Monthly Archives: August 2018

PTI

New Delhi, October 19

India on Wednesday said it has noted the World Bank’s announcement to concurrently appoint a neutral expert and a chair of the Court of Arbitration in the matter relating to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power projects.

India and Pakistan are locked in a dispute over the two projects that come under the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

“We have noted the World Bank’s announcement to concurrently appoint a neutral expert and a chair of the Court of Arbitration in the ongoing matter related to the Kishenganga and Ratle projects,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The World Bank on Monday said it is confident that the neutral expert and the chair of the Court of Arbitration will engage in fair and careful consideration of their jurisdictional mandate, as they are empowered to do by the water treaty.

“Recognising the World Bank’s admission in its announcement that ‘carrying out two processes concurrently poses practical and legal challenges’, India will assess the matter,” the MEA said.

“India believes that the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty must be in the letter and spirit of the treaty,” it said.

India and Pakistan signed the treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory of the pact.

The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers.

However, India and Pakistan disagree over whether the technical design features of Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power plants contravene the treaty.

PTI

United Nations, October 19

China has put a hold on a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to list Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Shahid Mahmood as a global terrorist, the fourth instance in as many months that Beijing has blocked bids to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists at the world body.

It is learnt that China, an all-weather ally of Pakistan, placed a hold on the proposal by India and the US to designate Mahmood, 42, as a global terrorist under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

The US Department of Treasury had designated Mahmood as well as another LeT leader Muhammad Sarwar in December 2016 as part of the action “to disrupt Lashkar-e Taiba’s (LeT) fundraising and support networks.” The decision to hold comes at a time when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in India and has paid homage to the victims of the 26/11 attack in Mumbai. The Terror attack carried out by LeT in which over 160 people, including American citizens, were killed.

According to information on the US Department of the Treasury’s website, Mahmood “has been a longstanding senior LeT member based in Karachi, Pakistan, and has been affiliated with the group since at least 2007. As early as June 2015 through at least June 2016, Mahmood served as the vice chairman of Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a humanitarian and fundraising arm of LeT.”     In 2014, Mahmood was the leader of FIF in Karachi. In August 2013, Mahmood was identified as a LeT publications wing member, the website said.

 “Mahmood was previously part of LeT’s overseas operations team led by Sajjid Mir…Additionally, in August 2013, Mahmood was instructed to forge covert links with Islamic organisations in Bangladesh and Burma, and as of late 2011, Mahmood claimed that LeT’s primary concern should be attacking India and America,” the US Department of Treasury said.

This is the fourth time in as many months that China has put a hold on listing proposals to designate Pakistan-based terrorists under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee regime.

In June this year, China put a hold, at the last moment, on a joint proposal by India and the US to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

Makki is a US-designated terrorist and brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba head and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. New Delhi and Washington had put in a joint proposal to designate Makki as a global terrorist under the 1267 ISIL and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council but Beijing placed a hold on this proposal at the last minute.

Then in August, China again put a hold on a proposal by the US and India to blacklist the senior leader of Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) Abdul Rauf Azhar.

Azhar, born in 1974 in Pakistan, had been sanctioned by the US in December 2010. China put a hold on a proposal by India and the US to designate Azhar as a global terrorist and subject him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.https://2a98a1c7c2254b0625abd5ef8867bb24.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The US Department of Treasury had in December 2010 designated “Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior leader of Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM), for acting for or on behalf of JEM.” The US said as a senior leader of JeM, Abdul Rauf Azhar “has urged Pakistanis to engage in militant activities. He has served as JEM’s acting leader in 2007, as one of JEM’s most senior commanders in India, and as JEM’s intelligence coordinator. In 2008 Azhar was assigned to organise suicide attacks in India. He was also involved with JEM’s political wing and has served as a JEM official involved with training camps.” In September, Beijing put a hold on a proposal moved at the United Nations by the US and co-supported by India to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Sajid Mir, wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, as a global terrorist. Mir is one of India’s most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of USD5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

In June this year, he was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan, which is struggling to exit the grey list of the FATF. Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the action plan late last year.

Mir is a senior member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and is wanted for his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. “Mir was LeT’s operations manager for the attacks, playing a leading role in their planning, preparation, and execution,” the US State Department has said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in his address to the high-level UN General Assembly session in September that “The United Nations responds to terrorism by sanctioning its perpetrators. Those who politicise the UNSC 1267 Sanctions regime, sometimes even to the extent of defending proclaimed terrorists, do so at their own peril. Believe me, they advance neither their own interests nor indeed their reputation.” Amid repeated holds on proposals to designate terrorists under the UN sanctions regime, Jaishankar had told reporters here last month that terrorism should not be used as a political tool and the idea that something is blocked without assigning a reason challenges common sense.

