Indian media declares war on China. Indian Air Command Chief contradicts Chinese incursions in North East

Indian media declares war on China. Indian Air Command Chief contradicts Chinese incursions in North East

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 371

Palash Biswas

16/09/2009Reports of Chinese firing creates panic in Sikkim
Gangtok: Reports of Chinese firing injuring border guards in Arunachal Pradesh have caused concern among people in Sikkim.

They said security in the state should be tightened.

"People in our state are feeling insecure after the reports of Chinese incursion. Thus, we feel that security should be increased here as well," said Vishal Cintury, a resident.

Arun Rai, a local journalist said that New Delhi and Beijing should hold high-level talks to sort out the issue.

"In 1962, there was some intrusion between India and China so from since then onwards we are feeling insecure like anytime China can attack India, and Sikkim is also part of India. So we are feeling little bit scared. If this issue could solve between high level meeting between India and China, so that would be better," said Arun Rai.

The report has been officially denied by the Government of India on Tuesday.

A spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs denied a media report about two ITBP jawans being injured due to firing from across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"A media report about two ITBP jawans having been injured due to firing from across the LAC (Line of Actual Control) has come to notice. The report is factually incorrect," said the MEA spokesman.

The denial comes after intelligence sources had revealed that two jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, were injured in bullets fired from the Chinese side.

This was the first incident where bullets have been fired since the landmark 1996 Sino-India agreement in which both sides pledged not to open fire, no matter what the provocation, as a part of confidence-building measures.

The firing reportedly took place in Kerang in northern Sikkim a fortnight ago but has been kept under wraps. It was confirmed on Monday by a highly-placed intelligence source, Times Now reports.

Sources cited this as yet another instance of China's maintaining pressure on the 2.1 sq km area of 'Finger Point" in northern Sikkim. Last year, China had sent a vehicle-mounted patrol into this area, penetrating 1 km into Indian Territory.

Source: ANI

16/09/2009No reason to doubt yield of Pokhran-II tests: AEC
Mumbai: The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has sought to put a lid on the controversy over the success of Pokhran-II saying it has no reason to cast doubts on the yield of the country's thermonuclear test in May 1998.

The AEC made this assessment at its formal meeting on September 5 to discuss issues in the wake of the controversy ignited by K Santhanam, a retired DRDO nuclear physicist and a member of the team involved in the tests, a Commission release said on Tuesday.

Santhanam had last month described the May 11, 1998 test as a `fizzle' (failure to achieve expected yield) and said India needed to conduct more tests. His claim was backed by some nuclear scientists including Dr P K Iyengar but was strongly countered by former President and missile scientist A P J Abdul Kalam.

The commission utilised the meeting to reiterate the credibility of the type and yield of the tests as the matter was already discussed several times since May 1998, AEC Secretary K Murlidhar said in the release.

Meetings were held on May 21, November 12,1998 and subsequently on March 26 and November 18, 1999, in the presence of Raja Ramanna, a former AEC member and father of 1974 Pokhran-I nuclear test, he said.

"The Commission had been briefed about the successful tests in May 1998 at its meeting held on May 21, 1998 wherein, details of the type of tests, estimated yields and other technical details were given," he said.

Some members of the atomic panel had felt that the media reports on whether Pokhran-II generated the expected yield could be more in the form of disinformation campaign, AEC sources said.

Source: PTI

16/09/2009Al-Qaeda seeking nuclear secrets from Pakistan: Holbrooke
Washington: Al-Qaeda is trying to seek nuclear secrets from Pakistan and it remains as dangerous as ever, Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said today.

"Al-Qaeda is still there in the region, ever dangerous and publicly asking people to attack the US and publicly asking nuclear engineers to give them nuclear secrets from Pakistan," Holbrooke said at a reception hosted by the Congressional Caucus on Afghanistan at the Capitol Hill.

Holbrooke, the point man of the Obama Administration for Afghanistan and Pakistan - said the US is not in Afghanistan to support the elections, but it is there for its own national interest and security.

Source: PTI


China trying to destabilise India: Navy chiefAugust 14, 2009 Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta affirms that China is making efforts to encircle India. Part2
Part3
Part4
Read story
China's military drill worries India
India surrounded by Chinese bases
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_magazine&opt=section§ionid=86&secid=42&videoid=56709&ptype=video

China inches closer to IndiaSeptember 14, 2009 The Chinese Army has reportedly carried out some construction activities along the international border across the Karakoram ranges in the Ladakh sector. Part2

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_magazine&opt=section§ionid=86&secid=42&videoid=61656&ptype=video

Tension over India-China border is created by the MEDIA promoting US War Economy in Asia. It has noithing to do with the Defence and Internal Security of India but it certainly justifies Nuclear Armamnet, Manusmriti apartheid Strategic Realliance in US Israel lead, CIA and Mossad Activities, Rocketing Defence Expenditure and Fiscal deficit. It also helps to brand the Indigenous as well as Aboriginal and Minority Communities- Maoist, Extremist, Naxal, Terrorist and antinational so that Blind Nationalism and Hindutva may Cover Up Zionist Ethnic Cleansing all over Asia to accomplish Economic Reforms meaning Mass Destruction!

Tell me why Indian home Minister has to visit United States of America to deal the Internal challenges and Indigenous Insurrections!

Indo China Border tension is linked to so called Maoist Menace. It is an Excellent Media performance to highlight Border Clash with escalating Maoist Violence while depriving the masses the mandatory informations about Econmy and Policy making, Disinvestment, Privatisation, Displacement and Exodus, deportation, FII, FDI, Monetary and Fiscal Management! All NONSENSE about WWF game amongst manusmriti Political Parties as well as Sex and Entertainment do get all the SPACE in the Heaven in the Toilet papers! But the MEDIA never fails to make the Legitimate Ground for mass Destruction justifying Ethnic cleansing as DEVELOPMENT! It blows up Blind nationalism to justify NUCLEAR Armamanet and Privatisation of defence and energy sectors resultanat in Free FII and FDI in Indian Defence and Internal security with Longest Possible Shopping List for the Inetranational Weapon market!

