China wary of U.S. military moves in Asia-Pacific

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is likely to face sharp questions when he arrives in Beijing for talks with China’s defense minister.

As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visits Beijing this week, the U.S. is forging closer defense ties to countries near China and renewing its focus in the South Pacific.

September 16, 2012

Los Angeles Times (USA)

WASHINGTON — When a senior U.S. general met in Beijing recently with Lt. Gen. Cai Yingting, the deputy chief of China's armed forces, Cai forcefully objected to America's expanding military presence in Asia and the Pacific, describing it as an effort to encircle his country.

"Why are you containing us?" Cai demanded, according to a U.S. official who was present and described the incident in return for anonymity.

The U.S. general denied seeking to contain China, but it's easy to see why officials in Beijing might get that impression.

The Obama administration is forging closer defense ties to countries near China, including India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore; repositioning troops, planes and ships; and stepping up aid in the South Pacific to offset attention from Beijing.

Released documents by Anonymous could bring diplomatic embarrassment to Cambodia?

12 September 2012
KI-Media

Yesterday, Hacktivist group Anonymous released thousands of sensitive Cambodian government documents in retaliation after the co-founder of The Pirate Bay was arrested. Following the release of these documents, we browsed one set of documents released and what we found out could be quite embarrassing for Cambodia.

Among documents found in the package posted on http://par-anoia.net/assessment/kh/CAMBBELNEP/, we noted that, unlike Anonymous’ claim that they belong to the Cambodian government, these documents appear to belong to someone who works for the Indian Embassy. This person (or persons) appear to be involved in trade and diplomatic affairs within the Indian Embassy in Cambodia. The following document (labeled “lost cir page1.jpg) shows an Indian Embassy’s circular about lost passports by Indian citizens.

Other documents appeared to be diplomatic information exchanged between India and Nepal, as well as Belarus and other countries. There are very few documents related to Cambodia, with the exception of a letter sent by the Indian Embassy in Cambodia sent to the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC); an invitation to Hun Xen to attend the 2nd Rice Forum during the second week of October 2012; announcements to the Indian government about the visit of various Cambodian officials to India; and request for Indian facilitation for Cambodians who need to perform kidney transplants in India.

If indeed, these documents belong to Indian diplomats, and if Anonymous’ claim is correct, i.e. these documents were stolen from the MFAIC, then the embarrassing question to be raised is: why does the Cambodian MFAIC possess these Indian diplomatic documents?

While most of the documents appear to be dated between February and April 2012, one document (AmbCambodia.pdf), dated 05 September 2012, is authored by Anand Sharma, MP, who recently attended the ASEAN-India meeting in Cambodia. The letter is privately addressed to Dinesh K. Patnaik, the Indian ambassador to Phnom Penh. The question is how did this letter end up in the hand of the Cambodian MFAIC instead. To a curious mind, the first thought would be that these documents could be spirited out of the computer(s) belonging to an Indian diplomat(s) connected to the Indian Embassy in Cambodia. Could it be that Phnom Penh, based on its communist past, still resorts to documents stealing from foreign visitors to Cambodia? Of course, there is a possibility that Anonymous’ claim is inaccurate, but the chance for this is rather slim in view of the presence of the invitation letter sent to Hun Xen.

Another troubling revelations found in the documents hacked are the requests made to the Indian government for safe medical passage of Cambodian citizens to undergo kidney transplants in India. These requests appear to show that there is a possibility of human body parts trafficking in Cambodia, specifically kidneys, as human donor programs do not exist in Cambodia. Therefore, the only possibility left is that these are paid donors, i.e. human part sellers.

These two observations alone are quite troubling to start with, notwithstanding the revelation of the upcoming attendance by Hun Xen to an official function in October of this year.

