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India secures its east after western Himalaya clashes with China

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – India has moved troops to its eastern stretch of border with China since clashes erupted between the nuclear-armed rivals on the western part of their border in the Himalayas in June, a government official said.

FILE PHOTO: A signboard is seen from the Indian side of the Indo-China border at Bumla, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, November 11, 2009. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

The June clash in the Ladakh region, in the western part of their border, was the worst violence between the Asian giants in decades and there has been little sign of a reduction in tension, with more military action in the past week.

The movement of troops to the eastern district of Anjaw, in Arunachal Pradesh state, which China also claims, raises the prospect of a wider face-off though both government and military officials in India ruled out any imminent confrontation.

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“The military presence has surely increased, but as far as incursions are concerned, there are no verified reports as such,” said Ayushi Sudan, Anjaw’s chief civil servant, adding that several Indian army battalions were stationed there.

“There has been an increase in troop deployment since the Galwan incident, and even prior to that we’d started,” she told Reuters by telephone, referring to the June clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.

Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet, was at the centre of a full-scale border war between India and China in 1962, and security analysts have warned that it could become a flash-point again.

But an Indian military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Harsh Wardhan Pande, said there was no cause for concern and the troops arriving in the area were part of regular rotation.

“Basically, it’s units changing. That’s happening as it happens every time, nothing much,” Pande told Reuters from near Guwahati, the largest city in northeastern India.

“As of now, there’s nothing to worry about on that front.”

But Tapir Gao, a member of parliament from Arunachal, told Reuters that Chinese troops had been regularly crossing into Indian territory.

“It’s a regular phenomenon, it’s nothing new,” he said, identifying the Walong and Chaglagam areas in Anjaw as the most vulnerable.

In the 1962 war, India says its outnumbered forces “blocked the thrust of the invading Chinese” in Walong, and the area of mountains, meadows and fast-flowing rivers is now a government focus for settlement and road-building.

“What we’re trying to do is create more possibilities and opportunities for villagers,” said Sudan, referring to plans for clusters of villages in the disputed area.

“It’s a push to resettle people.”

Source: Reuters

China demands India withdraw troops from border to avoid escalation

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China has demanded India withdraw troops that Beijing said had illegally crossed their shared border, its military spokesman said on Monday.

The Indian army said in a statement that Chinese troops carried out military movements over the weekend to change the status quo on their disputed border in a fresh flare-up between the two sides.

The Chinese military spokesman said China is taking countermeasures and will safeguard its territorial sovereignty.

Source: Reuters

India says foils new Chinese attempt to alter status quo at disputed border

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India said on Monday it had foiled an attempt by Chinese troops to change the status quo on their disputed and ill-defined border in a fresh flare-up between the two nuclear-armed countries.

“On the Night of 29/30 August 2020, PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo,” the Indian army said in a statement.

It said Indian soldiers foiled the Chinese bid to “unilaterally change facts on the ground.”

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Chinese troops never cross the line of actual control at Indian border, says China foreign ministry

There was no immediate comment from China.

For months, troops have been locked in a faceoff in the western Himalayas where both sides accuse the other of violating the Line of Actual Control, or the de facto border. In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a clash in the Galwan valley, following which the two sides agreed to pull back.

But despite several rounds of talks, troops remain faced off at other points, including the high altitude Pangong Tso lake which both claim.

The Indian army said the latest flare-up took place along the lake.

“Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the southern bank of Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground,” it said.

India and China have not been able to agree on their nearly 3,500 km (2,000 mile) border over which they went to war in 1962. The flare up this summer is the most serious in over half a century.

Military officials of the two countries were holding a meeting at a border point to resolve the latest crisis, the Indian army said.

Source: Reuters

Exclusive: HK survey shows increasing majority back pro-democracy goals, smaller support for protest movement

(Reuters) – A growing majority of people in Hong Kong support the pro-democracy movement’s goals after China introduced a national security law for the city, but backing for the protest movement was a smaller 44%, a survey conducted for Reuters showed. 

FILE PHOTO: A police officer holds a pepper spray to disperse pro-democracy protesters gathering to mark the anniversary of the attack by more than 100 white-wearing men with pipes and poles on July 21 last year, at Yuen Long, in Hong Kong, China July 19, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Demonstrations have been far fewer and smaller than the mass protests that rocked the Chinese-ruled city in the second half of 2019, largely because of coronavirus-related restrictions on gatherings and the impact of the sweeping new law, analysts say.

The survey taken by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI) was the first since the law was passed in the Asian financial centre on June 30.

