agreed to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area before the border issue is finally resolved. The fact that India builds infrastructure for obvious military purposes near the western portion of the Line of Actual Control is not conducive to maintaining peace and stability of the western section of the China-India boundary, nor to easing the situation in the border area.&quot;</p>

<p>The Indian government, however, says&nbsp;that it has assented to the construction of the road to ensure connectivity for its security forces in remote areas with the disputed border area between China and India.</p>

<p>The Pangong Lake was the site of a recent skirmish between the Indian troops and Chinese troops, who encroached into the territory&nbsp;on August 15.</p>

<p>The Chinese spokesperson was referring to the stand-off between the armies of the two countries in the disputed Doklam region, where India is protesting the construction of a road by China.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry has claimed that India is contradicting its own stand on the border road building.?

The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed on Friday that India is contradicting its own stand on the border road building by constructing a road near the Pangong Lake in Ladakh near the Indo-Chinese border. China's remarks come after a report in the Hindustan Times that the Indian Home Ministry has approved the construction of a road from Marsimik-La, barely 20 kilometers away from the northwest end of the Pangong Lake, a tourist attraction in the region of Ladakh, near the border of China. Reacting to the report, Chinese Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, "I think the report shows what India did is embarrassing itself. As we all know recently, India illegally crossed the border, under the pretext of so called 'security concern', to obstruct China from building a road on its own territory. Now, what India did has proved again that India did not match its words with actions in terms of China-India boundary issues". The Chinese spokeswoman called India's initiative of road building unfair and accused India of not adhering to maintaining peace and stability. She claimed that the western section of India-China border has not yet been demarcated and till then both countries have agreed to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area. "I want to reiterate that the western section of the China-India boundary has not been demarcated yet, and both China and India have agreed to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area before the border issue is finally resolved. The fact that India builds infrastructure for obvious military purposes near the western portion of the Line of Actual Control is not conducive to maintaining peace and stability of the western section of the China-India boundary, nor to easing the situation in the border area." The Indian government, however, says that it has assented to the construction of the road to ensure connectivity for its security forces in remote areas with the disputed border area between China and India. The Pangong Lake was the site of a recent skirmish between the Indian troops and Chinese troops, who encroached into the territory on August 15. The Chinese spokesperson was referring to the stand-off between the armies of the two countries in the disputed Doklam region, where India is protesting the construction of a road by China.

China objects to India's road construction in Ladakh

<p>A few days ago, the Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson informed that China had not shared hydrological data with India on the Himalayan rivers this year. He sought to downplay the development by explaining that &ldquo;sometimes, due to some certain technical reasons data is not shared&rdquo;. He was clueless about the &ldquo;technical reasons&rdquo; and said he would be better equipped on the issue once the information was received from the &ldquo;relevant ministry&rdquo;. The spokesperson&#39;s valiant effort to mute the issue may be understandable, given that the government would not like to indulge in the provocation at the backdrop of the ongoing India-China standoff at Doklam. But there is no running away from the significance of Beijing&rsquo;s action.</p>

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<h5>It is possible, that Beijing has decided to open a front in the form of a water war with India.</h5>
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<p>China is upset that its dual cajole-threat tactic hasn&rsquo;t worked in its favour on the Doklam issue. New Delhi has dug in its heels, and it&rsquo;s now close to three months that Indian troops have been stationed at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction, waiting for Beijing to withdraw its troops from Bhutanese territory. Perhaps, China has been taken by surprise &mdash; unlike in the past when India made light of incursions by the neighbour&rsquo;s People&rsquo;s Liberation Army, calling it a mere &ldquo;acne&rdquo; on the face.</p>

<p>This time, New Delhi appears in no mood to capitulate.</p>

<p>Besides, much to Beijing&rsquo;s annoyance, India continues to batter the former&rsquo;s all-weather friend Pakistan at international forums &mdash; to a level that Islamabad now stands globally discredited. Additionally, New Delhi&rsquo;s aggressive Act East policy has meant a sustained pressure on China in the region. It is, therefore, possible, that Beijing has decided to open a front in the form of a water war with India.</p>

