Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The recent podcast by Michael Rubin, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, with Shukri Hilowle for the Brown Pundits has reignited the debate surrounding the Khalistan movement in North America. Rubin asserted that this movement, advocating for an independent Sikh homeland, lacks organic legitimacy within India and is instead manipulated by external forces, primarily Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Pakistan’s Shadow: A Puzzling Connection Rubin’s claim stems from observations of seemingly coordinated activities and suspicious economic backing of some proponents in Canada. He argues that this movement, far from being a grassroots campaign, exploits the open arms…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China threatened new trade measures against Taiwan on Tuesday, piling on pressure ahead of weekend elections, as Taipei complained of more Chinese balloons and the ruling party’s presidential candidate warned against “fake peace” with Beijing. Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections are taking place against a backdrop of a ramped up war of words between Taiwan and China, which views the island as its own territory despite the strong objections of the Taiwanese government. Taiwan’s government has accused China of an unprecedented campaign of election interference, using everything from military activity to trade sanctions to sway the vote towards…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: From November 28 to 30, Prague hosted the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) conference, which followed similar inter-ministerial meetings in Washington DC and London. It was hailed throughout the democratic world as one of the largest and most successful gathering of governments to promote freedom of religion or belief and denounce its violations. As reported on the website of the U.S. Department of State, IRFBA gathers 37 countries, with others in process of joining and five participating as “friends.” The United Nations attends IRFBA meetings as an “observer” through the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: While recent tensions in the South China Sea have highlighted the Philippines’ maritime vulnerabilities, the more insidious risk of state-sponsored cyberattacks – and a lack of resources to handle them – may be the country’s bigger challenge. In a November report, a Chinese group known as Stately Taurus was blamed for an attack that had compromised a Philippine government agency for five days earlier in 2023, coinciding with clashes between the two countries’ ships in the South China Sea. Stately Taurus’s operations “align with geopolitical topics of interest to the Chinese government,” according to Palo Alto Networks, the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: South Korea’s regulator will launch a wider probe into local banks and brokers which sold exotic notes linked to Chinese stocks amid concerns that the securities may saddle investors with heavy losses. Authorities will start investigating 12 institutions on Monday to determine if there was any wrongdoing over the sale of equity-linked securities that are tied to the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, according to a statement from the Financial Supervisory Service. KB Kookmin Bank and Korea Investment & Securities Co. are among the firms that will be probed, it added. The watchdog said it uncovered several issues…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan’s Defense Ministry accused China on Saturday of harassment and trying to affect public morale by repeatedly sending balloons over the self-governing island. A ministry analysis found that the paths of the balloons posed a serious threat to international passenger flights, according to a report by Taiwan’s official Military News Agency. The ministry called for an immediate end to the activity to ensure flight safety. “The ministry urged the people [of Taiwan] to clearly understand the Chinese Communist Party’s cognitive combat methods and face it rationally and calmly so as to avoid being affected by it,” the report…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The US biotech company Thermo Fisher has halted sales of its DNA identification kits in Tibet, nearly five years after it made a similar commitment about the sale of its products in the neighbouring western Chinese region of Xinjiang. It decided to stop sales in Tibet after months of complaints from rights groups and investors that the technology may be used in a way that abuses human rights. The company said that the decision was made in the middle of 2023, but it was only revealed to investors late last month. Human rights experts and exiles have said…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Taiwanese armed forces have detected 13 Chinese military aircraft, five vessels and two balloons near the island nation over the past day, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Saturday. “13 PLA aircraft and 5 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 06:00 (UTC+8) today. 1 of the detected aircraft (WZ-7 UAV RECCE) had entered Taiwan’s SW ADIZ … Two PRC’s balloons were detected at 12:04 [04:04 GMT] and 13:05 [05:05 GMT] yesterday after crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait at the location 33 nautical miles northwest and 51 miles west of Hsinchu respectively,” the defense…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Leaders of the Hindu community in Canada’s Surrey are set to hold a public forum on Saturday over the “current law and order situation” in the Lower Mainland, Canada-based Global News reported. The event, organised by the Vedic Hindu Cultural Society of British Columbia’s comes in the wake of warnings by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of an extortion racket threatening local business owners. It also follows a shooting incident on December 27 that appeared to target the house of the society’s president’s son. Although Satish Kumar’s son was not injured in the incident, bullet holes hit…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Amidst the tumultuous landscape of Balochistan, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) emerged as a formidable force in 2023 by persistently engaging in armed operations to bring down the occupying Pak Army personnel as well as its collaborators, achieving significant victories throughout the year. The operations have resulted in the defeat of enemy forces that were routed on several fronts by the highly trained fighters of the Baloch Liberation Army. During these operations in 2023, the BLA executed 247 attacks on the enemy forces including 9 special operations and two self-sacrificing operations. These actions led to the elimination of…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China is exploring ways to boost educational exchanges with Central Asian states. Such efforts appear designed to reinforce Chinese business activity in the region. China’s Deputy Education Minister Sun Yao recently visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In Astana, discussions focused on the creation of a Kazakh-Chinese scientific research center at Al-FarabiNational University, one of Kazakhstan’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning. Officials also announced an expansion of an educational exchange program, as well as plans to increase Chinese-language instruction at Kazakh universities and develop dual-degree programs. In Uzbekistan, Sun’s talks likewise focused on increasing Chinese language instruction, as well…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) need to pay back a record amount of maturing local bonds in 2024, testing the limits of a central government programme to help them refinance their debt and avoid default. The country’s LGFVs – companies that borrow on behalf of provinces and cities to finance mainly infrastructure projects, such as roads and ports – have 4.65 trillion yuan (S$869 billion) worth of bonds due over the next 12 months, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. This is the highest amount on record and is roughly 13 per cent more than what came due in…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Aiming to