India and China have played down reports of renewed tension between them over a long-running border dispute. But the two Asian countries have been arguing about the demarcation of their 4000km-long border for several decades.

There is now renewed tension on the border issue over which the two countries fought a brief war in 1962.

Parts of the frontier are still in dispute, including a portion of Kashmir and the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.




The Indian military recently accused China of launching incursions and have stepped up its presence in Kashmir.

However, in an interview with Al Jazeera's Hamish Macdonald, P Chidambaram, India's interior minister, did not rule out error.

"It is a disputed border. There could be navigational errors. What we think are violations have taken place and these are resolved by talking to each other," he said.

"But please remember that the India-China border is not the same as the LoC between India and Pakistan, where infiltration takes place, violence takes place."

In the latest development, the government of Arunachal Pradesh urged New Delhi on Tuesday to act tough on Chinese claims over the state.

"Chinese claims over Arunachal Pradesh are simply baseless and not correct. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and would continue to do so," Dorjee Khandu, the state's chief minister, told the Times of India newspaper.

Conflicting claims

Beijing gave up its territorial claim over Sikkim in 2003 but still holds on to its stand that nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it.

The mountainous state shares a 1,030km unfenced border with China.



India and China share a 4,000km border,
parts of which are disputed
"The government of India should be more assertive and make its stand on Arunachal Pradesh very clear to China. New Delhi needs to make a bold statement about frequent Chinese claims," Takam Sanjay, a ruling congress party leader from Arunachal Pradesh, told Times of India.

Such concerns are also borne out by confidential communication from local Indian government officials seen by Al Jazeera.

China's foreign ministry has issued an official response saying: "China's border patrol is conducted in strict accordance with rules. Chinese border troops never trespass on other countries' territories.

"Before the final settlement of the China-India boundary issue, the two countries should make joint efforts to safeguard peace and tranquillity along the border."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/09/200991584915162316.html

Contradicting press reports about Chinese incursions into Indian side, Eastern Air Command chief Air Marshal S K Bhan said there has been no incursion along the India-China border in the North East.“There has been no incursion in the eastern sector so far. There is nothing new that creates anxiety for us,” he said.

When questioned about ‘transgression’ along the borders, he said “such things keep happening. “Sometimes they cross over, sometimes our people cross over,” he said.
“That does not mean it is deliberate. The Indo-China border is not well defined,” he said.

To another question on conducting of surveillance by IAF in Held Kashmir, he said “normal surveillance is being carried out every day.”

IBNCNN reported :
STRATEGIC EXPERT'S VIEW
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China's strategy on India: provoke, pressure

CNN-IBN



Published on Sun, Sep 06, 2009 at 23:49, Updated on Mon, Sep 07, 2009 at 00:00 in India section

New Delhi: Chinese troops are challenging India again. Reports say Chinese troops entered the international border in Ladakh and painted “China” in Cantonese on boulders and rocks in Indian territory.


Indian border patrol found on July 3 that Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into Indian territory near Mount Gya, which is recognised as international border by both countries.


A week ago it was reported that Chinese helicopters came into Indian air space along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region of Jammu and Kashmir in June. The Indian Army recorded 270 border violations and nearly 2,300 cases of “aggressive border patrolling” by Chinese soldiers last year.


Are these intrusions intended to provoke India? Does China want to convey some message through these intrusions?


The answer is complex and related to the negations the two countries are conducting to resolve their territorial and border disputes, said C Uday Bhaskar, strategic expert, columnist and director of National Maritime Foundation.


“There seems to be an attempt from China to step up the kind of leverages they have as far as India is concerned, particularly over complex territorial disputes,” Bhaskar told CNN-IBN.


“India and China, over the last few years, have had a number of incursions and ‘violations’ of the Line of Control they both recognise. Just as we have instances of Chinese coming into this side, there are instances of China similarly making allegations about Indians entering Chinese territory.”


Bhaskar, a former director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, believed there has been a “steady pattern” in Chinese strategy in the last few months.


“Whether it’s violation of air space or the kind of reportage that has come from some Chinese journals, there is an anxiety growing in India that is China increasing pressure at a time when the two sides are engaged in a formal dialogue on the complex territorial and border issue.”


India has publicly said that it is committed to improving infrastructure along its border with China in order to help its armed forces. Could the Chinese be warning India not to go any further?


“I think this is a complex kind of signaling that is going between India and China.” China, last year, took a position that was detrimental to India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which was discussing the India-US nuclear deal.


China, earlier this year, tried to block a $2.9 billion dollar Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to India. It said part of the loan was intended for water projects in Arunachal Pradesh, which includes Tawang, an area which the Communist nation says is disputed.


China, in May 2007, refused to grant visa to an IAS officer from Arunachal Pradesh. Bhaskar said by these actions China is “pressing its own case” in talks with India.


“I call this complex signaling. India’s relationship with China will really be predicated on its capacities: political capacity, economic capacity and military capacity. We have to work on all three fronts,” he said.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/chinas-strategy-on-india-provoke-pressure/100805-3.html

Business Standard reports:

Indian security forces were on high alert on the vast India-China border amid reports of fresh Chinese incursions into Uttarakhand.


The reports of incursions came from border areas of Rimkhim and Barahoti in Chamoli district with a worried Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to deploy more troops along the long, porous borders with Tibet, which had not reported any major incident since the 1962 conflict.

Pokhriyal added that the state government had urged the Centre to set up a specialised mountain force in Uttarakhand keeping in view its 370-km-long border with China. Last month also,

the chief minister had demanded a similar force from the Centre.

On the other hand, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said its personnel were on high alert along the border, but denied reports that the Chinese army had made any incursions into the Indian border. DIG Sanjay Singhal said the ITBP personnel had not sighted any movement of Chinese troops along the border.

