China backs Myanmar, more Xinjiang horrors, and the Indian Navy's budget problem
Welcome to today’s The India China Newsletter.
This rather brief issue today includes:
- China backing Myanmar at the UN Security Council
- A BBC investigation on the Xinjiang camps
- India’s defence budget and the Navy’s cash crunch as it faces an ever expanding PLA Navy
- India’s plan for power manufacturing zones and how it’s fuelled by China concerns
- China bans mobile phones for primary and secondary school students
The UN Security Council met today to discuss Myanmar but took no action, the Associated Press reports:
The U.N. envoy for Myanmar urged an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday to ensure that “democracy is expeditiously restored” to the Southeast Asian nation, but the United Nations’ most powerful body took no immediate action.
Christine Schraner Burgener, the Myanmar ambassador who is currently in Europe, strongly condemned the military’s takeover of the government and said the council must “collectively send a clear signal in support of democracy in Myanmar” and ensure the country “doesn’t fall back into isolation.”
Diplomats said restoring democracy was the key element of a draft statement prepared for the council to release to the media after the closed-door meeting, along with a condemnation of the military’s action and call for the immediate release of all those detained.
But the statement was not issued because it requires support from all 15 council members and the U.N. missions for China and Russia said they needed to send it to their capitals for review, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed. China has close ties to Myanmar.
China’s Foreign Ministry again on Wednesday said it didn’t favour any external actions that would ‘complicate’ matters (and that presumably includes sanctions):
Asked what China has proposed at the meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Wednesday that the international community should create favourable conditions for settling the issues between Myanmar military and Suu Kyi.
“The UNSC held its internal consultation on Myanmar. China has participated in the consultation. China is a friendly neighbour to Myanmar," Wang said. “We hope all sides in Myanmar can take into account national interest and people''s interest to uphold political and social stability,” he said.
“The international community should create favourable conditions for settling the issues. Any action by the international community should contribute to Myanmar’s political and social stability, instead of escalating tensions and complicating matters,” he insisted.
Wang also expressed shock over the leak of the internal document discussed at the informal consultation meeting of the UNSC. "We are shocked by the leak of the internal document. We don’t believe this is good for internal solidarity and mutual trust in the security council," he said.
A BBC investigation on Xinjiang out today makes for harrowing reading:
Women in China's "re-education" camps for Uighurs have been systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured, according to detailed new accounts obtained by the BBC.
First-hand accounts from inside the internment camps are rare, but several former detainees and a guard have told the BBC they experienced or saw evidence of an organised system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture.
Tursunay Ziawudun, who fled Xinjiang after her release and is now in the US, said women were removed from the cells "every night" and raped by one or more masked Chinese men. She said she was tortured and later gang-raped on three occasions, each time by two or three men.
On India’s defence budget, which this newsletter discussed on Monday, Manvendra Singh writes in The Print that the Indian Navy ‘remains on the sidelines’ even as it faces an ever growing challenge from the PLA Navy, which is going full throttle with its modernisation:
While Revised Estimates may be financial jugglery at its best, it does nothing to ‘make’ a navy, just as it doesn’t enable a military planner to prepare a long-term and comprehensive stratagem. Which is precisely what India’s principal opponent has been doing over the last decades with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Also on the budget, Utpal Bhaskar writes in Mint on the push to create manufacturing zones for the power sector:
The move to set up dedicated manufacturing zones is primarily aimed at curbing the use of Chinese-made equipment and attracting firms across power generation, distribution and transmission —both in conventional and green energy spaces. Power is a strategically important sector, and the move is part of a wider decoupling exercise from China that has been initiated by the Indian government and will limit Chinese firms from securing orders in a lucrative Indian power sector that has been growing.
The Indo-Asian News Service reports on how China and Turkey are emerging as two main suppliers for Pakistan’s armed forces:
While 'iron brother' China launched a second advanced warship for Pakistan in Shanghai last week, Turkey - its only other all-weather ally - also held a welding ceremony of third ship of MILGEM class corvettes for Pakistan Navy at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard (INSY).
And finally…
China’s primary and secondary schools students will be banned from bringing mobile phones to school, which has been one of the hottest topics on Chinese social media. The BBC reports:
Many schools in China already restrict the use of mobile phones on their premises. In some extreme cases, phones have been smashed in front of students who have broken the rules.
The topic of a ban has become a major news item in China and on social media, with thousands discussing it on social media site Weibo.
Some 27,000 people voted in an online Sina News poll, with most saying there was no need for the new rules because of the widespread ban during school hours. Some pointed out that children may continue to over-use their phones when not in school.
A plan to stop schools setting homework tasks via phone has also been criticised. One teacher told state broadcaster CCTV that "not allowing phones to contact someone, or to arrange homework, that will take some getting used to. They all get so much homework, so that's been convenient."
French lawmakers voted in 2018 to ban the use of phones in primary and middle schools, ruling that children under 15 have to keep their mobile phones out of sight while on school premises.
A survey conducted in the UK by price comparison site uSwitch last year suggested that just under half of UK parents thought their child's school should ban mobile phones.
Thank you for reading.