India, China hold strategic dialogue

February 22, 2017

Beijing, Feb 22: China and India today held their upgraded strategic dialogue to shore up bilateral ties amid hectic parleys to resolve differences over Beijing's reluctance to support India's NSG bid as well as a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar. Just before the dialogue, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Welcoming Jaishankar, co-chair of the dialogue, Wang said China and India are two major developing countries and emerging markets besides important nations in the world.

top

"We have to have frequent meetings," he said, referring to high-level talks held by officials from both sides on critical issues before today's dialogue. The official-level meetings made very good foundation for the "successful strategic dialogue", he said, adding that the Chinese side attaches importance to "this reconstituted dialogue". "I am certain by raising the level of this strategic dialogue the two sides will be able to enhance their strategic communication, reduce misunderstanding and build more trust and deepen our strategic cooperation," Wang said.

"This way we can better tap into the potential of our bilateral relations and live up to our responsibilities" for the regional stability. In his response, Jaishankar said, "This is the first time that the restructured strategic dialogue is taking place". "This shows that our relationship today has gone well beyond bilateral manifestations," he said.

Stating that the two countries are members of G20, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), BRICS and the East Asia Summit, he said this will "allow us to find more common ground on more issues". Later, Jaishankar along with China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui held the strategic dialogue.

In his opening remarks at the dialogue, Jaishankar said, "We have truly transcended the bilateral dimension of our relations. What happens between India and China has both great global and regional significance.

"Our assessment coming in is that our bilateral relations have really acquired a very steady momentum over many years. Our leadership-level meetings have been taking place regularly and our economic engagement is growing. We are seeing cooperation on many international issues and our border areas have maintained peace and tranquility," he said.

"Overall the closer development partnership has been unfolding," he said. Apparently referring to differences, Jaishankar said, "there are natural issues which neighbours have" and it is the responsibility of both the countries to address them. Zhang said "I expect that we discuss the full range of issues that are important to our countries".

Several top officials from both sides, including those in-charge of nuclear disarmament issues, were present at the talks indicating that both sides will be discussing India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) besides other issues.

The talks were being held in the backdrop of vocal differences between the two countries on a host of issues including India's concern over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Beijing's reluctance to back India's application to join the NSG and the UN ban on Azhar.

The strategic dialogue was upgraded during Chinese Foreign Minister Yi's visit to New Delhi last year. China has deputed Zhang, also the head of the influential Communist Party of China (CPC) committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry to co-chair the talks.

Ahead of today's talks Jaishankar, who formerly worked as India's Ambassador to China, met China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi yesterday and held talks with him on the critical issues bedevilling the bilateral ties. During their talks, both Yang and Jaishankar expressed strong commitment to develop positive relations despite differences.

Yang, who is the State Councillor and Beijing's Special Representative for border talks between India and China, had said despite differences, relations between the two sides had a positive growth last year.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 13,2020

Shanghai, Jun 13: Authorities in Beijing have temporarily shut a major wholesale agricultural market following a rise in locally transmitted novel coronavirus infections in China's capital city over the past two days.

The closure of the Xinfadi wholesale market at 3 a.m. local time on Saturday (1900 GMT on Friday), came after two men working at a meat research centre who had recently visited the market were reported on Friday as having been infected by the novel coronavirus. It was not immediately clear how the men had been infected.

Concern is growing of a second wave of the new virus, even in many countries that seemed to have curbed its spread. It was first reported at a seafood market in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province, in December.

Beijing authorities had earlier halted beef and mutton trading at the Xinfadi market, alongside closures at other wholesale markets around the city.

Reflecting concerns over the risk of further spread of the virus, major supermarkets in Beijing removed salmon from their shelves overnight after the virus causing COVID-19 was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at the market, the state-owned Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Beijing authorities said more than 10,000 people at the market will take nucleic acid tests to detect coronavirus infections. The city government also said it had dropped plans to reopen schools on Monday for students in grades one through three because of the new cases.