However, Singhal said some civilians, mostly shepherds, from China came into the Indian side during the monsoon season, which he said was not an “unusual” thing on the Uttarakhand-Tibet border, particularly in the Barahoti area in Chamoli district.

Meanwhile, the army has also been put on alert on the border particularly along the snow-clad mountains of Chamoli district.

India recently accused Chinese troops of entering into its territory in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/high-alert-along-india-china-border-in-uttarakhand/370028/


On the other hand, Bharat Bhushan writes in India Today that Indian Media has waged WAR against China!

Bharat Bhushan writes:
At the meeting of the National Security Council Advisory Board last week, a senior member argued for strong measures to control the media - especially the 24-hour news channels. He was reacting to media reports about Chinese transgressions along the border which are creating a war-like hysteria.

In the last two months, news items about Chinese activities on the border have surfaced with remarkable regularity in the Indian media. Invariably these reports are leaked on a Sunday - a lean news day.

Almost every Sunday evening since last month, television news channels have run anti- China bulletins.

It began with reports on Sunday, August 9 that incidents of Chinese transgression had taken place in June in the western sector.

This was a day after the Sino-Indian boundary talks ended without any significant outcome. The anti- China campaign has continued relentlessly in the media since then.

Reports

On August 30, another Sunday, we were told that Chinese helicopters entered Leh and airdropped canned food containing "frozen pork and brinjal which had passed their expiry date". Chinese helicopters were also reported to have crossed over into Indian territory in the Pangong lake area.

The following Sunday, on September 6, TV channels went berserk over Chinese troops having entered Indian territory near Mount Gya in the Chumar sector and painted boulders and rocks "in Cantonese". A picture of a spray painted rock was shown on TV, presumably for those Indians who are well versed in "Cantonese". A week later, there were reports of the " dragon" crossing the border in the Barahoti sector in Uttarakhand, as well as reports that the Jammu and Kashmir government had written to the Centre about China's construction activities across the Karakoram range. There have also been regular reports of transgressions in Sikkim and of firing by Chinese troops having wounded Indian security personnel sourced to "a highly placed intelligence source, who is not authorised to give information to the media". Some currency has also been given to a report in the "Urdu press" about Chinese soldiers beating up Indian shepherds near the Aksai Chin area.

The fact is that no Indian media establishment has correspondents posted on the Sino-Indian border who would see the expiry dates on air- dropped cans of pork and brinjal, or photographers who can read "Cantonese" painted on rocks. No Urdu newspaper, not even those who do have money to spend on news gathering, have correspondents based "near Aksai Chin". The Ministry of External Affairs, the army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have strongly and repeatedly denied that there is any marked rise in Chinese transgressions in areas where the two countries differ about the Line of Actual Control. The reports of so-called firing in the Sikkim sector have also been denied by Indian officials. Yet, there can be little doubt that these inspired news reports are coming from a section of the Indian establishment.

They are far too detailed to come from anywhere else with such regularity. This exercise must have a clear objective.

To understand that motive, one must examine a number of recent developments which contextualise the current state of Sino-Indian ties. They may have contributed to the present hysteria.

Earlier this year, China tried to block a $2.9 billion Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to India as a part of it was to be used for an irrigation project in Arunachal Pradesh.

Through this act, it tried to convert a bilateral territorial issue into a multilateral one.

At the same time, China is involved in upgrading the Karakoram highway, in territory that India legally considers its own. India believes that the area was handed over to China illegally by Pakistan. It is also helping Pakistan set up a 7,000 MW hydroelectric power project at Bunji in the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).

China knows that even though Pakistan disagrees India has a legal claim on this territory and it is at best, disputed. How is it then that it feels free to do whatever it likes in POK and objects to a small irrigation project in Arunachal? Such actions at a time when the representatives of the two countries are engaged in resolving the border issue - 13 rounds of talks have been held so far - conveys that China is in no mood to settle the border issue with India.

Had there been good progress in the boundary talks - it has after all been three years since the political parameters and guidelines for border settlement were decided - the activities of the Chinese troops on the border might have been seen differently by the media.

Context

The transgressions in Sikkim, for example, are especially difficult to understand from the Indian point of view because the Tibet- Sikkim border is demarcated and settled. This was the big breakthrough of the Vajpayee visit to China in 2003 when Sikkim was recognised as a part of India and a border trade agreement was signed.

It is also a fact that China has strengthened its air power in Tibet and opened new air fields there. China's policy towards our neighbours - whether it be Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka - and the maritime facilities it is setting up in the Indian Ocean area, does not take into account Indian interests and sensitivities.

There is also great apprehension in India about possible Chinese plans to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra and other rivers flowing into India to their water deficit regions.

Chinese opposition to India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and to the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) waiver has further reinforced the negative image of China in the public mind.

There are enough reasons then for suspicion and distrust in the relationship in the immediate context.

Add to these memories of the 1962 war and India's failure to develop its border defences, and even small border incidents end up raising great concern.

Hardly anyone in India believes that China stands to gain by creating a border diversion with India.

This goes counter to the Chinese propaganda that its rise has been peaceful and that a strong China does not threaten anyone.

The Chinese themselves have claimed that to become a mid-level developed country they need 15 to 20 years of peace. They must have also calculated that any increased tension on the border would greatly boost Indian efforts to build comparable border infrastructure, increasing the risk of a clash.

Origin

However, this still begs the question, who in India is attempting to create hysteria over China? One suspects that these are dissident elements from the larger defence, intelligence and paramilitary establishment who feel that the Indian state is far too diffident in the face of China; that it does not have the courage to even react verbally to Chinese provocations and is afraid to give the impression that its China policy is not working.

They probably think that the only way to push the government to react in the way they want is to use public opinion against the challenge that China is mounting.

