China declines to congratulate Biden; says his victory should have legal endorsement
Beijing: China on Monday declined to congratulate Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election, saying the outcome of the American polls should be determined by the country's laws and procedures.
China has not yet come out with an official reaction to Biden and Kamala Harris' victory in the November 3 presidential election even though official media here are carrying out commentaries on their election.
When pointed out that China is one of the few countries which has not yet made a statement on the US presidential election results, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: We have noticed that Biden declared he is the winner of the election .
Our understanding is that the outcome of the election will be determined in accordance with US laws and procedures," he said.
Asked when will China make its statement or will it wait until President Donald Trump makes his stand clear, Wang said: We will follow international customary practices .
China is among a handful of major countries including Russia and Mexico that have not congratulated the President-elect. Trump, a Republican, has refused to concede defeat to his Democratic challenger, Biden.
On the China-US relations which have touched a new low under Trump, Wang said: We have always advocated that China and the US should step up communication and dialogue, manage differences on the basis of mutual respect, expand cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit and promote the sound and stable development of China-US relations .
He parried a number of questions, including how China plans to deal with the trade war negotiations launched by Trump. He, however, was more forthcoming on the victory of Kamala Harris as the first woman Vice President-elect.
When reminded about Chinese President Xi Jinping's statement calling for greater gender equality in a recent UN conference on women and does China have any comment on Harris, Wang quoted a Chinese saying which states women hold half of the sky.
In China, there is a saying that women hold half of the sky. China has been committed to realising gender equality and advancing women's development around the world," he said.
Trump's four years in power were the worst phase in China-US relations as the ruling Communist Party of China headed by President Xi struggled to deal with what China's officials say is the most elusive and unpredictable American leader ever since the former US President Richard Nixon in 1972 established ties with the Communist nation.
Trump pushed aggressively on all aspects of US-China ties, including with his relentless trade war, challenging China military hold on the disputed South China Sea, its constant threats to Taiwan and branding coronavirus as 'China virus" after it emerged from Wuhan in December last year.
The Biden tenure could usher in a buffering period for already-tense China-US relations and offer an opportunity for breakthroughs in resuming high-level communication and rebuilding mutual strategic trust between the two countries, the official media here quoted Chinese experts as saying.
Biden entering the White House is expected to provide an opportunity for breakthroughs in resuming high-level communication and rebuilding mutual strategic trust between the two major countries, state-run Global Times said.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