Health authorities visited the home of a Reuters reporter in Beijing's Dongcheng district on Saturday to ask whether she had visited the Xinfadi market, which is 15 km (9 miles) away. They said the visit was part of patrols Dongcheng was conducting.

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

China reported 11 new COVID-19 cases and seven asymptomatic cases for Friday, the national health authority said on Saturday. And all six locally transmitted cases were confirmed in Beijing.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 2,2020

Jun 2: Pakistan's COVID-19 cases reached 76,398 on Tuesday after 3,938 new infections were reported across the country, while the death toll due to the coronavirus has gone up to 1,621, according to the health ministry.

The Ministry of National Health Services said that 78 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities in Pakistan to 1,621.

A total of 27, 110 people have recovered, it said.

Sindh has 29,647 patients, Punjab 27,850, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 10,485, Balochistan 4,514, Islamabad 2,893, Gilgit-Baltistan 738 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 271, it added.

The authorities have conducted 577,974 tests, including 16,548 in the last 24 hours.

The jump in the number of cases comes a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan said that people should learn to live with COVID-19 until a vaccine is developed.

Khan addressed the media after chairing the meeting of National Coordination Committee, the highest body to tackle the pandemic.

"Coronavirus will not go away until the vaccine is discovered. We need to learn to live with it and we can live with it if we follow precautions," he said.

He said the one million volunteers of the government's coronavirus force will raise awareness of the need to follow guidelines.

The government also said that all sectors will be opened slowly after deciding the negative list of businesses which will not be allowed.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 12,2020

May 12: Gunmen stormed a hospital on Tuesday in an ongoing attack in the Afghan capital Kabul, as a suicide blast killed 15 people at a funeral in the country's restive east.

Special forces rescued 80 people including mothers and babies from the Kabul hospital after three gunmen launched a morning assault, killing at least four people, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Heavily armed forces were seen carrying babies wrapped in blankets away from the scene, as the clearance operation continued.

The facility, which has a large maternity ward, is located in the west of the city, home to the capital's minority Shiite Hazara community -- a frequent target of Sunni militants from the Islamic State group.

The flare-up in violence comes as Afghanistan grapples with myriad crises including a rise in militant operations across the country and a surge in coronavirus infections.

A paediatrician who fled the hospital told AFP he heard a loud explosion at the entrance of the building.

"The hospital was full of patients and doctors, there was total panic inside," he said, asking not to be named.

The maternity services at the hospital are supported by humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

"Hospitals and health workers must not be attacked. We call on all sides to stop attacking hospitals and health workers," said deputy health minister in the city, Waheed Majroh.

Around an hour later, a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people at the funeral of a local police commander in the country's eastern Nangarhar province, according to provincial spokesman Ataullah Khogyani.

The attacker detonated his explosives in the middle of the ceremony.

Zaher Adel, spokesman for the government hospital in Jalalabad, earlier said 12 bodies had arrived from the blast site and more than 50 people were being treated for injuries.

Amir Mohammad, who was wounded in the blast, said thousands of people had gathered for the funeral, an event which often draws huge crowds in Afghanistan.

The violence comes just a day after four roadside bombs exploded in a northern district of Kabul, wounding four civilians including a child.

The bombings were later claimed by the Islamic State group, according to the SITE intelligence group.

They were just the latest in a string of IS attacks on the capital.

In March, at least 25 people were killed by a gunman at a Sikh temple in Kabul, which was later claimed by the group.

IS is also responsible for an infamous attack in March 2017 on one of the country's largest hospitals, when gunmen disguised as doctors stormed the Kabul building and killed dozens.

In recent months, the jihadist group has suffered mounting setbacks after being hunted by US and Afghan forces as well as Taliban offensives targeting their fighters, but it still retains the ability to launch major assaults on urban centres.

The Taliban have largely refrained from launching large attacks on Afghan cities since February when they signed a landmark withdrawal deal with the US meant to pave the way for peace talks with the Kabul government.

Under the agreement, the Taliban promised not to target forces from the US-led coalition, but made no such pledge toward Afghan troops and have stepped up attacks in the provinces.

The Taliban have denied involvement in both of Tuesday's attacks.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.