It found nearly 60% of people were opposed to the security law, up from about 57% in HKPORI’s previous survey in June, when few of the details were known. Graphic: How much do you support or oppose Beijing’s move to implement national security legislation in Hong Kong? – here

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s office and China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which comes under the State Council, or cabinet, did not respond to requests for comment about the results of the survey.

Ivan Choy, senior lecturer at Chinese University of Hong Kong’s department of government and public administration, said public attitudes shifted after the new security law was implemented.

“Now there are more concerns when you ask people to come out” to protest, he said, adding that police arrests have triggered “more anger in society.”

Police said they had arrested 25 people, as of August 20, including protesters, activists and a media tycoon under the new law, which makes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces punishable with up to life in prison.

The Hong Kong Police Force did not respond to a request to comment on the impact of the arrests on public opinion.

The government has said the law was needed to plug holes in national security exposed by the protests and to restore stability in Hong Kong. The survey found public support for the law was slightly over 31%.

Critics say the legislation further eroded the wide-ranging freedoms promised to the former British colony on its return to Chinese rule in 1997 under a one country, two systems agreement.

The latest survey asked: How much do you support or oppose the pro-democracy protest movement? The responses showed support at about 44%. Graphic: How much do you support or oppose the pro-democracy protest movement? – here

The question replaced one in the June survey that asked: Generally speaking, how much do you support or oppose the protest movement surrounding the extradition bill? The responses showed support at about 51%.

Drawing firm conclusions from the near seven percentage point drop was difficult due to uncertainty over the impact of the changed wording, Robert Chung, head of HKPORI said.

The changes were made because the extradition bill has faded as an issue as it has been withdrawn.

For the poll, 1,007 respondents were randomly surveyed by telephone. The results, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points as in previous polls, were weighted according to the latest population figures.

SHARED ASPIRATIONS

While protests have been smaller and less frequent, the poll showed backing for the pro-democracy movement’s key aspirations has risen. Graphic: Do you think the Hong Kong government should accede to the following demands by the protesters? – here

Support for the request for an independent commission of inquiry to look into how police handled the demonstrations saw a rise of roughly 4 percentage points to 70%.

The police did not respond to a request to comment on the level of public support for an independent inquiry.

Police and the government have repeatedly said they used minimum force, that their sole goal was to restore law and order, and that there were adequate existing mechanisms to prevent and punish any indiscipline.

Support for universal suffrage, another key demand, remains strong with the backing of 63% of Hong Kong citizens, about the same as in the June poll.

Support for amnesty for the arrested protesters rose to almost 50%, up five percentage points since June.

Lam remains unpopular with 58% of respondents saying she should resign, little changed from the June poll. Nevertheless, that’s an improvement over perceptions in March, when 63% of respondents said she should resign.

Opposition to the pro-democracy movement’s demands inched down to 19% from 21.5%.

The survey also showed that support for the idea of Hong Kong independence, which is anathema to Beijing and a focal point of the new legislation, remained at about 20% while opposition to independence hovered slightly below 60%. Graphic: How much do you support or oppose Hong Kong independence? – here

HKPORI has conducted four polls for Reuters on how residents of the city regarded the protest movement. The previous surveys were conducted in December, March, and June.

FILE PHOTO: Staff of Correctional Services Department (CSD) escort a prison van after an anti-government protester Sin Ka-ho has been sentenced four years for rioting, in Hong Kong, China May 15, 2020. Picture taken May 15, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Last month, police searched its offices, citing “a report from the public that the computer system of a polling organisation was suspected of being hacked and some personal information of the public was leaked.”

At the time, HKPORI was helping organise an unofficial primaries vote for the pro-democracy camp to choose candidates for the legislative election, an operation the government and Beijing said may have violated the new security law.

The pollster had said it would cooperate with the police investigation, which it had hoped would be “impartial”.

UNHAPPINESS OVER POSTPONED VOTE

The latest survey showed just over half of the respondents were unhappy with the Hong Kong government’s move to postpone the legislative election by a year. It had been scheduled for September.

The government said the postponement was ordered due to worries about rising numbers of coronavirus cases, and denied there was any political motive.

The survey shows opposition candidates could have done well. Graphic: Assuming you have one vote, whom would you vote for in the Legislative Council election later this year? – here

“The poll results show the more suppression from the government, the higher the opposition,” said Ming Sing, associate professor of social sciences at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing have repeatedly rejected the notion that they were suppressing Hong Kong citizens.

They say Hong Kong’s wide-ranging rights and freedoms remain intact and protected by law, and that defending national security was China’s unquestionable sovereign right.

