India Narrative

  Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawa t said today that if diplomatic talks with China over the border issue fail, then military options are on the table. “The military option to deal with the transgressions by the Chinese is still on but will be considered only if the talks at the diplomatic and military level fail,” said General Bipin Rawat. He, however, refused to share what military options India is looking upon. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops are sitting at various disputed and friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). They have refused to disengage since mid-July and have started construction work on those disputed junctions. Apart from that, they have been raising unacceptable points before India. To deal with the emerging situation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the top military brass to discuss the situation at the border with China. Talks between India and Chin...

  Africa’s largest economy is in turmoil over the prospect of ‘losing’ its sovereignty to China over bad debts. Federal lawmakers of the national assembly are demanding a probe into China’s lending practices into Nigeria, in the wake of a sovereign guarantee clause in loan agreements that they consider ‘an entrapment of Chinese neo-colonial plans’. The domestic political narrative is that the clause could see Nigeria sign away its sovereignty in the event of a payment default. The House of Representatives had up the ante over clauses in Article 8(1) of the Commercial Loan Agreement signed between Nigeria and the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China. In the said agreement, Nigeria stands to concede her sovereignty to China should there be a default in the repayment of the $400 million for the Nigerian National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone phase 2 project signed in 2018. China News China currently constitutes the largest overseas trade partner and is...

  The fury of floods continues unabated in China as large parts of north, central and south China are completely inundated. An estimated 54.8 million people have been affected with $20 billion in losses. The government says that 158 people are dead or missing. Two months of massive rains, overflowing rivers and lakes have brought mainland China to a standstill. The government issued flood alerts for nearly 433 rivers and had to resort to wartime measures. The largest floods in two decades have wreaked devastation on agricultural areas, cities and millions of people have been rendered homeless. China News The situation has put a global spotlight on the massive Three Gorges dam, with many experts repeatedly saying that the dam might give away. Though the gigantic structure has withstood the pressure of huge quantities of water, the authorities reported in mid-July that there has been a slight deformation in peripheral parts of the dam. If the dam buckles, it will completely flood the...

  At least 31 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the Chinese mainland in the last 24 hours, taking the total caseload in the country to 84,596, health authorities said today. Of the 31 new cases, 25 were locally-transmitted and all reported in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinhua news agency quoted the National Health Commission as saying. China news On yesterday, six new imported cases were also reported — two in Shanghai and one each in the provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong, Hubei and Guangdong. So far, a total of 2,126 imported cases have been reported on the mainland. According to the commission, 14 new asymptomatic cases, including six from outside the mainland, were reported, and no asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed ones. The country’s death toll stood at 4,634

  Apprehension and uncertainty have gripped a large number of Chinese even as the country posted an economic growth of 3.2 per cent in the second quarter of this calendar year. Reason? Rise in unemployment rate and uncertain export markets. Besides, imminent financial stress is arising from big-ticket restructuring of loan repayments due from several countries under the Belt and Road Initiative. The dragon nation’s unemployment rate in June clocked a worrying 5.7 per cent, though it was a tad better compared to 5.9 per cent recorded in May and 6.2 per cent in April. China News However, this is a reflection of unemployment in urban areas and does not capture data from the hinterland, where millions are dependent on the unorganized sector. If the unorganized sector is taken into account, the figure could well be in double digits. The situation may not improve significantly despite China’s return to the positive growth trajectory in the April-June period after its economy contracted b...