Washington: China-India border tensions "remain high" despite some force pullbacks this year, the US intelligence community has told Congress, asserting that Beijing seeks to use coordinated, whole-of-government tools to demonstrate its growing strength and compel regional neighbours to acquiesce to its preferences, including its claims over disputed territory.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in its latest annual threat assessment report to the US Congress that Beijing will continue to promote the multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to expand its economic, political and military presence abroad, while trying to reduce waste and exploitative practices, which have led to international criticism.
The BRI is a multi-billion-dollar initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he came into power in 2013. It aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.
"China-India border tensions remain high, despite some force pullbacks this year. China's occupation since May 2020 of contested border areas is the most serious escalation in decades and led to the first lethal border clash between the two countries since 1975, the report said.
"As of mid-February, after multiple rounds of talks, both sides were pulling back forces and equipment from some sites along the disputed border, it said.
The border standoff between the armies of India and China erupted on May 5 last following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake areas and both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.
As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in February in line with an agreement on disengagement. India has been insisting that a resolution of outstanding issues including in Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra is essential for overall ties between the two countries.
According to the report, China seeks to use coordinated, whole-of-government tools to demonstrate its growing strength and compel regional neighbours to acquiesce to Beijing's preferences, including its claims over disputed territory and assertions of sovereignty over Taiwan.
In the South China Sea, Beijing will continue to intimidate rival claimants and will use growing numbers of air, naval, and maritime law enforcement platforms to signal to Southeast Asian countries that China has effective control over contested areas. China is similarly pressuring Japan over contested areas in the East China Sea.
China has been fast expanding military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific region, triggering concern in various countries of the region and beyond. It is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are vital to global trade. China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the strategically vital area.
Beijing will press Taiwan authorities to move toward unification and will condemn what it views as increased US-Taiwan engagement, the report said.
China views Taiwan as a rebel province that must be reunified, even by force.
"We expect that friction will grow as Beijing steps up attempts to portray Taipei as internationally isolated and dependent on the mainland for economic prosperity, and as China continues to increase military activity around the island, it said.
China's increasing cooperation with Russia on areas of complementary interest includes defence and economic cooperation, it added.
China will try to increase its influence using vaccine diplomacy, giving countries favored access to the COVID-19 vaccines it is developing. It will also promote new international norms for technology and human rights, emphasising state sovereignty and political stability over individual rights, the ODNI said.
China will remain the top threat to US technological competitiveness as the Chinese Communist Party targets key technology sectors and proprietary commercial and military technology from US and allied companies and research institutions associated with defence, energy, finance, and other sectors.
Beijing uses a variety of tools, from public investment to espionage and theft, to advance its technological capabilities, it said.
According to the report, China will continue expanding its global intelligence footprint to better support its growing political, economic, and security interests around the world, increasingly challenging the United States' alliances and partnerships.
Across East Asia and the western Pacific, which Beijing views as its natural sphere of influence, China is attempting to exploit doubts about the US commitment to the region, undermine Taiwan's democracy, and extend Beijing's influence, it said.
Beijing has been intensifying efforts to shape the political environment in the United States to promote its policy preferences, mold public discourse, pressure political figures whom Beijing believes oppose its interests, and muffle criticism of China on such issues as religious freedom and the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, it said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Lucknow (PTI): Denied a ticket from Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday wrote an emotional letter to the people of his constituency in which he asserted that his relationship with them will remain intact till his last breath.
Sharing the letter on X, he said, his relationship with Pilibhit is one of love and trust which is far above any political calculations.
The BJP has fielded Uttar Pradesh Public Works Minister Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit replacing Gandhi, who has been vocal against his own government several times on the issue of inflation and unemployment.
Prasada had filed his nominations on this seat on Wednesday.
Recounting his association with the constituency, he said "Today, when I am writing this letter, countless memories have made me emotional. I remember that little three-year-old child who came to Pilibhit for the first time in 1983 holding the fingers of his mother. Little did he know that one day this land would become his work place and the people here would become his family".
"The ideals given by Pilibhit were instrumental in my upbringing and development not only as an MP but also as a person. Being your representative has been the greatest honour of my life and I have always raised my voice for your interests to the best of my ability," he said.
Varun Gandhi said his tenure as an MP may be coming to an end, but his relationship with Pilibhit can't end till his last breath.
"If not as an MP, then at least as a son, I am committed to serve you throughout my life and my doors will always remain open for you as before. I came into politics to raise the voice of the common man and today I seek your blessings to continue doing this work always. Even if I have to pay any cost for this," he added.
This is for the first time in over three decades that the mother-son duo of Maneka and Varun Gandhi will not be in the fray from the Pilibhit constituency which is located in the Terai belt bordering Nepal.
The denial of ticket to Varun Gandhi this time did not come as a surprise as he has been criticising the BJP on the issues of farmers, health and jobs.
After he was replaced by Prasada, reports did the rounds that Varun Gandhi might contest from the seat as an independent candidate. The suspense ended on Wednesday when he did not turn up before the nominations ended.
His mother Maneka Gandhi, the sitting MP from Sultanpur, was, however, given another chance from the same seat by the BJP.
The Pilibhit seat has remained with Maneka Gandhi or her son Varun Gandhi since 1996.
Maneka Gandhi won the seat on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989, lost in 1991 and won again in 1996. She won from the constituency in 1998 and 1999 as an Independent candidate. She won the seat in 2004 and 2014 as a BJP candidate.
Varun Gandhi won the seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate.
प्रणाम पीलीभीत 🙏 pic.twitter.com/D6T3uDUU6o
— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) March 28, 2024