 “We do believe that in any process if any party is taking a decision, they need to be transparent about it. So the idea that something is blocked without assigning a reason, it sort of challenges common sense,” Jaishankar had said in New York in response to a question by PTI on the issue of repeated holds and blocks on proposals to list terrorists under the UN sanctions regime.

Earlier also, China, an all-weather friend of Islamabad, has placed holds and blocks on bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists. In May 2019, India had won a huge diplomatic win at the UN when the global body designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”, a decade after New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a “technical hold”.  

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry Press Service, fragments of a Russian rocket that was shot down by the Ukrainian air defence system burn down in the village of Kipti, Chernihiv region, Ukraine, on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. AP/PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 19

India on Wednesday issued a travel advisory asking its citizens to leave the country at the earliest.Leave by any available means in view of deteriorating situation and recent escalation of hostilities all across Ukraine: Indian mission in Kyiv

Indians were asked to leave by any available means in view of the deteriorating situation and recent escalation of hostilities all across Ukraine, said the Indian mission in Kyiv.

On October 10, after Russia had retaliated for the bombing of the bridge to Crimea over Kerch Strait, the Indian embassy in Kyiv had issued an advisory asking Indians in Ukraine to avoid all non-essential travel in view of escalation in hostilities.

Indians were also asked to keep the Indian embassy informed about their whereabouts.

Western countries had asked their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately after hostilities began in mid-February. However, several thousands of its nationals are now confirmed to be fighting on the side of the Ukrainian forces.

After October 10, Russia has continued with aerial attacks all over Ukraine including the national capital Kyiv. This has resulted in civilian casualties as well as power outages.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss Tehran’s weapon transfer to Moscow followinga complaint by Ukraine that Iranian drones are being used in the recent attacks on its cities by Russia.

LONDON, OCTOBER 18 compares US President Biden to Hitler The UK government said on Tuesday that it is taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former British military pilots to train the People’s Liberation Army personnel in China. According to reports, around 30 former UK military pilots are thought to have gone to train members of China’s Army and an intelligence alert is being issued to warn Royal Air Force (RAF) and other Armed Forces personnel against such recruitment drives. While the recruitment does not breach current UK laws, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the new National Security Bill would create additional tools to tackle such “security challenges”. “We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train People’s Liberation Army personnel in the People’s Republic of China,” an MoD spokesperson said. “All serving and former personnel are already subject to the Official Secrets Act, and we are reviewing the use of confidentiality contracts and non-disclosure agreements across Defence, while the new National Security Bill will create additional tools to tackle contemporary security challenges – including this one,” the spokesperson said. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told ‘Sky News’ that the recruitment of UK pilots to train Chinese counterparts had been a concern within the MoD “for a number of years”. “Don’t go and train foreign air forces without checking with the MOD whether they are a foreign air force we want to see you train – would be a good rule,” he said. The retired British pilots are reportedly being used to help understand the way in which Western planes and pilots operate, information which could be vital in the event of any conflict. “It is a lucrative package that is being offered to people. Money is a strong motivator,” the BBC quoted a Western official as saying, with some pay packages thought to be as much as USD 270,000. The UK first became aware of a small number of cases of former military pilots being recruited in 2019, which were dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed attempts down, when travel to China was almost impossible but the attempts have now increased, leading to an alert. P