Perhaps they perceive the present government as being weak- kneed towards its adversaries - if it opted for appeasement with Pakistan, a weaker adversary, in Sharm-el-Sheikh, then might it not buckle under against a stronger adversary like China? Their motivation probably is not to start a war - no one wants to deflect India from its growth path by diverting scarce resources to a war effort - but to push the government's diplomacy on the front foot. The media has merely become their tool - sometimes willingly, but more often than not unthinkingly.

Courtesy: Mail Today


Meanwhile,Chinese officials on Tuesday downplayed the recurring reports of incidents along the border with India, maintaining that a peaceful resolution of the long-running border dispute was possible if the two countries could enhance strategic co-operation and better an atmosphere that has fast soured in recent weeks.

This week, Chinese officials, like their counterparts in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, reiterated that recent media reports on frequent border incursions were not a cause for alarm. In an interaction with Indian journalists here, officials from China’s Foreign Ministry attributed the recent strain in relations more to media hype than any real cause for concern.

“We find it necessary and important to develop friendly and peaceful relations with India,” Ma Jisheng, a director-general in China’s Foreign Ministry said. “Our position is that we should support better bilateral relations and we can then resolve the dispute. If we can reach a consensus on [other] strategic issues, we believe we can develop a better atmosphere to discuss the border issue. We need to focus on the whole relationship and not just the border issue.”

“Inaccurate”


Both governments on Tuesday also dismissed recent reports of an exchange of fire along the border in Sikkim as “inaccurate.”

Officials on both sides of the border have said the reported border incursions by the Chinese troops were regular occurrences that were more a result of different perceptions on the extent of the unresolved border rather than new signs of aggression. But, in spite of regular official denials, the frequency of reports has continued to increase in recent weeks, further straining relations between the two neighbours.

‘Overall optimism’


Sun Weidong, an official at the Asia department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said notwithstanding recent tension, there was overall optimism in China on the general direction of ties between the two countries.

“Do we regard the relationship as good or bad? We believe the mainstream is good,” Mr. Sun said. “There has been sound momentum in the 21st century and we have begun to widen strategic co-operation.”

He said there was space for greater engagement trilaterally with Russia and also through the BRIC platform.

“China does not seek expansion,” he added. “It is in our interest to have a prosperous and stable India as neighbour, as opposed to a rival or enemy.”

China may attack India by 2012: Expert
Headlines Today
New Delhi, July 12, 2009

The Communists are losing their grip over China. The Chinese government is facing unprecedented internal dissent, growing unemployment and financial problems.

And to divert people's mind from these problems, China will launch an attack on India by 2012.

This assessment has been made by Bharat Verma- Defence analyst and editor of the Indian Defence Review.

Verma explains that such an attack will serve multiple objectives. He said, "China will launch an attack on India before 2012."

There are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century.

Also, establishing their supremacy in the region has become crucial for China because of "The growing irrelevance of Pakistan, China's right hand that operates against India on their behest"

Verma goes on to say that, "Above all, China is worried over the growing alliance of India with the US and the West, because the alliance has the potential to create a technologically superior counterpoise. All these concerns of Chinese Communists are best addressed by waging a war against pacifist India to achieve multiple strategic objectives."


China's Sun Tzu strategy for Arunachal
Venkatesan VembuTuesday, September 15, 2009 20:45 IST Email

this columnRecent conniptions in the media and strategic analysis space, in India as well as in China, have served to highlight and ratchet up tension along the disputed border.

In some cases, this has even led to loose, irresponsible talk of a war: that's something that both countries can ill-afford, given that for all their blustery talk of being 'emerging superpowers', they are both still developing economies with huge numbers of their populations living in poverty.

Indicatively, China's per capita GDP, adjusted for purchasing power parity, puts it even lower down the order than Angola and El Salvador; India fares even worse, figuring even lower than Cape Verde and the Republic of Congo.

True, these rankings underplay China's and India's other strengths, but they nevertheless provide a sobering statistical backdrop to the testosterone-driven swagger that's increasingly manifest on both sides of the Himalayas.


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It's fair to say that despite the repeated border incursions -- and without prejudice to the gravity of such incidents -- the more real threat to India's hold on Arunachal Pradesh (over which China claims sovereignty) may come not from the battlefield, but from elsewhere.

A better understanding of China's game plan may be gleaned from The Art of War, the ancient Chinese treatise on military strategy. Supreme excellence, says Sun Tzu in the classic, is in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. And all warfare, he records, is based on deception.

That's precisely how the Chinese plan is unfolding. Alongside the border incursions, Chinese strategists have been working rather effectively to "internationalise" the Arunachal Pradesh issue and project it as "disputed territory".

For instance, China recently raised formal objections at the ADB to a $60 million loan to fund irrigation projects in Arunachal Pradesh. And although the loan was later approved, China is still looking to introduce into the loan framework document an ADB "disclaimer" on the political status of Arunachal Pradesh, which would symbolise a tacit acknowledgement that it was "disputed territory".

More recently, China has articulated its objection to the Dalai Lama's planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh. This echoes China's objection to the Tibetan spiritual leader's recent visit to Taiwan, the independent island-republic, over which too China claims sovereignty.

Taiwan's experience is illustrative of China's Sun Tzu strategy at work -- and of what India can expect to face in Arunachal. Taiwan represented China at the UN from the time the international body was founded in 1945; but it lost that seat in 1971, as a direct consequence of Sino-US entente following US President Richard Nixon's historic visit to Mao Zedong's China and American adherence to a 'one China' policy.

Today, although Taiwan enjoys de facto independence, it doesn't have membership at the UN or other international organisations (because of Chinese objections); it has formal diplomatic relations with only 20-plus tinpot little countries, and participates in the Olympics not as Taiwan but as Chinese Taipei. In other words, China brought about the international 'isolation' of Taiwan with its mere 'projection of perceived power' -- without having to fire a single missile.

As China leverages its increasing economic clout, including in international financial institutions like the World Bank and the ADB, that's the kind of 'isolationist' pressure that India will face vis-à-vis Arunachal Pradesh.

