Security spending ramped up in China’s restive Xinjiang region
Security and surveillance spending in China’s restive Xinjiang region almost doubled last year as the country tightened its grip on millions of ethnic minority citizens, particularly Muslim Uighurs.
Public security spending rose 92 per cent to Rmb57.95bn ($9.16bn), according to local government statistics, eight times higher than the growth rate for China’s overall public security budget. Xinjiang’s security costs have increased 10-fold in the past decade, vastly outpacing the rest of the country. (FT)
Sino-Russian cooperation and exchange under the Belt and Road Initiative increases
Frozen grounds, cold winds and long nights - these can be a nightmare for any construction team. But this is what employees of the China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group grappled with in past winters while building the China-Russia Tongjiang Rail Bridge crossing the border between China and Russia. The bridge is expected to trigger a commercial and infrastructure development boom in the cross-border economic corridor, along with a larger flow of cargo and people. (Global Times)
China is laying the groundwork for a new aid agency to oversee its massive – and opaque – foreign aid programmes as Beijing closes in on Washington as the world’s biggest donor. (scmp)
EU, China urge Taliban to seize offer for talks: EU ambassador
China and the European Union believe the Taliban should seize Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer to recognize the movement as a legitimate political group, the EU’s special envoy to Afghanistan said on Wednesday. (Reuters)EU, China urge Taliban to seize offer for talks: EU ambassador
Men from Gilgit-Baltistan say their spouses are being held in ‘re-education’ camps in Xinjiang
Last week lawmakers in Gilgit-Baltistan demanded that authorities in China’s Xinjiang province
immediately release from detention at least 50 Chinese women married to Pakistani men, some ofwhom have been held for a year on vague charges of extremism. (guardian)
Tilting at Windmills: Dubious US claims of targeting Chinese Uyghur militants in Badakhshan
In early February 2018, US forces conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s north-eastern province of Badakhshan, supposedly targeting ‘support structures’ of the ‘East Turkistan Islamic Movement’ (ETIM), allegedly a group of Uyghur extremists hailing from China’s far west said to be focused on attacking the Chinese state. (1) United States Forces – Afghanistan claimed the strikes targeted direct cross-border threats to China and Tajikistan emanating from the ETIM in Badakhshan. AAN guest co-authors Ted Callahan (*) and Franz J. Marty (**) show that such US claims are questionable, as there is no evidence that the few Uyghur extremists in Badakhshan, about whom there is only scarce and ambiguous information, pose any direct cross-border threat. (Afghanistan Analyst Network)
immediately release from detention at least 50 Chinese women married to Pakistani men, some ofwhom have been held for a year on vague charges of extremism. (guardian)
Tilting at Windmills: Dubious US claims of targeting Chinese Uyghur militants in Badakhshan
In early February 2018, US forces conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s north-eastern province of Badakhshan, supposedly targeting ‘support structures’ of the ‘East Turkistan Islamic Movement’ (ETIM), allegedly a group of Uyghur extremists hailing from China’s far west said to be focused on attacking the Chinese state. (1) United States Forces – Afghanistan claimed the strikes targeted direct cross-border threats to China and Tajikistan emanating from the ETIM in Badakhshan. AAN guest co-authors Ted Callahan (*) and Franz J. Marty (**) show that such US claims are questionable, as there is no evidence that the few Uyghur extremists in Badakhshan, about whom there is only scarce and ambiguous information, pose any direct cross-border threat. (Afghanistan Analyst Network)
CENTRAL ASIA
Rivals for Authority in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan
The Tajik government’s control of its eastern territory, Gorno-Badakhshan, is tenuous at best. Irregulars loyal to local powerbrokers known as the Authorities have clashed with government forces in the past and may do so again if challenged. China has a growing security presence in the region.
Beijing appears to have established a security presence in GBAO. Local officials and residents say China has built an installation in a remote corner of the oblast, near both Xinjiang and the Afghan border. (.crisisgroup)
Rare Central Asian Summit Signals Regional Thaw
Beijing appears to have established a security presence in GBAO. Local officials and residents say China has built an installation in a remote corner of the oblast, near both Xinjiang and the Afghan border. (.crisisgroup)
Rare Central Asian Summit Signals Regional Thaw
Four Central Asian presidents met in Kazakhstan for the first regional summit in almost a decade, a sign of improving ties following the death of divisive Uzbek leader Islam Karimov in 2016.The host, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, described what he called a new "mood" in the region ahead of the March 15 meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. (rferl)
End the Weaponisation of Water in Central Asia
The US State Department has provided American universities and NGOs with grants to operate 29 such centres in conjunction with Chinese partners, such as universities.But 10 of the partnerships have "dissolved due to pressure from Chinese government authorities, with some never moving beyond signing an agreement", the State Department's Office of the Inspector General wrote in a December report that concluded the difficulties may make it necessary to "suspend" new funding for the programme.Today only around 10 centres remain active. (crisis group)
Central Asia Leaders Confab but Stop Short of Binding Commitments
A gathering of Central Asia presidents held in Kazakhstan’s capital this week culminated in a joint declaration brimming with flowery language about new beginnings.For all the chatter about the potential emergence of a new regional bloc that preceded the event, however, the statement merely reaffirmed boilerplate commitments to mutual cooperation. (Eurasianet)End the Weaponisation of Water in Central Asia
The US State Department has provided American universities and NGOs with grants to operate 29 such centres in conjunction with Chinese partners, such as universities.But 10 of the partnerships have "dissolved due to pressure from Chinese government authorities, with some never moving beyond signing an agreement", the State Department's Office of the Inspector General wrote in a December report that concluded the difficulties may make it necessary to "suspend" new funding for the programme.Today only around 10 centres remain active. (crisis group)
Central Asia Leaders Confab but Stop Short of Binding Commitments
As copper booms, miners take hunt to Mongolian dunes
For years Rio Tinto has been the sole international copper mine operator in Mongolia, bound closely to a country where it has bet billions of dollars on the giant Oyu Tolgoi project. Others have steered clear due to the risks of operating in a nation with an unpredictable and young democracy and judiciary, a frail economy and extreme weather.Now rising global demand for a metal used in electric cars and renewable energy, at a time of increased costs and depleted deposits in the world’s biggest copper producer Chile, is driving miners to riskier locations. (Reuters)
For years Rio Tinto has been the sole international copper mine operator in Mongolia, bound closely to a country where it has bet billions of dollars on the giant Oyu Tolgoi project. Others have steered clear due to the risks of operating in a nation with an unpredictable and young democracy and judiciary, a frail economy and extreme weather.Now rising global demand for a metal used in electric cars and renewable energy, at a time of increased costs and depleted deposits in the world’s biggest copper producer Chile, is driving miners to riskier locations. (Reuters)
.jpg)
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento