International News
Xi Jinping expects to be in command till 2035
Certainly, some critique put him on a par with Deng Xiaoping or even Mao Zedong. Some years ago, Xi Jinping had made a classic statement – “One must build a good cage. If the cage is too loose, or is very good but the door is not closed, and one is free to go in and out, then that is of no use.”
Now, the Communists party in China moves on to a new central task — to achieve the “second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernisation.
The mega Chinese goal is tied to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China — which would be 2049 — but Xi has pushed the date for “basically” realizing this goal forward to 2035.
Conveniently, that leaves the door open for Xi to still be in command of the party at the big celebration 13 years from now.
Marxists in once upon a time Red forte Tripura – used to often say the line from a play. The line of the play was of course penned obviously with a pro-Left liberal sentiment:
“Every war or struggle is for power; and power can never do good to anybody”.
The economic policy that Xi has put forward contains a similar sort of contradiction.
The central idea of the “dual circulation” policy is that China should increase its trade surplus with the wider world, while simultaneously becoming more dependent on its domestic economy to drive consumption.
Many economists think that this will be a hard balance to manage. But, in a sense, the strategy should not be seen as an exercise in economics but in politics. It mirrors precisely the idea of being highly connected to the world while closed to it physically.
But compared with real openness, it is one that would leave both sides poorer.
“China remains connected to the outside world largely through the virtual environment, in particular social media and video apps. Yet the vision of the world created within the country is very partial. State media pumps out images of the west still devastated by the virus,” says an article ‘The Guardian’.
China, Xi – And Peace in India’s North East
This is one of the most perilous periods in international history. There’s something big happening everywhere — China, Ukraine, Indo Pacific and of course Britain where Liz Truss had the shortest stint ever in history as Prime Minister.
On the last day of Communists Party Congress in China on Saturday, Oct 22, former President Hu Jintao, was ‘removed’ unceremoniously and by force by so-called ‘unnamed Chinese communist agents’.
Both China and the Chinese communists have many admirers in India and also in the northeast closer home as well.
To them New Delhi ‘could not be trusted’ but Xi Jinping’s polity should be applauded.
China is that country which has seen almost 30 years of 9 and 10 per cent of average growth even till fiscal 2016-17.
This was surely an unprecedented performance by any country at the global stage.
Importantly, during this period, around 50 per cent of global growth came from China and India was by default and otherwise part of the beneficiary list.
The drop in Chinese growth rate had impacted global trade and commerce too. In fact, the global trade shrunk as a result of the negative impact on China’s own growth graph.
At one time even India benefited and the country’s global trade was growing at an average of seven percent a year.
The politics of China and also the other global challenges make a lot of sense even in the neighbourhood.
It would impact now and it impacted regional politics even in the past.
In the context of northeast India, Mon and Tuensang were the battlefields of various ultra groups.
In the eighties, Indian security force reports used to suggest that communist China’s help and logistic support was crucial at least for one camp
Even the church lobby was unhappy.
One such internal security analysis had said that the league of western Christian countries led by the US and the United Kingdom were bemused while the Indian jawans reportedly watched from a distance what they called a snake-mongoose fight.
But enough water has flown in river Dhansiri near Dimapur since then. ‘Christ’ and his principles and values are now a public pledge. ‘Nagaland for Christ’ – as they put it.
However, it is altogether a different chapter that violence and threats pursue at different levels.
According to the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 2020, incidents of insurgency in six out of eight northeastern states declined by 80 per cent since 2014 and civilian deaths were down by 99 per cent.
The year 2020 also had recorded the lowest insurgency incidents and casualties among civilians and security forces in the last decades. This was the year of the Galwan valley conflict nevertheless.
But around September 2020, in a retort to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement aimed at China that — the era of expansionism is over — the rebels also had issued a joint statement saying, as the entire world has made up its mind against expansionism, the people of West Southeast Asia are also countering the expansionism of India.
One must study these statements based on the availability of Chinese-made arms in the Northeast.
In 2020, when it was realised at the Government of India level that the Naga peace talks had been stalled, as expected the apprehension was Chinese hands.
On September 18, 2020, there was a clear setback to all efforts for reconciliation as the NSCN-IM issued a statement from its headquarters saying a separate Naga flag and constitution “must form a part of the Indo-Naga political solution”.
Given the contest, one source had said even during the UPA regime in 2011-12, Chinese agents including a woman posing as a TV journalist reportedly visited the headquarters of the NSCN-IM near Dimapur and held a three-hour-long meeting with top NSCN-IM leaders.
On September 28, 2022, NSCN-IM issued a statement alleging that the government of India has “hindered” the peace parleys.
It also said, “therefore there is an imperative need for third party intervention” in Naga talks.
