India has rejected China's claim that it never acknowledged Pakistan's claims on parts of Jammu and Kashmir as final, maintaining its stand against the One Belt One Road (OBOR) project, which the Indian government says breaches sovereignty. In order to convince India about the project, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/China-is-highly-uncomfortable-with-India-hosting-Dalai-Lama-in-Arunachal-Pradesh/articleshow/58026876.cms">China</a> has revived its four-point proposal using which it aims to strengthen its relations with India, aligning the with New Delhi's 'Act East Policy'. This would also help China in restarting negotiations on a free-trade pact. Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Pakistan-has-found-a-new-best-friend-in-China-At-least-the-investment-numbers-say-so/articleshow/58165520.cms">Pakistan has found a new best friend in China! At least the investment numbers say so</a> India has said that it won’t be attending the OBOR Summit to be held on May 14-15 in Beijing, maintaining its stand that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (<keyword id="6363059" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CPEC">CPEC</keyword>) - the flagship project under OBOR passes through <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Showing-PoK-and-Arunachal-as-disputed-territories-will-land-you-in-jail-for-7-years/articleshow/52129850.cms">Pak-occupied Kashmir</a>, and thus breaches sovereignty. The CPEC will connect Kashgar (Xinjiang, China) and a deep sea port at Gwadar(Balochistan, Pakistan). Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/India-pushing-back-China-in-race-to-collect-Lanka-port-assets/articleshow/58377159.cms">India pushing back China in race to collect Lanka port assets</a> About China’s support to Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir, it had recently said that as per the title and Article 6 of its 1963 agreement with Islamabad, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/China-to-fund-weapon-building-in-Pakistan/articleshow/57690131.cms">China</a> recognizes Kashmir as an issue of territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, and remains open to renegotiate the agreement after India and Pakistan settled this dispute. However, the Indian government replied that it considered the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement itself as "illegal and invalid”.

Here’s why India would never support China’s OBOR project with Pakistan

Indian Prime Minister <keyword id="969998" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narenda-Modi">Narenda Modi</keyword> is on a two-nation political tour that started from Vietnam and now <keyword id="6354642" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Modi">Modi</keyword> is in Chinese city, <keyword id="232713" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hangzhou">Hangzhou</keyword> for the crucial G20 summit. 
 
The recent past has seen a lot of tiffs between the Indian and Chinese government, be it over China's opposition to India's NSG application, or the topic of expulsion of Chinese journalists from India and how it was reported in the Chinese media. 
 
However, since there is always some scope for a healthy discussion, here are five points that PM Modi would be pushing, as per a TNN report: 
 
Pakistan 
 
The recent unrest in Kashmir saw Pakistan openly supporting Kashmiri terrorists and separatists against India, after which, India questioned protests in PoK over rigged elections, stating that PoK PoK belonged to India. 
 
It was then that PM Modi had warned Pakistan that India would raise its human rights violations in Balochistan in case Islamabad continues to support terrorist activities in Kashmir. 
 
Since China is a close ally to Pakistan and is seen supporting it, there are high chances that Pakistan would be a topic of discussion between India and China. 
 
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) 
 
India has been putting a lot of pressure on Islamabad, and this could prove to be harmful to the Chinese economy. CPEC is a $46-billion project, using which China wants to gain direct access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean Region. It has also invested heavily in the Gwadar Port in Balochistan for this very purpose. 
 
A critical part of this corridor runs through PoK, and now that India has decided to reinforce its legal claims on PoK, Beijing is bound to be upset. Even though the Chinese government has steered away from commenting on this, some sources say that Chinese think tanks have suggested China-Pakistan taking a joint military action against India so that the CPEC project is unhindered. 
 
South China Sea dispute 
 
This territorial dispute has made China stand against several nations, and this is benefitting India. 
 