change the narrative about the Xinjiang region where China is accused of committing grave human rights abuses, Beijing is organising so-called media tours with friendly countries to somehow propagate a different version of the region, a report by Al Jazeera stated. Under Chinese Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision of “telling the story of Xinjiang” and “confidently propagating the excellent social stability of Xinjiang”, at least five such tours took place in 2023 itself. Al Jazeera cited a report of Olsi Jazexhi, an Albanian-Canadian historian and journalist who initially thought that the reports about human rights violations…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In 2023, Mexico became the United States’ top trading partner, surpassing China. Just as the Mexican and American economies integrate, though, so have the Mexican and Chinese economies, with China now the former’s fastest-growing foreign investor. This has worried Washington, including members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, who see in Beijing’s investments an attempt to take advantage of a permissive North American trade deal. Put simply, while some view Mexico-U.S. integration as reflecting a success in decoupling from China, others believe that the Asian giant is trying to better its relationship with the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan’s foreign minister says it is documenting its experiences with China’s alleged attempts to interfere in elections next week and will publish its analysis soon after the vote. Taiwan’s government has pointed to military and economic pressure as well as Chinese-subsidised trips to China for local Taiwanese officials, as evidence of Beijing’s alleged interference ahead of the Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary election. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has called Taiwan’s elections a “purely an internal Chinese matter” and that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is trying to call any kind of interactions between the two sides of…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a victory for Tibet activists, biotechnology firm Thermo Fisher Scientific says it has stopped selling kits reportedly used for mass DNA collection in a region of Chinese-occupied Tibet. “Based on a number of factors we made the decision in mid-2023 to cease sales of [human identification] products in the region and no longer sell our human identification technology in the Tibet Autonomous Region,” a spokesperson for the Boston-based company told Axios. According to reports, China’s police collected DNA from about 1 million residents of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which spans roughly half of Tibet. China has illegally…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had detected three more Chinese balloons flying across the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, and one of those flew over the island, the second day in a row it has reported such activity. The potential for China to use balloons for spying became a global issue in February 2023 when the United States shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon. China said the balloon was a civilian craft that accidentally drifted astray. Taiwan is on high alert for Chinese activities, both military and political, ahead of Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Regional experts believe China’s efforts to mediate between the Myanmar junta and ethnic rebels on its northern border are motivated mainly by self-interest. However, Beijing’s efforts will unlikely have a significant effect on the conflict, VOA News reported. According to the experts, China’s goals in convening the peace talk between the military and the Three Brotherhood Alliance, held most recently in Kunming on December 20, is two-fold. Experts believe China is making efforts to eliminate cyberfraud operations victimising Chinese citizens and to stabilise trade across the China-Myanmar border. In an interview, Yun Sun, director of the China program…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Regional experts believe China’s recent efforts to mediate between the Myanmar junta and ethnic rebels on its northern border are motivated mainly by self-interest but unlikely to have a significant impact on the conflict. China’s goals in convening the peace talk between the military and the Three Brotherhood Alliance, conducted most recently in Kunming on December 20, is two-fold, according to the experts: to eliminate cyberfraud operations victimizing Chinese citizens and to stabilize trade across the China-Myanmar border. ‘So, the economic interest or the border trade is being affected, that is for sure,’ Yun Sun, director of the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India has made “irrelevant” Pakistan’s policy of using cross-border terrorism to bring it to the table for dialogue, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said and noted that New Delhi will not deal with the western neighbour on terms where “the practice of terrorism is deemed as legitimate”. In an interview with ANI, Jaishankar said India is not unwilling to deal with Pakistan and indicated that it has to create a conducive environment free of terror and hostility. Referring to the Modi government’s approach in dealing with Pakistan, he said India is not “playing that game now” and…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China witnessed a surge in its anti-corruption efforts in 2023, as the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog initiated investigations against 45 senior officials. This marked a new record in the ongoing battle against corruption, initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, who had previously declared a “crushing victory” in the anti-corruption campaign five years earlier. According to a South China Morning Post report, the significant increase in investigations in 2023, a 40% rise compared to the previous year, suggests President Xi’s unwavering commitment to cleansing China’s officialdom. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s foremost anti-corruption agency,…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck unveiled an ambitious vision for Gelephu Mindfulness City that holds promising potential to significantly bolster Bhutan-India relations, as reported by The Bhutan Live. On December 17, Bhutan celebrated its 116th National Day, and in a historic announcement, the Bhutan King unveiled an ambitious vision that could redefine the country’s economic landscape. The centrepiece of this vision is the Gelephu Mindfulness City Special Administrative Region (SAR), set to emerge as a pivotal economic hub in South Asia. Moreover, as a proposed economic corridor linking South Asia with Southeast Asia, it aligns with India’s…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Nepal has entrusted Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVN) with the construction of the 900 megawatt Upper Karnali hydropower project along with the GMR group, which was earlier awarded the construction of this major hydroelectric project. Earlier in 2014, GMR and SJVN signed the Project Development Agreement (PDA) for the construction of the Upper Karnali and Arun-III hydropower projects. Over a decade, the progress in Arun-III has been significant, while Upper Karnali has remained on the backburner. Now, the government of Nepal has brought in SJVN for the construction of the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project, which is expected…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Multinational corporations in China are facing a dilemma in 2024: Stay, or walk away because of the growing risks of doing business there? Beijing’s increased scrutiny of Western firms over the past year alarmed international investors at a time of growing tensions between the United States and China. ‘De-risking’ became the byword for wary enterprises. Anna Ashton, director of the China corporate affairs program at the Eurasia Group, a global political risk consulting firm, told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview, “National security concerns tied to the changing geopolitical landscape and tensions with the United States have prompted…