India has growth like china but with lots of values-Manmohan Singh

WASHINGTON:

Bull in a China shop is not an expression one would normally use to describe India’s mild-mannered Prime Minister, but at a Washington think-tank on Monday evening Manmohan Singh was anything but delicate on India’s newly nettlesome neighbor before an audience that is largely in thrall of the Middle Kingdom’s meteoric rise on the global stage.

In candid remarks that were keenly scrutinized in the context of New Delhi’s niggling troubles with Beijing and US overtures to the country, Dr Singh offered an Indian perspective on rising China that included an admission that lately, ''there is but a certain amount of assertiveness on the Chinese part. I don't fully understand the reasons for it."

Singh prefaced that comment by telling his audience that India recognized that it has a long standing border problem with China which it was trying to resolve it through dialogue. In the meanwhile both countries have agreed that pending the resolution of the border problem, peace and tranquility should be maintained in the border line. ''Having said that I should say that I have received these assurances from Chinese leadership from the highest level,'' he added, suggesting that Beijing was not entirely sticking to the script.

But for that one discordant, complaining note vis-à-vis Beijing, Singh indicated that India was on the same page as the rest of the world on China, wanting to prepare for its peaceful rise as a major power. ''So, engagement is the right strategy for India as well as for United States. We ourselves have tried very hard to engage China in the last five years and today China is one of our major trading partners,'' he said.

Singh remarks came against the backdrop of President Obama’s own visit to China last week in course of which some Indian analysts felt he (Obama) was sub-contracting or outsourcing oversight of South Asian peace and security to the East Asian giant and accepting it as a rising if not equal partner, to the detriment of India. That episode came on the heels of India’s renewed tensions with China on the border issue, and over the travels of Dalai Lama to regions Beijing regards as disputed.

Singh was also unexpectedly tetchy about comparisons between Indian and Chinese economic growth, saying while there is no doubt that Chinese performance is superior to India's, ''there are other values which are important than the growth of Gross Domestic Product.''

''I think the respect for fundamental human rights, the respect for the rule of law, respect for multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious rights, I think those have values. So, even the Indian perforce with regard to the GDP might not be as good as the Chinese, certainly I would not like to choose the Chinese path," he said in unusually blunt remarks that constituted a criticism of the Chinese model.

Singh’s candid public statements on China, Pakistan (no purposeful talks till it abjures terrorism and acts on 26/11), and Afghanistan (insisting India will stay the course against Taliban and asking US and international community to do the same militarily) set the stage for his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday following a ceremonial state welcome on the South Lawns of the White House.

US- China Meets focusing on Trade

US President Barack Obama has met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the last day of his much-watched visit to the rising Asian powerhouse.

Trade disputes were expected to be on the agenda during Mr Obama's lunch with China's third-highest leader, who is responsible for the economy.

Prior to their meeting, the two leaders said the relationship between the two countries was moving forward.

Mr Obama is now visiting China's Great Wall, before heading to South Korea.

The US president - who is on a week-long tour of East Asia - is expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear ambitions during talks in Seoul.

Trade rows

Before Wednesday's meeting with the Chinese prime minister, Mr Obama said the Washington-Beijing relationship was now about more than trade and economics.

He said it also covered climate, security and other matters of international concern, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Mr Wen was quoted as saying: "We are really on the cusp of moving forward with this relationship."
On Tuesday, Mr Obama and President Hu Jintao agreed to co-operate on matters such as climate change and North Korea.

Mr Obama said he had also raised human rights issues - including Tibet - during two hours of talks between the pair.

Mr Hu said the two nations could discuss such issues "in a spirit of equality... and non-interference in each other's internal affairs".

Despite the show of goodwill, correspondents said the issue of trade appeared to be a thorny one between Mr Hu and Mr Obama.

Beijing objects to US tariffs on Chinese imports, including steel and tyres.

Washington, meanwhile, is concerned by the huge bilateral trade imbalance, and accuses China of keeping its currency weak to make its exports more attractive.

Speaking after their meeting, Mr Hu called on the US to "reject protectionism", while Mr Obama urged Beijing to relax controls on the yuan.

Both sides acknowledge the need to reduce economic tensions, reports the BBC's Chris Hogg from Beijing, but so far Mr Obama's trip has not produced any breakthroughs.

As well as the economy, the issue of North Korea was expected to be discussed in the meeting with the Chinese premier.

Both the US and China have been urging the reclusive nation to return to nuclear talks, and last month Mr Wen visited Pyongyang to meet leader Kim Jong-il.

Pakistan Denies of geting nuclear aid from china

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Friday dismissed a media report about Beijing providing it with weapons-grade uranium and a blueprint for an atomic bomb and described it as an effort to divert attention from support being extended by "some states" to India's nuclear programme.

Foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit described the allegations made in an article in the Washington Post newspaper as "baseless".

"Pakistan strongly rejects the assertions in the article that is evidently timed to malign Pakistan and China," he said.

"This is yet another attempt to divert attention from the overt and covert support being extended by some states to the Indian nuclear programme since its inception and intensified more recently in stark contradiction to their self-avowed commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," he said.

Pakistan and China have "comprehensive and all-dimensional cooperation", which includes civilian nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes, Basit said.

"This has always been above board. Pakistan and China have always respected their respective international obligations and non-proliferation norms," he said.

Citing an account provided by disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan, the Washington Post reported on Friday that China provided Pakistan enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs and the blueprint for a simple nuclear weapon in 1982.

China set to sell advanced jets to Pakistan

BEIJING:

China has sent out an interesting signal ahead of US president Barack Obama's scheduled visit to Beijing by offering a set of advanced fighter jets to Pakistan. It has agreed to sell $1.4 billion worth of jets to Islamabad days ahead of the planned visit of the US president Barack Obama to Shanghai and Beijing on November 15-18.