After an international tribunal ruled in favour of India, that Beijing's claims in the South China Sea were not justified, India had issued a statement in which it made a direct appeal to all nations involved in the conflict to "exercise self-restraint," so that the dispute is not complicated further. 
 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was on his visit to India recently, when he said that it was up to New Delhi to support Beijing on the South China Sea dispute or not, also making sure that New Delhi does not raise the South China Sea issue anywhere. 
 
India's budding friendships with South East Asia countries 
 
Vietnam is also involved in the South China Sea dispute, and Modi will be visiting it before China, where he would be signing a contract for the supply of four patrol vessels to the Vietnamese military. He could also discuss defence cooperation with Vietnam, much to China's chagrin. 
 
India is increasingly getting friendly with other countries in the South East Asia, and China will most likely see these emerging friendships as a not-entirely-friendly alliance. 
 
India's infrastructure development along China border 
 
Till almost a decade back, India had not built any infrastructure alongside Chinese border, making sure that Chinese be able to advance slowly in case Beijing invades India. However, China built up high-quality roads and rail links along the 3500-km border with India. 
 
Now that India is also looking to push infrastructure projects there, China has said that these efforts would only escalate tensions between the two countries. It was only recently that Beijing criticized India's decision to deploy the advanced, supersonic cruise missile system BrahMos on its border with China, claiming that this deployment was "the opposite" of peace and stability. This too could be a topic of discussion, given that China on its part has done heavy military deployment in that area.

PM Modi in China for G20 summit, and here is what he’ll be talking about

Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi is all set to embark on a two-nation political tour, starting from Vietnam and followed by China, where he would be taking part in the <keyword id="3619515" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="G20-Summit-in-Hangzhou">G20 Summit in Hangzhou</keyword>. 
 
The recent past has seen a lot of tiffs between the Indian and Chinese government, be it over China’s opposition to India’s NSG application, or the topic of expulsion of Chinese journalists from India and how it was reported in the Chinese media. 
 
However, since there is always some scope for a healthy discussion, here are five points that PM Modi would be pushing, as per a TNN report: 
 
Pakistan 
 
The recent unrest in Kashmir saw Pakistan openly supporting Kashmiri terrorists and separatists against India, after which, India questioned protests in PoK over rigged elections, stating that PoK PoK belonged to India. 
 
It was then that PM Modi had warned Pakistan that India would raise its human rights violations in Balochistan in case Islamabad continues to support terrorist activities in Kashmir. 
 
Since China is a close ally to Pakistan and is seen supporting it, there are high chances that Pakistan would be a topic of discussion between India and China. 
 
<keyword id="1934950" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="China-Pakistan-economic-corridor">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor</keyword> (CPEC) 
 
India has been putting a lot of pressure on Islamabad, and this could prove to be harmful to the Chinese economy. CPEC is a $46-billion project, using which China wants to gain direct access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean Region. It has also invested heavily in the Gwadar Port in Balochistan for this very purpose. 
 
A critical part of this corridor runs through PoK, and now that India has decided to reinforce its legal claims on PoK, Beijing is bound to be upset. Even though the Chinese government has steered away from commenting on this, some sources say that Chinese think tanks have suggested China-Pakistan taking a joint military action against India so that the CPEC project is unhindered. 
 
<keyword id="430735" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="South-China-Sea">South China Sea</keyword> dispute 
 
This territorial dispute has made China stand against several nations, and this is benefitting India. 
 
After an international tribunal ruled in favour of India, that Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea were not justified, India had issued a statement in which it made a direct appeal to all nations involved in the conflict to “exercise self-restraint,” so that the dispute is not complicated further. 
 
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was on his visit to India recently, when he said that it was up to New Delhi to support Beijing on the South China Sea dispute or not, also making sure that New Delhi does not raise the South China Sea issue anywhere. 
 
India’s budding friendships with South East Asia countries 
 
Vietnam is also involved in the South China Sea dispute, and Modi will be visiting it before China, where he would be signing a contract for the supply of four patrol vessels to the Vietnamese military. He could also discuss defence cooperation with Vietnam, much to China’s chagrin. 
 
