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BRICS Summit begins tomorrow: China-India bilateral ties may overshadow India's agenda at meet

Agencies
September 3, 2017

Sept 3: The three-day BRICS summit is set to begin on Sunday in China's southwestern city of Xiamen where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping are likely to meet on the sidelines.

Although economic, security and other multilateral issues will figure in the annual meet of the five-member grouping, a probable one-on-one between Modi and Xi will be a focal point, especially after the protracted military standoff along the trijunction point in Doka La.

Their last bilateral meet was during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet at Astana in June. They met informally at G20 in Germany the following month amid the border crisis.

What to expect at BRICS summit

Modi will arrive in China on 3 September and attend the BRICS restricted session and its plenary session on 4 September, External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

He said the restricted session is expected to discuss the global economic situation, international economic governance, national security and development and international and regional issues.

Kumar said the plenary session will discuss the practical cooperation for common development, people-to-people exchanges, cultural cooperation and institution building. In the evening, the BRICS leaders will attend a cultural festival and an exhibition, followed by a meeting with the BRICS business council.

He said later four documents are expected to be signed at the summit — BRICS action agenda for economic and trade development, BRICS action agenda on innovative development, strategic framework for BRICS custom cooperation and MOU between BRICS business council and New Development Bank.

On the fourth evening, the BRICS leaders will be joined by leaders of the five guest countries for a welcome. The guest countries are Thailand, Mexico, Guinea, Egypt and Tajikistan.

On 5 September, there will be BRICS emerging markets-developing countries dialogue, which the spokesperson said is an opportunity for BRICS member countries to exchange views with the developing world and build broader partnership for development.

Issues like counter-terrorism and the global financial crisis will also come for up discussion.

The proposed BRICS rating agency will be one of the key issues at the 9th meet of the grouping, which will be chaired by Xi.

Kumar said the Prime Minister will leave for Myanmar on 5 September afternoon on the second leg of his visit.

China-India bilateral ties may overshadow India's agenda at the summit

Experts opined that the recent face off may make for a soft spot in India-China relationship, prompting New Delhi to divert much of its attention in improving ties with China.

"Since the (Doklam) dispute has been resolved, the Xiamen meeting (bilateral meet between Modi and Xi) will be a turning point," Wang Dehua, an expert at one of China's top think tanks the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.

Wang, who was one of the Chinese experts threatening India with war during the standoff at Doklam, said "there was no reason for India and China to be hostile to each other".

"I always advocate 'Chindia' which is integration of China and India. I think it is a turning point. If we work together, the world will listen to us," Wang said.

The troops of India and China were locked in an over two-month standoff over stopping construction of a Chinese road by the Indian Army in Doklam, at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan.

The dispute, which had begun to threaten the success of the BRICS summit, was resolved on Monday.

"It's good news that Modi is coming, but the reasons causing such kind of stand-offs increase strategic mistrust," Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asia and Oceania Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations said.

Asked about the issues he expects that will figure in the meet, Hu said: They (Modi and Xi) should give a kind of signal that this standoff does not happen again."

When questioned what if Modi raises India's concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Hu said: "This is the time of recovery. They will meet in the general way to discuss bilateral issues."

"It will take some time to recover from the damage," he said referring to the face-off.

Besides this, the symbolism of the BRICS summit is far too important for China as well to allow hostilities with India take over the narrative. Beijing too an be expected to cut down on rhetoric and allow room for normalisation of ties. A report in the media states that the city of Xiamen, where the stage is set to host the summit, is a manifestation of sorts, for Xi's achievements in domestic politics. "Experts on China, India ties point out that Xi takes a lot of pride in his stint in Xiamen — a city he personally took interest in transforming as vice mayor since as early as in 1985 — which is not very common for his otherwise reticent personality, the report added.

India unlikely to bring up Pakistan issue at BRICS summit

Improving ties after the recent face off is work in progress, however, any improvement in the situation would need constant trust building efforts as the memory from Doka La standoff is still raw.

In such a situation, it is unlikely that India will place undue emphasis on Pakistan at the multi-lateral summit as it remains one of the thorny issues between India and China. Even though, India dismissed the Chinese view that it should not raise concerns over Pakistan's links with cross-border terrorism at the BRICS, it is unlikely that Modi would take it up explicitly at the summit to make matters worse with China.

