Jack Ma is back, India's China studies in crisis, and would you rather be born in India or China?
Welcome to today's The India China Newsletter.
Jack Ma made his first public appearance in around three months, as he attended a virtual awards ceremony for rural teachers today. The Global Times has details.
His appearance saw Alibaba's shares rise 8 per cent today. Now if only we could get back all the time we spent these past few weeks debating whether he was disappeared.
Readers of this newsletter may recall, as I said on January 4 in the middle of all the hype:
If it's no secret Jack Ma is in trouble, it's still a bit of leap to suggest, as the Yahoo! report does with its headline (and let’s be honest, who reads beyond headlines?), that he may have been disappeared. We, of course, don't know for sure, but it's just as possible he is (sensibly) lying low as investigations take their course. Bloomberg reported recently that Ma was advised to stay in the country last month, ostensibly to assist with those investigations.
I frankly don’t know either way what fate awaits Ma. But it’s worth noting that so far there’s no evidence to suggest he has been accused personally of wrongdoing while his group is under the lens of regulators.
Shishir Gupta reports in today's Hindustan Times there is likely to be no end to tensions along the Line of Actual Control for the foreseeable future:
With Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) frozen in their positions in East Ladakh sector’s polar winter, national security planners expect China to ramp up military activity at the friction points when the snows melt in late March. There has been no withdrawal of any PLA troopsfrom the contested points and China has used the stand-off to build advanced landing grounds across the Daulet Beg Oldi sector in Tianwendian, humongous shelters to house personnel and a shorter link from Hotan airbase to Karakoram pass. "There could be military pressure north of Depsang bulge," said a senior commander.
According to people familiar with the matter, the dates of the ninth round of military talks are expected to be decided soon to top the good progress made by both sides in disengagement and de-escalation plan. This view is in sharp contrast to the view within a section of the government, who believe that the PLA is in no mood to move out of the contested points at least till paramount leader Xi Jinping delivers his address to the celebrations to mark 100 years of Chinese Communist Party’s rule. “This is the unfortunate record,” said a senior official.
The U.S. said China was committing "genocide" in Xinjiang, making the statement on the Trump administration's last full day in office.
The New York Times explains the implications:
The global response to the repression in Xinjiang has been relatively muted, an indication of China’s global clout. Over the past year, the United States has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, companies and government bodies operating in Xinjiang.
The genocide declaration is the sharpest response thus far. Last year, a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee reached the same conclusion. The declaration by Mr. Pompeo could lead to further penalties by the United States, but those decisions will now be in the hands of the Biden administration.
One test will be whether the Biden administration will try to persuade American allies to support efforts to confront Beijing over its oppression in Xinjiang in a way the Trump administration did not. During his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Antony J. Blinken, Mr. Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, indicated that the United States would try to lobby support from other nations.
This brought an angry reaction from China's foreign ministry and a parting shot for Mike Pompeo:
China on Wednesday lashed back at the "outrageous lies" made by outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and labelled him as the "doomsday clown" in a final last public joust with Pompeo.
Pompeo, who will be leaving office with the outgoing Donald Trump's administration, launched his final broadsides against China earlier this week by accusing the country of undertaking "genocide" and "crimes against humanity" against Uygurs and other minorities.
China dismissed the allegation by claiming it is another "sensational false propositions" and "malicious farce" fabricated by Pompeo, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular press briefing.
This American politician, who is notorious for lying and deceiving, is turning himself into a doomsday clown and joke of the century with his last madness and lies of the century," Hua said, calling Pompeo's allegation "a piece of wastepaper."
Is the study of Chinese history in India in crisis? Two historians I have great respect for, Arunabh Ghosh and Tansen Sen, write in today's Indian Express:
The inability to deal with Chinese historical sources is by no means endemic to the policy analysis world; it is commonplace among scholars and op-ed writers. There is today not a single historian of modern or pre-modern China teaching at a major research university in India. Not only have existing vacancies not been filled, the current misguided push to disengage from China is likely to compound the depressing state of affairs. As a result, we will become increasingly reliant upon scholarship produced elsewhere (primarily the United States and the United Kingdom) to inform our understanding of Chinese history, society, and politics.
And finally...
A thought provoking read from Pallavi Aiyar, who says she would rather be born a woman in China than in India. I recommend reading the piece in full:
Were I somehow given a choice in the matter, I would choose to be born a woman in China rather than in India. My chances of being healthy and educated would be higher and the likelihood of my having active agency over my life choices would be greater.
Despite what fashion magazines might have us believe, a woman’s greatest dream is not to walk down the aisle in designer bridal wear, but merely to be able to go out for a walk without fear. Even if it is late at night. Even if it is unaccompanied. And this is a dream more likely realized in China.
Thank you for reading today’s issue!