Strong fences, of course, make for good neighbours, but fortifications along the border, important as they are, are no defence against diplomatic and political pressures, which today are a more real threat to India's hold on Arunachal Pradesh. It isn't just a conventional war that India needs to be wary of, but a Sun Tzu-esque 'war minus the shooting'.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/column_china-s-sun-tzu-strategy-for-arunachal_1290512


China makes ‘inroads’
- Beijing paves patrol path, India stuck in red tape
NISHIT DHOLABHAI

New Delhi, Sept. 10: China has built roads well into India’s territory at a time Indian road construction to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, is caught in red tape.

Beijing has constructed motorable roads running parallel to the LAC and has paved approach roads into Arunachal Pradesh, Indian sources have disclosed, elevating the nature of alleged transgressions from the usual incursions to building infrastructure.

“What we call Indian territory is different from what their perception of the LAC is. While our patrol forces (Indo-Tibetan Border Police or (ITBP)) have to walk days to reach the LAC, China has roads till what they perceive is the LAC,” a senior home ministry official told The Telegraph.

By the time India constructs roads reaching the LAC, the character of the actual line would have changed irreversibly, it is feared. China does not recognise the LAC or McMahon Line of 1914.

The patrols play a seemingly childish but psychologically important role in establishing territorial rights — much like the kings of the wild that mark out their spheres of influence by urinating.

The patrol parties use stuff less organic than body fluids — troops from both sides are known to leave along the LAC telltale articles identifiable with each other’s country. Favourite with Indian forces are Dalda cans and cigarette packs which Chinese troops painstakingly remove from what Beijing feels is its territory.

“With approach roads on their (Chinese) side and the absence of them on our side, their patrolling parties have more opportunities to collect the stuff and dump it back on what they perceive as the LAC,” said an official.

The marking-out ritual was stepped up in July by Chinese troops who apparently sprayed paint to scrawl “China” on boulders in Ladakh — something the Chinese foreign ministry has denied since.

An Indian China study group made of secretaries from the home, external affairs and defence ministries, besides the heads of the intelligence wings, had also recently recommended that roads be built fast.

Delhi has maintained a stoic silence, sheepishly conceding but publicly denying the existence of any problem.

In reality, however, the fault lies in the slow pace in the movement of files in the government.

Of the 27 roads being constructed to the Chinese border, 11 are in Arunachal Pradesh and they need clearance from the environment and forest ministry. For years, the files kept trudging through the slow corridors.

Four roads were cleared eventually, the number going up to nine recently. Clearances for the remaining two are still pending.

The recent clearances for the five roads came after the home ministry approached the empowered group of secretaries on border roads and sought waivers in view of “national security”, sources said.

According to official sources, work is in progress on 10 border roads meant to cover 196km. Here, 40.08km of formation work and 5.40km of surfacing work has been completed.

To showcase the recent headway, home minister P. Chidambaram had announced that work on the Phorbrank-Chartse-Point 4433 road had been cleared by the Supreme Court.

However, Chidambaram conceded on September 1 that although the pace of road construction to the Chinese border had picked up substantially, some distance still needed to be covered. The bulk of the problems of infrastructure lies in Arunachal Pradesh which China claims is its territory.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090911/jsp/frontpage/story_11480339.jsp

Indo-China border one of the most peaceful: MEA

STAFF WRITER 16:13 HRS IST
New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) Notwithstanding the incidents of Chinese aggression, Ministry of External Affairs today described as "most peaceful" the boundary with China and said these "incursions" will be certainly sorted out.

"Let me go on record to say that this (border with China) has been one of the most peaceful boundaries that we have had as compared to other boundary lines with other countries," Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna told reporters.

He was asked about the incidents of China violating India's airspace and International Border.

Noting that the country has a very long border of over 3000 km with China, Krishna said "there is a built-in mechanism which is in place and which takes care of such incursions."

"With China, I think the boundary has been one of the most peaceful. So, there is no issue on that. There is no problem on that.
PTI


GUARDING BORDERS


Chinese incursions demand firmer steps from India

Digvijay Singh Deo & Surya Gangadharan / CNN-IBN



Published on Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 00:40, Updated on Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 00:48 in World section

New Delhi: After Arunachal Pradesh, is China eyeing Uttarakhand, ask some. Incidents have been reported of Chinese incursion along the Indo-China border. The Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has denied it but said the forces are on high alert.


Incidentally, this has come even as the Indian Army is asking for pro-active patrol along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.


Chinese troop intrusions into India are now pushing a more assertive Indian response. The army is demanding that its patrols be allowed to move into sensitive areas on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control.


The army has reportedly argued that Chinese troops are repeatedly entering sensitive areas in Ladakh, Bara Hoti in Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh encouraged by the scant opposition .


The chief minister of Uttarakhand, Ramesh Pokhriyal said, "This is the head part of the Indian nation. It must always be well protected and held high. The patrols on the Indian side of the border must increase."


There have been several arguments in favour of strengthening patrol.





This is undermining India's control over its own territory,




The army must therefore be allowed to patrol intensively and close to the LAC in these areas.




The army must have better operational control over the ITBP, as is the case with the Border Security Force (BSF) along the Pakistan border.text






The army's request is presently with the China Study Group, which comprises of the secretaries of the ministries of Defence, Home and External Affairs.


It also includes the chiefs of intelligence agencies.



It was this group which imposed these restrictions many years ago.


Some have argued that infrastructure must first be improved before restrictions on army patrols are lifted. There are also fears that an assertive response from India could trigger a confrontation with China.


But the army says it is at a severe tactical disadvantage at present. The bureaucracy in Delhi must bite the bullet and lift the curbs on its patrols on India's side of the Line of Actual Control.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/chinese-incursions-demand-firmer-steps-from-india/101296-2.html

No Chinese incursion in eastern India: IAF

STAFF WRITER 18:15 HRS IST
Shillong, Sept 11 (PTI) There has been no incursion along the India-China border in the North East, a senior Indian Air Force official has said.