International News
Arab leaders meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss Palestinian issue, Gaza developments
Riyadh, Feb 22: Leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain met in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh to discuss the Palestinian issue and the developments in the Gaza Strip, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
While the report described the gathering as a “consultative brotherly meeting” without providing details, media reports suggested that the discussions held on Friday were meant to focus on Gaza’s post-war reconstruction to counter a recent proposal by US President Donald Trump to relocate Palestinians from the enclave and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” a plan widely rejected by Arab nations.
Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi foreign policy, called the summit the “most consequential” in decades for the wider Arab world and the Palestinian issue.
Trump triggered global outrage when he proposed the United States “take over the Gaza Strip” and relocate its 2.4 million people to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.
According to SPA, the meeting is at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and attended by Jordanian King Abdullah II, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
During the meeting, the leaders also expressed their support for the upcoming emergency Arab League summit, scheduled to take place in Cairo on March 4, to address the latest Palestinian developments.
The Gaza Strip is largely in ruins after more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas, with the United Nations recently estimating that rebuilding would cost more than $53 billion.
New Delhi, Feb 20: In yet another sign of thawing ties between the two countries, a Chinese diplomat on Thursday hailed India’s ascent in the Asia Power Index that was released last year.
“India has become the 3rd most powerful and influential country in Asia, after the US and China,” Yu Jing, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India, posted on X citing the 2024 Asia Power Index by Australia’s Sydney-based Lowy Institute.
The report released in September 2024 had placed India as the third-most powerful nation in Asia, behind only the United States and China, highlighting India’s remarkable improvement in various categories, particularly in Diplomatic Influence, which surged due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increased international engagements.
As India overtook Japan to grab the third spot in the Asia Power Index, several leaders attributed the country’s ascent to PM Modi’s visionary leadership and global strategy.
“India’s rise is no accident. This is the direct result of Prime Minister Modi’s aggressive diplomatic strategy and his bold ambitions to reshape India’s place in the world. Without his leadership, India would still be languishing behind, but today, we see a nation on the verge of superpower status,” stressed Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri.
According to the Lowy Institute, the Asia Power Index consisted of eight measures of power, 30 thematic sub-measures and 131 indicators. The Index ranked 27 countries and territories in terms of their capacity to shape their external environment — its scope reaching as far west as Pakistan, as far north as Russia, and as far into the Pacific as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
The government listed three major factors behind India’s rise in the index, including economic growth, future prospects and diplomatic influence.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership has gained greater international recognition. India’s non-aligned strategic position has made it possible for New Delhi to effectively navigate complex international waters. India ranked sixth in terms of diplomatic interactions in 2023, reflecting its active participation in multilateral forums,” the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said, last year.
The strained relations between India and China are showing some improvement following the meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held in Kazan in October 2024.
Last month, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Beijing for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism between India and China on January 27.
The two sides not only decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025 but also agreed, in principle, to resume direct air services between the two countries.
Analysts reckon that the Chinese diplomat’s post on Thursday could be part of both countries deciding to utilise 2025 – the 75th anniversary of the establishment of India-China diplomatic relations – to redouble public diplomacy efforts, create better awareness about each other and restore mutual trust and confidence among the public, as it was agreed during Foreign Secretary Misri’s visit to Beijing, last month.
Tehran, Feb 19: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that US “foolish” plans for Gaza and Palestine “will lead nowhere.”
“Those who claimed that they would destroy resistance in a short period of time are now receiving their prisoners from the resistance fighters in small groups and releasing a large number of Palestinian captives in return,” Khamenei said when meeting with visiting Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement Ziad al-Nakhalah, Xinhua news agency reported quoting a statement by Khamenei’s website.
As “global public opinion is now in favour of Palestine,” no plan will succeed without the consent of the resistance and people of Gaza, he said.
For his part, al-Nakhalah thanked Iran’s constant support for the resistance in Gaza, which he said managed to achieve “great victories” over the United States and the West despite the unequal balance of power.
US President Donald Trump proposed recently to transfer Gaza’s Palestinian population to neighboring countries, stating that Gazans who left will not be allowed to return.
The proposal, strongly supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has met continuous regional and international outcry.
Earlier on February 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is discussing US President Donald Trump’s “revolutionary, creative vision” on the Gaza Strip, the one that Trump is “very determined to implement.”
Trump’s plan “opens up many possibilities for us,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting after his return from Washington to Israel, according to a statement released by Netanyahu’s office.
“For an entire year, we have been told that the ‘day after’ (in Gaza) must involve the PLO (the Palestine Liberation Organization), the Palestinian Authority … President Trump has presented a completely different vision, one that is much better for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
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