VIF Information Alerts - 29 April 2019

Two U.S. Navy warships sail through strategic Taiwan Strait
Published: Reuters

29 Apr 2019

The U.S. military said it sent two Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday as the Pentagon increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China. The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.Click here to read... [2]

NIA raids three places in Kerala as part of probe into IS module
Published: The Indian Express

29 Apr 2019

The National Investigation Agency on Sunday conducted searches at three places in Kerala in connection with a case pertaining to youth from the state joining ISIS. The agency carried out raids in Kasaragod and Palakkad and interrogated three individuals who are suspected to have links with the youth who joined the dreaded terror organisation.Click here to read... [3]

Imran-Putin meeting ‘failed to materialise’ at China's Belt and Road Forum
Published: The Express Tribune

29 Apr 2019

In what is seen as a diplomatic setback, Pakistan could not convince Russia for a bilateral meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the just-concluded Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Not only that other than his meetings with the Chinese president and prime minister, PM Imran could only manage meeting the prime minister of Ethiopia and the president of Tajikistan despite the fact that at least 37 heads of states and governments attended the two-day moot.Click here to read... [4]

Pakistan, China sign six accords
Published: The Nation

29 Apr 2019

A total of six MoUs and agreements were signed between Pakistan and China at the conclusion of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s second visit to China.

The most important accords signed on the occasion were the Second Phase of the Pakistan-China Free Trade Agreement, which aims at enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries, and the declaration for completion of phase-I initial design for upgradation of Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar train track (ML-1) and establishment of Havelian dry port under CPEC.Click here to read... [5]

China drops BCIM from BRI projects' list
Published: The New Indian Express

28 Apr 2019

Beijing has dropped the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM) from the list of projects covered under its trillion-dollar connectivity Belt and Road. For reasons immediately not known, the name of the corridor was not in the list of projects mentioned in the annex of the Joint Communique of the Leaders' Roundtable of the second edition of the Belt and Road summit that concluded on Saturday.Click here to read... [6]

China removes BRI map that showed Arunachal & J&K part of India
Published: The Economic Times

27 Apr 2019

China on Saturday removed map from website of Belt and Road Initiative (BR) Forum which had shown entire Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India and India as part of BRI.

As the second edition of Belt and Road Initiative Summit got underway in Beijing this Thursday, ET had reported on Friday that China displayed a map with BRI routes that curiously showed entire Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.Click here to read... [7]