"There has been no incursion in the eastern sector so far. There is nothing new that creates anxiety for us," Eastern air command chief Air Marshal S K Bhan told PTI here.

Asked about the reports of 'transgression' by Chinese along the borders, Bhan said, "Such things keep happening.

Sometimes they cross over, sometimes our people cross over.

"That does not mean it is deliberate. The Indo-China border is not well defined," he said.

Asked whether the IAF was conducting surveillance in the wake of reports of fresh incursions in Jammu and Kashmir, Bhan said, "Normal surveillance is being carried out every day.
PTI


External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday dismissed China's objections to the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh later this year and said that the Tibetan leader is "free to go anywhere in India". Meanwhile,The Ministry of External Affairs has denied reports of firing by the Chinese Army in North Sikkim, describing it as ‘factually incorrect’. The two separate denials by the MEA and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) followed reports in a national daily about the firing a fortnight ago, leading to injury of two jawans of the Central paramilitary force in the firing by Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) about 15 days ago.



“A media report about two ITBP jawans having been injured due to firing from across the LAC has come to notice. The report is factually incorrect,’’ a spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said.

The ITBP, meanwhile, reacting to the reports stated that it is factually incorrect and baseless. No such incident of firing has taken place in north Sikkim on the Indo-China border and no member of the ITBP has been injured, the clarification said.

The daily quoting unnamed sources reported that it was the first incident where bullets were fired since the landmark 1996 Sino-India agreement in which both sides pledged not to open fire.

The report described it as yet another instance of China’s maintaining pressure on the 2.1 square km area of ‘Finger Tip’ in northern Sikkim. The Kerang shootout prompted an unscheduled border personnel meeting on August 30, it was reported.

The report quoting Army sources said People’s Liberation Army patrols have been sighted crossing over the LAC six times since January this year – four times in Upper Subansiri district in June and July, and twice in Lohit district in January in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, recalling that Chinese continues to occupy Sumdorong Chu valley since 1986.

Despite ceremonial border personnel meetings (BPMs) at Nathu La in Sikkim and Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal, Chinese troops continue to violate the LAC with brazen regularity, the report said.

With the ensuing visit of Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh leading the Chinese to react sharply, New Delhi is playing it safe not to provoke Beijing further. China claims 90,000 square km of India’s territory.

China has expressed strong concern about this visit. “China’s stance on the so-called Arunachal Pradesh is consistent. We firmly oppose Dalai visiting the so-called Arunachal Pradesh,” Jiang Yu, the spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying.

The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate, is scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh in the middle of November.

Last year, a delegation led by Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu had visited Dharamsala to invite the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang to inaugurate a hospital. The Dalai Lama has contributed Rs 20 lakh for its construction.


"Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India and the Dalai Lama is free to go anywhere in India," Krishna told IBN7 news channel in New Delhi.

"The only question is that he is not expected to comment on political developments," Krishna said.

The Dalai Lama has sought the Indian government's permission to visit Tawang, a monastery town in Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by China.

Tibet's exiled leader plans to go there in November to inaugurate a hospital for which he had donated Rs 20 lakh ($40,000).

China has voiced "strong concern" over the proposed visit saying it "further reveals the Dalai clique's anti-China and separatist essence".

"We firmly oppose Dalai visiting the so-called Arunachal Pradesh," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu.

Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile headquartered in Indian town of Dharamsala, rubbished Beijing's objections to the Dalai Lama's visit.

"Arunachal Pradesh and its Tawang region are an integral part of India. If the Dalai Lama, who is staying here for the last 50 years, is visiting any part of the country why does this bother China?" he said.

"If the Dalai Lama goes to Chinese territories it can raise objection, but in this case it has no business to interfere," he added.

The Tibetan-government-in exile is not recognised by any country in the world.

China's objections to Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh comes amid reports of Chinese incursions into the Indian territory which have revived the spectre of the China threat.

India cited Chinese threat as its primary reason for going nuclear in 1998. Since then, the two countries have expanded their political and economic ties and are now trying to resolve the decades-long boundary dispute with negotiations.


Israel condemns UN's Gaza report

Israel has strongly criticised a UN human rights report into alleged war crimes during the Gaza conflict.

The report said both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during fighting in January.

The report "was flawed from A-to-Z", the UN panel was "biased" and some of its findings "ludicrous", said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

The report called for fresh war crimes inquiries under international scrutiny.

It said said Israel's "Operation Cast Lead", launched in response to militant rocket fire, used disproportionate firepower against the densely populated Gaza Strip and disregarded the likelihood of civilian deaths.

The militant group Hamas criticised parts of the report alleging it fired rockets at Israel without distinguishing between military targets and the civilian population.

Intimidation

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Regev said the panel was "born in sin" because "even the UN" considers the Human Rights Council which commissioned the report "to have a one-side anti-Israeli agenda".


The investigations Israel has done into its troops' behaviour in the Gaza Strip is 1,000 times more serious than this investigation is one of its members had made before the inquiry.

Mr Regev charged that evidence collected in public hearings in the Gaza Strip, where he said witnesses were subject to intimidation from the militant Hamas movement, had the validity of a "show trial".

And he rejected the panel's recommendation that the UN Security Council should call on Israel to fully investigate possible violations by its forces, or face possible referral to the International Criminal Court.

"In the last six months, the investigations Israel has done into its troops' behaviour in the Gaza Strip is 1,000 times more serious than this investigation," Mr Regev said.

Resistance

Hamas officials welcomed the Goldstone report's unusually harsh condemnation of Israel, but rejected criticism of itself.


Richard Goldstone comments on 'crimes' committed by Israeli and Palestinian forces
"The Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance were in a position of self-defence and not of attack," said senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya.

"One cannot compare the simple capabilities of the resistance with the great strength of the occupation," he said.

Israel did not co-operate with the commission and its members had to enter the Gaza Strip from the border, which is under Egyptian supervision.