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<h5>Since the points of origin of the two rivers are in China, and China becomes the upper riparian state, it becomes Beijing&rsquo;s responsibility to offer hydrological material to India.</h5>
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<p>In doing so, China is making a mockery of bilateral agreements with New Delhi. The India-China Expert Level mechanism was initiated in 2006 to share hydrological data during the flood season for the rivers Brahmaputra and Sutlej. Memorandums of Understanding were signed in 2013 and 2015, with China agreeing to share the data between May 15 to October 15 every year. Since the points of origin of the two rivers are in China, and China becomes the upper riparian state, it becomes Beijing&rsquo;s responsibility to offer hydrological material to India.</p>

<p>This sharing of data, from three upstream monitoring stations in Tibet, is critical to India&rsquo;s needs to contain floods in large parts of the country, especially in the North-East. Indeed, in recent days, northeastern states have been hit by serious floods, and while the government has not officially linked it to China&rsquo;s failure to share the data on Himalayan rivers emanating from the latter&rsquo;s territory, there is reason enough to speculate on the matter.</p>

<p>Interestingly, China and India do not have a bilateral treaty on water. This is unlike in the case of Pakistan with whom India has the Indus Water Treaty. The IWT has worked well by and large, though in recent months there have been some hiccups. New Delhi had proposed a water treaty to the Chinese in 2013, with the&nbsp;then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking a&nbsp;personal interest in the matter. But Beijing cold-shouldered the proposal. Clearly, it was uncomfortable with sharing certain material which would have been at variance with its officially stated position, especially relating to its dam construction projects on the Brahmaputra river.</p>

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<h5>It may be recollected that some 15 years ago, the collapse of an artificial dam in Tibet being built by the Chinese had a severe impact on Arunachal Pradesh, damaging property worth nearly Rs 150 crore.</h5>
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<p>In the absence of any water treaty, China sees an upper hand for itself. It has&nbsp;announced the construction of its &lsquo;most expensive&rsquo; hydel project on a tributary of the Brahmaputra, in Tibet. Obviously, the river will be considerably dammed upstream, and its deleterious impact will be felt by India in terms of natural calamities. A major diversion of the Brahmaputra river through a dam could be disastrous for India&rsquo;s northeastern plains &mdash; and even for&nbsp;neighbouring Bangladesh.</p>

<p>The effect will be furthered as a result of India not having the information and, therefore, inadequately prepared. Beijing has been consistently saying that its activities will not adversely impact India, but its refusal to share hydrological data dents such offerings of sincerity. It may be recollected that some 15 years ago, the collapse of an artificial dam in Tibet being built by the Chinese had a severe impact on Arunachal Pradesh, damaging property worth nearly Rs 150 crore.</p>

<p>There is also a strategic reason for China&rsquo;s construction of a hydel project in Tibet. It&rsquo;s a way of sending a message to India on its claim over Arunachal Pradesh &mdash; after all, Beijing considers Arunachal Pradesh as part of Tibet.</p>

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<h5>As per bilateral accords, it would be unrealistic to expect that Beijing will, at least in the near future and in the given situation, be ready for a water-sharing treaty.</h5>
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<p>Of course, the sharing of hydrological data will not make India any wiser on the various activities the Chinese have been surreptitiously undertaking on the Himalayan rivers that flow into India from their end. Only a comprehensive water treaty can introduce such transparency. This is the main reason that New Delhi has been seeking to persuade Beijing to enter into a bilateral water pact. But at a time when China has begun to hesitate to even give India the hydrological data which it is mandated to do, as per bilateral accords, it would be unrealistic to expect that Beijing will, at least in the near future and in the given situation, be ready for a water-sharing treaty.</p>

<p>What then is the option before India? It cannot obviously compel China to enter into a bilateral water-sharing pact. But it can and must forcefully demand the relevant hydrological data which Beijing is duty-bound to share as part of the bilateral accords. There is no point in downplaying the Chinese delay. New Delhi needs to understand &mdash; perhaps it does but doesn&rsquo;t want to publicly acknowledge it &mdash; that China is using water (either through the denial of hydrological data or by its dam construction activities upstream on rivers that flow into India) as a potent weapon against India. New Delhi is on firm grounds here, and perhaps a bit of escalation of the issue from its side at an appropriate moment to draw some global attention, would not be such a bad idea.</p>