India is increasingly getting friendly with other countries in the South East Asia, and China will most likely see these emerging friendships as a not-entirely-friendly alliance. 
 
India’s infrastructure development along China border 
 
Till almost a decade back, India had not built any infrastructure alongside Chinese border, making sure that Chinese be able to advance slowly in case Beijing invades India. However, China built up high-quality roads and rail links along the 3500-km border with India. 
 
Now that India is also looking to push infrastructure projects there, China has said that these efforts would only escalate tensions between the two countries. It was only recently that Beijing criticized India’s decision to deploy the advanced, supersonic cruise missile system BrahMos on its border with China, claiming that this deployment was “the opposite” of peace and stability. This too could be a topic of discussion, given that China on its part has done heavy military deployment in that area. 
 
<a href="http://img.newsheads.in/images4web/2014/09/18/639043627-India-china1_0.JPG">Image source</a>

PM Modi is set to visit China, and here is what he’ll be talking about

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The assassination of an <keyword id="106468" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="al-Qaeda">Al Qaeda</keyword> commander in Tehran by an Israeli hit squad would only have been undertaken at the request of American intelligence services, sources tell Insider.</li><li>Mounting an operation like the one that killed Abu Mohammed al Masri can take years of preparation. </li><li><keyword id="113420" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mossad">Mossad</keyword> will select Israelis with perfect Farsi language skills and they will train their entire careers for a single mission, our sources say.</li><li>But the cost — in resources and lost intelligence assets — will have been steep, suggesting the US had a role.</li></ul>The assassination last August of a top Al Qaeda commander in Tehran by an Israeli hit squad would have been an exorbitantly costly operation that would have only been undertaken at the direct request of American intelligence services, according to two current European intelligence officials and a former Israeli Mossad official. Israel would have traditionally sought valuable compensation for conducting such a dangerous and complex operation inside Iran, they told Insider. US intelligence officials confirmed last week that an Israeli operation on August 7, in an upscale Tehran neighborhood, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/al-masri-abdullah-qaeda-dead.html">assassinated Abu Mohammed al Masri</a>. Masri was a longtime Egyptian member of Al Qaeda dating back to the late 1980s. Along with a few dozen top al Qaeda leaders and their families, Masri had been living in Iran under various forms of house arrest, detention, or monitored parole since fleeing the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.  Getting to him — right under the noses of the authorities in Tehran — cannot have been easy or cheap. That is a major indication that US resources must have been deployed to make it happen. <h2>The US provided the location and <keyword id="6355882" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="israel">Israel</keyword> provided the hit squad</h2>Masri, along with fellow Egyptian Saif al Adel (also believed to be in <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword>), represented the top operational leadership of Al Qaeda, following the killing of Osama bin Laden. The current top leader is Ayman al Zawahiri, but he has acted more as a figurehead for the group and is believed to be hiding in Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan. <a href="https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1327310792383983616">He is also rumored to be dead from illness</a>.Masri led Al Qaeda operations in East Africa during the 1990s and was wanted by the US in connection with the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania with a $10 million bounty on his head. While Al Qaeda did not immediately announce Masri's death — just as its official sources have been silent on the rumors of Zawahiri's death — <a href="https://twitter.com/siteintelgroup/status/1328756765685657601">social media accounts considered close to the AQ leadership have begun eulogizing him</a>. "It was a joint operation with the Americans providing technical details that identified Masri's secret identity and location in Tehran, while the Israelis provided the actual assassins to do the attack in Tehran," said a European intelligence official. The source was briefed on the details of the operation but refused to be identified in the media discussing operational matters. "We have known since 2003 that Iran was using some combination of detention and safe refuge for key Al Qaeda members and their families who fled the US invasion [of Afghanistan] in 2001," said the official. "Masri and Adel have always posed the most concern for counterterrorism officials because they're both very capable and ruthless operators and we have seen them being very active with various Al Qaeda affiliates in Syria."It has been long understood in intelligence circles that despite the vicious religious and political rivalry