VIF News Digest - Neighbourhood Studies (Vol 1 Issue II)

China, Nepal, Bangladesh

November 1-15, 2017

Contents

• China again blocks resolution on Masood Azhar,
• Narendra Modi and Li Keqiang Meeting,
• Donald Trump’s Visit to China,
• Xi Jinping at APEC Meet and visits Vietnam and Laos,
• China Leads the List of World’s Top Supercomputers,
• Nepal- Provincial and Federal Elections ,
• Nepal President Bhandari visits United Arab Emirates,
• Bangladesh-Connectivity Train Service Inaugurated,
• BD Chief Justice Sinha resigns,
• Rohingya Crisis

China
On 2 November 2017, China once again blocked the United Nations Security Council Resolution by the US, France, and Britain to list Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group, as a “global terrorist”. The JeM, founded by Azhar, has already been in the UN’s list of banned terror outfits. China blocked the move citing “no consensus” as a ground for its objection. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "We raised a technical hold so as to allow more time for the committee and its members to deliberate on this matter. But there is still absence of consensus on this matter."

India has expressed disappointment on the development. The Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson said, “We are deeply disappointed that once again, a single country has blocked international consensus on the designation of an acknowledged terrorist and leader of the UN-designated terrorist organization, Masood Azhar”. India’s strong response did not name China but hinted at “one country” that had hurt the global campaign to ban the terror mastermind.

In August, China extended by three months its technical hold on the proposal backed by US, France, and Britain to name Azhar a global terrorist after blocking the move in February. In 2016 March, China was the only country in the United Nation Security Council to put a hold on India’s application. The other 14 members supported New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban. This is the second year China has blocked the resolution. Essentially, there has been no change in China’s attitude towards the issue. It indicates China’s aim to ensure that the application to designate Masood Azhar terrorist lapses. [ Back to Contents ]

Narendra Modi and Li Keqiang ‘Pull-Aside’ Meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had a pull-aside on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila. The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India Raveesh Kumar tweeted, “Two neighbours in deep conversation. PM @narendramodi with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the margins of #EastAsiaSummit Summit in #Manila.” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said: “it only came naturally that leaders of two countries met and greeted each other on multilateral occasions.”
It was a brief interaction between the two leaders and the first one post-Doklam. There was no readout of the meeting because none of the officials were present at the meeting. [ Back to Contents ]

Donald Trump’s Visit to China

In the third leg of his Asia trip, Donald Trump visited China from 8-9 November 2017. This was the third direct meeting between the two leaders after the Mar-a-Lago and the G20 summit. China gave a red carpet welcome to Donald Trump. The visit was called a “state visit-plus”, a term which has not been used for any visit until now. Xi Jinping hosted a dinner for Donald Trump in the Forbidden City. Many issues related to the bilateral relations were discussed of which the widening trade deficit and North Korea were on the priority.
On the issue of North Korea, the two leaders agreed to fully implement all United Nation Security Council resolution on the North Korea. However, they were divided over the course of action. Trump called upon China to “increase economic pressure until North Korea abandons its reckless and dangerous path”, while China insists that dialogue and negotiations are needed to resolve the crisis. The USD 347 billion trade deficit issue was also discussed, but for a change Trump tried to strike a moderate tone, he did not blame China for the trade deficit. Instead, he blamed the previous US administration for the problem. Xi Jinping also discussed the issue on trade and lessen restriction on investment. A major outcome of the meeting was signing of the USD 253 billion trade deals.
Both the sides agreed to have a dialogue between the two militaries at various levels at an earlier date. Xi Jinping said China would soon invite the US Defence Secretary James Mattis to visit China and would arrange for a Chinese military delegation to visit the US. Regional issues such as the Middle East and Afghanistan were also discussed. Xi Jinping said that the bilateral relationship between the two countries is at a “new historic stating point”, but added that efforts should be taken to properly manage the differences between the two nations. Further, in the joint conference, Xi Jinping said, that the Pacific Ocean is big enough to accommodate both China and the US. Overall, the visit was high on symbolism and rhetoric and less on substance. [ Back to Contents ]

Xi Jinping’s Participation in the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting and His State Visit to Vietnam and Laos