The move is expected to jolt the US administration as it works on notes and talking points for Obama's meetings with Chinese leaders. He is expected to discuss Beijing's relationship with India and its role in internal conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Beijing is keen to reduce US influence on Pakistan, which will make it easier for it to deal with India, sources said. Washington's recent decision to extend massive financial assistance to Islamabad is seen in some quarters as a policy setback for China.
It is now trying to get back its influence over Pakistan by selling two squadrons of advanced jets, sources said. Even more significant is Beijing's eagerness to share advanced technology with Pakistan, which is something US suppliers are usually reluctant to do.

A report from Pakistan said it wants to buy a larger number of war planes from China besides the two squadrons of J-10 fighter planes it is buying at the moment. A Pakistani official described the plane sales deal as a "landmark" in Pak-China relations.

"The agreement should not simply be seen in the narrow context of Pakistan's relations with China. There is a wider dimension. By sharing its advanced technology with Pakistan, China is ... also saying to the world that its defense capability is growing rapidly," Abdul Qayyum, a retired Pakistani general, was quoted in the Pakistani media as saying.

9 People were executes over Xinjiang unrest

BEIJING:

China has executed nine people over deadly ethnic unrest in its far-western Xinjiang region, regional authorities said today, the first executions since the violence in July.

"The first group of nine people who were sentenced to death recently have already been executed in succession, with the approval of the Supreme Court," Hou Hanmin, spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government, said.

It was not clear when the executions took place. According to previous statements by the Xinjiang government, this first group consisted of eight members of the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority and one majority Han Chinese.

China tried and convicted 21 defendants in October, nine were sentenced to death, three were given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve, a sentence usually commuted to life in jail, and the rest were given various prison terms.

The violence erupted on July 5, pitting Uighurs against members of China's dominant Han group, leaving 197 dead and more than 1,600 injured, according to an official toll.

Han vigilantes then went on a rampage against Uighurs two days later, but the exact number of casualties from that day has never been divulged.

The 21 defendants were convicted of crimes such as murder, intentional damage to property, arson, and robbery.

China said it won't harm other nation's interest

BEIJING:

Amid reports that it was building a dam in Tibet on Brahmaputra river, China assured India that it will not do anything to damage other nation’s interests.

"China is a responsible country and will not do anything to damage the interests of others," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a bi-weekly press briefing when asked to comment on reports that China was building a dam on Yarlung Zangbu River or Brahmaputra.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had said on Wednesday that India had repeatedly raised with China the issue of construction of a dam by it on Brahmaputra river and Beijing had consistently denied any such engagement.

"What I want to say is that this matter has been taken up not just once but on a number of occasions with China and China has consistently denied that it is engaged in any such construction activity on the Brahmaputra," Rao said in New Delhi.

She was replying to a question on the reported construction at the Zangmu site on the Chinese side of the Brahmaputra River, which was confirmed by the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) as per media reports.

The issue had also figured in the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summit in Thailand last month.

"strike hard" against crime and disorder says Xinjiang police

Security forces in the Chinese province of Xinjiang have said they will "strike hard" against crime and disorder.

Officials vowed to "root out" crime and and "change the face of the public security" in the western province, after deadly unrest earlier this year.
Nearly 200 people died in July's rioting between ethnic Uighurs and members of the majority Han group.

A total of 21 people have been found guilty of involvement in the unrest and 12 people have been sentenced to death.

The Xinjiang authorities, quoted in state media, said the "strike hard and rectify" campaign would run until the end of the year to "further consolidate the fruits of maintaining stability and eliminate security dangers".

They said they would "root out places where criminals breed, and change the face of the public security situation in these areas".

The Xinhua news agency said local police would continue to hunt down suspects in the riots and "keep a close eye on clues and cases involving terrorism and explosions".
Swift justice
The violence in Xinjiang erupted on 5 July, when protest by ethnic Uighurs left at least 197 people dead and another 1,700 injured. Two days later, groups of Han went looking for revenge as police struggled to restore order.

Most of those killed were Han, according to officials, and Urumqi's Han population had demanded swift justice.

Last week, the death sentences against 12 people were upheld by an appeals court.
China says it is facing a separatist uprising from Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, but critics say Beijing is exaggerating the threat to justify its tight control of the province.

China Says Its Military Build-Up Is For Peace

China's second highest-ranking military officer offered assurances that Beijing's military build-up was entirely for peaceful purposes, at the start of a visit to the US.

Speaking at a Washington-based think-tank ahead of a private meeting with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, General Xu Caihou said Monday that China had no intentions of regional hegemony or starting an arms race in Asia.

Xu, vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army's Central Military Commission, called for closer ties with the US and said both militaries were tackling similar goals: confronting terrorism, self-defence and aiding disaster relief.

"We are now predominantly committed to peaceful development, and we will not and could not challenge or threaten any other country," Xu told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, complaining of "suspicions and misunderstandings" about Beijing's intentions.

"China's defence policy remains defensive," he said.

Any Chinese offensive would be launched "only after the enemy has started an attack".

But China suffers from "secessionist" movements and had yet to become a "united" country, Xu said, referring to long-standing tensions over Taiwan, Tibet and unrest between Muslim Uighurs and ethnic Chinese in the western province of Xinjiang.

Xu's visit to the US is aimed at building trust between the two militaries. He will meet US defence officials and tour a number of military installations. Gates travelled to China two years ago.

The US has urged China to be more open about its military buildup and budgeting process.

China has the second-highest military budget in the world, though it is still about one-fourth that of US defence spending.

"China will always be a staunch force for promoting world peace and common development," Xu said, noting the country's participation in UN peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

He said economic development remained China's top priority.