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India’s attempt to provoke China over Da Cui Yun incident must be countered

By Liu Zongyi |  Source:Global

Chinese vessel Da Cui Yun has made Indian headlines once again. According to the Hindustan Times, Hong Kong-registered cargo ship Da Cui Yun with China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, bound for Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan, had been detained by Indian security and customs authorities at Deendayal Port, Kandla, Gujarat on February 5.

India claimed it had received intelligence that the vessel was transporting cargo that could be used to make nuclear missiles. After the ship docked, Indian port authorities conducted a search and found a so-called industrial dryer, which Indian authorities said can be used to manufacture long-range missiles. However, other equipment related to manufacturing missiles was not discovered.

On February 20, the Chinese vessel was released after being forced to hand over the “industrial dryer.” But the matter did not end here. 

When the Chinese company was considering how to claim compensation from India through legal channels, the Hindustan Times reported on Thursday that “scientists from India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation who examined the heavy industrial equipment confirmed that the equipment could be used for the manufacture of very long-range ballistic missiles or satellite launch rockets.” Indian officials also said India’s national security authorities could notify the UN pursuant to relevant Security Council legal instruments to expose the nuclear proliferation nexus between China and Pakistan. At this point, India’s efforts to deliberately turn the incident into another diplomatic dispute and to blackmail China were fully exposed.

The focus now is whether the “industrial dryer” could be used for both civilian and military purposes. According to the manufacturer of the equipment, a private company based in Shandong, the equipment is not an “industrial dryer,” but rather a heat-treating furnace system which is mainly used in the production of rubber products such as tires for large construction machinery, anti-collision airbags used at shipping ports, rubber liquid storage tanks, and rubber pipes. It’s not a dual-use item covered by China’s nonproliferation export control regime.

The private company in Shandong has no ties to the Chinese military. The company’s Pakistani clients also have nothing to do with the military. Anyone with common sense knows that if China wanted to aid Pakistan’s weapons and equipment manufacturing, it would not ship equipment through Indian ports. This move by India is a direct insult to China. It seems India could even determine that a steel plate exported by China to Pakistan is a piece of equipment used in the manufacturing of Pakistani missiles.  China is a signatory on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Over the years, the country has upheld the treaty. As a major responsible power, China has fulfilled its international nonproliferation obligations and global commitments. In contrast, while India continually refuses to sign the NPT, it has made every effort to fabricate facts to accuse China of violating the treaty. It seems that India is following an agenda that involves using the Da Cui Yun incident as leverage to get the US, France, and other Western countries to pressure China so that India can be allowed to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

NSG membership has been an India dream for years, but India wants to join the group without signing the NPT. The NSG was originally an international organization established by the US aimed at restricting India. In 2005, the US signed the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement in order to woo India to join the US’ containment on China, which marked departure from the basic principles of the NPT. The US double standard on the Indian nuclear issue has impacted regional stability and the nuclear nonproliferation regime in South Asia, placing enormous pressure on those countries which insist on upholding the NPT.

China has worked to establish a new relationship with India, one that is between two major developing countries, and one that features principles based on “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.” China hopes to realize the goal of “dragon and elephant dancing together.” However, should India’s diplomatic and strategic circles continue to repeatedly test China’s bottom line, it would surely harm the future development of the informal summit mechanism between China and India.

The Da Cui Yun incident has revealed the arrogance of the Indian government and its governing Hindu nationalists. To consolidate its supremacy in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, India not only has resorted to every means to discredit, isolate and crack down on Pakistan, but also has been trying to act as a “police officer” in the Indian Ocean.

Last year, the Indian Navy blatantly expelled a Chinese scientific research vessel on the high seas near the Andaman Islands, and this year India created an excuse to seize the Da Cui Yun vessel. China must firmly counter India’s provocative actions, and Chinese companies must seek compensation through legal channels.

The author is secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, also a visiting fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China and a distinguished fellow of the China (Kunming) South Asia & Southeast Asia Institute.

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Militants Stom Sikh Temple in Kabul

 Islamic State Claims Deadly Attack on Afghan Sikh Temple 

By Ayaz Gul | March 25, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Officials in Afghanistan say heavily armed suicide bombers Wednesday stormed a minority Sikh worship place in Kabul, killing at least 25 worshippers and injuring at least eight others.  The local television station TOLO TV said at least 11 members of the minority community were also injured.

Islamic State claimed credit for plotting the deadly raid in a central part of the Afghan capital, according to the Site Intelligence Group provides alerts and translations of jihadist media outlets.  Shortly after the early morning attack began, Afghan security forces surrounded the temple and killed all four assailants in a standoff that lasted more than five hours, said Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. He did not immediately offer details about the number of casualties. 

He noted dozens of people trapped inside the temple during the siege were also rescued. Some 150 people were inside the temple and adjacent community center, Anar Kali Hunaryar, a minority parliamentarian, told VOA. 

The Islamist Taliban swiftly distanced itself from the attack saying the insurgent group was not involved.

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Manmohan Singh: Former PM says India situation ‘grim and morose’

(6 March 2020)  Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has warned of “social disharmony, economic slowdown and a global health epidemic” facing the country. “The current situation is very grim and morose,” he wrote in a sharply critical op-ed in The Hindu newspaper. The article comes in the wake of the most violent riots to take place in capital, Delhi, in decades.

Mr Singh also referred to slowing growth and the possibility of a coronavirus outbreak. More than 50 Indians have died in recent religious riots sparked by clashes over a controversial citizenship law in Delhi.

“The India that we know and cherish is slipping away fast. Wilfully stoked communal tensions, gross economic mismanagement and an external health shock are threatening to derail India’s progress and standing,” Mr Singh wrote.

He said he worried deeply that “this potent combination of risks may not only rupture the soul of India but also diminish our global standing as an economic and democratic power in the world”.

Mr Singh concluded his article with some advice to the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, saying they must “reassure” the country. He said the government should embark on a “three-point plan”: containing the coronavirus threat, withdrawing or amending the citizenship law and a fiscal stimulus to boost demand and revive the economy.

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Maoist rebels have killed 17 Indian security forces in Chhattisgarh state

23 March | SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Maoist rebels have killed 17 Indian security forces in an ambush in central state of Chhattisgarh, a police spokesman said, in the deadliest attacks in recent years. More than 300 armed rebels took part in the attack on a police commando patrol in the jungles of Sukma district, police superintendent Shalab Sinha told AFP news agency.

Large numbers of reinforcements were sent to the district on Sunday 22 March. “We have recovered 17 bodies and another 15 police are being treated for injuries,” he said.

“We believe the ambush was carried out by between 300 and 350 attackers.”

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