By Nikesh Khatri
Kathmandu, June 5
When the state makes gold a reliable means of revenue collection, the smugglers will have a say in the economy of the countrty as well as the system or method of smuggling will change. Gold is being illegally imported into Nepal mainly from Dubai, Qatar, China and Hong Kong special administrative region and is being supplied to the domestic and Indian markets.
After next year's budget, India will also be added to the list of countries from where gold can be smuggled into Nepal. Smugglers used to smuggle gold from Hong...
Chinese aerospace company COMAC has showcased its domestically-developed C919 passenger jet in Hong Kong, giving officials and media a close-up look at the narrow-bodied aircraft. A welcome ceremony for the C919 and an ARJ21, another Chinese-made jet made by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, was held at the Hong Kong international airport on Wednesday, a day after both flew into Hong Kong for the first time.
In the neighboring People's Republic of China, the long-awaited 20th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of China was recently held in Beijing. China’s current and future course was charted at the week-long (October 16-22) Congress of the Communist Party of China, which has a total of more than 96 million members and nearly 5 million grassroots organizations.
It is well known that the events of China, the world’s largest country after Russia and Canada, which has borders with 14 different countries and spreads over an area of 96 million square kilometers, have a direct or indirect effect on international relations. In China, which has 23 different provinces, five autonomous regions, four metropolitan cities under the central government and two special administrative regions including Hong Kong and Macau, and 56 tribes, the Party Congress held every five years affects the internal politics and the economic sector, as much as the policy decisions taken by the Congress affect world relations in one way or another.
China, a civilization that is about five thousand years old, has faced many ups and downs at different stages of history, however, the period after independence in 1949 and the establishment of the Communist Party 100 years ago are considered to be periods of historical importance in China’s prosperity, stability, and modernization. On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao of the Communist Party announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Square in China.
Not only has China passed 70 years, but it has also achieved unprecedented success by bringing the political system, and social and economic development to a new level. As there have been significant changes in the world in the past decade, China has also made great strides in socio-economic transformation and modernization.
The political system adopted by China is the result of the revolution in the early decades of the 20th century. After 28 years of struggle–land reform measures, civil war, and the war against Japan, including the War of Independence–China’s new political system established in 1949 has surprised the world with its highest achievement in seven decades.
With the end of the ten-year Cultural Revolution in China in October 1976, China’s policy of reform under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping achieved rapid development. China, which went through a very weak state before the establishment of New China, has achieved exemplary achievements even in the field of science and technology in the last four decades and has established China as the second-largest economic power in the world.
Some political analysts believe that the policies and programs–of the political system with its own characteristics and liberal economy–adopted by the Chinese Communist Party in the recent period are the results of China’s miraculous rise in the 21st century.
Against this background, the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which began on October 16 with the participation of about 2,300 delegates, will guide China to become a more advanced nation by reviewing the existing problems and challenges in the changing scenario.
For the past three years, the world has been facing various challenges such as the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, regional conflicts, climate change, and recession. Therefore, the collective efforts of all nations and the world community are necessary to give a positive turn to international relations. It seems that China has taken the impact of the Ukraine war seriously. In this situation, the serious interest of Congress in terms of providing the right direction to international relations is evident from the statements made recently by China’s leadership.
In the context of the ongoing National Congress in China, the question related to the party leadership has attracted the attention of some countries and global media. As a result of the steps taken after Xi Jinping was elected Party General Secretary and President at the 18th National Congress of the Party held in 2012, there have been many qualitative changes in China’s political and economic fields. After the 19th Congress, China achieved the highest success in poverty alleviation in the period of five years. In addition to the complete eradication of poverty in China, China has succeeded in becoming a developed country in every field. Even Western countries, which sometimes take unnecessary interest in China’s internal politics, have not been able to deny the success of modernization and prosperity that China has achieved in recent years.
President Xi Jinping delivered a report at the opening of the Chinese Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Under China’s revitalization campaign, the plan to build a socialist modern country in an all-round way by integrating people of different races is divided into two phases: from 2020 to 2035, to realize socialist modernization in a fundamental way; from 2035 to the middle of this century, China plans to become an economic superpower and democratic. To build a modern socialist country, in recent years, a wide campaign against corruption has been carried out and some corrupt people have been severely punished. In the ongoing Congress, corruption is strongly discussed. Anti-corruption is the deepest self-revolution of the party.
In a situation where most of the countries in the world are forced to face many challenges due to climate change, Xi has maintained the concept of green water and rich mountains for the last ten years, mentioning that China’s sky is bluer, mountains are greener and water is cleaner. With deep-sea and underground exploration, supercomputers, navigation by satellite, production of giant aircraft, and biological medicine, China has entered the group of inventor countries and it is mentioned that this process will continue. All of these objectives are themes linked to China’s massive renaissance.