between Shiite Iran and Sunni Al Qaeda, an uneasy relationship evolved since 2001, as Iran concluded that the US wasn't offering anything to make it worth turning over the terrorists. Keeping them under various forms of house arrest gave Iran leverage over the Sunni group. Indeed, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Exile-Stunning-Inside-Story-Flight/dp/1620409844">Tehran has twice swapped kidnapped diplomats for more freedom or the outright release of some Al Qaeda members in Iran</a>, including multiple children and wives of bin Laden. <h2>Israeli agents train their entire careers for a single operation inside Iran</h2>Israel has regularly been able to hit targets in Iran over the past 30 years, according to the former Mossad official, because of its focus on recruiting and training Israelis of Iranian descent for top-secret operations.  "There's half a million Israelis who either grew up in Iran or grew up in Israel speaking Farsi with their families," said the former Mossad official, who refused to be identified or to speak directly about the Masri operation. "This community is closely watched by Mossad and Military Intelligence and of course it's used to recruit both agents and analysts," said the Mossad official. "My family is Iranian and I grew up speaking Farsi at home, it was only after my IDF service that my Hebrew began to sound as native as my Farsi. There are many people just like me in this business." In past conversations, Israeli officials have described a process in which candidates in the intelligence and the military are carefully watched for spycraft talents during their mandatory military service. With a particular emphasis on members of elite special forces and military intelligence units, candidates for deep cover operations or Mossad's assassination unit — until recently called Bayonet — will be recruited and trained, in many cases for just a single mission. "The top people in the elite units — let's say there's someone with perfect Farsi skills from growing up in an Iranian Jewish family — they'll get recruited to the most secret units in Mossad and oftentimes train their entire careers for a single mission," said a "Tsur," a former Israeli paratrooper and special forces medic. "Mossad will see this person as a card they can play later: Here's a guy who's a well-trained killer from an elite military unit, he's got clean travel documents established where he can fly to Tehran or anywhere as another country's citizen, or even pass as an Iranian if they give him fake papers. He's never conducted a foreign operation before so nobody knows his face. This is a person you can send to Tehran undercover. But only once. For one mission." But because of the value of this sort of human asset, it would be rare for the shooters themselves to have been Israelis, and instead were most likely members of one of the anti-regime groups like the Balochistan independence movement that has <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/1.5164851">been on Mossad's payroll for a decade</a>, said an European intelligence official based in the Middle East. "The Israelis have been very effective at recruiting proxy gunmen for these sorts of assassinations in Tehran," said the official, who noted that there have been half a dozen killings of top Iranian nuclear scientists in Iran from 2010 until 2015. "There's going to handlers and the like that need to operate inside Iran but only under the most important circumstances. One example would be the operation <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-43950636">to steal the Iranian nuclear archive</a> [July 2018]. For that operation they'd probably have used Israelis on the ground." <h2>But what did the US give to get the job done? </h2>The Middle Eastern-based European official questioned what exactly the Americans used to entice the Israelis to conduct the operation, considering that despite Al Qaeda's anti-Semitic rhetoric the group has never attempted to directly target Israelis. "This operation likely blew the cover or ability to operate half a dozen assets or more in Iran," said the official. "Sure the Israelis and Americans are 'friends' but giving up a bunch of assets that took many years and much money to get into place requires compensation. Obviously Masri was a long-time target for the Americans but I'm not yet sure what the Israelis got in exchange for this operation. I doubt it was [merely] some goodwill." The regional intelligence source does, however, have a theory on why the operation finally leaked three months later in the wake of the US presidential election.  "I'm not sure the Israelis are being shy about reminding [President-elect Joe] Biden that even if you want to resume talks with Tehran over the nuclear deal, there's still going to be an issue of the presence of a dozen top al Qaeda people in Tehran. They're being pretty obvious about this, <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-revealing-assassination-of-al-qaida-s-no-2-is-message-to-biden-israeli-sources-sa-1.9311178">it was even in the newspaper there yesterday</a>." <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-saudi-arabia-trump-war-iran-2020-11">Security officials worry Israel and Saudi Arabia may see the end of Trump as their last chance to go to war with Iran</a><a></a><a></a></li></ul>