<p>After all, even if China does eventually give the hydrological data, the massive hydel projects it is pursuing and which cause concern to New Delhi, cannot be overlooked anymore. We have come a long way since the days when the&nbsp;then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in 2013 claimed there was nothing to worry by the activities the Chinese had been engaged in the upper Brahmaputra river region.</p>


Through the denial of hydrological data and by constructing dams upstream on rivers that flow into India, China can use water as a potent weapon against India.

A few days ago, the Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson informed that China had not shared hydrological data with India on the Himalayan rivers this year. He sought to downplay the development by explaining that “sometimes, due to some certain technical reasons data is not shared”. He was clueless about the “technical reasons” and said he would be better equipped on the issue once the information was received from the “relevant ministry”. The spokesperson's valiant effort to mute the issue may be understandable, given that the government would not like to indulge in the provocation at the backdrop of the ongoing India-China standoff at Doklam. But there is no running away from the significance of Beijing’s action. It is possible, that Beijing has decided to open a front in the form of a water war with India. × China is upset that its dual cajole-threat tactic hasn’t worked in its favour on the Doklam issue. New Delhi has dug in its heels, and it’s now close to three months that Indian troops have been stationed at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction, waiting for Beijing to withdraw its troops from Bhutanese territory. Perhaps, China has been taken by surprise — unlike in the past when India made light of incursions by the neighbour’s People’s Liberation Army, calling it a mere “acne” on the face. This time, New Delhi appears in no mood to capitulate. Besides, much to Beijing’s annoyance, India continues to batter the former’s all-weather friend Pakistan at international forums — to a level that Islamabad now stands globally discredited. Additionally, New Delhi’s aggressive Act East policy has meant a sustained pressure on China in the region. It is, therefore, possible, that Beijing has decided to open a front in the form of a water war with India. Since the points of origin of the two rivers are in China, and China becomes the upper riparian state, it becomes Beijing’s responsibility to offer hydrological material to India. × In doing so, China is making a mockery of bilateral agreements with New Delhi. The India-China Expert Level mechanism was initiated in 2006 to share hydrological data during the flood season for the rivers Brahmaputra and Sutlej. Memorandums of Understanding were signed in 2013 and 2015, with China agreeing to share the data between May 15 to October 15 every year. Since the points of origin of the two rivers are in China, and China becomes the upper riparian state, it becomes Beijing’s responsibility to offer hydrological material to India. This sharing of data, from three upstream monitoring stations in Tibet, is critical to India’s needs to contain floods in large parts of the country, especially in the North-East. Indeed, in recent days, northeastern states have been hit by serious floods, and while the government has not officially linked it to China’s failure to share the data on Himalayan rivers emanating from the latter’s territory, there is reason enough to speculate on the matter. Interestingly, China and India do not have a bilateral treaty on water. This is unlike in the case of Pakistan with whom India has the Indus Water Treaty. The IWT has worked well by and large, though in recent months there have been some hiccups. New Delhi had proposed a water treaty to the Chinese in 2013, with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking a personal interest in the matter. But Beijing cold-shouldered the proposal. Clearly, it was uncomfortable with sharing certain material which would have been at variance with its officially stated position, especially relating to its dam construction projects on the Brahmaputra river. It may be recollected that some 15 years ago, the collapse of an artificial dam in Tibet being built by the Chinese had a severe impact on Arunachal Pradesh, damaging property worth nearly Rs 150 crore. × In the absence of any water treaty, China sees an upper hand for itself. It has announced the construction of its ‘most expensive’ hydel project on a tributary of the Brahmaputra, in Tibet. Obviously, the river will be considerably dammed upstream, and its deleterious impact will be felt by India in terms of natural calamities. A major diversion of the Brahmaputra river through a dam could be disastrous for India’s northeastern plains — and even for neighbouring Bangladesh. The effect will be furthered as a result of India not having the information and, therefore, inadequately prepared. Beijing has been consistently saying that its activities will not adversely impact India, but its refusal to share hydrological data dents such offerings of sincerity. It may be recollected that some 15 years ago, the collapse of an artificial dam in Tibet being built by the Chinese had a severe impact on Arunachal Pradesh, damaging property worth nearly Rs 150 crore. There is also a strategic reason for China’s construction of a hydel project in Tibet. It’s a way of sending a message to India on its claim over Arunachal Pradesh — after all, Beijing considers Arunachal Pradesh as part of Tibet. As per bilateral accords, it would be unrealistic to expect that Beijing will, at least in the near future and in the given situation, be ready for a water-sharing treaty. × Of course, the sharing of hydrological data will not make India any wiser on the various activities the Chinese have been surreptitiously undertaking on the Himalayan rivers that flow into India from their end. Only a comprehensive water treaty can introduce such transparency. This is the main reason that New Delhi has been seeking to persuade Beijing to enter into a bilateral water pact. But at a time when China has begun to hesitate to even give India the hydrological data which it is mandated to do, as per bilateral accords, it would be unrealistic to expect that Beijing will, at least in the near future and in the given situation, be ready for a water-sharing treaty. What then is the option before India? It cannot obviously compel China to enter into a bilateral water-sharing pact. But it can and must forcefully demand the relevant hydrological data which Beijing is duty-bound to share as part of the bilateral accords. There is no point in downplaying the Chinese delay. New Delhi needs to understand — perhaps it does but doesn’t want to publicly acknowledge it — that China is using water (either through the denial of hydrological data or by its dam construction activities upstream on rivers that flow into India) as a potent weapon against India. New Delhi is on firm grounds here, and perhaps a bit of escalation of the issue from its side at an appropriate moment to draw some global attention, would not be such a bad idea. After all, even if China does eventually give the hydrological data, the massive hydel projects it is pursuing and which cause concern to New Delhi, cannot be overlooked anymore. We have come a long way since the days when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in 2013 claimed there was nothing to worry by the activities the Chinese had been engaged in the upper Brahmaputra river region.