INDIA: Ban corruption, not banish the cartoonist

Aseem Trivedi

September 10, 2012
Avinash Pandey
Source: Asian Human Rights Commission

The arrest of Aseem Trivedi, a cartoonist and a member of India against Corruption, is not only ridiculous but also a telling comment on the paranoia that has set in the government circles and deserves all the outrage it has caused. In fact, the only thing more ludicrous than the arrest itself is the reason cited by the Mumbai Police for the arrest. Mr Trivedi has been booked for nothing less than sedition and showing disrespect to national emblem on a private complaint filed by an advocate who, incidentally, also happens to be a member of a political party in the line of fire for many of its leaders being charged with corruption charges.

On being asked about the reason behind the arrest, Mumbai Police attributed it to 'procedural formality' on a complaint filed under section 124 A charging Mr. Trivedi with 'showing disrespect to the National Emblem' and putting up 'ugly and objectionable content' on his website. The facts of the case, however, tell a very different story. The cartoons in question include one where he replaced four lions of India's national emblem with wolves and a caption 'Bhrshtmev Jayate'(Corruption wins) instead of official 'Satyamev Jayate'(truth wins). The message oozing out of the cartoon was loud and clear, that corruption is devouring the nation. Does Mumbai Police think it is not?

Similar was another cartoon of his where he depicted the Parliament building as a toilet. Hard hitting it was, but with more than one third of India's parliamentarians charged with grave offenses including murder and rape, this is what an average Indian thinks of it. It is such parliamentarians and the system that refuses to cleanse itself of them, and not Aseem, that insults the parliament. He was just telling a truth, however bitter, but still a truth. All other cartoons of his tell the tales of miseries inflicted on the body politic of Indian nation by the very same people who are constitutionally obligated to protect it. If someone needed to be charged with sedition, it should had been those in such authority for making a mockery of India, its people and citizenry included.

ASIA: Three great protests - In Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and the Omkareshwar Dam in India

September 6, 2012
Contributors: Basil Fernando
Source: Asian Human Rights Commission

When people are hurt by the actions of authorities, they protest. When the hurt is deep and widespread it could give rise to collective modes of protest. Three such protest movements are now taking place in Asia. One is in Hong Kong, where the protesters are young students, supported by parents and a large section of society. They are protesting against proposed curriculum changes, which the government claims have been introduced to cultivate positive moral values and patriotism. However, students and parents see it as a to move to brainwash the young and to undermine Hong Kong's deeply held democratic values.

Another protest is going on amongst the university students and their teachers in Sri Lanka, against the attempt by the government to reduce expenditure in education and limit the opportunities for education under the guise of modernization. They demand that the percentage of expenditure on the education budget should be increased to 6% of the GDP. The government is resisting this protest by closing down all the universities indefinitely.

A third protest of the most unusual nature is taking place in India, where a group of indigenous people have submerged themselves neck deep in water for over 12 days now, protesting against eviction from their land without compensation. They are being evicted for the construction of the Omkareshwar Dam, and they are protesting against the illegal increase in the water level, beyond that which was allowed by the Supreme Court of India. There protest is called Jal Satyagrah.

$70m from India for power

Monday, September 3rd, 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

India is financing the construction of a US$70 million transmission line to bring electricity from hydroelectric projects in Laos to Cambodia, according to Indian Chamber of Commerce President Debasish Pattnaik.

Speaking yesterday after the official launch of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (ICC), Pattnaik said Laos has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the transmission lines from Laos to Stueng Trang and the $70 million soft loan from the Indian government would finance the line from Stueng Trang to Kratie.

He said the transmission lines from Kratie to Phnom Penh were already in place.

Tenders for the construction of the project by local contractors would be called by the Indian government in October, Pattnaik said.

Indian trade promotion office opens in Cambodia

IANS | Sep 2, 2012

PHNOM PENH: The office of the Indian Chamber of Commerce was officially launched here Sunday to promote economic, trade and investment ties between India and Cambodia.

The office is to act on behalf of Indian business organisations and individuals for business facilitation, regulatory exchange as well as to promote India-Cambodia economic and bilateral relations, Xinhua reported, citing a press release.

"It will act as the platform to guide Indian investments into Cambodia," the press release said.

