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康老师的报刊课Selected Articles from American & British Newspapers & Magazines October 23 China, India Stoke 21st-Century Rivalry
LEH, India -- In the brewing discord between two giant, ambitious nations, even a remote meadow in the Himalayas is worth fighting over. Some two-dozen Chinese soldiers converged earlier this year on a family of nomads who wouldn't budge from a winter grazing ground that locals say Indian herders had used for generations. China claims the pasture is part of Tibet, not northern India. The soldiers tore up the family's tent and tried to push them back toward the Indian border town of Demchok, Indian authorities say. Increasing FrictionComparing China and India's most crucial statistics. Chering Dorjay, the chairman of India's Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, says he arrived on the scene with a new tent and Indian intelligence officers and urged the herders to stay put. "The Chinese, it seems, are gradually taking our territory," he says. "We will feel very insecure unless India strengthens its defenses." Dueling territorial claims along this heavily militarized mountain border, coupled with economic tensions between the two nations, are kindling a 21st-century rivalry. The budding distrust has created a dilemma for the U.S. about how to court one nation without angering the other. China and India cooperate occasionally. But in recent years, they have competed vigorously over trade, energy investments, even a race to land a man on the moon. Some Indians want their nation to move closer to the U.S. as a hedge against a rising China -- a strategic shift that's likely to complicate ties among all three. "China is trying to become No. 1," says Brajesh Mishra, a former national-security adviser for India. "This is the seed of conflict between China, India and the U.S." Walk the Line
Peter Wonacott/The Wall Street Journal
A sign in the village of Spangmik in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir marks the last stop for tourists. The prime ministers of India and China are expected to meet this weekend at a summit of Asian leaders in Bangkok, following several weeks in which their nations traded barbs over trade and disputed territory. "Both sides will exchange views on issues of mutual concern," China's assistant foreign minister, Hu Zhengyao, told reporters Wednesday. Next month, after a planned visit to China, President Barack Obama will host a U.S. visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a meeting meant to highlight what the White House says is a "growing strategic partnership." Commercial and military ties between the two countries have been getting stronger. Last year, the U.S. loosened restrictions to allow India to buy sensitive technology and nuclear equipment for civilian use. Soldiers from both countries are participating this month in a joint defense exercise. Indian defense analysts say India needs closer U.S. ties to hedge against potential hostilities with China. "If China's rise is peaceful, and it integrates into the global economy, everything should be fine," says retired Indian Brig. Gen. Gurmeet Kanwal, director of the Center for Land Warfare Studies, an army think tank. "Should China implode, it's better to have a friend like the U.S." In addition to the defense concerns, trade friction is growing between India and China. India leads all members of the World Trade Organization in antidumping cases against China. India has banned imports of Chinese toys, milk and chocolate, citing safety concerns, and has launched investigations into export surges of Chinese truck tires and chemicals, among other products. On Oct. 15, Indian heavy-industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh asked the finance ministry to impose taxes on imports of inexpensive Chinese power equipment. "We don't want India to be turned into a dumping ground," he told reporters. At the moment, the biggest threat to India-China relations may be their competing claims for big swaths of territory along their border. In recent years, China has settled border disputes with a host of nations, including Russia, as part of what it calls its "good neighbor policy." But China and India have made little progress, despite 13 rounds of meetings since 2003. China says the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is historically part of southern Tibet. India wants China to hand back territory it calls Aksai Chin, desolate high-altitude salt flats that residents of Ladakh claim as part of its ancient Buddhist kingdom. India's discovery of a Chinese-built road in the region helped spark a border war in 1962. Earlier this month, China objected to a visit by Indian Prime Minister Singh to Arunachal Pradesh to campaign for local elections, saying it was disputed territory. "We request India to pay great attention to China's solemn concerns, and not stir up incidents in the areas of dispute," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters. India's foreign minister countered that Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory, and demanded that China stop investing in infrastructure-related projects in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan claim the whole of Kashmir. The 1962 border war, which India lost, complicated the boundary between the two countries. These days, Chinese and Indian forces in some border areas have agreed to go out on different days to patrol contested