At the APEC Economic leaders meeting, Xi Jinping stressed on the need for innovation, the opening of the economies, inclusive development to enhance people’s sense of fulfillment and to enrich partnerships and deliver benefits to all involved. In his keynote address, he defended globalisation, free trade, and multilateral organisation. He advocated for cooperation and integration in the Asia-Pacific region. He said, “China will not slow its steps in opening up itself.” He presented the Belt and Road Initiative as an open mechanism that would help advance regional connectivity. He also assured that “all businesses registered in China will be treated as equals,” and that China will “grant more powers to pilot free trade zones to conduct reform, and explore the opening of free trade ports.” Essentially, his speech was the reiteration of the promises made at Davos in January. It was a declaration of what China would do in coming years. However, it remains to be seen if they actually follow the open and inclusive economic order. After the APEC Economic Leader meeting, he made a state visit to Vietnam and Laos.
During his visit to Vietnam, both the countries signed documents to boost cooperation in the economy, investment, finance and cultural exchanges. Xi Jinping also inaugurated the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace in Hanoi. The Vietnam-China Friendship Palace, located in Hanoi’s development zone, was built with non-refundable aid from the Chinese government. Both the countries agreed to properly handle maritime issues in accordance with the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, push forward cooperation including joint exploitation of resources, and be dedicated to maintaining the peace and stability of the South China Sea.
Ahead of his visit to Laos, he published an article in Laos’s newspaper. He described the two countries as “friendly socialist neighbors with shared ideals, the same social systems and similar paths of development.” A series of cooperation in various fields such as building the China-Laos economic corridor, digital Silk Road, electricity, science, and technology, were inked. The construction of China-Laos railway is flagship project between the two countries. On the maritime issue, China and Laos called for relevant parties to reach agreement on a code of conduct in the South China Sea at an early date and jointly build the busy water body into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Xi Jinping’s participation at APEC meeting and state visit to Vietnam and Laos chart a new course for major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era. His visit to Vietnam and Laos immediately after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is an important move in China’s neighbourhood diplomacy and its Belt and Road Initiative. [ Back to Contents ]

China Leads the List of World’s Top Supercomputers
According to a biannual ranking of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers, China’s Sunway Taihu Light and Tianhe-2 are the two fastest supercomputers in the rankings, with Switzerland taking third place, Japan fourth and the US fifth. Intel chip-based Tianhe-2 had topped the list for three years until it was displaced in November 2015 by Taihu Light, which was built by entirely using processors designed and made in China.
China has also overtaken the United States in aggregate performance as well. China has 202 supercomputers while the US has 143. Japan is in the third place with 35 system and Germany holds the fourth place with 20. This reflects China’s increased investments in research and development. [ Back to Contents ]

Nepal

Provincial and Federal Elections

With very few days left for the Provincial (Nov 26, 2017) and parliamentary (Dec 7, 2017) elections, campaigning is understandably at its peak now with party leaders and candidates fanning out to their respective constituencies and strongholds to woo the voters. The two major alliances namely the Left Alliance of Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist-Centre (CPN-MC) on the one hand and the Democratic Alliance led by Nepali Congress (NC) are both claiming of securing majority of the 165 First-past-the-post (FPTP) seats in the House of Representatives. NC is confident of winning 60 seats and hopeful of securing another 50 in constituencies which will require hard work. Likewise the in the Left Alliance, CPN-UML estimates of winning 87 of the 96 seats being contested by the party with its alliance partners CPN-MC and smaller partners contesting the remaining seats contesting in 62+7 seats coming up with enough wins to secure overall majority after taking into account the seats under the Proportional Representation quota. To strengthen the prospects of the Left Alliance, CPN-MC leader Prachanda has once again urged former PM Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to withdraw his nomination form Gorkha-2 and rejoin the Maoist Centre.

Nepali Congress received a boost with Daman Nath Dhungana, Speaker of the First House of Representatives, deciding to re-enter politics after a gap of 23 years by joining the NC and contesting election from Bhaktapur -2 against UML’s youth leader Mahesh Basnet. Prime Minister Deuba’s wife, Arzu Rana is contesting the first-past-the-post parliamentary elections from Kailali-5.

According to media reports, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) is also hopeful of improving its position from its performance in the local level elections held recently. Similarly, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic) is confident of winning all the four seats it is contesting under the FPTP system while Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal (FSF-N) is hopeful of securing majority in Madhesi dominated Province-2. Rashtriya Janata Party-Nepal is yet to make final calculation of its electoral fortunes.
As far as campaigning is concerned, the Left Alliance has focused on governments all round failures and its whimsical decision to scrap the deal with the Chinese firm to construct the Budhi Gandak hydroelectricity project. The Deuba government, it may be recalled, scrapped the agreement with China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) to build the 1,200 MW hydroelectric project that was agreed to in June during the then Prime Minister Dahal’s tenure. Dahal said that the decision to award the project to the Chinese company was taken in consultation with the NC during his Prime-minister ship and PM Deuba should have consulted the CPN-MC which is still a part of the coalition government. UML leader KP Sharma Oli added that here the question was about foreign investment and such decision could not be taken unilaterally while the election process was on. The government has however clarified that the deal was scrapped as per recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee, as the award was not through open and transparent bidding process.

