Newsletter 10 February

Sino-Indian Standoff: PLA shore up weaponry at India Border as Xi wants it ‘combat ready’

Chinese envoy calls for putting boundary issue in ‘appropriate place’

In an article, titled “China and the world in the year of the Ox” published on the website, The Policy Chronicle on Wed, Chinese Envoy, Sun Weidong also called for the two sides to “respect each other, enhance mutual trust [and] seek common ground while shelving differences.
China and India should “meet each other half way” in addressing problems and put the boundary dispute in “an appropriate place in bilateral relations” while tackling differences in a constructive manner, Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong has said.
Sun also called for the two sides to “respect each other, enhance mutual trust [and] seek common ground while shelving differences”.
The Chinese envoy’s remarks go against the position taken by the New Delhi amid the dragging military standoff in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The Indian side has said the development of the overall relationship with China is based on peace and tranquility built up at the LAC in recent decades through several agreements on border management.
While outlining 8 principles to help repair strained relations with China on Jan 28^th, external affairs minister S Jaishankar had said China’s actions in Ladakh last year have “profoundly disturbed” ties because they reflected a disregard for commitments on minimizing troop levels and a “willingness to breach peace and tranquility”.
Jaishankar also said any expectation that things could “carry on undisturbed despite the situation at the border” was “simply not realistic”.
Sun also wrote that cooperation between China and India “far outweighs our differences, and our common interests are far greater than our inconsistencies”.
Despite such a statement at diplomatic level, on ground situation is reverse. A piece of news was in Indian media on Mon that PLA beefs up on LAC with more missiles, rockets, not only on LAC at eastern Ladakh but all along LAC, including Tibet.

India winning psychological war at LAC; 'drama troops' boosting morale of China's PLA troops

India and China continue to be entangled in bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh sector.
Times Now has learnt that the soldiers of China’s People Liberation Army (PLA), who are deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), are demoralized and not able to withstand the extremely cold weather conditions.
Times Now’s Srinjoy Chowdhury reported that the two Chinese soldiers who had strayed into the Indian side in Oct and Jan were drunk and there was no sign of discipline amongst them
Initially, the captured PLA soldiers were thought to be spies, however, after interrogation, nothing suspicious was found about them.
Sources have further told that the Chinese authorities are sending drama and culture troops to entertain and boost the morale of the soldiers posted at the LAC.
The Chinse forces are also not able to adapt themselves to the extreme cold weather condition in the eastern Ladakh sector, unlike the Indian forces, who have efficiently stand tall in the adverse conditions.
It has been also reported that China has pulled many troops have withdrawn from Finger 4 to 7 area.

18 Indian Sailors Stuck In China To Return Home On Feb 14: Minister

Earlier, as many as 23 seafarers of Ship MV Jag Anand were stuck in China had reached India on Jan 14.
Eighteen Indian sailors stuck in China will return to India on Feb 14, union minister Mansukh Mandaviya said today.
The crew will sign off from Japan today and will be reunited with their families on reaching India.
Mr Mandaviya appreciated the efforts of Indian embassy in China and the Mediterranean Ship Company for arranging the repatriation.
Cargo vessel MV Anastasia was stuck off the coast of China since Sept 2020, an official said.
Earlier, as many as 23 seafarers of Ship MV Jag Anand were stuck in China had reached India on Jan 14.

Blinken, Jaishankar agree on expanded cooperation across Indo-Pacific ANI

During a conversation between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, both leaders reaffirmed the US-India partnership and discussed expanded cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region.
According to a statement by US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, Blinken and Jaishankar discussed regional developments, including the value of cooperation across the Indo-Pacific.
Both sides also looked forward to expanded regional cooperation, including through the Quad and to address the challenges of COVID-19 and climate change.
The leaders also expressed concern over the military coup in Myanmar and discussed the importance of rule of law and democratic process in the country.
The conversation between Blinken and Jaishankar comes after US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephone conversation, where they discussed cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and the developments in Myanmar.