Similarly, in the situation where many challenges have been created in international relations and the situation of war has appeared in some areas, China has reaffirmed its old commitment to its foreign policy this time as well. China has been steadfastly implementing independent and peaceful diplomacy, protecting the basic rules of international relations and international judicial fairness, firmly opposing all forms of expansionism, opposing the Cold War and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, as well as double standards, and resolving the Taiwan issue as peacefully as possible because it is its own matter.
President Xi’s announcement that he will not give up the right to use armed force despite trying to unite is very meaningful. China has issued a strong warning against external interference in Taiwan affairs.
As China is the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions in the world, the trade volume ranks first in the world. The foreign investment is at the forefront, and foreign openness and the determination to realize the Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI)project announced in March 2013 have directed the future direction. This means that China will move towards being more iberal and open. It will not accept anyone’s interference in internal affairs and will remain committed to becoming stronger in all aspects.
The interest of the western world is whether 69-year-old President Xi will come back to leadership for a third five-year term and what policy changes China will make for the next five years. On this occasion, during the opening of the convention, President Xi declared that the next five years will be decisive for China and that China will become even stronger.
President Xi, who has recently been placed on par with Mao and Deng Xiaoping, is almost certain to be re-elected as the party’s powerful general secretary for a third five-year term at this Congress. In his third term, China will move forward with the determination to become a superpower nation in all respects.
AUG 3: At the heart of the divide is that the Chinese government sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country.
But many Taiwanese people consider their self-ruled island to be a separate nation - whether or not independence is ever officially declared.
What is the history between China and Taiwan?
The first known settlers in Taiwan were Austronesian tribal people, who are thought to have come from modern day southern China.
The island seems to have first appeared in Chinese records in AD239, when an emperor sent an expeditionary force to explore the area - a fact Beijing uses to back its territorial claim.
After a relatively brief spell as a Dutch colony (1624-1661), Taiwan was administered by China's Qing dynasty from 1683 to 1895.
From the 17th Century, significant numbers of migrants started arriving from China, often fleeing turmoil or hardship. Most were Hoklo Chinese from Fujian (Fukien) province or Hakka Chinese, largely from Guangdong. Their descendants are now by far the largest demographic groups on the island.
In 1895, Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Qing government had to cede Taiwan to Japan. After World War Two, Japan surrendered and relinquished control of territory it had taken from China. The Republic of China (ROC) - one of the victors in the war - began ruling Taiwan with the consent of its allies, the US and UK.
But in the next few years a civil war broke out in China, and the then-leader Chiang Kai-shek's troops were defeated by Mao Zedong's Communist army.
Chiang, the remnants of his Kuomintang (KMT) government and their supporters - about 1.5m people - fled to Taiwan in 1949.
This group, referred to as Mainland Chinese, dominated Taiwan's politics for many years though they only account for 14% of the population. Chiang established a government in exile in Taiwan which he led for the next 25 years.
Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, allowed more democratisation after coming to power. He faced resistance from local people resentful of authoritarian rule and was under pressure from a growing democracy movement.
President Lee Teng-hui, known as Taiwan's "father of democracy", led constitutional changes towards, which eventually made way for the election of the island's first non-KMT president, Chen Shui-bian, in 2000.
So who recognises Taiwan?
There is disagreement and confusion about what Taiwan is.
It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces.
Chiang's ROC government-in-exile at first claimed to represent the whole of China, which it intended to re-occupy. It held China's seat on the United Nations Security Council and was recognised by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.
But by the 1970s some countries began to argue that the Taipei government could no longer be considered a genuine representative of the hundreds of millions of people living in mainland China.
Then in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced out. In 1978, China also began opening up its economy. Recognising opportunities for trade and the need to develop relations, the US formally established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1979.
Since then the number of countries that recognise the ROC government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15.
Now, despite having all the characteristic of an independent state and a political system that is distinct from China, Taiwan's legal status remains unclear.
How are relations between Taiwan and China?
Relations started improving in the 1980s as Taiwan relaxed rules on visits to and investment in China. In 1991, it proclaimed that the war with the People's Republic of China was over.
China proposed the so-called "one country, two systems" option, which it said would allow Taiwan significant autonomy if it agreed to come under Beijing's control. This system underpinned Hong Kong's return to China in 1997 and the manner in which it was governed until recently, when Beijing has sought to increase its influence.
Taiwan rejected the offer and Beijing's insisted that Taiwan's ROC government is illegitimate - but unofficial representatives from China and Taiwan still held limited talks.
Then in 2000, Taiwan elected Chen Shui-bian as president, much to Beijing's alarm. Mr Chen and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), had openly backed "independence".
A year after Mr Chen was re-elected in 2004, China passed a so-called anti-secession law, stating China's right to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan if it tried to "secede" from China.
Mr Chen was succeeded by the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 who tried improving relations through economic agreements.
Eight years later, in 2016, Taiwan's current president Tsai Ing-wen, who now leads the independence-leaning DPP, was elected.
The rhetoric sharpened further in 2018 as Beijing stepped up pressure on international companies - if they failed to list Taiwan as a part of China on their websites, it threatened to block them from doing business in China.
