Opinion

Under pressure, expansionist China begins to wilt
Opinion

Under pressure, expansionist China begins to wilt

China’s has brazenly challenged Japan in the East China Sea, grabbed territory in the South China Sea, laid claims to Indonesian islands 1500 kms away and encroached upon territory in eastern Ladakh. It has repeatedly threatened Taiwan with invasion, throttled democratic rights in Hong Kong, and threatened Australia with economic retribution and cyber-attacks.For the first time, the Quad, in a concrete show of solidarity, reacted with alacrity to the Dragon’s unethical and premeditated expansionist agenda.The US dispatched two modern aircraft carrier battle groups to the SCS area. It agreed to supply more sophisticated weapons and equipment to Taiwan. In continuation of the reciprocal trade war, the US raised the stakes for the Chinese by taking effective steps at ‘de-coupling’ in sensitiv
Andaman & Nicobar Islands can be centre point of connecting strategic line of maritime hubs to tackle China
Opinion

Andaman & Nicobar Islands can be centre point of connecting strategic line of maritime hubs to tackle China

While the world is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, China is not leaving any opportunity to take over territories and off late, its aggressiveness can be seen at the East China Sea, South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.One way to tackle Chinese maritime aggression could be by fully equipping ports and islands in a way to make them strategic outposts which would help monitor the naval activities combining it with an integrated surveillance network which would give all the countries tactical leverage in the various regional seas.Chinese aggression in the international waters was witnessed this year in several instances. In April, a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the South China Sea was sunk by a Chinese ship, a stand-off between a Chinese survey ship and Malaysian oil exploration ship ...
Border clash with India might cost China dominant power status
Opinion, World

Border clash with India might cost China dominant power status

Experts are of the opinion that if other countries also follow India’s ban on 59 Chinese apps, including the popular video-sharing app TikTok, it could seriously set back China’s ambition to replace the US as the world's dominant technological power."Chinese companies can't really be global if they lose out on India," said Rush Doshi, an expert on Chinese strategy at the Brookings Institution. "And if India can do this, then other countries can do it too.”In July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made comments that the United States was considering a ban on TikTok and other Chinese social-media apps. Australia is also pondering a TikTok ban.The damage may not be limited to India. The Indian ban could have a "cascading effect," says Adam Segal, an expert on Chinese technology firms at the Cou
After Galwan backlash, China beats peace drum
Opinion

After Galwan backlash, China beats peace drum

It seems China is trying to discover the virtues of peace after its actions in Galwan valley. Recently, Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidong, in a videographed message, proffered pastoral nuggets of diplomatic wisdom - trust and cooperation between the two countries, the need to move forward and to build on what has been achieved over the last 70 years. Although that’s fine, he missed the point that the unprecedented violence in Ladakh flows from China’s pattern of behaviour over many decades.If we break down his message, he said, “Suspicion and friction is the wrong path. We need mutual respect, treat each other as equals, be open and inclusive.” The ambassador is clearly putting the onus on India for the “suspicion and friction”. It suits his narrative to overlook China’s behaviour pa
Experts decry proposed 14th amendment in so-called AJK Interim Act 1974 by Pakistan
Asia, Opinion

Experts decry proposed 14th amendment in so-called AJK Interim Act 1974 by Pakistan

Political activists and experts have condemned the proposed 14th amendment Bill to the 1974 Interim Constitution of so-called Azad Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) as it further restricts the freedom of expression and opinion among the people in the occupied territory, while strengthening the grip of the Pakistani state over the region even more.In a webinar organized by the Jammu Kashmir International People’s Alliance (JKIPA), Junaid Qureshi, the director of European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) said that Pakistan has over the years been duplicitously projecting itself as a strong votary of the now near-defunct 1948 UN Resolutions that specified a referendum in the entire erstwhile Princely State of J&K.“The reality, though, is that the onus of implementing the first stage
The slow poison of Osama: A man, an organization, and the spreading of terror
Opinion

The slow poison of Osama: A man, an organization, and the spreading of terror

Since Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan fondly remembers the founder of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, as a “martyr”, it only makes sense to remember him.Osama bin Laden’s Syrian mother was one of the many wives of his millionaire Yemeni father. While his brothers went to the West for higher education, Osama preferred going to Jeddah’s Abdel Aziz University where his fondness for Islamic studies was spurred by two charismatic teachers, Muhammad Qutb and Abdallah Azzam — the first an Egyptian, a brother of the great Ikhwan leader, Syed Qutb and the second, a Palestinian who merged the Qutb doctrine of jahiliyya (ignorance) with modern jihad against the West.In 1980, Osama came to Peshawar to conduct jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.By 1984, Osama got used to spending a lot of t
Pakistani media mogul’s bizarre arrest shows how media freedom is being squeezed
Opinion

Pakistani media mogul’s bizarre arrest shows how media freedom is being squeezed

The country’s most prominent media mogul Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is detained and incarcerated. The image-conscious Prime Minister Imran Khan ignores a letter from United Nations officials about the detention. The media tycoon is held for over 100 days without charge; five bail hearings are postponed, and the bench assigned to hear his case is changed three times in as many months.Even for a nascent democracy such as Pakistan, under military rule for much of its existence, the bizarre arrest and ongoing detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is novel and tragic.The owner-editor of Jang, Pakistan’s most powerful media conglomerate, was arrested on March 12. The move was so unexpected that he didn’t obtain pre-arrest bail when responding to a summons by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office
Anxiety in China stems from the CPC’s insecurity
Opinion

Anxiety in China stems from the CPC’s insecurity

China has handled the COVID-19 outbreak better than most countries. Also, it has quickly cranked up its industries and global public diplomacy to offer testing kits and protective gear to countries across the world, including to its arch-rival, the United States, as well as to India.At the same time, Chinese territorial assertiveness continues without letup in the east, the South China Seas, and along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India. It is almost as if even a disruption like COVID-19 that has the rest of the world scrambling to manage public health, economic growth and political fallout, is insufficient to knock China off its stride.And yet, the Chinese people are anxious. The Communist Party of China (CPC) that governs them, even more so. Anxious that the rest of the world not...
China pillages Balochistan
Opinion

China pillages Balochistan

In 2011, the celebrated Irish journalist Declan Walsh wrote about a 70-year-old conflict about Balochistan, which has been under Pakistani occupation since March 1948. It was a topic that only a few in the West had heard off.Headlined as ‘Pakistan’s Secret Dirty War,’ Walsh, in his piece, lifted the lid on atrocities being committed by the Pakistan Army and its jihadi death squads inside Balochistan.He wrote: “In Balochistan, mutilated corpses bearing the signs of torture keep turning up, among them lawyers, students and farm workers … The bodies surface quietly, like corks bobbing up in the dark. They come in twos and threes, a few times a week, dumped on desolate mountains or empty city roads, bearing the scars of great cruelty. Arms and legs are snapped; faces are bruised and swollen. F
Watch China’s actions, don’t listen to its words
Opinion

Watch China’s actions, don’t listen to its words

At the moment, one of the most complex situations is the changing nature of nation-to-nation relationships with China. The words China wants us to use are telling.In the case of the US-China relationship, the Chinese Communist Party has been very keen to use words (both positive and negative) that create an impression of equality between Beijing and Washington.A few years ago, Beijing promoted the idea of China and the US being the “G2” - two equal governments, with primacy over the rest. The G2 construct allowed Beijing to imply that the world should be divided into two colonial-style spheres of influence, one for the US, and one for China.In 2008, US Navy Admiral Timothy J. Keating told the Senate Armed Services Committee about a comment a senior Chinese officer made to him: “As we devel