territory. "We want to avoid an eyeball-to-eyeball conflict," says Gopal Pillai, India's secretary for the home ministry, which oversees the border police. India and China are intent on turning fast economic growth into national strength. When their interests have converged, they have proven a powerful combination. On Wednesday, they announced plans to cooperate at December's climate-change talks in Copenhagen, a pact likely to see both fighting carbon-emission caps proposed by industrialized nations. During global-trade talks, they both resisted Western pressure to open farm markets. "China's economic and military growth is not a threat to India. And India's shouldn't be a threat to China," says Cheng Ruisheng, a former Chinese ambassador to India. "We should be an opportunity to one another." But many Chinese resent any comparison with India, still a largely poor agrarian nation with only about one-third of China's per-capita income. And they're generally wary of India's warming ties with the U.S. Indians, for their part, bristle over the flood of Chinese imports and China's increasingly cozy ties with India's neighbors, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and arch-rival Pakistan. In a speech last November, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, then its foreign minister, identified an expansionist China as one of India's top challenges. "Today's China seeks to further her interests more aggressively than in the past," he told the National Defense College in New Delhi. The Indian government has closely scrutinized proposals by Chinese companies to invest in India. It recently demanded that thousands of Chinese citizens in India convert short-term business visas into employment visas -- a move that effectively boots unskilled Chinese workers from the country.
The Chinese government has objected to a proposed Asian Development Bank program that India hoped would help fund a water project in the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh. This year, the Chinese embassy began issuing visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in a manner that Indian officials say leaves China with a way to later claim that it isn't recognizing the visa recipients as Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says "every country has the right" to set its own visa policies. U.S. defense contractors could benefit from India's desire to modernize its military. While the U.S. has banned weapons sales to China, it has ramped up such sales to India. Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. are among the defense contractors competing to supply India's air force a new fleet of jet fighters -- a deal that could be valued at $10.4 billion. Some Chinese analysts say friction between India and China are playing into what they say is a U.S. wish to contain China. "If border tensions between India and China continue to simmer, I can't say the U.S. will be displeased," says Shi Yinhong, a specialist in Sino-U.S. ties at People's University in Beijing. The contested territory in northern India lies in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The region abutting China, known as Ladakh, consists largely of rocky mountain terrain with isolated green pastures grazed by yaks, goats and horses. Many of the herders and traders living on both sides of the blurred border share the same Tibetan heritage and Buddhist faith. The main town on the Indian side, Leh, was an ancient caravan stop. Today, the area crawls with Indian soldiers. Indian border police tightly regulate visitors traveling east toward China. Peter Wonacott/The Wall Street Journal
The Indian army built this road in Ladakh, near the China border, where there have been disputes over territory. Read MoreThe roads, which run beside Indian army camps and over a pass above 17,000 feet, are dotted with offbeat signs: "I'm curvaceous, be slow," warns one. "I like you darling, but not so fast," says another. India intends to use the new mountain roads in part to move military supplies. In September, an Indian cargo plane landed at a new high-altitude airstrip near the border. Indian villagers near the border have been caught in the middle of the conflict. When villagers were constructing an irrigation canal a few years ago, Chinese soldiers tried to wave them off, says Rigzin Spalbar, chairman at the time of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. The villagers hurled abuse at the soldiers, but were angry at Indian soldiers for doing nothing, he says. The Chinese "are pestering us to test India's reaction," he says. Indian residents of the area claim Chinese soldiers have painted Chinese characters on rocks in territory that India claims as its own. The residents say the border has never been as tightly patrolled as it is now. Konchok Gurmet, 70 years old, lives in Spangmik, a village ringed with Tibetan prayer flags on Panggong Lake, beside the border with China. He says that until a few years ago he was able to smuggle horses and wool across the border in exchange for Chinese crockery, clothes and thermos bottles. These days, locals say, border forces on both sides turn smugglers back. After violent protests in Tibet last year, China has been sensitive about who crosses over. Indian police worry that herders and smugglers may be offering the Chinese information on military positions smugglers may be offering the Chinese information on military positions and infrastructure projects, locals say.