To kill a mocking belligerence

07 Aug 2012
Author: Abhijit Iyer-Mitra
The Pioneer (India)

The recently concluded Asean summit witnessed Beijing at its bellicose best on the issue of the South China Sea. Some countries fell in line with the assertiveness. Most others including India have refused to succumb. Yet, it requires more than talk to counter Chinese designs

Asean, according to some accounts, came very close to rupture last month. During the summit, the Philippines and Vietnam were denied the opportunity to voice their concerns about China’s increasing military assertiveness in the South China Sea —including the seizure of a new shoal of reefs. Cambodia had earlier conveyed to both countries that it did not want the issue brought up, while those countries contended it was their right to do so and Asean had always had a tradition of supporting their own — even if only perfunctorily — against outsiders. Nobody in Asean, however, had expected Cambodia to go as far as it did — turning off Philippine Foreign Minister Albert De Rosario’s microphone the moment he touched on the subject (blamed conveniently, of course, on a ‘technical glitch’).

Leave aside the rupture and the frenzied media speculation, what happened last month was typical Chinese diplomacy at work — clunky, clumsy and crude. The one seeming flaw with China (and not just Chinese diplomats) is that they take grave offence at words. In essence, much of the Chinese diplomacy consists of being polite and assuming that being polite somehow translates into problem- solving. Contrast this with the US’s method which accepts harsh verbal criticism in public and fiery exchanges in private, aimed specifically at thrashing out issues. This is a narrative that seems common to most diplomats: the Indian, the American or any other that, when confronted with a situation — say, “You chaps transferred nuclear bomb technology to Pakistan” — the standard response is denial. And, when the denial is refuted it is treated as a sign of bad manners. Such behaviour is hard to translate culturally, but at some level combines the culture of speech restrictions in China with that age-old Asian tradition of ‘saving face’. Of course, the Chinese also tend to have completely bizarre public temper tantrums, most famously referring to former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten as a “prostitute”, and far worse adjectives for the Dalai Lama.

Kishore Mahbubani: Is China Losing the Diplomatic Plot?

Professor Kishore Mahbubani was ranked on Foreign Policy magazine's list of the world's top 100 thinkers. He believes China is losing the diplomatic plot at a time when it needs it most. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

Jul 27, 2012
Straits Times (Singapore)

For the first time in 45 years, the Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) failed to agree to a joint communique, ostensibly because Asean's current chair, Cambodia, did not want the communique to refer to bilateral disputes in the South China Sea. But the whole world, including most Asean countries, perceived Cambodia's stance as the result of enormous Chinese pressure.

SINGAPORE - In 2016, China's share of the global economy will be larger than America's in purchasing-price-parity terms. This is an earth-shaking development; in 1980, when the United States accounted for 25% of world output, China's share of the global economy was only 2.2%. And yet, after 30 years of geopolitical competence, the Chinese seem to be on the verge of losing it just when they need it most.

China's leaders would be naive and foolish to bank on their country's peaceful and quiet rise to global preeminence. At some point, America will awaken from its geopolitical slumber; there are already signs that it has opened one eye.

But China has begun to make serious mistakes. After Japan acceded to Chinese pressure and released a captured Chinese trawler in September 2010, China went overboard and demanded an apology from Japan, rattling the Japanese establishment.

Similarly, after North Korean shells killed innocent South Korean civilians in November 2010, China remained essentially silent. In a carefully calibrated response, South Korea sent its ambassador to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for the imprisoned Chinese human-rights activist Liu Xiaobo in December 2010.

Indian Envoy Pledges to Urge Direct Flights to Cambodia

2012-07-24
Xinhua

Newly designated ambassador of India to Cambodia Dinesh K. Patnaik pledged on Tuesday to urge Indian airlines to operate direct flights to Cambodia in order to boost bilateral relations in trade, investment and tourism.

The ambassador made the remarks during a meeting with Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Hor Namhong.

Besides, he said, in his diplomatic term, he would do all his best to encourage Indian investors to do business here in rice mills, tourism and mining.