Israel's stunning assassination of an Al Qaeda chief inside Iran suggests a major deal was cut with the US

The Indian Army said it carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan and destroyed seven terror hubs across the Line of Control (LOC), just two kilometres across the de-facto border. 
 
Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif said two Pakistan soldiers were killed and nine were injured. There was no casualty report from the Indian side. 
 
During a news briefing, Indian Army's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lt General Ranbir Singh said the surgical strikes on the terror camps were based on “very specific and credible information that some terrorist units had positioned themselves to infiltrate". 
 
Here's what happened: 
 
- The surgical strikes were carried out just two kilometres across the LOC. 
 
- The Indian forces were paradropped and the operations went on for four hours between 12.30 am and 4.30 am.&#xa0; 
 
- DGMO&#xa0;Lt Gen Singh said he spoke with his Pakistani counterpart and shared the concerns with him.&#xa0;“We told him that we conducted surgical strikes last night,” said the DGMO. 
 
- Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said India should not take its peaceful intent as weakness and condemned the surgical strike. 
 
- The surgical strikes were carried out on September 28, but the Pakistani media has denied the same, saying India was fabricating the truth. 
 
- Pakistan’s s ISPR said, “Notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists bases is illusion deliberately generated by India to create false effects. This was not a surgical strike, we are alert for any eventuality. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, same will be strongly responded.” 
 
- India maintained despite Pakistan’s commitment not to allow its territory for terrorism, there was no action on it.&#xa0;“This is reflected in the terror attacks in Poonch and Uri on the 11th and the 18th September, respectively,” said Lt Gen Singh. 
 
- Meanwhile, the Indian government has called for an all-party meet. Dr Nirmal Singh, Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said, “Pakistan was behaving like a terrorist state; befitting reply was needed. These strikes boosted the morale of our army.” 
 
- Following the news, the Indian financial markets tanked beyond 500 points. 
 
- Sensex lost over 500 points and ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Axis Bank , Sun Pharma and GAIL are the top Sensex losers. India VIX spikes 17.09%.&#xa0;Nifty50 slipped below 8,700 level. 
 
-Villages in Punjab, which are 10 kilometres from International Border with Pakistan, are being evacuated as additional BSF troops are moving in. 
 
- Baloch Leader says Mazdak Dilshad Baloch says, “We support such strikes and want Indian Army to conduct surgical strikes in Balochistan as well.”

India carries out surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan. Here’s how it happened

What might seem a bit uncomfortable for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi before he visits China next month is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Pakistan visit yesterday. According to a news report in The Economic Times, Xi is to announce $46 billion worth of infrastructure projects and plans to sell submarines. 
 
Pakistan being China's oldest and closest ally in South Asia, the partnership between these two is often interpreted as a caution to India. The ET report says, Xi, who was to visit Pakistan last year had postponed it due to security concerns, is visiting Islamabad at a time when the Modi government is trying to expand India's influence in the India Ocean Region and Asia Pacific. Since coming to power last May, the PM has visited several countries in these regions. 
 
Xi, who will be awarded Pakistan's highest civilian award, 'Nishan-e-Pakistan', has said the trip was like a visit the home of his "own brother". 
 
Diplomatic sources from Pakistan said the highlight of the visit would be the signing of an agreement to build an economic corridor worth $46 billion with Chinese assistance. The 3,000-km-long China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will link China's backward far-western region to Pakistan's Gwadar deep-sea port on the Arabian Sea via Pakistan occupied Kashmir through a massive and complex network of roads, railways, business zones, energy schemes and pipelines. 
 