HANNA ARHIROVA Airstrikes cut power and water supplies in a repeatedly bombed Ukrainian city and pounded critical energy facilities elsewhere on Tuesday, part of what Ukraine’s president denounced as a quickening Russian campaign to drive Ukrainians into the cold and dark and making peace talks impossible. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said nearly one-third of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed in the past week, “causing massive blackouts across the country.” “No space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime,” he tweeted. The campaign of strikes using missiles, drones and other weaponry has opened a new phase in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nearly eightmonth invasion, as winter begins to bite. Even far from battlefields, water, heating and power are no longer certainties, with daily strikes reaching far into the country to slam utilities, sometimes faster than they can be repaired. The latest city to lose power and water was Zhytomyr, home to military bases, industries, leafy boulevards and about 250,000 people some 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the capital, Kyiv. City and regional officials said hospitals in Zhytomyr had to run on backup power after a double missile strike Tuesday targeted an energy facility and that other settlements in the area also lost electricity. In Kyiv, missile strikes damaged two power facilities, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. The attacks killed one person and injured six others, he said. As well as missiles, Russia is mixing up its modes of attack. Suicide drones — so called because they slam into targets and explode — set ablaze an infrastructure facility in the partly Russian-occupied southern Zaporizhzhia region, the regional governor said. Air-defense S-300 missiles that Russia has been repurposing as ground-attack weapons as its stocks are being depleted were used to strike the southern city of Mykolaiv, killing a man whose body was found in the debris of a two-story building, the region’s governor said. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, rockets were used to hit an industrial area. The regional governor said the eight rockets were fired from across the nearby border with Russia. Waves of explosives-laden suicide drones had also struck Kyiv on Monday, hitting energy facilities and setting ablaze and partly collapsing buildings. One drone slammed into a four-story residential building, killing four people. Ukraine says Russia is getting thousands of drones from Iran. The Iranian-made Shahed drones that nose-dived with their explosive charges into targets in Kyiv on Monday have also been widely used elsewhere in recent weeks. In the past week alone, more than 100 drones have slammed into power plants, sewage treatment plants, residential buildings, bridges and other targets in urban areas, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said. In a televised address on Monday night, Zelenskyy said Russia is using kamikaze drones because it is losing ground in the war. “Russia doesn’t have any chance on the battlefield, and it tries to compensate for its military defeats with terror,” he said. “Why this terror? To put pressure on us, on Europe, on the entire world.” PTI The Prime Minister Narendra Modi call for a global response to global terrorism could not have come at a more opportune time. The world is facing the threat of terrorism like never before. Terrorism is faceless and recognizes no borders. Its victims too are for the most part innocent civilians. It is in this context that the Prime Minister has urged the global community to work faster to “eliminate safe havens” for terrorists, criminals and the corrupt. He went on to emphasise that when the forces of good cooperate, the forces of crime cannot operate. The Prime Minister was inaugurating the 90th General Assembly of Interpol being held in New Delhi. He warned about the harmful globalised threats that the world faces — terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, poaching and organised crime. The pace of change of these dangers is faster than earlier. When threats are global, the response cannot be just local! It is high time that the world comes together to defeat these threats, the Prime Minister emphasized. The conference is being attended by 195 member countries of Interpol which included a delegation of Pakistan led by its Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Mohsin Butt. Modi said India has been combating trans-national terrorism for several decades. Long before the world woke up to it, India knew the price of safety and security. Thousands of our people made the ultimate sacrifice in this fight. A safe and secure world is a shared responsibility of the global community. When the forces of good cooperate, the forces of crime cannot operate. There can be no safe havens for the corrupt, terrorists, drug cartels, poaching gangs or organised crime. Such crimes against people in one place are crimes against everyone, crimes against humanity. Further, these not only harm our present but also impact our future generations. Police and law enforcement agencies need to devise procedures and protocols to increase cooperation. Interpol can help by speeding up Red Corner Notices for fugitive offenders. India has 780 active Red Notices as of now, of which 205 are related to criminals wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Prime Minister pointed out that terrorism is not limited to physical space and has spread its presence through online radicalization and cyber threats. At the click of a button, an attack can be executed or systems can be brought to their knees. Each nation is working on strategies against them. But what we do within our borders is no longer enough. There is a need to further develop international strategies. Establishment of early detection and warning systems, protecting transportation services, security for communication infrastructure, security for critical infrastructure, technical and technological assistance, intelligence exchange, many of these things need to be taken to a new level. The Prime Minister said corruption and financial crimes have harmed the welfare of the citizens of many countries. The corrupt find a way to park the proceeds of crime in different parts of the world. This money belongs to the citizens of the country from which they have been taken. Often, this has been taken from some of the poorest people in the world. Illicit money is pushed into evil activities and becomes one of the major sources of terror funding. From illegal drugs that destroy young lives to human trafficking, from weakening democracies to the sale of illegal arms, this dirty money funds many destructive enterprises. Yes, there are diverse legal and procedural frameworks to deal with them. However, there is a need for the global community to work even faster to eliminate safe havens. India is hosting the Interpol General Assembly after a gap of about 25 years to coincide with celebrations for the 75th year of India’s independence. The proposal in this regard was conveyed by Home Minister Amit Shah to Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock during his visit to India in 2019. The proposal was put to vote in the last General Assembly which was accepted with an overwhelming majority. SPIRITUAL WORLD DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the articles published in these columns are the personal opinions of the authors. The facts and opinions appearing in the articles do not reflect the views of Bright Punjab Express and Bright Punjab Express does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