Is China using water as a potent weapon against India?

<p>Has the standoff over Doklam deflated the Chinese balloon?&nbsp;Deflated yes, not punctured.</p>

<p>It&#39;s vital, we understand the difference.</p>

<p>India has deflated the perception assiduously propagated by the Chinese media that their country is America&#39;s equal. If that was the case, what explains the Indian wall it has run up against on the Doklam plateau.</p>

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<h5>China has dredged up artificial islands, laid airfields and stocked up with every manner of weapons and equipment.</h5>
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<p>The same Indian wall is being closely watched across a broad swathe of the South China Sea where China has dredged up artificial islands, laid airfields and stocked up with every manner of weapons and equipment. The wall has drawn the attention of South China Sea littoral states which are unable to stand up to China&#39;s naval muscle or are seduced by its money power.</p>

<p>But this has only deflated the Dragon not punctured it.</p>

<p>China watchers say - the debate in Beijing is probably about their lack of proper appreciation of the environment.&nbsp;Meaning, the PLA did not anticipate the manner in which India would respond to the move to lay a road through the Doklam Plateau.</p>

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<h5>Until now all India-China standoffs have been &#39;strictly bilateral&#39;, meaning it has always been about one side claiming territory held or claimed by the other.</h5>
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<p>That tells us something about Chinese military thinking, an element of overconfidence perhaps, which encouraged the perception that India would stand down. Are we being unfair here? Until now all India-China standoffs have been &#39;strictly bilateral&#39;, meaning it has always been about one side claiming territory held or claimed by the other. In that sense, India standing up for a third country may have appeared far-fetched.</p>

<p>What&#39;s clear is that the Chinese will neither forgive nor forget what India has done to them in Doklam.</p>

<p>China analysts like Jayadev Ranade believe the politicians in Beijing are under pressure from the PLA to take off the restraints and allow them to go against India. Apparently, some of this pressure is emanating from the Western Theatre Command tasked with securing the Indian frontier which also includes Bhutan.</p>