Source: Reuters

Xi says China to step up efforts to fight ‘splittism’ in Tibet

FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping claps his hands at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 22, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in Tibet, protect national unity and educate the masses in the struggle against “splittism”, President Xi Jinping told senior leaders, state media said on Saturday.

China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” that helped the remote Himalayan region throw off its “feudalist” past. But critics, led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, say Beijing’s rule amounts to “cultural genocide”.

At a senior Communist Party meeting on Tibet’s future governance, Xi lauded achievements made and praised frontline officials but said more efforts were needed to enrich, rejuvenate and strengthen unity in the region.

Political and ideological education needed to be strengthened in Tibet’s schools in order to “plant the seeds of loving China in the depths of the hearts of every youth”, Xi said in remarks published by state news agency Xinhua.

Pledging to build a “united, prosperous, civilised, harmonious and beautiful new, modern, socialist Tibet”, Xi said China needed to strengthen the role of the Communist Party in the territory and better integrate its ethnic groups.

Tibetan Buddhism also needed to adapt to socialism and to Chinese conditions, he added.

China’s policies towards Tibet have come under the spotlight again this year amid the country’s deteriorating relationship with the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in July that the United States would restrict visas for some Chinese officials involved in blocking diplomatic access to Tibet and engaging in “human rights abuses”, adding that Washington supported “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet.

Source: Reuters

Police try to foil Shi’ite gatherings in Indian Kashmir amid COVID curbs

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Police sealed off parts of Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar on Friday to stop Shi’ite Muslims from gathering during their mourning month of Muharram amid the coronavirus outbreak and detained at least 50 people.A Kashmiri Shi’ite Mulsim reacts as he is detained an Indan policemen while trying to participate in a Muharram procession, in Srinagar, August 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Kashmir authorities have this year banned Muharram gatherings, in which worshippers flog themselves with steel-tipped flails or slash their bodies with knives, to mourn Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.

Shi’ite crowds tried to gather in parts of Srinagar, but some were thwarted by police roadblocks and by officers searching vehicles and others chanting slogans were chased down by police.

“At least 50 mourners were detained in Srinagar who defied the restrictions,” a police officer said. Some scuffled with police before they were taken away.

Before the coronavirus curbs, Kashmir was already under heavy security since last year when the federal government revoked its special status and statehood, causing anger in the revolt-torn Muslim majority region.

Kashmir is claimed in whole by India and neighbouring foe Pakistan and is ruled in part by both amid regular outbreaks of cross-border clashes.

Indian security forces killed four militants, including a top commander of the Al-Badr militant group, south of Srinagar, Kashmir valley’s police chief, Vijay Kumar, told Reuters.

The militants had earlier this week abducted a village council member, whose body was discovered on Friday, Kumar said.

Police and witnesses said some people taking part in the Muharram processions on the outskirts of Srinagar shouted anti-India slogans earlier in the week.

“There is usually a procession on Muharram but they have put a lot of restrictions this year. All the roads are shut near Lal Chowk (Red Square) … There are no public transports and shops are also shut. It feels like a curfew,” a resident who gave his name as Mohammad said.

Protests by Kashmir’s 1.4 million Shi’ite Muslims are rare. The 31-year revolt against Indian rule in the territory has been led by Sunni Muslim militants.

But this year, Shi’ite youths have been vocal about alleged human rights violations by Indian security forces, said senior Shi’ite leader Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari.

Kumar said two people were detained for anti-India slogans during the Muharram processions earlier in the week.

“We will book and act against all those people who have taken part in such processions at other places,” Kumar said.

Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, Alison Williams and Nick MacfieOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Source: Reuters

Indian economy more resilient now vs global financial crisis, says RBI Governor

FILE PHOTO: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das greets the media as he arrives at a news conference after a monetary policy review in Mumbai, India, February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian economy remains much stronger amid the coronavirus pandemic than it was during the global financial crisis over a decade ago even if growth has slowed, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday.

Speaking at an event organised by the Business Standard newspaper, Das said factors like an improved debt-to-gross domestic product ratio, an in-check fiscal deficit, well-controlled inflation and a sharply better current account were all positive for the economy.

“In several aspects, the Indian economy and financial sector this time around was far more resilient than what it was during the global financial crisis,” Das said.

Data due later this month, however, is expected to show the world’s fifth-largest economy contracted 20% in the April-June quarter, according to a Reuters poll, as strict nationwide lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19 stalled economic acitivities.

The RBI has so far refrained from providing any official forecast on growth or inflation and is among the few central banks globally not to do so.