in order to enhance its regional status vis-a-vis China, India takes its role in the Quad very seriously. And yet, New Delhi’s refusal to slam Russia’s aggression risks generating tensions within the group. Firstly, this is because both China and Russia oppose the Quad. Secondly, Japan, the US and Australia have imposed some of the harshest sanctions on Moscow. India has been a party to Quad’s joint statements that support ‘democratic values’ and ‘democratic resilience’.

Anita Inder Singh

Founding professor, Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, New Delhi

INDIA’s vote at the UN General Assembly on October 11 against Russia’s demand for a secret ballot on a draft resolution to condemn its annexation of four regions of Ukraine is merely one indication of the challenges Russia’s assault on Ukraine has created for Indian diplomacy.

Earlier, justifying India’s decision to abstain from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the Globsec 2022 forum in Slovakia in June, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted that “Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems, but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.”

This reflects scant concern for the resounding impact — extending far beyond Europe — of Russia’s decision to conquer a country whose independence it recognised after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

One result of that invasion has been a global food crisis, which has affected developing countries adversely. Another is that India’s partners in the Quad fear that China, the superior economic partner in the Sino-Russian relationship, could follow Russia’s example and embark on expansionist adventures in the Indo-Pacific.

Additionally, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s perception of himself as a 21st-century ‘Peter the Great’ trying to win back Russian lands through war and his contempt for international law and the rules-based order (RBO) suggest that his ideal world lies somewhere between the 18th and 20th century. Evidently, he is determined to remake the international order by conquest, which was outlawed by the UN Charter after the Second World War.

As a member state of the Quad, which believes that the RBO can advance security and progress in the Indo-Pacific, India should, together with the US, Japan and Australia, find this contempt unacceptable. India says it is on the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles. However, it has condemned neither Russia’s invasion nor the annexation of some Ukrainian territories through illegal referenda. Russia’s recent threat to wage nuclear war also goes against India’s commitment to nuclear disarmament and strengthening the non-proliferation order. But what is India’s reaction to this threat?

“Where was Europe when China was expanding in Asia?” asked Jaishankar. Well, the EU was strengthening its trading ties with China. So was India. The difference is that no EU country’s sovereignty is menaced by China, while India and most of China’s Asian neighbours face its threats to their territorial integrity. True, the EU has no defence policy and lacks military clout in Asia or even in Europe. But whatever its deficiencies, the EU is not as narrow-minded as New Delhi alleges. Actually, the EU has invested heavily in Asia and in developing countries generally, to counter China’s economic clout.

Between 2013 and 2018, the EU provided €410 billion in official development aid worldwide, and China only €34 billion. It gave ASEAN €800 million to fight the Covid-19 pandemic — more than any other partner of the regional organisation. And India itself could benefit from the EU’s €300 billion Global Gateway fund, which aims to expand connectivity, including in the Indo-Pacific. In 2019, EU investment in ASEAN amounted to €313.6 billion (over $300 billion). Indian investment into ASEAN from April 2019 to March 2022 was $55.5 billion.

At another level, as a military power, India’s horizons extend to the defence of its own borders with China and Pakistan. But India faces strong Chinese military and economic competition, even in its immediate South Asian neighbourhood. Militarily, India cannot defend ‘Asia’ against Chinese expansionism any more than the EU.

Why has India abstained from voting against Russia? The main reason is that Russia has been India’s major arms supplier for more than half a century. In the UN Security Council, India regretted that “the path of diplomacy was given up” in Ukraine. That sounds weak since India did not say by which country. By abstaining and by dismissing Ukraine as a European problem, India may have lost the chance to reach out to Moscow and Kyiv to find the middle ground through dialogue and diplomacy. Significantly, Russia and China welcome India’s abstention as being against the US. Their applause may not work to India’s advantage in Washington.