Hor Namhong said Cambodia and India have had a good and long- standing diplomatic relation and expressed hope that the ambassador's mission would deepen the bilateral ties.

India to continue Vietnam oil exploration: report

AFP – 07/19/2012

India's state-run oil firm ONGC plans to press ahead with long-term partner Vietnam in exploring the disputed South China Sea for oil, shrugging off complaints by China, a report said Thursday.

ONGC has accepted Vietnam's proposal to maintain its investment in Block 128, as Hanoi has offered additional data to help make future exploration economically feasible, Dow Jones Newswires said.

The move marks a reversal of India's position as the country's junior oil minister R.P.N. Singh said in May ONGC had decided to return Block 128 to Vietnam.

India's decision could rile China, which has repeatedly said it has "indisputable sovereignty" over essentially all of the mineral and fuel-rich South China Sea, a key trading route.

Southeast is Asia's safe haven as China, India stumble

Thu Jul 12, 2012
By Nishant Kumar and Stuart Grudgings

REUTERS - Little more than a dozen years after the region's crippling financial crisis, Southeast Asia is looking more a safe haven than a risky bet, with foreign investors souring on China and India and pouring money into markets proving resilient to the global gloom.

Short-term investors in Southeast Asian stocks and bonds are being overtaken by those with a longer-term horizon, signalling growing confidence in a region of 600 million people that boasts a rapidly growing middle-class.

Foreign investment in regional funds is at a record high.

Assets managed by offshore mutual and exchange traded funds dedicated to Southeast Asia rose to more than $26 billion in March, according to an analysis of Lipper data. Four-fifths of the assets are in actively-managed funds, with the rest in shorter-term ETFs.

Cracked earth

A village boy leads his goat past a parched pond on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar, May 17. Huge swathes of rural farmland have turned dry as farmers await the annual monsoon rains, which the India Meteorological Department says are expected to arrive on time this year. msnbc.com photo

China warns India of arrogance over missile launch

The editorial was published after India claimed its successful test of the Agni V meant it had joined the elite group of countries with intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities Photo: AP

India has been warned against arrogance in its relations with Beijing following its successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking any city in China.

20 Apr 2012

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi

The Telegraph (UK)

It has spent heavily on military expansion despite its poverty on an arms race it cannot win, according to an editorial in China's state-controlled Global Times newspaper.

The editorial was published after India claimed its successful test of the Agni V meant it had joined the elite group of countries with intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities. The missile can hit any city within 3000 miles with a nuclear war head.

The aggressive tone taken by the Global Times contrasted with the official reaction of its foreign ministry which said India and China were not rivals but "co-operative partners. We should cherish the hard-earned momentum of co-operation," said its spokesman Liu Weimin.

But Beijing's state-controlled media reacted more aggressively, accusing India of nuclear proliferation in breach of international treaties.

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

India says is has successfully test launched missile able to reach major Chinese cities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io-9edOgs0o

Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Associated Press

NEW DELHI — India announced the successful test launch Thursday of a new nuclear-capable missile that would give it the capability of striking the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai for the first time.

The Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), still requires a battery of tests before it can be inducted into India’s arsenal. But officials hailed the successful launch as a major boost to the country’s efforts to counter China’s regional dominance and become a respected world power in its own right.

“The nation stands tall today,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony said, according to the Press Trust of India.

Amdavadi architect to recreate Angkor Wat

Mar 31, 2012
Bharat Yagnik
TNN (India)

AHMEDABAD: Indians won't have to go all the way to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, considered to be one of the biggest religious structures in the world, which was constructed in the 12th century. It is thronged by 2 million visitors every year. A replica of the entire temple is slated to be constructed in the Vaishali district of Bihar. The city will have a lion's share in executing the project as a city-based temple architect has been entrusted with the construction of the mega structure.

Piyush Sompura of Panna Craft, a city-based firm specializing in temple construction all over India, told TOI that ever since he had seen Angkor Wat, he had a dream to replicate it. The dream has been realized. "I was contacted by Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust, the organization that was planning to make Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir," he said. "It will be a temple dedicated to Lord Ram, on the outskirts of Patna and I immediately joined the project."