According to Mr. Pillai, the Indian home secretary, infrastructure development on both sides of the border has heightened interest in establishing an exact line. The confrontation between the Indian goatherds and Chinese soldiers, which occurred in January, began after the herders crossed a river to reach a pasture they'd used for generations, Mr. Pillai says. The Chinese viewed the river as the border line. Indian security forces haven't pressed the claim, he says, because the pasture now is encircled by Chinese sentry posts. "We'd find it difficult tactically to hold that land," he says. China's ministry of defense declined to comment on the incident, and the Chinese foreign ministry has denied any incursions into Indian territory. "China's border patrol is always conducted in strict accordance with rules," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman last month. Mr. Pillai says more troops are moving to the border with China, which he describes as a "gradual" buildup of "defensive positions." Some residents of Arunachal Pradesh -- the Indian state that China claims -- say it's about time. "India needs to wake up. China is going to flex its muscles," says Kiren Rijiju, a former member of parliament from Arunachal Pradesh. "Being one of its largest neighbors, we are a soft target." October 13 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vows to never run for president again
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President Obama copes with critics on Nobel Peace Prize, war hawks on Afghanistan
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September 22 First doses of swine flu vaccine will be nasal spray, not shotsThe first doses of swine flu vaccine will be nasal sprays, not shots, health officials said Friday. The needle-free FluMist is not recommended for some of the people most in danger of serious complications from swine flu - including pregnant women, children younger than 2, and people with asthma and other respiratory diseases. Some 3.4 million doses of the nasal spray will be available the first week of October, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It is not clear when swine flu shots will be ready. Health officials in the city expect to receive an initial shipment of 1.2 million doses next month, followed by a half-million more every week thereafter. The city Department of Health, which will offer free vaccines to all school-aged children this fall, says the spray and shot are equally effective among healthy people ages 2 to 49. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/09/18/2009-09-18_first_doses_of_swine_flu_vaccine_will_be_nasal_spray_not_shots.html#ixzz0RnelFgQL September 14 Hip hotels: new vs old
引用 When it comes to bedding down in one of our favourite cities, we love the hip and the new, but we also value the time-honoured classic. We asked Time Out's international magazine and online editors to tell us about the hot hotels – both new and old – in their cities.BeijingThe new The Opposite House 11 Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District (+86 10 6417 The oldWith a list of guests that extends to celebrities and heads of state, the St Regis is Beijing’s most prestigious address. Many an important executive has thrashed out a deal in the Press Club Bar, and the Sunday brunch at the Garden Court is for those who prefer quality to quantity – or to put it another way, caviar to a greasy fry-up. The style is over-the-top elegance, with more marble and chestnut wood than you can shake a stick at: definitely a classy experience. 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie (+86 10 6460 LondonThe newThe Zetter St John’s Square, 86-88 Clerkenwell Road The oldClaridge’s Brook Street W1K 4HR
Why the China-U.S. Trade Dispute is Heating Up
引用 The relationship between China and the U.S. may be the world's most complicated. While the two economies desperately need each other — China relies on exports to the U.S. to drive growth while the U.S. requires investments from China to finance its giant deficits — Beijing and Washington nevertheless routinely spar over a wide range of sensitive issues. The U.S. has accused China of manipulating its currency to unfairly promote exports, while China has openly called for the replacement of the U.S. dollar as the world's premier currency. But with so much at stake, the two nations have tried to keep their rapport cordial. In July, U.S. President Barack Obama called for "cooperation, not confrontation" with China. Until now. A widening trade dispute threatens to ratchet up the tension in the China-U.S. relationship, with potential consequences for the entire world economy. The spat began on Sept. 11, when the Obama administration announced it would slap tariffs of as much as 35% on Chinese-made tires, effectively pricing them out of the low end of the American market. Two days later, China's Ministry of Commerce said that it would start anti-dumping investigations against imports of some U.S. chicken products and auto parts. Though the ministry's announcement made no mention of the tire tariffs, the timing of China's action appears as an eye-for-an-eye reaction to Obama's decision