Meanwhile the Election Commission has banned the use of children in all activities related to the elections. In response to a delegation of NGO’s working for child rights and education, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Yadav said the Commission would not let parties mobilize and use children in assemblies, rallies and other electioneering activities. Schools premises will also not be used in counting of votes. [ Back to Contents ]

President Bhandari visits United Arab Emirates

President Bidya Devi Bhandari visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 13th to 16th November, 2017 at the invitation of Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and UAE’s Armed Forces Deputy Supreme Commander, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Bayed Al Nahyan. The visit took place on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and UAE. President Bhandari is accompanied by Supply Minister Jayant Chand and several high ranking officials. President Bhandari stated that one of the objectives of the visit was to assure the Nepalis living and working there that the country was heading towards peace and stability and an environment was created where the people could work remaining within the country itself. The President participated in various receptions and dinners hosted in her honour by the Embassy of Nepal in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This was President Bhandari’s first visit to UAE as the President of the country. Discussion were held at the highest level on problems relating to the Nepali migrant workers in the UAE. [ Back to Contents ]

Bangladesh

Connectivity Train Service Inaugurated

On November 9, 2017, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Prime Minister Modi together with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, through video link, jointly flagged off Bandhan Express between Kolkata to Khulna. The train service will run every Thursday from both the cities. The two Prime Ministers Modi, Prime Ministers also inaugurated two rail bridges over rivers Meghna and Titaash. Built at a cost of $ 100 million, the bridges will help strengthen Bangladesh’s rail network. Newly furbished immigration and custom facilities were also inaugurated at Kolkata station. It may be recalled that the trial run for the Kolkata-Khulna link was done during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in April, 2017. It adds to the already existing Maitree Express running between Kolkata and Dhaka since 2008. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to bilateral connectivity and infrastructure projects and said, “Being a trusted partner in Bangladesh’s development works is a matter of pride for India”.

The two countries have built arguably the most number of connectivity projects, unprecedented in the South Asian region. The two nations have also decided to revive the pre-1965 rail links when both the nations were one. This was one of the major decisions between Modi-Hasina Summit of 2015. Of the six existing rail links between India and Bangladesh, four links connecting West Bengal with Bangladesh have been made operational. These are Petrapole-Benapol, Gede-Darshana, Singhabad-Rohanpur and Radikapur to Birol. Two more rail links, namely, Karimgunj/Mahisasan to Shahbazpur and Haldibari-Chilhati are being worked upon. The latter will improve connectivity between Assam and Bangladesh. Two new railway lines are being contemplated largely to connect Tripura and Bangladesh. Work is going on steadily on the Agartala-Akhaura link. The second line connecting Belonia to Feni will connect with Chittagong port, opening up a new route for people and goods. The train lines are also a part of trans-Asian railway network. [ Back to Contents ]

Chief Justice Sinha Resigns

Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, facing charges of graft and money laundering, submitted his resignation a month after he left the country on a leave abroad. This occurred amidst a row with Sheikh Hasina government over a crucial Supreme Court verdict. Sinha had assumed the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on January 17, 2015 and was scheduled to retire on January 31, 2018. Sinha submitted his resignation letter to the Bangladesh embassy in Singapore on the last day of his month long leave. It may be recalled that Chief Justice Sinha left Dhaka for Australia on the 13th of October, 2017. The government was upset with him over his decision to scrap parliament’s authority in impeaching Supreme Court judges[Back to Contents ]

Rohingya Crisis

Addressing the Parliament on Nov. 15, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that ‘an unprecedented crisis over providing humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees and sending them back home was looming large over Bangladesh’. She expressed the hope that despite all odds, there would be a peaceful solution to the crisis with the assistance of the international community. She added that “the world community stands by Bangladesh for the generosity that we have shown to the displaced people”.
More than ten lakhs of Myanmanese are presently staying in Bangladesh. It includes four lakhs who had entered the country earlier in various phases. PM Hasina informed the House of Bangladesh’s efforts at various forum on Rohingya crisis and of repatriating the refugees. She also mentioned that so far 5, 27,597 Rohingyas have been registered and given Identity cards.

Prime Minister also said that a vested quarter was trying to engage the Rohingyas in acts of violence. Issuing a note of caution she said that anybody who provoked the Rohingyas into getting involved in acts of violence will face repercussion. ‘Dhaka will not allow its land as a launch pad for terrorist activities in any neighbouring country. Dhaka believed in peace and good relations with all its neighbours. Dhaka is also maintaining bilateral communications with Naypyidaw’.

Simultaneously the Prime Minister reiterated that the problem had its roots in Myanmar and Myanmar alone had to find a solution to the problem. She also spoke of her telephonic interaction with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on October 21 with regards to the Rohingya issue and sought UN’s cooperation in implementing Bangladesh’s five-point proposal for a permanent solution to the crisis. UN Secretary General told Suu Kyi that hundreds of thousands of displaced Rohingyas should be allowed to return home. He highlighted the need for strengthened efforts to ensure humanitarian access, voluntary and sustained return of the refugees and a genuine reconciliation.

The Rohingya crisis also came up for discussions between Suu Kyi and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila. It may be recalled that the US has been extremely cautious on its statement on the situation in the Rakhine and has also avoided outright criticism of Suu Kyi. The United State feels that she must navigate a path between outrage abroad and feelings in the majority Buddhist country where most people believe the Rohingyas are interlopes. Myanmar government insists that the military action in the Rakhine was a proportionate response to violence by militants. In Manila, the UN Secretary General voiced his concern over the Rohingyas, describing it as a source of potential instability in the region as well as a breeding ground for radicalization. [Back to Contents]