The Baloch House

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/asean-china-02092018173212.html


2018-02-09

China Defense Minister Gen. Chang Wanquan, left, attends the ASEAN-China Defense Ministers Meeting in Singapore, Feb. 6, 2018.APChina and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plan to hold maritime drills later this year in a move security analysts said could be Beijing’s way of consolidating power as it moves forward with militarization efforts in the South China Sea.The two sides announced the agreement earlier this week in Singapore, which hosted defense ministers from the region and Chinese Gen. Chang Wanquan.A joint statement said while all parties agreed terrorism remained the key challenge in the region, participants reaffirmed the importance of coming up with a code to prevent unplanned encounters on the sea and air.“In particular, the ministers discussed ways to improve practical cooperation and welcomed the conduct of an inaugural ASEAN-China Maritime Exercise at the end of this year…

https://www.railfreight.com/corridors/2018/02/09/europe-china-rail-strategy-must-harness-potential-of-southern-silk-road/


Published on 09-02-2018 at 09:44A prevailing focus on the Europe-China northern rail freight route is detracting from the possibilities offered by southern Europe and Asia’s other diverse economies, says Professor Richard Griffiths, one of the world’s leading Silk Road experts. His book, Revitalising the Silk Road (2017), is considered one of the foremost examinations of the entire Silk Road project, with its rigorous analysis of the Chinese government’s motivations for setting in motion the Belt and Road initiative. Prof Griffiths will be sharing some of his observations when he speaks at the Silk Road Gateway Poland rail freight summit in Poland from March 20-21.Wind back to 2013, and Professor Griffiths had been doing research in China as part of the Silk Road Centre of European Studies. It was this work that gradually persuaded him to start looking closely at th…

https://www.dawn.com/news/1388487

Saleem ShahidFebruary 10, 2018
QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has said that because of concrete steps taken by the government, insurgency is on the wane in the province as militants have surrendered their weapons and joined the mainstream to play their role in the development of the country.Talking to a delegation of British journalists, who called on him on Thursday, the chief minister said that a few elements sitting abroad had misguided the youth of Balochistan, but now they (the youth) had understood the designs of those people and foiled their conspiracies by joining mainstream politics.The chief minister, however, said that at present, the province was facing religious terrorism and both federal and provincial governments were taking steps to end this scourge.Mr Bizenjo denied presence of alleged safe havens of Taliban and other terrorist groups in any area of the country and said that Pakistan was fighting the ‘war on…

https://eurasiantimes.com/gwadar-port-pakistan-cpec-china/




Vinod in Asia PacificFeaturedSouthAsiaTop Business TrendsWorldOn February 9, 2018Is China really contemplating to establish a Military Base in Pakistan’s Gwadar Port? US Media think-tank has said that Beijing’s interest in the Gwadar Port is both commercial and for defence purpose. The Chinese are building the Gwadar port in Balochistan under the multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor.Media reports from January had also suggested that Beijing may be given permission by Pakistan to build a military base in Jiwani, near the Gwadar port.Read More at EurAsian Times: Medical Tourism In India Blooms Despite India-China TensionsGoing by the recent developments in the project, Pak lawmakers have reportedly started realising that the Chinese interest and investment in the Gwadar port project and the CPEC is more about their own strategic and economic plan. The US think tank community, Heritage Foundation, said that the Chinese h…

https://macauhub.com.mo/2018/02/05/pt-brasil-abandona-projecto-de-linha-de-caminho-de-ferro-sugerido-pela-china/


5 February 2018| Brazil| China
Brazil has given up on the idea of building a railway to transport goods to China through Peru because the project would have been “too expensive” and would face “absurd” engineering challenges, said Jorge Arbache, secretary of International Affairs at the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Management.The 5000-kilometre line, which would have needed to traverse the Andes to reach the Pacific Ocean, was announced during the visit of President Xi Jinping to Brazil in 2014 and was intended to speed up the process of exporting raw materials, such as soybeans and iron ore, to China, at a lower cost, avoiding the Panama Canal.But considering the estimated cost of US$80 billion, Arbache told the Reuters news agency that the railway would have had to carry higher value-added goods and not just commodities in order to be economically viable.Arbache a…

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/02/why-is-china-buying-up-europes-ports/


State-owned port operators are the aggressive leading edge of Beijing’s massive Belt and Road project.BY KEITHJOHNSON | FEBRUARY 2, 2018, 10:27 AMThe Greek port of Piraeus on Jan. 31, 2015. (Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images) China’s trillion-dollar signature foreign-policy project, the Belt and Road Initiative, is often lampooned as just a fuzzy concept with little to show for it on the ground.But in bustling ports from Singapore to the North Sea, state-owned Chinese firms are turning the idea into a reality with a series of aggressive acquisitions that are physically redrawing the map of global trade and political influence.A pair of deep-pocketed Chinese behemoths, Cosco Shipping Ports and China Merchants Port Holdings, have gone on a buying binge of late, snapping up cargo terminals in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic rim. Just last month, Cosco finalized the takeover of the termina…

http://www.atimes.com/belt-road-battle-global-investment-standards/

By EMANUELE SCIMIAFEBRUARY 6, 2018 5:00 PM (UTC+8)1872A new battle is taking shape on the world scene. It does not contemplate the use of cannons, warships, bombs or any other weaponry. Neither does it provide for the physical occupation of enemy territories and positions. It actually sees China and the West compete in affirming their respective investment standards around the globe.Beijing is considering the creation of “international” tribunals to manage trade and investment disputes arising from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plan to boost connectivity throughout Eurasia and beyond.

The Asian giant’s Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, a political body chaired by Xi, recently approved guidelines about the establishment of BRI courts in Beijing, Xian and Shenzhen by the Supreme People’s Court of China.It is said the three tribunals would be modeled after the International C…