At the Israeli Foreign Ministry, a spokesman said a diplomatic offensive was being planned to block possible referral of Israeli commanders or officials to the ICC.

The Israeli military has conducted investigations into some claims of human rights violations that have found no systematic wrongdoing. Some cases remain pending.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the violence between 27 December and 16 January, though Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Mr Goldstone urged "fair-minded people" to read the 574-page report and "at the end of it, point out where it failed to be objective or even-handed".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8259025.stm

The rise of Israel's military rabbis

Katya Adler
BBC Newsnight, Israel

Israel's army is changing. Once proudly secular, its combat units are now filling with those who believe Israel's wars are "God's wars".

Military rabbis are becoming more powerful. Trained in warfare as well as religion, new army regulations mean they are now part of a military elite.

They graduate from officer's school and operate closely with military commanders. One of their main duties is to boost soldiers' morale and drive, even on the front line.


Israeli general warns of dangers of turning war into 'jihad'
This has caused quite some controversy in Israel. Should military motivation come from men of God, or from a belief in the state of Israel and keeping it safe?

The military rabbis rose to prominence during Israel's invasion of Gaza earlier this year.

Some of their activities raised troubling questions about political-religious influence in the military.

Gal Einav, a non-religious soldier, said there was wall-to-wall religious rhetoric in the base, the barracks and on the battlefield.

As soon as soldiers signed for their rifles, he said, they were given a book of psalms.

And, as his company headed into Gaza, he told me, they were flanked by a civilian rabbi on one side and a military rabbi on the other.

"It felt like a religious war, like a crusade. It disturbed me. Religion and the army should be completely separate," he said.

'Sons of light'

But military rabbis, like Lieutenant Shmuel Kaufman, welcome the changes.

In previous wars rabbis had to stay far from the front, he says. In Gaza, they were ordered to accompany the fighters.



Our job was to boost the fighting spirit of the soldiers. The eternal Jewish spirit from Bible times to the coming of the Messiah

Rabbi Kaufman
"Our job was to boost the fighting spirit of the soldiers. The eternal Jewish spirit from Bible times to the coming of the Messiah."

Before his unit went into Gaza, Rabbi Kaufman said their commander told him to blow the ram's horn: "Like (biblical) Joshua when he conquered the land of Israel. It makes the war holier."

Rabbis handed out hundreds of religious pamphlets during the Gaza war.

When this came to light, it caused huge controversy in Israel. Some leaflets called Israeli soldiers the "sons of light" and Palestinians the "sons of darkness".

Others compared the Palestinians to the Philistines, the bitter biblical enemy of the Jewish people.

Israel's military has distanced itself from the publications, but they carried the army's official stamp.

Still, army leaders insist their rabbis respect military ethics and put their private convictions aside. They say the same about the new wave of nationalist religious solders joining Israel's fighting forces.

'Religious duty'

I visited an orthodox Jewish seminary near Hebron in the West Bank. It is one of an increasing number of religious schools that encourage taking the Jewish Bible to the battlefield.



The seminary is in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank
All students at the seminary choose to serve in Israel's combat units while statistics suggest less ideologically driven Israelis are avoiding them. This has made headline news in Israel.

The 19-year-olds I spoke to at the seminary told me religious soldiers like them can make the army behave better and become "more moral".

They believe it is their religious duty to protect the citizens of Israel, the Jewish state. The Lord commands it, they said.

The students' seminary is built in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

If President Barack Obama gets his way, Israel will eventually evacuate most settlements.

They are illegal under international law and Palestinians claim the territory as part of their future state. But for the religious soldiers the West Bank is part of land given to the Jews by God.

Gal Einav thinks many soldiers will refuse to close settlements down.

The settlement issue could well tear the army apart, he told me, adding that most of his officers were settlers these days.

"If it comes to a clash between political orders from Israel's government and a contradictory message from the rabbis, settlers and religious right-wing soldiers will follow the rabbis," he said.

Threat of 'Jihad'

Israel's military leaders strongly disagree.

Brig Gen Eli Shermeister is the army's chief education officer.



Pamphlets were handed out comparing Palestinians to the Philistines
He admits some mistakes were made in the past but says the right balance has now been found with the military rabbis.

He insists Israel's military commanders are the only ones in charge of the soldiers' spirit.

"The moral code of Israel's army is clear. We judge soldiers in the light of this code. Nobody can create another moral code. [Certainly] not a religious one."

But Brig Gen Shermeister's predecessor describes what he sees as clear and worrying changes within the military.

According to Reserve Gen Nehemia Dagan, what is happening in the army is far more dangerous than most Israelis realise: "We (soldiers) used to be able to put aside our own ideas in order to do what we had to do. It didn't matter if we were religious or from a kibbutz. But that's not the case anymore.

"The morals of the battlefield cannot come from a religious authority. Once it does, it's Jihad. I know people will not like that word but that's what it is, Holy War. And once it's Holy War there are no limits."

Many religious Jews object to the type of preaching heard during Israel's recent Gaza operation.

They say it perverts the true teachings of Judaism as well as contradicts Israel's military code.

Day to day, Israel's army mainly operates in civilian areas - in Gaza, the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

The influences that Israeli soldiers are exposed to are extremely significant.

How they view the Palestinians who live here is likely to affect the way they use their power and their weapons.

Watch Katya Adler's film on rabbis in the Israeli army on Newsnight on Monday 7 September 2009 at 10.30pm on BBC Two, then afterwards on the Newsnight website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8232340.stm

UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza
Richard Goldstone comments on 'crimes' committed by Israeli and Palestinian forces
There is evidence that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes in the recent conflict in Gaza, a long-awaited official UN report says.

It accuses Israel of deliberately using "disproportionate force" in the three-week operation in December and January.

The report also condemned rocket attacks by Palestinian groups which Israel says sparked its offensive.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.

Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Israel, which had refused to co-operate with the UN fact-finding team, said the report was "clearly one-sided".


