VIF Information Alerts - 24th May 2018

China’s military top brass gather to hone modern warfare preparations
Published: South China Morning Post
23 May 2018

Four hundred senior Chinese army officers have met for a training session focusing on modern land warfare techniques, state media has reported. Senior officers and commanders from the People’s Liberation Army’s Ground Forces began a four-day training session in Korla city in the northwestern region of Xinjiang on Tuesday, according to a report from state news agency Xinhua published on the same day. Click here to read... [2]

U.S. kicks China out of military exercise
Published: POLITICO
23 May 2018

The United States has revoked an invitation to China's People's Liberation Army Navy to participate in a naval exercise, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, citing Beijing's destabilizing moves in the South China Sea — including deploying weapons and other military equipment on contested islands and artificial reefs. Click here to read... [3]

US issues China health alert after brain injury to consular employee
Published: The Guardian
23 May 2018

The US has issued a health alert to US citizens in China after one of its consulate workers in the south of the country suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, similar to a string of mysterious medical problems among US diplomats in Cuba last year. The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said that the US consular employee in Guangzhou suffered symptoms that were “very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications of the Americans working in Havana”. Click here to read... [4]

China wants Pakistan to relocate Hafiz Saeed to a West Asian country
Published: The Hindu
24 May 2018

China has asked Pakistan to explore ways of relocating Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed to a West Asian country in response to mounting international pressure to act against him for his links with terror groups. Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested this course of action — allowing Saeed to live a quiet life in a West Asian country — to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the sidelines of the Boao Forum in China last month. “At a 35-minute meeting, at least 10 minutes of the discussion dealt with Saeed. The Chinese President was keen on pressing the Prime Minister to find an early solution to keep Saeed away from the limelight,” a close aide of Mr. Abbasi told The Hindu, requesting anonymity. Click here to read... [5]

Pakistan military access metadata, texts, photos from hacked phones of Australian diplomats
Published: The Australian
23 May 2018

The Pakistani military is alleged to have hacked information from Australian diplomats potentially gaining access to sensitive metadata, texts and photos and tracking their movements. The hacking is thought to have occurred after the Australians interacted with those whose phones were compromised after they downloaded apps or had their phones physically accessed by the hackers. Click here to read... [6]

Pak borrows USD 1 billion from Chinese banks to avoid crisis: Report
Published: The Economic Times
24 May 2018

Pakistan has turned to its all-weather ally China for help in averting a foreign currency crisis, borrowing USD 1 billion from Chinese banks in April on "good, competitive rates", according to a media report today. In an interview with The Financial Times, the State Bank of Pakistan Governor Tariq Bajwa confirmed the loans were made by Beijing-backed banks on good rates. Click here to read... [7]

ULFA says it can check illegal migration from Bangladesh
Published: The Hindu
24 May 2018

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) wants to do what the Border Security Force has allegedly failed to — check illegal migration to Assam through the Bangladesh border. Eight leaders of the outfit, who met the Centre’s interlocutor A.B. Mathur along with Home Ministry and Central intelligence officials in New Delhi on Monday, proposed the raising of an unarmed battalion comprising ULFA cadres to form a second line of defence along the border. Click here to read... [8]

Files on Tamil Tigers and MI5 in Sri Lanka erased at Foreign Office

Published: The Guardian
23 May 2018

Britain’s Foreign Office destroyed almost 200 files on Sri Lanka dating from the start of a Tamil Tiger uprising during which MI5 and the SAS secretly advised the country’s security forces, it has emerged. The loss of the files means that there is almost no record of the British government’s work with the Sri Lankan authorities at the start of a famously brutal civil war. Click here to read... [9]