Following are recent blog posts relating to China from the MEMRI South Asia Studies Project. For a daily update, please visit www.memri.org/sasp:
Report: Concern In India Over China's Use Of River Water
There is increasing concern in India that China may divert the waters of the Brahmaputra River, which flows from China into India's north-eastern states, according to an Indian think tank.
Chinese scientist Wang Guangqian was quoted by the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA) as saying, "Beijing's logic is that if national interest demands major water diversion projects on the Yarlung-Tsangpo/Brahmaputra Eiver, China will undertake such a project if the price of transferred water is cheaper than conservation or getting water from the sea."
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38842.htm
China Urged By Nuclear Suppliers Group To Reconsider Nuclear Plants For Pakistan
At closed-door nuclear talks in Vienna, China was asked today to seek the permission of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) before going ahead with its plan to build nuclear plants in Pakistan, according to a Pakistani website. The NSG supervises international trade in nuclear materials so that they are not used for military purposes.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38907.htm
Report: Indian Analysts Concerned As China Develops Ports In Neighboring Nations
Defense analysts in India are watching uneasily as China develops commercials ports - which could be potentially used for military purposes - in some of India's neighboring countries, according to a media report. Indian military affairs expert Siddharth Vardararajan said, "The 'string of pearls' itself is a term...meant to be a strategy of surrounding India with a whole bunch of [military] bases."
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38833.htm
Report: Pakistan, China To Extend Military Cooperation, Ink Two Agreements
The first round of Pakistan-China military staff talks was held between delegations of both the armed forces at Joint Staff Headquarters Chaklala, near Islamabad, according to a Pakistani daily.
The Chinese delegation, led by Major General Jia Xiaoning, who is the deputy chief of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense, held talks with the Pakistan delegation led by Director General Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Muhammad Asif.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38762.htm
Report: Is Shanghai Cooperation Organization To Mediate In Resolving Kashmir?
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional alliance of Central Asian countries led by China and Russia, is doing its part to resolve the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
The Kashmir territorial dispute between Pakistan and India is the main barrier to their accession to the SCO, a report carried by Xinhua noted. "In this sense, the SCO is playing an irreplaceable role because it stimulates and encourages direct and more intensive talks on all outstanding issues," the Xinhua report said, citing a source from the Russian delegation.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38645.htm
Indian Army: Chinese Troops Continuing Aggressive Transgressions of Border
Chinese troops are continuing with their aggressive transgressions across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along India's northeastern border, according to an Indian newspaper. The Indian Army now wants to take over the operational control of the country's para-military Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the border with China, according to an Indian newspaper.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38635.htm
Chinese-Built Naval Ship Inducted Into Pakistan Navy
The Navy ship Aslat, jointly manufactured by Pakistani and Chinese engineers in Karachi, was handed over to the Pakistan Navy yesterday, according to a Pakistan website. PNS Aslat is the last ship of four 'Sword' or 'Zulfiqar Class' frigates jointly manufactured with China, according to a report on the website of The Express Tribune daily.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38572.htm
China Denies Move To Build Naval Bases In Sri Lanka And Pakistan
Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie has said that China does not intend to build naval bases at a Sri Lankan port and at Gwadar in Pakistan, according to a Sri Lankan website. Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said that China does not have plans for any permanent naval presence in South Asia, according to a report on the Sri Lankan website colombopage.com.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38351.htm
Report: Dozens Killed In Myanmar In Protest Against Chinese Dams
Dozens of people in northern Myanmar (Burma) have reportedly been killed in the clashes between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army, an armed opposition group, according to a Pakistani website. "Thousands more are trying to flee across the border after fierce fighting erupted this month around the construction sites of two Chinese-financed dams in the region," according to a report on the Pakistani website nation.com.pk.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38522.htm
Report: Hundreds Detained At China's 'Guantanamo Bay'
About 300 Buddhist monks - young and old - have been detained by China at a detention center in the country's Sichuan province, according to an Indian website. "They are not Al-Qaeda suspects. They are not terrorism suspects. They are not ordinary criminals who have committed murder, rape or any other common law crime. They are just religious people who have remained steadfast in their adherence to the Buddhism and in their support and loyalty to his Holiness the Dalai Lama," according to the report on the Indian website outlookindia.com.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38532.htm
Pakistani President: 'China Is Our True And Most Reliable Friend And Partner'
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has termed the Pakistan-China strategic partnership critical for the development, peace, and security in South Asia and the world, and has appreciated China's support to Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and core national interests, according to a Pakistani daily.
