Tag: South&Central Asia

India-US Technology Initiatives Launched with Eye on China

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New Delhi —  A technology and defense initiative by India and the United States aims at countering China and reducing New Delhi’s dependence on Russian weapons. Analysts say it also marks a significant push in tightening the U.S. and India’s strategic partnership. Both countries will deepen cooperation in areas like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, 5G wireless networks and semiconductors — areas in which China has acquired a dominating position. “This convergence comes at a time when technology is becoming a determinant in U.S.-China relations and in some ways the geopolitics…

India’s Aircraft Carriers Key to Indo-Pacific Strategy

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New Delhi —  India is preparing to relaunch its INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier after a major refit, a critical step toward fulfilling its plan to deploy two carrier battle groups as it seeks to strengthen its regional maritime power to counter China’s increasing assertiveness. The Vikramaditya, a former Soviet carrier acquired from Russia, is expected to be launched imminently and will join India’s first domestically built carrier that was launched in September, the INS Vikrant, in undergoing outfitting and sea trials, with the plan to have both fully operational later…

Taliban Arrest Chinese Nationals for Allegedly Smuggling Afghan Lithium

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Islamabad —  Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have arrested five men, including two Chinese nationals, for allegedly trying to smuggle an estimated 1,000 metric tons of lithium-bearing rocks out of the country. The arrests and the seizure of the rocks were made in the eastern Afghan border city of Jalalabad. The Chinese nationals and their Afghan collaborators were planning to illegally transport the “precious stones” to China via Pakistan, said Taliban intelligence officials in comments aired Sunday by Afghan television channels. Mohammad Rasool Aqab, a senior official at the Afghan Ministry…

Ukraine Conflict Among Litany of Global Abuses, Human Rights Watch Says

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LONDON —  The past year has seen human rights crises worsening around the world, from Ukraine to China to Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report, released Thursday. But new voices of leadership for championing human rights have emerged, according to the report. World Report 2023 looks at the state of human rights in nearly 100 countries where the New York-based organization works. “The obvious conclusion to draw from the litany of human rights crises in 2022 —from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deliberate attacks on civilians in…

Taliban Seal Afghan Oil Deal With China

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Islamabad —  Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban signed their first international agreement with a Chinese petroleum company Thursday to extract and develop oil reserves in the country’s north. Senior Taliban officials and China’s ambassador to Kabul, Wang Yu, witnessed the televised signing ceremony in the Afghan capital, marking the first major foreign investment deal in Afghanistan since the Islamist group seized power in August 2021. Taliban mining minister Shahabuddin Dilawar told the event the contract with the Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC) would bring $150 million a year in…

Security Remains at Top of China’s Afghanistan Policy

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Washington —  Security concerns continue to dominate China’s policy toward Afghanistan more than a year after the United States and NATO pulled out of the Central Asian country. China has stepped in and engaged with the new Taliban government, promising trade and investment. But Beijing has concerns over the potential spillover of militants from Afghanistan into China’s western Xinjiang region, the security of its infrastructure projects in the region and its citizens in Afghanistan. On December 12, the Islamic State Khorasan Province, an affiliate of Islamic State, claimed an attack…

Chinese-Funded Projects Deepen Sri Lanka’s Economic Woes

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NEW DELHI —  During the past decade, China funded the construction of massive infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka meant to boost the island nation’s economy. However, after the economic collapse of the tiny Indian Ocean country earlier this year, there were questions whether these projects had contributed to the worst crisis it has ever faced. A port city that dominates Colombo’s seafront was built on a 269-hectare patch of land reclaimed from the sea. It was to become a thriving business and financial hub, but it is virtually deserted. An…

Global Holiday Travel Soars  

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washington —  Across the globe, people are on the move as a hectic Christmas and New Year’s holiday travel season is in full swing. December and January are among the busiest months for global aviation, with passenger traffic this year expected to be the highest since travel restrictions were imposed because of the pandemic. “This is the first time visiting my relatives for the holidays in three years,” Lyla Singh of Aldie, Virginia, told VOA. She arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington nearly four hours before her flight to…

Indian and Chinese Troops Clash Last Week Along Border

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New Delhi —  India says its forces clashed with Chinese troops last week along their disputed border in the eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The latest confrontation will deepen tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, whose relations have been frosty since a skirmish in another part of their border in 2020 killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. The face-off took place last Friday and caused minor injuries to soldiers from both sides, an Indian army statement said. It said that both sides “immediately disengaged from the area” and that…

India Dismisses Chinese Objections to India-US Military Drills Near Border

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New Delhi —  India has dismissed Beijing’s objections to U.S.-India military exercises being held close to India’s disputed border with China. The drills between Indian and U.S. soldiers began in mid-November and are due to conclude Friday. Part of annual exercises held by the two sides, this year’s maneuvers are taking place in the Himalayan mountains in Auli in Uttarakhand state, about 100 kilometers from the border area, known as the Line of Actual Control. China said on Wednesday that the joint exercises “violated the spirit of relevant agreements” between…