MEA clears 24 million vaccine doses to 25 countries on a commercial basis in Feb. Canada isn’t on list

The Serum Institute of India has been approved to supply 23.75 million Covid-19 vaccines to 25 countries including Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Morocco, Nicaragua, Mauritius, Philippines, Serbia, the UAE and Qatar.
This will be twice the 10.5 million vaccines that were exported in Jan, people familiar with the development said on Wed.
The Govt last month mandated that the external affairs ministry would oversee the export of the vaccine on a commercial basis to foreign countries and international organizations.
India has supplied 16.7 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to 20 countries.
This included nearly 6.3 million doses that were supplied free to 13 countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Oman, Barbados and Dominica.
About 10 million more doses were supplied on a commercial basis to seven countries including Brazil, Morocco and South Africa.
According to the MEA’s plans for Feb, the SII has been cleared to supply 24 million doses on a commercial basis to 25 countries including Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Mauritius, Philippines, Serbia, UAE and Qatar.
This list of 25 countries does not include Canada that recently requested for 1 million doses of the vaccine, a Govt official said.
Canada’s minister of public services and procurement Anita Anand, an Indo-Canadian, faced some embarrassing moments this week when she was unable to respond to questions from a lawmaker who asked if the government reached out to New Delhi to make up for its difficulties in getting Covid vaccines.

Farmer’s Protest Row: Kisan unions eye pan-India panchayat-level gatherings

Farmers’ unions opposed to the central farm laws may try to replicate panchayat-level gathering of western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in other parts of the country in coming days even as they wait for a signal for talks from the Govt on any fresh proposal to end the current stalemate.
Aiming to take their movement pan India, the unions will formally announce their plans after reaching a consensus in the meeting of their joint protest platform and highest decision-making body Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wed.
Though the final details will be announced after the meeting, the broad contours of their four-pronged strategy includes panchayat-level mobilization in different states (beyond Punjab-Haryana-western UP), more ‘chakka jams’, allowing free passage to vehicles at toll plazas and boycott of products of two corporates (Ambani-Adani).
Under the strategy, farmer leaders will move out from protest sites around Delhi to different states in coming days for mobilization where they will use PM Narendra Modi’s remarks of ‘andolanjeevi’ (professional protesters) and ‘parijeevi’ (parasites) to garner support not only among farmers, but also among industrial workers, unemployed youths and others with the help of trade unions.
They will, during mobilization, use the word ‘corporatejeevi’ (one who survives on corporates) for the ruling party leaders.

Rules under Citizenship Amendment Act being prepared: Home Ministry ANI

Nityanand Rai MoS MHA on Wed stated in Rajya Sabha that the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 are under preparation and the Act has already come into force with effect from Oct 1, 2020.
The Ministry made the statement in response to Congress MP Digvijaya Singh’s question on whether it has drafted the rules to be notified under CAA.
“If yes, then what are details including the date by which the rules are expected to be notified. If not, then what are the reasons?” he questioned.
The committee on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have granted an extension of time up to Apr 9 and July 9 respectively to frame these rules,” Rai added.
The CAA was passed in Dec last year, which grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and came to India before 2015.
In Feb, violence took place in the northeast area of Delhi between groups supporting and opposing the CAA which led to the deaths of at least 53 people.

As many as 5,922 people were arrested in different parts of country between 2016 and 2019 under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA): Govt informs Parliament

Over 2,400 Missing Girls Rescued By Madhya Pradesh Police In January 2021: Cops

In a meeting last month, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan instructed the officials concerned to inform parents of the kidnapped children about the progress and status of investigation into such cases.
A total of 3,122 cases of missing and kidnapped girls were pending at the e “‘Operation Muskan’ was carried out in January in which 2,444 missing and kidnapped girls were rescued from Madhya Pradesh and outside the state,” the official from the Madhya Pradesh police headquarters in Bhopal said.
Those rescued included 175 minors from Indore, 144 from Sagar, 115 from Dhar, 107 from Rewa and 102 girls from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh, he told news agency Press Trust of India, end of the last month, he said.