"China is our true and most reliable friend and partner and we share each other's joys and sorrows. We have a common dream. It is a dream for shared peace and prosperity and together we will transform this dream into reality," Zardari said on Wednesday.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38347.htm
Seminar Speakers: China's Hydro-Power Projects Show Hegemonic Aims
Speakers at a seminar on China's hydro-power projects in New Delhi expressed concern that these projects show China's hegemonic tendencies, according to an Indian website. The seminar "China's Hydro-Behavior" was organized at the Institute of Defense Studies and Anlyses (IDSA). It examined Chinese projects on the Brahmaputra River in India (known in China as Yarlung Tsangpo) and the Mekong River (Lancang).
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38342.htm
China Asks Burma To Allow Naval Access To Indian Ocean
China is discussing with Burma a deal that may stamp its presence in the Indian Ocean while giving it permanent access to the sea, according to an independent Burmese media organization. The Democratic Voice of Burma claimed in a report that the Chinese Navy has already taken the first steps in this direction. A meeting took place in Beijing towards the end of May where such a request was made by the Chinese officials to the visiting Burmese President Thein Sein.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38339.htm
India Steps Up Monitoring Of Chinese Military Activities Along Its Border
India is deploying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and light observation helicopters along its border with China to keep watch the "stepped-up activities" of the People's Liberation Army, according to an Indian daily. "The construction of over 5,500 'permanent defenses and bunkers' along the border is now being sped up to insure their completion within four to five years," according to a report in The Times of India.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38262.htm
China's 'Technical Hold' On Likely UN Sanctions On Pakistani Militants
For the past many years China has continued to place a 'technical hold' in the United Nations to block sanctions on Pakistani militants, according to a Pakistani daily.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38255.htm
Pakistani Minister: Pakistan-China Friendship Deeper Than Sea, Higher Than Mountains
Pakistan's Minister for Communication Dr. Arbab Alamgir Khan has said that the Pakistan-China friendship is deeper than the sea and higher than the mountains, according to a Pakistani website. "[The] emergence of China as a potential economic leader of the world is a testimony to the enterprise and ingenuity of its hardworking and industrious people," he said while addressing a luncheon arranged by him in honor of Liu Jain, ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Islamabad.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38182.htm
Former Indian Defense Minister: India Is Not Serious About Threat From China
Indian socialist leader and former defense minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has accused the Indian government of not being serious about national security threats from China, according to an Indian website. "China is gradually grabbing [Indian] land inch by inch, but the central government has become a mute spectator," Mulayam Singh Yadav, the former defense minister, said, according to a report on the Urdu-language website www.munsifdaily.com.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/38106.htm
Report: Pakistan To Hand Over Control Of Gwadar Port To China
Pakistani officials have decided to hand over the control of Gwadar port to China after the expiry of the current agreement with a Singapore firm, but it is not clear if a proposal for China to build a naval base there has also been approved, according to an Urdu-language daily. The Gwadar port on Pakistan's southwestern coast is being developed by a Singapore firm, which is controlled by China.
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/37951.htm
From MEMRI Special Dispatches Series
Deepening Involvement by China in Pakistani Military Affairs - Reports from the MEMRI South Asia Studies Project Blog
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/37887.htm
From MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series
China Warns U.S.: 'Any Attack on Pakistan Would Be Construed As an Attack on China' – Evolving Pakistani-Chinese Alliance to Face the U.S./India
Introduction
In an analysis titled "A Looming Super Power Clash Triggered by Pakistan" (published on February 15, 2011), we pointed out to the rapidly growing danger of a U.S.-Pakistan clash which will involve – in addition to the Unite States, China and Pakistan – India, Russia, NATO powers, and other powers in the region.