China Claims 90% of Spratly Islands, Actually Controls 13% [-India flexing muscle at China?]

India Defense Minister A.K. Antony launches the INS Chakra

India launches first nuclear sub as tensions grumble on over Spratly Islands

Monday, April 9, 2012

By 2point6billion.com

Apr. 9 – China suffered a blow at the recent ASEAN meetings in Phnom Penh, losing a motion not to have South China Sea disputes discussed during the summit. China is not a member of ASEAN, but has been granted observer status and the request to interfere with the ASEAN agenda did not seem to sit well with the 10 countries that make up the Southeast Asian bloc. In particular, four ASEAN countries – Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines – are directly engaged in disagreements with China over ownership of the Spratly Islands.

China has long held a view that the South China Sea is Chinese, and that disputes should only be settled with Beijing directly on a bilateral basis. ASEAN, however, provides a multilateral forum and a bloc that allows disputes to be discussed collectively. Much of the debate focuses on the Vietnamese government’s decision to allow a joint venture between an Indian oil drilling company in blocks controlled by Vietnam. China has criticized the move, suggesting that significant “economic and political risks” await both Vietnam and India should exploration commence.

Keep off South China Sea, India warned [by Chinese official]

5 Apr, 2012
Saibal DasguptaSaibal Dasgupta
TNN (India)

BEIJING: India will pay a heavy price for exploring oil in the disputed areas of South China Sea, said a leading Chinese official a day after China lost political round on the issue at the Asean summit that ended in Cambodia on Wednesday.

"China will not stand any joint cooperation in our claimed maritime areas," said Wu Shicun, president of the government-run National Institute of South China. Wu was referring to joint exploration project by ONGC-Videsh and a Vietnamese oil company in South China Sea.

Beijing had lobbied hard to block discussion on the South China Sea dispute at the Asean summit but it failed to keep the dispute out of the agenda. Three Asean members - Vietnam, Malaysia and Philippines - are in a bitter dispute over the ownership of the 52 islands in South China Sea.

"There are a lot of economic and political risks" for the Indian oil company, Wu said. The Indian company involved in exploring oil in the disputed area should do a proper cost benefit analysis, he said. About 40% of the area in the two offshore blocks under exploration by India falls in the disputed zone, he said.

War Erupts Over The World’s Largest Hindu Shrine

Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Leading Indo-Canadian Newspaper

NEW DELHI - A foundation-laying ceremony has been held in Patna, Bihar earlier this month for the creation of what is said to be the tallest Hindu temple anywhere in the world – which is nothing unusual in India. But what became a matter of diplomatic confrontation between India and Cambodia is the same proposed Hindu temple in the banks of Ganges River as it’s the replica of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, the country’s most popular tourist attraction and national symbol. Mahavir Mandir Trust, a privately run India-based religious organization, is behind this 100 crore project and ‘bhoomi pujan’ (land purification) has been held at the site near Hajipur.

The massive replica of the 12th century Cambodian temple will be called ‘Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir’ and will be build in a sprawling 40-acer site on the Hajipur-Bidupur road near Ismailpur village.

Cambodia outraged at plans for Angkor Wat replica in India

March 20, 2012
Lindsay Murdoch
The Sydney Morning Herald

A DIPLOMATIC confrontation is looming over the building in India of a replica of Cambodia's massive Angkor Wat, the country's most popular tourist attraction and its national symbol.

The Cambodian government has described the building of a replica to create the world's largest Hindu shrine on the banks of the Ganges as a ''shameful act'' that could affect its future relationship with India.

An Indian religious organisation, Mahavir Mandir, has already held a ceremony to purify the land on which the temple, to be called Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir, will be built in the state of Bihar. Work is scheduled to begin next month and be completed in 10 years.

The director of Sydney University's archaeology project at Angkor Wat, Damian Evans, said Cambodians are predictably outraged about the project, ''as I am sure Indians would be if a nearby country decided to build a clone of the Taj Mahal''.