Ms Tsai won a second term in 2020 with a record-breaking 8.2 million votes in what was widely seen as a snub to Beijing. By then Hong Kong had seen months of unrest, with huge protesters against the mainland's growing influence - and many in Taiwan were watching closely.
Later that year, China's implemented a national security law in Hong Kong that is considered to be yet another sign of Beijing's assertion.
How much of an issue is independence in Taiwan?
While political progress has been slow, links between Beijing and Taipei, and the two economies have grown. Between 1991 and the end of May 2021, Taiwanese investment in China totalled $193.5bn (£157.9bn), Taiwanese official figures show.
Some Taiwanese people worry their economy is now dependent on China. Others believe that closer business ties make Chinese military action less likely, because of the cost to China's own economy.
A controversial trade agreement sparked the "Sunflower Movement" in 2014, where students and activists occupied Taiwan's parliament protesting against what they called China's growing influence over Taiwan.
Officially, the ruling DPP still favours formal independence for Taiwan, while the KMT favours eventual unification with China.
But most Taiwanese people seem to fall somewhere in between. A June 2022 survey found that only 5.2% of Taiwanese supported independence as soon as possible, while 1.3% were in favour of unification with mainland China at the earliest possibility.
The rest supported some form of maintaining the status quo, with the largest group wanting to maintain it indefinitely with no move towards either independence or unification.
What does the US have to do with the China-Taiwan divide?
Washington's long-standing policy has been one of "strategic ambiguity" to the extent that it would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan.
Officially, it sticks to the "One-China" policy, which recognises only one Chinese government - in Beijing - and has formal ties with Beijing rather than Taipei.
But it has also pledged to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons and stressed that any attack by China would cause "grave concern".
In May 2022, President Joe Biden replied in the affirmative when asked whether the US would defend Taiwan militarily. Soon after, the White House quickly clarified that the US position on Taiwan had not changed and reiterated its commitment to the "One-China" policy. It has similarly contradicted previous statements by Mr Biden on military support for Taiwan.
The issue of Taiwan has also strained relations between the US and China. Beijing has condemned any perceived support from Washington for Taipei - and has responded by stepping up incursions of military jets into Taiwan's air defence zone since Mr Biden's election.
With inputs from BBC
I have just discovered that I never really existed, at least as far as the goons in the Communist Party of China are concerned. In their latest effort to turn Hong Kong into a police state – it can only be a matter of time before a tear-gas shell or a Taser replaces the bauhinia […]
HONG KONG, August 26: Asian markets mostly fell Thursday as hopes for the global recovery and signs of a possible slowdown in new virus infections play off against the prospect of an end to Federal Reserve largesse and China's regulatory clampdown.
Equities and oil have by and large enjoyed a positive week, helped by US full approval of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine and speculation the Fed will take its time in removing its ultra-loose monetary policy whenever it begins to do so.
However, while Wall Street continued to chalk up new records, Asian investors shifted a little more cautiously as they assessed the outlook.
Top of the agenda this week is Fed boss Jerome Powell's speech Friday to the Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers and economists, which will be closely followed for any indication about its policy plans in light of rising inflation and the economic rebound.
The bank is widely expected to begin easing back on its vast bond-buying programme by the end of the year, though the spread of the Delta variant and its impact on growth has some observers and even hawkish Fed members rethinking the wisdom of doing so.
Analysts said the speed and timing of a pullback could be crucial. "When the Fed actually announces the taper, it will likely also give some degree of information on what pace it will take and how flexible or inflexible they want to be with the process," Guneet Dhingra, at Morgan Stanley, said.
"That could provide a key signal for the rate-hike cycle -- particularly with regard to the pace of the hikes."
However, some warn that starting to taper too late could cause problems. "It would be dangerous for the Fed to do this because it needs to be in a position -- from the middle of next year -- to start putting out the rhetoric that they may be raising rates," said Steven Barrow, of Standard Bank Group.
"And we know it's not out of the realm of possibilities that the Fed could lift rates some time around the end of next year. So I'm focused more on the end point for Fed tapering than the starting point."
Asian investors struggled to maintain Wall Street's rally. Hong Kong led losses as tech firms were dragged down by weak earnings results that came as China embarked on its crackdown on the industry, while Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta also fell. However, Tokyo, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok eked out gains.
Seoul was also in the red after South Korea became one of the first major economies to start lifting interest rates since they were cut to record lows last year to battle the coronavirus impact.
The central bank move came as it looks to tackle surging household debt and sharp rises in property prices. The won jumped against the dollar after the announcement.
London, Paris and Frankfurt all fell soon after opening. Traders are also keeping a keen eye on China after it rattled world markets in recent weeks with a wave of regulations aimed at winding in private firms -- particularly in the tech sector -- it considered to have become too powerful and posed security risks.
While there has been little noise out of Beijing lately, the state-backed People's Daily reported that Xi Jinping had said China should try to achieve key economic and social development objectives this year.
While it did not set out specifics, the president has embarked on a mission to rein in the country's tycoons and powerful organisations, instead focusing on "common prosperity".
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