"India attaches high importance to the role of BRICS that has begun a second decade of its partnership for progress and peace. BRICS has important contributions to make in addressing global challenges and upholding world peace and security," Modi said.

Beijing too has ruled out discussion on India's concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan at the summit.

Beijing's Belt and Road project, whose key artery the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through a disputed Kashmir area claimed by India, is another sore point between the two nations.

The five-member bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was formed in 2006. They comprise 42 percent of the world's population, have 23 percent of global GDP and 17 percent share in world trade. The theme of the ninth BRICS summit is `Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future'.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Russia boasts that it's about to become the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, with mass vaccinations planned as early as October using shots that are yet to complete clinical trials -- and scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm that the headlong rush could backfire.

Moscow sees a Sputnik-like propaganda victory, recalling the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first satellite in 1957.

But the experimental Covid-19 shots began first-in-human testing on a few dozen people less than two months ago, and there's no published scientific evidence yet backing Russia's late entry to the global vaccine race, much less explaining why it should be considered a front-runner.

“I'm worried that Russia is cutting corners so that the vaccine that will come out may be not just ineffective, but also unsafe,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health law expert at Georgetown University. “It doesn't work that way... Trials come first. That's really important.”

According to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the effort, a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute in Moscow may be approved in days, before scientists complete what's called a Phase 3 study.

That final-stage study, usually involving tens of thousands of people, is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said members of “risk groups,” such as medical workers, may be offered the vaccine this month.

He didn't clarify whether they would be part of the Phase 3 study that is said to be completed after the vaccine receives “conditional approval.”

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova promised to start “industrial production” in September, and Murashko said mass vaccination may begin as early as October.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease specialist, questioned the fast-track approach last week.

“I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing a vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone, because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing I think is problematic at best," he said.

Questions about this vaccine candidate come after the US, Britain and Canada last month accused Russia of using hackers to steal vaccine research from Western labs.

Delivering a vaccine first is a matter of national prestige for the Kremlin as it tries to assert the image of Russia as a global power capable of competing with the US and China.

The notion of being “the first in the world” dominated state news coverage of the effort, with government officials praising reports of the first-step testing.

In April, President Vladimir Putin ordered state officials to shorten the time of clinical trials for a variety of drugs, including potential coronavirus vaccines.

According to Russia's Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, the order set “an unattainable bar” for scientists who, as a result, "joined in on the mad race, hoping to please those at power.”

The association first raised concern in late May, when professor Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya institute, said he and other researchers tried the vaccine on themselves.

The move was a “crude violation of the very foundations of clinical research, Russian law and universally accepted international regulations" the group said in an open letter to the government, urging scientists and health officials to adhere to clinical research standards.

But a month later, the Health Ministry authorized clinical trials of the Gamaleya product, with what appeared to be another ethical issue.

Human studies started June 17 among 76 volunteers. Half were injected with a vaccine in liquid form and the other half with a vaccine that came as soluble powder.

Some in the first half were recruited from the military, which raised concerns that servicemen may have been pressured to participate.

Some experts said their desire to perform well would affect the findings. “It's no coincidence media reports we see about the trials among the military said no one had any side effects, while the (other group) reported some," said Vasily Vlassov, a public health expert with Moscow's Higher School of Economics.

As the trials were declared completed and looming regulatory approval was announced last week, questions arose about the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

Government assurances the drug produced the desired immune response and caused no significant side effects were hardly convincing without published scientific data describing the findings.

The World Health Organization said all vaccine candidates should go through full stages of testing before being rolled out.

“There are established practices and there are guidelines out,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday.

“Between finding or having a clue of maybe having a vaccine that works, and having gone through all the stages, is a big difference.”

Offering an unsafe compound to medical workers on the front lines of the outbreak could make things worse, Georgetown's Gostin said, adding: “What if the vaccine started killing them or making them very ill?”

Vaccines that are not properly tested can cause harm in many ways — from a negative impact on health to creating a false sense of security or undermining trust in vaccinations, said Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

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Agencies
May 6,2020

Italian researchers have claimed that they have successfully developed a vaccine to contain coronavirus (COVID-19) which is likely to work on humans, a report said.