<p>What, therefore, can they be expected to do? That&#39;s hard to predict but China watchers say Beijing&#39;s Mandarins will try to extract their pound of flesh from India perhaps not now, maybe later at a time and place of their choosing.&nbsp;The location could range anywhere from Ladakh and Himachal to Arunachal and even Sikkim. A former Northern Army Commander Gen. H.S. Panag has hinted this could even take place sometime in winter, could involve China&#39;s range of rocket artillery and even cyber weapons.</p>

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<h5>It&#39;s interesting to examine the efforts by President Xi Jinping to transform the lumbering, a top heavy land dominated military into a nimble integrated force capable of fighting and winning &#39;local wars under hi-tech conditions&#39;.</h5>
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<p>Ranade believes any action by the Chinese would be limited in scope and duration with the aim of teaching India a lesson. In that context, it&#39;s interesting to examine the efforts by President Xi Jinping to transform the lumbering, a top heavy land dominated military into a nimble integrated force capable of fighting and winning &#39;local wars under hi-tech conditions&#39;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Srikanth Kondapalli, who teaches China at Delhi&#39;s Jawaharlal Nehru University, says, &quot;The objective is not to occupy territory but paralyse the adversary and for this, you need the concentration of firepower, air force, artillery in one area of mobilisation. They are raising 40 Rapid Response Units and an airborne corps for transporting troops.&quot;</p>

<p>The dilemma for President Xi is whether his newly transformed military can be trusted to deliver in a limited action against India. More important, can the military ensure this does not escalate, that India does not escalate? The word from military analysts here is India will escalate!</p>


China watchers say Beijing will try to extract their pound of flesh from India perhaps not now, maybe later at a time and place of their choosing.

Has the standoff over Doklam deflated the Chinese balloon? Deflated yes, not punctured. It's vital, we understand the difference. India has deflated the perception assiduously propagated by the Chinese media that their country is America's equal. If that was the case, what explains the Indian wall it has run up against on the Doklam plateau. China has dredged up artificial islands, laid airfields and stocked up with every manner of weapons and equipment. × The same Indian wall is being closely watched across a broad swathe of the South China Sea where China has dredged up artificial islands, laid airfields and stocked up with every manner of weapons and equipment. The wall has drawn the attention of South China Sea littoral states which are unable to stand up to China's naval muscle or are seduced by its money power. But this has only deflated the Dragon not punctured it. China watchers say - the debate in Beijing is probably about their lack of proper appreciation of the environment. Meaning, the PLA did not anticipate the manner in which India would respond to the move to lay a road through the Doklam Plateau. Until now all India-China standoffs have been 'strictly bilateral', meaning it has always been about one side claiming territory held or claimed by the other. × That tells us something about Chinese military thinking, an element of overconfidence perhaps, which encouraged the perception that India would stand down. Are we being unfair here? Until now all India-China standoffs have been 'strictly bilateral', meaning it has always been about one side claiming territory held or claimed by the other. In that sense, India standing up for a third country may have appeared far-fetched. What's clear is that the Chinese will neither forgive nor forget what India has done to them in Doklam. China analysts like Jayadev Ranade believe the politicians in Beijing are under pressure from the PLA to take off the restraints and allow them to go against India. Apparently, some of this pressure is emanating from the Western Theatre Command tasked with securing the Indian frontier which also includes Bhutan. What, therefore, can they be expected to do? That's hard to predict but China watchers say Beijing's Mandarins will try to extract their pound of flesh from India perhaps not now, maybe later at a time and place of their choosing. The location could range anywhere from Ladakh and Himachal to Arunachal and even Sikkim. A former Northern Army Commander Gen. H.S. Panag has hinted this could even take place sometime in winter, could involve China's range of rocket artillery and even cyber weapons. It's interesting to examine the efforts by President Xi Jinping to transform the lumbering, a top heavy land dominated military into a nimble integrated force capable of fighting and winning 'local wars under hi-tech conditions'. × Ranade believes any action by the Chinese would be limited in scope and duration with the aim of teaching India a lesson. In that context, it's interesting to examine the efforts by President Xi Jinping to transform the lumbering, a top heavy land dominated military into a nimble integrated force capable of fighting and winning 'local wars under hi-tech conditions'. Srikanth Kondapalli, who teaches China at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, says, "The objective is not to occupy territory but paralyse the adversary and for this, you need the concentration of firepower, air force, artillery in one area of mobilisation. They are raising 40 Rapid Response Units and an airborne corps for transporting troops." The dilemma for President Xi is whether his newly transformed military can be trusted to deliver in a limited action against India. More important, can the military ensure this does not escalate, that India does not escalate? The word from military analysts here is India will escalate!