New Delhi’s claim that developing countries have turned to India in the wake of the food crisis caused by the Ukraine war needs substantiation. In fact, head of the African Union President Macky Sall of Senegal and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, heading the G20, met Putin in June to discuss the food, fertiliser and fuel crises caused by Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Putin for the first time since Russia’s invasion began last February at the China-led Shanghai Cooperation meeting in September. Meanwhile, G7 countries, which include Japan, will contribute over $4.5 billion to address the global food security. Over half of this amount will come from the US, which will give $2.76 billion in additional funding to help mitigate the impact of the Ukraine war on growing food insecurity and malnutrition.

In order to enhance its regional status vis-a-vis China, India takes its role in the Quad very seriously. And yet, New Delhi’s refusal to slam Russia’s aggression risks generating tensions within the group. Firstly, this is because both China and Russia oppose the Quad. Secondly, Japan, the US and Australia have imposed some of the harshest sanctions on Moscow. India has been a party to Quad’s joint statements that support ‘democratic values’ and ‘democratic resilience’. If Russia continues and escalates its war in Ukraine, and if India maintains its current position, it could raise embarrassing questions about the Quad’s commitment to maintaining the RBO and become a political burden for its Quad partners.

On another plane, India — like its territorial contestant China — is entitled to buy Russian oil in the wake of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, just as EU countries were purchasing far greater quantities of energy from Moscow since 2014, when it invaded Ukraine after 1991 and annexed Crimea. But India can learn something from the EU’s experience — reliance on territorial spoilers for energy or trade, whether the spoiler is Russia in Europe or China against India, can be self-defeating in the long run.

The legal, political and economic repercussions of Russia’s war in Ukraine extend far beyond Europe — to the Indo-Pacific and Africa. Perceiving itself as a leader of the developing world, India should carve out a bigger international role for itself to end the conflict and reduce its unfortunate impact on developing societies.

Unveiling of leadership line-up on Oct 23 to offer clues about future direction

JAYADEVA RANADE

President, Centre for China Analysis and Strategy

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which started on October 16, is a watershed event in China’s post-Deng Xiaoping history for a number of reasons. Attended by 2,340 out of 2,379 delegates, including 83 specially invited delegates, it will be closely monitored by capitals around the world. CCP Central Committee (CC) general secretary Xi Jinping’s work report to the Congress as well as the new leadership line-up that will be unveiled on October 23 will similarly be scrutinised for clues as to China’s future direction.

The development will also reveal the extent to which Xi has consolidated power and secured the party’s support.

Former leaders Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji were absent, probably due to ill-health, but veteran revolutionary, 105-year-old Song Ping, sat on the podium along with other retired leaders, including Xi’s immediate predecessor and former Premier Wen Jiabao.

On the opening day, Xi read excerpts from the 72-page report, focusing on its main points. Unlike at the 19th Party Congress in 2017, the state-owned CCTV said this year Xi got a long, standing ovation when he entered and didn’t share the stage with anyone but stood alone.

He struck a confident note in his speech even while warning that China must be prepared for ‘strong winds and high waves and even dangerous storms’. He declared that ‘China’s international influence, appeal and power to shape the world has significantly increased’. He said ‘Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, we have maintained a firm strategic resolve and shown a fighting spirit’, adding ‘Throughout these endeavours, we have safeguarded China’s dignity and core interests and kept ourselves well-positioned for pursuing development and ensuring security’. Pointing to ‘scientific socialism’ and ‘Chinese wisdom’ in the report, Xi said China offered a ‘new choice for humanity’!

As in the previous congress, Xi reiterated ‘the commitment to socialist market economy and high-quality opening up’ and asserted that development was the party’s ‘top priority’ in governance. He reiterated the importance of the recent policies to ‘balance development and security’, ‘common prosperity’ and ‘dual circulation’. While he underscored the need to ‘regulate income distribution and regulate the mechanism behind the accumulation of wealth’, he underplayed ‘common prosperity’. Implying an emphasis on self-reliance and innovation, the report incorporated new sections on science and education, national security and the legal system. Technology was another priority area. The references to security and ‘balanced development’ confirm that the two will be interlinked.

This congress is especially significant as it signals a break in the convention established by the leadership since the 17th Party Congress of a two-term tenure for the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party CC — China’s most powerful post. There is no defined term limit in the party constitution for the general secretary, but Xi’s continuance for a third term will be a break with the practice since Mao’s death in 1976.

Important is that by re-electing Xi for a third term, the 2,340 delegates will have endorsed his policies. They will have also implicitly approved his style of governance, thereby acquiescing to the concentration of all power in his person. His reappointment will signal that the practice, followed in varying degrees by the CCP’s higher echelons of taking decisions by consensus, has been discarded. This will be reaffirmed if, as mentioned by the politically neutral Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao on June 23, the party congress decides to designate Xi as lingxui, or ‘leader’.