Luigi Aurisicchio, CEO of Takis, the firm developing the medication, said that a coronavirus candidate vaccine has neutralised the virus in human cells for the first time, the Arab News reported.

"This is the most advanced stage of testing of a candidate vaccine created in Italy. Human tests are expected after this summer," Aurisicchio was quoted as saying to Italian news agency ANSA.

"According to the Spallanzani Hospital, as far as we know we are the first in the world so far to have demonstrated neutralisation of the coronavirus by a vaccine. We expect this to happen in humans too," he added.

The researchers experimented with the vaccine on mice that had successfully developed antibodies that blocked the virus from infecting the cells. They further observed that the five vaccine candidates generated a large number of antibodies, and selected two with the best results.

All of the vaccine candidates currently being developed are based on the genetic material of DNA protein "spike", the molecular tip used by the coronavirus to enter human cells.

They are injected with the so-called "electroporation" technique, which consists of an intramuscular injection followed by a brief electrical impulse, helping the vaccine break into the cells and activating the immune system, the report said.

Researchers believe that this makes their vaccine particularly effective for generating functional antibodies against the "spike" protein, in particular in the lung cells, which are the most vulnerable to coronavirus.

"We are working hard for a vaccine coming from Italian research, with an all-Italian and innovative technology, tested in Italy and made available to everyone," Aurisicchio was quoted by the Arab News report.

"In order to reach this goal, we need the support of national and international institutions and partners who may help us speed up the process," he noted.

The total number of COVID-19 infections, fatalities and recoveries since the pandemic began has risen to 213,013 in the country.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Washington, Jan 11: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing another set of crippling sanctions against Iran, targeting several of its top leaders, military commanders, and its infrastructure industry, according to a statement from the White House on Friday.

Trump said the executive order authorises the imposition of sanctions against any individual or entity operating in the construction, manufacturing, textiles, or mining sectors of the Iranian economy or anyone assisting those who engage in this sanctioned business.

The sanctions are the latest in a series of retaliatory measures between the two nations.

Iran's powerful military commander Qasem Soleimani was killed last Friday in US drone strikes, ordered by President Trump, bringing the entire Gulf region close to a full-blown conflict.

Regional tensions remained high after Iran on Wednesday fired missiles at two bases in Iraq used by US forces.

"Today, I am holding the Iranian regime responsible for attacks against United States personnel and interests by denying it substantial revenue that may be used to fund and support its nuclear program, missile development, terrorism and terrorist proxy networks, and malign regional influence," said Trump on Friday, after signing the executive order.

"This order will have a major impact on the Iranian economy, authorising powerful secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions.

"The Iranian regime has threatened United States military service members, diplomats, and civilians, as well as the citizens and interests of our allies and partners, through military force and proxy groups. The United States will continue to counter the Iranian regime's destructive and destabilising behaviour," the president said.

Trump said the economic sanctions will remain till the Iranian regime changes its behaviour.

Earlier at a White House news conference, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, along with cabinet colleague Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the US will continue its economic and diplomatic sanctions on Iran till Tehran announces it will not pursue the nuclear weapons program and stop its destabilising behaviour in the region.

The eight senior Iranian regime officials against whom sanctions have been issued include Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, the Deputy Chief of Staff of Iranian armed forces, and Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij militia of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The sanction on the Iranian officials would mean denial of visa to the US and seizure of assets, among others.

In addition, the treasury designated 17 Iranian metals producers and mining companies, a network of three China-and Seychelles-based entities, and a vessel involved in the purchase, sale, and transfer of Iranian metals products, as well as in the provision of critical metals production components to Iranian metal producers.

"The United States is targeting senior Iranian officials for their involvement and complicity in Tuesday's ballistic missile strikes," Mnuchin said.

"We are also designating Iran's largest metals manufacturers, and imposing sanctions on new sectors of the Iranian economy including construction, manufacturing, and mining. These sanctions will continue until the regime stops the funding of global terrorism and commits to never having nuclear weapons," he added.

Pompeo told reporters that Iran was planning "broad, large-scale attacks" against American interests in the Middle East, including embassies.

The latest round of sanctions are aimed at striking at the heart of Iran's internal security apparatus, he said.

"The president has been very clear: we will continue to apply economic sanctions until Iran stops its terrorist activities and commits that it will never have nuclear weapons," Mnuchin said.

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