Some analysts fear the ill will caused by the tariff dispute could lead to an escalating round of conflict between the two nations, souring overall U.S.-China ties. "The action taken by the U.S. government no doubt will damage the Sino-American relationship seriously at a time when mutual trust is most needed," comments Yu Yongding, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. "This is indeed a very bad beginning for the Obama government in terms of cooperation" between the two countries. The timing couldn't be worse. Policymakers and business leaders have been looking more and more to a partnership between China and the U.S to solve the world's most intractable problems, from reform of the global financial system to climate change to nuclear proliferation. Most pressing, cooperation between Washington and Beijing is seen as absolutely crucial to nurturing the budding recovery of the global economy. The two sides need to alleviate the giant economic imbalances — excessive debt and deficits in the U.S. paired with excessive savings in China — to restore the world economy to a more sustainable growth path
Atomic agency rescues 'dirty bomb' material
引用 Radioactive cobalt cleared from Lebanese lab. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repatriated dozens of Russian-made, highly radioactive sources that had been languishing unused in a Lebanese research institute for more than a decade. The effort forms part of a wider IAEA initiative to secure radioactive materials used in scientific research, medicine and industry, which could potentially be used by terrorists to make a so-called 'dirty bomb' IAEA officials identified possible security issues with the radioactive material at an unspecified agricultural institute in Lebanon in 2006. They were concerned to find that a cobalt-60 irradiator, originally used for a biological pest control project, had been lying dormant since 1996. The sealed unit still contained 36 individual sources with a combined activity of 3,500 Curies, making it the most powerful source of radioactivity in Lebanon. The irradiator had previously been used to sterilize male Mediterranean fruit flies or medfly (Ceratitis capitata), with a view to controlling the medfly population and preventing crop damage by egg-laying females. But after the project ended, all the staff members who knew how to look after the radioactive equipment subsequently left the institute, leaving the cobalt-60 sources potentially insecure. The sources were fully shielded, so there was no risk to research staff entering the room where the irradiator was stored. "We were worried about the risk of theft, either for the value of the irradiator or particularly for malicious purposes," said Robin Heard, an IAEA radioactive source specialist who oversaw the mission. If the sources had been removed from the container, direct exposure to the radioactive material could have killed someone within minutes. Source of worryPlans to repatriate the radioactive material were initially delayed, owing to general political instability in the region, and in particular Israel's bombing of Lebanon's airport, which prevented outgoing flights. The sources were finally moved to a secure storage facility in Russia on 30 August. "This is a big enough set of sources to be worrisome were it to fall into terrorists' hands," says Matthew Bunn, a non-proliferation expert at Harvard University. "Lebanon is certainly a country with some fairly substantial terrorist activity." The IAEA's repatriation mission in Lebanon was a piece of "good international housekeeping", adds John Simpson, an expert on nuclear non-proliferation at the University of Southampton's Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, the United Kingdom. "It is clearly extremely sensible that the IAEA should try to get all states to account for all radioactive sources that are within their territories."While this operation was a success, it merely scratches the surface of a global problem, says Bunn: "It's a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and this is at best one piece."The IAEA has identified more radioactive material that it would like to remove from Lebanon, although the location and activities of these sources is not being made public. The cost of the removal programme has been met by the European Union.IAEA officials are also working in Africa and former Soviet Union satellite states to improve the security of radioactive materials. In the Ukraine, for example, a centralized storage facility is planned to house used radioactive sources from across the country. Construction of the facility within the Chernobyl exclusion zone is expected to begin later this year. The UK government has pledged £2.1 million from its Global Threat Reduction Programme towards the scheme. |
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