The route from Gwadar to Kashgar in China's Xinjiang is also a shortcut for goods from Europe to China and would help Beijing avoid the Strait of Malacca. 
 
Pakistan is scheduled to also sign a deal to buy eight Chinese submarines for $6 billion dollars. This would double Pakistan's submarine fleet and also help counter India's increasing strategic footprints in the Indian Ocean Region that has contributed to discomfiture of Beijing amid its own ambitions in the area, the ET report reads. 
 
These deals would help China offset its setback in Sri Lanka, where its massive Colombo Port project has been suspended and other infrastructure projects financed by it have been under scanner since Maithripala Sirisena ousted Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January presidential elections. The Gwadar port, which has so far remained ineffective due to insurgency in Balochistan, could emerge as the key link in China's Silk Road Economic Belt strategy in the region with no early signs of Colombo getting back to Chinese fold, claimed officials. 
 
Chinese foreign ministry officials said on Friday that the projects would be the first initiatives under Beijing's Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road plans. Through this strategy, China is seeking to build an economic belt, covering countries along both the sea path and land path. 
 
The financial daily reports, India would raise objections if China creates infrastructure in PoK as part of the corridor, said officials in Delhi. India had previously too opposed China-financed infrastructure projects in PoK, including hydroelectric projects. In 2011, when Delhi complained about the presence of Chinese soldiers in PoK, Beijing had said they were engineers involved with those projects. 
 
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is not a single project, but comprises several projects related to energy generation, infrastructure development and business areas, according to Pakistan-based sources. The initial focus is on electricity production and some of the early projects would be ready in three years and provide about 10,400 MW of electricity. China has bankrolled several of Pakistan's civilian and defence projects over the years. 
 
What would also be closely followed in this trip is Sino-Pak dialogue on terror groups in Pakistan and their spillover impact in the restive Xinjiang province. Delhi, as well as Washington, would like Xi to impress upon Pakistani leadership to deal with cross-border terror sternly. The security of Chinese workers in Balochistan, as well as in other parts of Pakistan, will be a prime concern for Xi. In his talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Xi is also expected to discuss cooperation on Afghanistan. This is significant ahead of President Ashraf Ghani's trip to India next week. "China and Pakistan need to align security concerns more closely to strengthen security cooperation," Xi said a column he wrote in Pakistani media over the weekend, the ET reported. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

India must be worried about China's $46 billion gift to Pakistan. Know why

In a rather power-packed speech at the 71st <keyword id="6355833" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-nations">United Nations</keyword> General Assembly in New York, Minister for External Affairs <keyword id="6355111" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sushma-Swaraj">Sushma Swaraj</keyword> literally tore apart Pakistan Prime Minister <keyword id="6576" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nawaz-Sharif">Nawaz Sharif</keyword>’s claims on human rights violations in Kashmir as well as its record on fighting terrorism. 
 Sharif had on 21 September sought an international probe into what he described as “extrajudicial killings” in Indian Kashmir—in a reference to the unrest in the region following the death on 8 July of Burhan Wani, who India says was a <keyword id="50913" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hizbul-Mujahideen">Hizbul Mujahideen</keyword> group terrorist. 
Retaliating, Swaraj said- “I can only say that those accusing others of human rights violations would do well to introspect and see what egregious abuses they are perpetrating in their own country, including in Balochistan.” 
 
Mincing no words, Swaraj further said that in exchange of friendship with the neighbouring country, India always got terrorism in return — in the form of Pathankot, Uri and Bahadur Ali, and that it was time to isolate the country that has become a breeding ground for terrorists. 
She said, “Terrorists don’t have banks or factories of weapons. In that context, it is important to know who supports such terrorists? Afghanistan also raised this issue a few days back. Those who sow seeds of terrorism have to pay for it. There is no your or my terrorism – we cannot win the war against terrorism like that.” 
 