Doklam was a setback, China keen on teaching India a lesson

<p>The Malabar Naval Exercise being conducted by India, Japan and the United States is a &quot;strategic message&quot; to China, a top US official said on Monday.</p>

<p>&quot;I would like to say this is a strategic message to China. It (the message) would also be the same to Canada or to the Republic of Korea or to Australia or to any other maritime force,&quot; US Navy Commander, Rear Admiral William D Byrne Jr told the press after the inauguration of the five-day Malabar Naval Exercise, here.</p>

<p>&quot;Operating together and practising together is a good thing. It is because -- we are better together and we learn from each other. We know who we are and what is our capability. That is the strategic message to the entire world. I think, we are setting a great example here in Malabar (exercise) 2017&quot;, he added.</p>

<p>Asked whether the exercise had anything to do with the situation prevailing around North Korea, the US Commander said, &quot;There are certainly global threats. Malabar is not focused on any specified threat. It is directed towards three countries India, Japan and United States. It is not directed towards any specific country or threat.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>A top official of the Indian Navy, however, clarified that the naval drill had nothing to do with the the stand-off between India and China in Doklam near Sikkim.</p>

<p>&quot;The Process of Malabar exercise starts a year before ( its scheduled beginning) and the initial planning takes place six months in advance. The stand-off you are talking about has got nothing to do with the Malabar exercise,&quot; Indian Flag Officer, Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, HCS Bisht said.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nimitz?src=hash">#Nimitz</a> Carrier Strike Group, Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force begins <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Malabar?src=hash">#Malabar</a> 2017 <a href="https://t.co/PGkHpE3Z0G">https://t.co/PGkHpE3Z0G</a> <a href="https://t.co/8D0hkcls5r">pic.twitter.com/8D0hkcls5r</a></p>
&mdash; 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) <a href="https://twitter.com/US7thFleet/status/884309237555507200">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>The three countries have deployed warships, submarines and aircraft in the seven-day naval drill.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Malabar2017?src=hash">#Malabar2017</a> Media fraternity onboard visiting ships at Chennai - came in full force for interaction with Senior Commanders of IN,USN &amp;JMSDF <a href="https://t.co/5KcGrIm1gd">pic.twitter.com/5KcGrIm1gd</a></p>
&mdash; SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) <a href="https://twitter.com/indiannavy/status/884418405981224962">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>India and the US had kicked off the Malabar exercise back in 1994, this is the 21st edition of the drills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Indian, Japanese and US maritime forces have a common understanding and knowledge of a shared working environment at sea. Each iteration of this exercise helps to advance the level of understanding between our sailors, and we hope to be able to continue this process over time,&rdquo; the US navy statement said.</p>

<p>The naval exercise was spearheaded by India&#39;s aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Japan&#39;s largest warship JS Izumo, and US carrier Nimitz.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="ro">India, US and Japan participate in &#39;Exercise Malabar&#39; a joint naval exercise conducted in Bay of Bengal <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Malabar2017?src=hash">#Malabar2017</a> <a href="https://t.co/cyAkRgniJN">pic.twitter.com/cyAkRgniJN</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/884349346203881473">July 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>America&#39;s guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton, guided-missile destroyers USS Howard and USS Shoup and USS Kidd will be part of the drill, the US has informed.</p>

<p>According to media reports, Indian Navy&#39;s two Shivalik class multi-role frigates, a Kora class missile frigate, two destroyers, P8I maritime surveillance aircraft, anti-submarine warfare corvettes, tanker INS Jyoti and the nuclear submarine will also be part of the exercise. Japan is sending its destroyer JS Sazanami for the Malabar exercise.</p>

