The Baloch House

28 Aug 18By PwCForewordInfrastructure development is crucial to improving connectivity and driving sustainable growth in ASEAN. It is important to identify the changing needs of each of these countries in order to leverage future opportunities and trends in infrastructure investments in the region.This report is the second in a three-part Infrastructure Series. In the first report, Understanding infrastructure opportunities in ASEAN (2017), we discuss the existence of a widening infrastructure gap in the region, highlight the potential difficulties faced by countries in mobilising infrastructure investments, and examine measures that could potentially address these challenges. In addition, we introduce the future drivers that we believe will further increase infrastructure spending in the region.In this second report, we take a closer look at how the identified drivers are shaping the pipeline of greenfield infrastructure projects in each ASEAN country. We also assess how the Public P…

Sabine MuscatFrank N. Pieke plans to build on MERICS' successful first five years as the institute's new director and CEO. The former head of the Leiden Asia Center and the Oxford China Center sees the Communist Party's transformation as the key to understanding China's global rise. At the helm of MERICS, Pieke and his deputy Mikko Huotari want to facilitate more coordinated information-sharing on China in Europe.The first time Frank Pieke learnt that China was a moving target as a research object was as a PhD student in Beijing. He had arrived in 1988 to investigate how Chinese citizens coped with the contradictions between a rigid political system and China’s market reforms and opening to the outside world.He soon realized that he had to change his topic. The researcher observed how his peers at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences became swept up in the 1989 urban protest movement, and he found that people in the streets no longer shunned him as a foreigner but we…

September 3, 2018
At least 18 people have gone missing in the military operation in Mastung and surrounding areas that has entered its 5th day.According to local TBP correspondent, the people, who went missing during the operation, are residents of Guraap, Robdaar and Dilband areas of Mastung.In the operation, which started on Wednesday last week, ground troops of Pakistan Army have cordoned off many areas between Mastung and Kalat districts.Pakistani troops also have aerial support of gunship helicopters during the operation.Now according to latest updates, as many as 18 people have gone missing during the operation and multiple houses have also been set ablaze in different areas.The actual losses could be even higher, however, due to weak communication system in the area the exact details have not been ascertained, few sources claimed.Pakistani forces or the administration have made no media comments about the operation.Many military operations and raids have been carried out in the…

ISLAMABAD: The ministries of defence, and interior as well as the district administration have challenged the verdict of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in an enforced disappearance case.The court in its order declared enforced disappearance an act of terrorism and also imposed a fine on the defence and interior secretaries, chief commissioner, inspector general of police Islamabad and other authorities.A division bench of the IHC would take up the intra-court appeals against the verdict of Justice Athar Minallah next week.The appeals have been filed by the federal government and local administration.ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADJustice Minallah on July 11 declared that the ‘enforced disappearance’ creates terror among society therefore persons involved in abducting citizen and keeping them at unknown place may be charged under Anti Terrorism Act.The learned judge made the judgment on the petition filed by Mahera Sajid, wife of missing IT expert Sajid Mehmood.On March 14, 2016, around a d…

Latest update : 03/09/2018 Asinent's economic prospects to its own.Speaking to a gathering of African leaders in Beijing, Xi said the figure includes $15 billion in grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion in credit lines, $10 billion for "development financing" and $5 billion to buy imports from Africa.In addition, he said China will encourage companies to invest at least $10 billion in Africa over the next three years.No details were given on specific projects, although Xi said China was planning initiatives in eight areas, including providing $147 million in emergency food aid, sending 500 agricultural experts to Africa, and providing scholarships, vocational training and trade promotion opportunities.The pledge comes on top of a 2015 promise to provide African countries with $60 billion in funding that Xi said had either been delivered or arranged.AFRICAN DELEGATIONS LOOKING FOR 'WIN-WIN' PROJECTSAlso Monday, Xi promoted Beijing's i…

Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-03 16:51:15|Editor: ZX
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech themed "walk together towards prosperity" at the opening ceremony of the High-level Dialogue Between Chinese and African Leaders and Business Representatives as well as the Sixth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- China supports African countries in jointly building the Belt and Road to share the win-win outcomes, said President Xi Jinping Monday when addressing the High-Level Dialogue Between Chinese and African Leaders and Business Representatives.China stands ready to strengthen comprehensive cooperation with African countries to build a road of high-quality development that is suited to national conditions, inclusive and beneficial to all, Xi said in his keynote speech at the meeting, also the Sixth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs.Realizing common prosp…

Senior officials increasingly believe that China is entering a new Cold War with the US – pitting the two countries’ political and economic systems against each other (See August 30 Tip Sheet).The US says that China’s “state capitalist” system is unfair.So the Party’s top theoretical journal, Qiushi, took that complaint on in a new editorial.The editorial takes issue with the idea that the US economy is devoid of state intervention, citing US government support for the internet, biotechnology, and shale gas.It goes on to argue that the US’s real goal is to keep China down:“The use of the so-called ‘state capitalism’ …[stirs up] public opinion to contain…developing countries, especially China.”“The fundamental reason why some Western political leaders attack Chinese state-owned enterprises is that Chinese state-owned enterprises continue to be better, stronger, and bigger.”“[China’s SOEs] are better able to serve China's development…and provide a reliable guarantee of the realizati…