India has urged China to reconsider its support for Pakistan's nuclear and missile programs to reciprocate New Delhi's moves to back Beijing's position on Taiwan and Tibet.
Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said India and China, which fought a brief but brutal border war in 1962, should pay closer attention to each other's sensitivities and aspirations in keeping with the spirit of their new friendship.
"We have taken a principled position on issues like Tibet and Taiwan and our position is appreciated by China," Sinha told naval officers in a speech late on Saturday.
"Some aspects of China's relations with Pakistan, including their nexus in nuclear and missile proliferation, however, continue to cause serious concern in India as they have a direct and negative bearing on our national security environment."
"We regard China as a friend and we expect friends to show greater sensitivity to our security concerns," Sinha said.
China is Pakistan's main supplier of military hardware and analysts also believe Beijing helped Islamabad with its nuclear weapons program.
India, also nuclear armed, and Pakistan have been locked in a decades-old dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir and last year the South Asian rivals went to the verge of their fourth war in half a century.
India and China, the world's two most populous nations, are building a new strategic alliance as ties between the Asian giants, frosty since the 1962 war, have warmed in recent years.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited China this year, the first such visit in a decade, and New Delhi, in a departure from its earlier position, recognized the Tibetan Autonomous Region as a part of the territory of China.
New Delhi, without explicitly naming Taiwan -- which Beijing regards as a renegade province -- also reiterated its support for a unified China.
India and China also agreed to seek a swift end to an old border dispute, boost trade and economic ties and hold joint military exercises, in what analysts say is a bid by Beijing to adopt a more even-handed approach in relations with South Asia.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was