<p>India&#39;s neighbour China is keeping a close vigil over the Malabar exercise by deploying surveillance ship even as the Chinese foreign ministry in a statement said, &quot;no objection to normal bilateral relations and cooperation among relevant countries&#39; but &#39;hope[s] this kind of relations and cooperation is not directed at any third party and conducive to regional peace and stability.&quot;</p>

<p>China&#39;s state-run media is&nbsp;also weary of the Malabar exercise with an English language newspaper raising &quot;concern&quot; over the tri-nation naval drill.</p>

<p>India and China have been involved in an aggressive border row in Doka La area near the Bhutan tri-junction in the past one month. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doka La, while China claims it is part of its Donglang region.</p>


The three countries deployed warships, submarines and aircraft in the seven-day naval drill

The Malabar Naval Exercise being conducted by India, Japan and the United States is a "strategic message" to China, a top US official said on Monday. "I would like to say this is a strategic message to China. It (the message) would also be the same to Canada or to the Republic of Korea or to Australia or to any other maritime force," US Navy Commander, Rear Admiral William D Byrne Jr told the press after the inauguration of the five-day Malabar Naval Exercise, here. "Operating together and practising together is a good thing. It is because -- we are better together and we learn from each other. We know who we are and what is our capability. That is the strategic message to the entire world. I think, we are setting a great example here in Malabar (exercise) 2017", he added. Asked whether the exercise had anything to do with the situation prevailing around North Korea, the US Commander said, "There are certainly global threats. Malabar is not focused on any specified threat. It is directed towards three countries India, Japan and United States. It is not directed towards any specific country or threat." A top official of the Indian Navy, however, clarified that the naval drill had nothing to do with the the stand-off between India and China in Doklam near Sikkim. "The Process of Malabar exercise starts a year before ( its scheduled beginning) and the initial planning takes place six months in advance. The stand-off you are talking about has got nothing to do with the Malabar exercise," Indian Flag Officer, Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, HCS Bisht said. #Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force begins #Malabar 2017 https://t.co/PGkHpE3Z0G pic.twitter.com/8D0hkcls5r — 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) July 10, 2017 × The three countries have deployed warships, submarines and aircraft in the seven-day naval drill. #Malabar2017 Media fraternity onboard visiting ships at Chennai - came in full force for interaction with Senior Commanders of IN,USN &JMSDF pic.twitter.com/5KcGrIm1gd — SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) July 10, 2017 × India and the US had kicked off the Malabar exercise back in 1994, this is the 21st edition of the drills. “Indian, Japanese and US maritime forces have a common understanding and knowledge of a shared working environment at sea. Each iteration of this exercise helps to advance the level of understanding between our sailors, and we hope to be able to continue this process over time,” the US navy statement said. The naval exercise was spearheaded by India's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Japan's largest warship JS Izumo, and US carrier Nimitz. India, US and Japan participate in 'Exercise Malabar' a joint naval exercise conducted in Bay of Bengal #Malabar2017 pic.twitter.com/cyAkRgniJN — ANI (@ANI_news) July 10, 2017 × America's guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton, guided-missile destroyers USS Howard and USS Shoup and USS Kidd will be part of the drill, the US has informed. According to media reports, Indian Navy's two Shivalik class multi-role frigates, a Kora class missile frigate, two destroyers, P8I maritime surveillance aircraft, anti-submarine warfare corvettes, tanker INS Jyoti and the nuclear submarine will also be part of the exercise. Japan is sending its destroyer JS Sazanami for the Malabar exercise. India's neighbour China is keeping a close vigil over the Malabar exercise by deploying surveillance ship even as the Chinese foreign ministry in a statement said, "no objection to normal bilateral relations and cooperation among relevant countries' but 'hope[s] this kind of relations and cooperation is not directed at any third party and conducive to regional peace and stability." China's state-run media is also weary of the Malabar exercise with an English language newspaper raising "concern" over the tri-nation naval drill. India and China have been involved in an aggressive border row in Doka La area near the Bhutan tri-junction in the past one month. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doka La, while China claims it is part of its Donglang region.

US says Malabar exercise 'strategic message' to China

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