The military operation was a result of disrespect for the fundamental principle of 'distinction' in international humanitarian law



Key extracts from UN statement
UN seeks close Gaza scrutiny
The investigation, led by South African judge Richard Goldstone, found evidence "indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict", a UN statement said.

Israel also "committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity".

The Israeli operations, the document states, "were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population".

Civilian targets

The report accuses Israel of imposing "a blockade which amounted to collective punishment" in the lead-up to the conflict.

It says "the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole".


ANALYSIS

Tim Franks, BBC News, Jerusalem
If this report is to matter, it will be for a number of reasons. One is its length. There have been a slew of reports into the war in Gaza. This is the lengthiest, weighing in at 575 pages.

There is the man who wrote it: Richard Goldstone is a judge and judicial investigator with an impressive record. The UN Human Rights Council, for whom he wrote this, is also no longer a body which is quite as easy for Israel to dismiss as a congenitally biased. The US has recently run for, and been elected to a seat on its council.

Mr Goldstone has also shown a measure of political astuteness. This is not the first time that Israel, or Palestinian militants, have been accused of war crimes - and in Israel's case, crimes against humanity as well. But previous allegations have quickly begun to moulder on the shelf.

Mr Goldstone recommended that the Security Council require Israel, and the Gaza authorities, to report in six months about its own investigations into the alleged crimes. If they did not come up to scratch, then the International Criminal Court should become involved. Who, said Judge Goldstone, could object to that?

The reports says Israel must be held accountable for its actions during the war, a process which could lead to the conflict being referred to the International Criminal Court.

The report found there was also evidence that Palestinian groups had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated rockets and mortars attacks on Israel.

It says the launching of rockets which "cannot be aimed with precision at military targets" breaches the fundamental principle of sparing civilian lives.

"Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population," it said.

It also calls for the immediate release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier seized in a Palestinian raid in 2006 and taken to Gaza.

Both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities are criticised for the treatment of their own civilians during the conflict.

Israel's interrogation of political activists and repression of criticism of its activities had "contributed significantly to a political climate in which dissent was not tolerated", it said.

Meanwhile, the alleged "arbitrary arrests" and "extra-judicial executions" of Palestinians by the authorities in both Gaza and the West Bank were also criticised.

'No mandate'

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC the report had been "born in sin" and had no mandate for its investigation.

The authorities in Gaza and the West Bank did co-operate with the UN mission, but Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has also dismissed the report as "political, unbalanced and dishonest".



Israel said the conflict was to end rockets attacks from Gaza
Ismael Radwan, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying it "puts on the same level those who perpetrate crimes and those who resist".

Mr Goldstone rejected such allegations, and told the BBC that "fair minded people" should read the report and "at the end of it, point out where it failed to be objective or even-handed".

The 574-page document recommends that authorities in both Israel and Gaza be required to investigate the allegations and report to the UN Security Council within six months.

The Israeli military insists troops acted lawfully during the conflict.

The government says it has carried out more than 100 investigations into allegations of abuses by its forces - most were dismissed as "baseless" but 23 criminal investigations are still pending.

It reiterated that it was "committed to acting fully in accordance with international law and to examining any allegations of wrongdoing by its forces".

The full report - which is based on 188 interviews, more than 10,000 pages of documentation and 1,200 photographs and other material - will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council at the end of this month.

Eight months after the conflict, very little reconstruction has taken place in Gaza because of the strict Israeli-imposed blockade which bans all but essential supplies from entering the enclave.

The stated aim of the blockade is to weaken Hamas's leadership but aid agencies say it serves only to punish the civilian population.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8257301.stm

China allays US trade war fears

The White House faced pressure to impose tyre tariffs from unions
China has said it does not think its trade disputes with the US will hurt ties between the two countries, playing down the threat of a trade war.

The US imposed tariffs on Chinese tyre imports on Friday. China then requested talks, under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, over the issue.

"We don't want to see anything bad happen to bilateral relations," the Chinese commerce ministry said.

China has called America's move on tyres "protectionist".

Under WTO rules, Beijing and Washington will try to solve the dispute over the next 60 days through negotiations.

If that fails, China can ask for a WTO panel to make a ruling on tyre imports.

'Groundless'

"The US judgement about the disturbance is groundless," the Chinese commerce ministry said.

"During the Chinese-US negotiations, the US side never gave feedback on whether Chinese tyre products disturbed local markets," it added.

On Friday, under pressure from US unions, the White House announced duties of an additional 35% on Chinese-made tyres for one year, followed by tariffs of 30% and 25% in the following two years.

It said it was in order "to remedy a market disruption caused by a surge in tyre imports".

The tariffs come under so-called "safeguard" rules introduced when China joined the WTO, to prevent the possibility of China flooding the US market with its goods.

President Barack Obama is the first to use the safeguard rules.

Larry Summers, director of Mr Obama's National Economic Council, said Washington had tried to negotiate a solution with Beijing but those talks failed.

It would be an "abdication of responsibility" to not impose the duties, he said.

Tyres surge

The US imported about 46 million tyres from China last year, more than three times as many as in 2004. The Chinese share of the market went from less than 5% to 17% in that period.

On Sunday, China's state-run media quoted experts saying that 100,000 Chinese jobs could be lost as a result of the US tariffs.

Shares in US tyremakers gained on the announcement. Goodyear Tire closed 3% higher on Monday, and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co shares rose as much as 13%.

But Chinese tyremakers fell. Double Coin fell 10%, which is the daily limit to stock fluctuations.

Shanghai-listed Giti Tire said the US tariffs would have a "negative impact" on its business as tyre exports to the US accounted for about 25% of its revenues last year.

Separately, foreign direct investment in China rose at an annual rate of 7% to $7.5bn (£4.5bn) in August, after plunging over the previous two months, the commerce ministry said.

That compares with declines of 35.7% in July and 6.8% in June.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8256096.stm