“The central bank doesn’t have the luxury of giving one number today and modifying it one or two months down the road,” said Das.

“Once there is some amount of clarity about the COVID curve or the other aspects around COVID, then RBI will certainly start giving the numbers,” he added.

Das said India’s financial sector continues to be sound and stable, but more can and needs to be done in terms of banking sector reforms, he added, stressing the need for better governance culture and risk management practices at banks.

He said the RBI has asked banks to build strong buffers and raise capital at a time when bad loans are expected to rise.

Source: Reuters

India charges 19, including 7 Pakistanis, over Kashmir bombing

FILE PHOTO: Indian soldiers examine the debris after an explosion in Lethpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Younis Khaliq

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged 19 people, including 7 Pakistani nationals, on Tuesday over a deadly bomb attack on a security convoy in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir last year.

The bombing on Feb. 14, 2019 killed 40 paramilitary policemen, leading to aerial clashes between India and Pakistan, two long-time, nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Monday, the NIA said four of the seven Pakistani nationals charged in the attack were at large, while the other three had been killed in separate clashes with security forces.

“The charge sheet has brought on record the all-out involvement of Pakistan-based entities (in) carry(ing) out terrorist strikes in India and to incite and provoke Kashmiri youth,” an NIA statement said.

The other 12 accused are local residents of Indian Kashmir, some of whom have been killed in clashes, some arrested with the rest missing.

One of the accused, a 20-year-old man from Kashmir’s capital city Srinagar, ordered 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of aluminium powder on Amazon to help his accomplices make explosives used in the attack, according to the NIA.

India has long accused Pakistan of harbouring militants and supporting insurgency in Muslim-majority Kashmir, a Himalayan region split between the two countries but claimed in full by both. Pakistan has denied the accusations. Two of the three wars between India and Pakistan have been fought over Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist government tightened its grip on Kashmir last August when it stripped away its special status that allowed it to make some of its own laws.

The decision, the most far-reaching political move in one of the world’s most militarised regions in nearly seven decades, polarised opinion with Kashmiri leaders calling it aggression against the state’s people.

Source: Reuters

Live Politics latest news: Boris Johnson tells BBC to ‘stop the wetness’ over Rule, Britannia! row

3

 Catherine Neilan, politics live editor

25 AUGUST 2020 • 3:23PMFollow 

Coronavirus latest news: Reinfections mean questions over immunity ‘still open’, health chiefs say Head teachers to defy No 10 over fining parents for absent children Meet the Republicans abandoning Donald Trump Petition for Rule, Britannia! to be sung at Last Night of the Proms reaches 10,000 signatures in 24 hours Charles Moore: Rule Britannia is about freedom, not slavery Summer sale: Save 50% – Just £1 a week for 6 months

Boris Johnson said the UK needs to stop the “wetness” and “cringing embarrassment” about its colonial history, following the row over changes to the Last Night at the Proms….

.Source: The Telegraph

Leader of India’s opposition Congress Sonia Gandhi offers to resign after dissent letter

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The leader of India’s main opposition Congress party offered to resign on Monday, domestic media said, after almost two dozen top leaders called for better decision-making in the party, which has ruled for much of the country’s independent history.

FILE PHOTO: Sonia Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, arrives to attend a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in New Delhi, India, August 10, 2019. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

The call, made in a letter, is a rare challenge to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has dominated Congress since India won independence in 1947 from colonial ruler Britain. But Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has dealt the party heavy defeats in two general elections.

Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, asked the party to relieve her of her role as interim president in a speech to a virtual meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Reuters partner ANI reported.

“Sonia Gandhi asks CWC members ‘to begin deliberations towards the process of transition to relieve her from the duty of party president,’” ANI said on Twitter, citing unidentified sources.

Two party sources said the signatories to the letter expect the Gandhi family to either play a pro-active role or step down, adding that more than 300 regional Congress politicians also supported the letter.

However, several key figures, including the chief ministers of Congress-led states, have publicly backed Gandhi to continue.

“News of 23 seniormost Congress leaders writing (a) letter…is unbelievable and if it is true – it’s very unfortunate,” Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of the western state of Rajasthan, said on Twitter, calling for Gandhi to stay on.

In the capital, New Delhi, Gandhi family supporters held placards and shouted slogans outside party headquarters.

The party is expected to announce its decision at a news conference set for 3 p.m. (0930 GMT).

Sonia Gandhi took over de facto leadership of the party last year from her son Rahul. His father, grandmother and great-grandfather have been prime ministers of India.

Source: Reuters