The ministry of electronic and IT on Wed said Twitter’s blog post explaining what it did acting on the ministry’s request and what it did not is unusual as the microblogging platform sought an engagement with the Centre and before that engagement comes the blogpost. The ministry said it will share its detailed response soon. But in its initial response, the ministry made it clear that Twitter’s blogpost did not go down well with the Centre.

Twitter explains why it didn't take action on some handles despite Centre's push

Twitter said it took several actions against handles as requested by the Centre.
Microblogging platform Twitter on Wed said it has acted on several blocking requests from the Govt in the past 10 days but it has not taken any action on news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians as it believes that doing so “would violate their fundamental right to free expression under Indian law”.
“We informed MeitY of our enforcement actions today, Feb 10, 2021. We will continue to maintain dialogue with the Indian Govt and respectfully engage with them,” it said in its blog post.
However, ANI reported that in response to the ”legal requests” from the Central Govt, Twitter on Wed informed that it has taken multiple enforcement actions — including permanent suspension of over 500 accounts for clear violations of Twitter’s rules.
The social media giant in a statement said, “Separate to our enforcement under the Twitter Rules, over the course of the last 10 days, Twitter has been served with several separate blocking orders by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), GoI, under Section 69A of the IT Act.”
“We took a range of enforcement actions — including permanent suspension in certain cases — against more than 500 accounts escalated across all Ministry of Electronics and IT orders for clear violations of Twitter’s Rules,” the statement added.

Discovered in Bhimbetka, (MP) India’s lone fossil of world’s oldest animal

Hidden in plain sight, one of the rarest fossils in the world may have been discovered in the fascinating Bhimbetka rock shelters, a UNSCO site about 40km from Bhopal. Researchers believe they have found the first-ever fossil in India of a Dickinsonia —the Earth’s ‘oldest animal’, dating back 570 million years — on the roof of what’s called the ‘Auditorium Cave’ at Bhimbetka.

NEIGHBORHOOD/ WORLD

China poses serious threat to Canada’s security, says Canadian spy agency chief

Canada and China have not been on the best of terms in recent years, especially since the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in Dec 2018
The head of the Canadian spy agency has publicly accused China of “pursuing a strategy for geopolitical advantage on all fronts” that poses a “direct threat” to Canada’s “national security and sovereignty”.
“It is no secret that we are most concerned about the actions by the Govts of countries like Russia and China,” said David Vigneault, director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
Vigneault made these remarks during a speech to the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
The text of the speech was also released by the Canadian Govt.
He said that while traditionally spies worked to gather Canada’s military, diplomatic and political secrets, “adversaries are more focused on intellectual property and advanced research”.

Pakistan to seek debt relief from China Belt and Road loan Bloomberg

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan attends a meeting in China (Reuters) Pakistan plans to ask China for relief on payments for power projects Beijing financed over the past 8 years, the latest developing nation that’s struggling to repay debt under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In informal talks, Pakistan and China have discussed easing terms on the repayment of debt on about a dozen power plants, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who said Islamabad hasn’t made a formal request yet.
The parties have canvassed Beijing’s willingness to stagger debt payments, as opposed to lowering equity returns, the person said, requesting anonymity as the plan is private.
An enormous build-out of Chinese-financed power plants in Pakistan, which was originally intended to solve its electricity shortages, has resulted in a surplus that Islamabad isn’t able to afford.
Infrastructure projects funded by China’s initiative in other developing nations, such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia, have suffered issues ranging from heavy debt loads to corruption.
While Chinese financing has helped Pakistan diversify fuel supplies, it has also resulted in a surplus of electricity, which is problematic for the Govt in Islamabad because it is the sole buyer and pays producers even when they don’t generate.
To help tackle the issue, the Govt has negotiated with power plants, which produce roughly half of its electricity, to lower rates.
Pakistan will formally make the request to defer debt payments to China, as well as other plants that were part of the latest power policy, after it concludes deals with those local power producers to reduce electricity tariffs, said the person with knowledge of the matter.
Debt relief from China will also help the government reduce power payments.