There was a visible effort in this direction by the CCP CC’s just-concluded 7th plenum. Disclosing on October 13 that there will be amendments to the party constitution, a report in China’s official Xinhua news agency said ‘the latest achievements of adapting Marxism to China’s context and new circumstances will be fully epitomised and so will the new ideas, new thinking and new strategies of governance developed by the CPC Central Committee since the party’s 19th National Congress in 2017.’ If this results in the ‘Xi Jinping Thought’, it will elevate Xi to the level of Mao Zedong!

In the two months between mid-August and October five books on his thoughts on various subjects have been published. These covered a variety of subjects, like governing the party, socialist spiritual civilisation, on strengthening the army, and a volume on ‘Xi Jinping’s stories’.

The announcement on October 23 of the members of the Politburo Standing Committee and politburo will reveal the extent to which Xi has been able to induct loyalists into these bodies. It will demonstrate the extent to which he has consolidated power and secured the party’s support. In other words, the fig leaf of inner party democracy, together with steps (albeit tentative) towards separation of Party and State sought to be put in place by Xiaoping — precisely to prevent the emergence of an all-powerful leader like Mao — will have been given a quiet burial by Xi. This congress will accord it the party’s approval

The contours of Xi’s policies in certain important areas like security and the economy are already visible. The ‘zero-Covid’ policy is unlikely to be relaxed. No foreign countries were mentioned, but Hong Kong and Macau figured with tough language for Taiwan ‘separatists’. Indicating the continuing importance of security and social stability, Xi declared in the report that ‘national security is the foundation of national rejuvenation’. He reiterated the goal of making China prosperous and strong by the middle of the century and of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

China’s focus on military modernisation ominous for India

President Xi Jinping. AP/PTI file photo
On course to get a third five-year term, Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that his country’s military modernisation programme would continue at full steam over the next five years. He has set his sights on expeditiously making the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which will celebrate its centenary in 2027, an armed force of world-class standards, even as the long-term goal is to achieve ‘the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ by 2049. Xi has declared that the Chinese military will intensify troop training and combat preparedness to ‘fight and win’ wars, along with establishing a strong system of strategic deterrence. Cocking a snook at the US, he has warned that China will not renounce the use of force to unify Taiwan with the mainland.

Xi’s speech at the 20th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party makes it obvious that he is in no mood to tone down his belligerent rhetoric, even though the world’s second largest economy is in the throes of a slowdown, triggered by the draconian zero-Covid policy and the Russia-Ukraine war. National security and sovereignty are likely to take precedence over economic resurgence as China looks to throw its weight around on a larger scale. The accelerating pace of Beijing’s nuclear expansion should be a major cause for concern for the international community: China is expected to have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, and at least 1,000 by 2030, according to a Pentagon report.

Though India did not find a mention in Xi’s address, the presence of military commander Qi Fabao, who was injured in the 2020 Galwan valley clash, among the delegates and the screening of video clips of the bloody faceoff in the Great Hall of People were clearly aimed at rubbing New Delhi the wrong way. The PLA’s modernisation overdrive makes it incumbent on the Indian armed forces to considerably raise their level of battle preparedness. In view of China’s incorrigibly overbearing demeanour, the challenging task of achieving jointness of the three services under the supervision of the new CDS needs to be completed on priority.

Berlin, October 18

NATO will deliver air defence systems to Ukraine in coming days to help the country defend itself against the drones, including those from Iran, that Russia is using to target critical infrastructure, the alliance’s secretary-general said on Tuesday.

Ukraine said attacks by swarms of drones had destroyed almost a third of its power stations over the past week after Russia stepped up its attacks on infrastructure far from the front line after suffering a string of military setbacks at the hands of Ukrainian troops.

Addressing a security conference in Berlin, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the answer to the attacks was for the allies to step up their deliveries of air defence systems.

“The most important thing we can do is deliver on what allies have promised, to step up and deliver even more air defence systems,” he said.

“NATO will in the coming days deliver counter-drone systems to counter the specific threat of drones, including those from Iran.”

Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran had promised to supply Russia, whose military efforts in Ukraine are being hampered by Western sanctions, with missiles as well as more drones.

“No nation should support the illegal war of Russia against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. Reuters