A visit by Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to the disputed Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh has led to an increasingly tense exchange of words between India and China. The region has been disputed since the China-India war in 1962. Following the visit at the weekend, Beijing reacted angrily by posting a comment on the ministry of foreign affairs website which advised India not to ‘stir up trouble'. The Indian government reacted by saying that it considers the region 'an inalienable part of India'. The dispute escalated yesterday as India urged China to stop projects in the disputed Pakistan controlled region of Kashmir, asking China to take a longer view on their relations.
The ToD Verdict: Whether this war of words will have significant strategic ramifications is yet to be seen. These recent exchanges are the latest in the long running dispute over the border territory, with talks over the summer failing to produce agreement between the two countries. All this demonstrates the fragility of the relations between India and China, two of the world's fastest growing regional powers. However, the two countries have also seen rapidly increasing trading ties and China is now India's biggest trading partner; it seems unlikely that either side will want to jeopardise that.
One commentator has said that the fragility of the relations between the two is down to a lack of engagement from both sides with one another's political classes. The two are rarely of one mind on international or regional issues. Whether a renewed engagement will bring the governments closer together is speculative, but the US, at least, seems to think bilateral negotiations will be the solution to this problem.
China remains committed to its ‘peaceful rise', whereby it intends to become a world power without causing regional or global instability. Surely the hope must be that it adheres to this guiding policy in this instance.
This border dispute clearly exposes a deep division between India and China, and the fear in India will be that if China remains uncompromising, India may have insufficient resources to resist. It seems that India's concerns, and the heart of this dispute, may lie as much in the control of sea resources, which are strategically and economically important to both countries, as in the land border dispute. China continues to pursue its ‘string of pearls' policy to secure key shipping lanes which has caused India some concern. As India becomes ever more fearful of losing its dominance and free use of the Indian Ocean, the dispute in the Himalayas will attain another dimension.
Blast at Moldovan pop concert injures forty
Moldovan authorities were quick to announce that a grenade blast at a pop concert in Chisinau last night was the work of ‘representatives of a terrorist group or criminal groups from abroad'. The government has also asked the opposition not to use the attack for political means. The grenade exploded in the crowd during a concert in the city's main square, injuring forty, of whom five were kept in treatment for burns at hospital. The government's announcement that the bomb was the work of groups from abroad may be an attempt to divert attention from political instability at home. In elections this year the longstanding communist party was replaced by a pro-Western coalition, but they have yet to elect a President leaving something of a political vacuum in the country. Moldova has a tense political history and is locked in ongoing OCSE backed talks with separatists in the Transnistria region.
Attacks on police targets in Pakistan
Simultaneous attacks by militants on three police targets in Lahore and one in Kohat today left at least 29 dead in the latest spate of violence Pakistan. Militants targeted the Elite Police Academy, Bedian and Manawan Police Academy and the Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore, the latter the scene of another deadly attack in March this year. The militants, some of whom were apparently wearing suicide jackets, exchanged gunfire and threw grenades while storming the buildings. Some blew themselves up and others were killed by police. Gunfire was still being exchanged at the Elite Police Academy long after the other two bases were cleared and the final figures of dead and injured are yet to be known. In Kohat, northwest Pakistan, ten people were killed at a car bomb attack on the police station.
This week has been one of the deadliest in Pakistan with more than 100 killed in militant attacks. The increase in violence follows Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud's threats that the Taliban would strike back for US and Pakistan drone attacks on the Afghan border.
As the attacks were staged today, an American drone stuck in North Waziristan, killing five. It is believed that the US may be stepping up drone attacks as it becomes increasingly uneasy with Pakistan's ability to control militants along its borders. The Pakistan army has been gearing up for a major offensive in South Waziristan, launching airstrikes in the region to ‘soften up' targets'. Despite the emerging significance of militant circles centred on the South Punjab,Pakistan believes that most of the recent attacks are plotted and coordinated in South Waziristan. With a reported 90,000 people having to leave their homes over concerns about the safety of the region, fears of a humanitarian disaster are again being raised, after similar concerns were aired during Pakistan's last major offensive in the Swat Valley.
Pirate attack in Gulf of Guinea
Cameroon's ministry of defence claimed today to have an attempt of piracy on a fishing village close to the Nigerian border. Four gunmen were killed and three captured in the operation. Cameroon and other states on the Gulf are struggling with an increase in piracy. Pirates struck as recently as last month in Cameroon, stealing valuables from two boats in an incident that saw a number of casualties.
The rising fear of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea adds to regional woes such as an ongoing insurgency in the Niger Delta. Whether piracy in the region will become as much of an international concern as in the Gulf of Aden, where Somali pirates captured a Singaporean vessel today, is yet to be seen.
North Korea says South Korea may have caused a ‘naval clash'
North Korea today accused South Korea of illegally entering its waters, provoking a further upset in the relations between the two neighbours, with threats of a naval engagement of the vessel. South Korea does not accept the sea boundary used by North Korea and has disputed its claims. North Korea claims waters south of the UN set boundary, which was agreed at the end of the Korean War.
The incident comes just one day after South Korea accepted an apology from North Korea over their actions in September when they opened a dam, causing flooding in South Korea which killed six. South Korea accepted the apology as an indication of ‘willingness on the part of North Korea to improve relations'. The apology cleared the air for talks on aid held today. However, some analysts have suggested that North Korea's posturing is no more than an attempt to gain the upper hand in talks about denuclearisation.
Hizbollah denies Israel rocket claims
Israeli President Shimon Peres' claims that Hezbollah was stockpiling weapons in Lebanon, supported by a video purporting to show militants stockpiling missiles, were refuted by the group on Wednesday. Hezbollah released footage showing members loading what they said was a metal door, rather than a missile, being loaded on to a truck while being watched by UN peacekeepers. Any stockpiling of weapons would contravene the UN backed peace deal with Lebanon following the 2006 war.