Swaraj hit out hard at Pakistan when she appealed to other nations to isolate Pakistan. “Isolate a nation that doesn’t want to be a part of the fight against terrorism. We have to isolate a country that sows, grows and sells terrorism. Such countries have to be held accountable. We have to take actions against a country that allows terrorists to hold public celebrations, without bringing them to justice. Such a country is equally responsible for terrorist activities,” Swaraj said. 
 
Kashmir is an integral part of India, she said, and will remain an integral part of India. “Pakistan should better stop dreaming about it.” 
 
Swaraj’s hard-hitting speech comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the decades-old Kashmir dispute that has triggered three of the four wars between the two countries. 
 The speech followed a sharp attack on Pakistan by Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> on Saturday when he urged the people of Pakistan to “question their leadership on why, when both countries gained freedom together, while India exports software, Pakistan exports terrorists.” 
 
“I want to say that India is a ready for a war… India is a ready for a war on poverty. Let both countries fight to see who would eradicate poverty first… I want to tell the youth of Pakistan, let’s have a war on ending unemployment… I want to call out to the children in Pakistan, let’s declare war on illiteracy. Let’s see who wins. Let’s declare war on infant mortality and maternal deaths,” Modi had said in his speech at a rally in Kozhikode.

Sushma Swaraj humiliates Pakistan at UNGA, says it can stop dreaming about Kashmir

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Thomson ReutersA member of Pakistan Navy is seen at the Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan Province</div></div></div><ul><li>China has pursued numerous commercial and infrastructure deals around the world in recent years.</li><li>Critics see this as a Chinese effort to extent its influence abroad.</li><li>These financial maneuvers are a source of concern for many - including the head of the US Navy.</li></ul> China's move to boost <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> spending has sparked dismay among US officials in recent days, but it is Beijing's efforts to gain influence that are more worrisome, the secretary of the US Navy said on Wednesday.China's finance ministry said this weekend that the country's defense budget will rise <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-china-says-defense-budget-to-rise-to-173-billion-in-2018-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6% to 1.1 trillion yuan</a> or $173 billion. It is the biggest increase in three years and makes China's defense budget the world's second-largest - behind only the US.Chinese state media <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-defends-defense-spending-rise-as-low-proportional-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> the new budget as proportionate and low. "If calculated in per capita terms, China's military lags well behind other major countries," official English-language newspaper China Daily said this week.On Tuesday, US Navy Adm. Scott Swift, the head of US Pacific Fleet, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-pacific-fleet-commander-says-chinas-military-budget-lacks-transparency-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the military budget lacked transparency and that China's "intent is not clearly understood."On Wednesday, US Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer - asked about Russian and Chinese activity in relation to the newest US <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Security Strategy</a> - echoed those concerns but pointed to a different kind of spending."When it comes to China, the bottom line there is the checkbook, to be very frank with you," Spencer told members of the House Appropriations Committee. "Not only in the dollar and cents that they are writing to support their military expansion and their technological [research and development] work, but what they're doing around the globe that I know you all are aware of, which is weaponizing capital, to be very frank with you."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reuters/Hugh GentryChina's People's Liberation Army Navy guided-missile destroyer Haikou at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam for the multinational military exercise RIMPAC 2014, in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 24, 2014.</div></div></div>Spencer pointed to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/indias-concern-with-beijing-expansion-grows-with-sri-lanka-port-deal-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a summer 2017 deal</a> China signed with Sri Lanka, the island nation just south of India, where Beijing agreed to a 99-year lease to operate the strategically located deep-water port of Hambantota, which is located near important shipping routes in the Indian Ocean."Going into Sri Lanka, redoing the port, putting an interest rate - not as aid, but as a total secured loan with a pretty hefty coupon - [the] debtor fails on that, and the asset owner comes and reclaims it and says, 'These are now ours,'" Spencer told the committee of the deal. "They're doing that around the globe. So their open checkbook keeps me up at night."Many Sri Lankans were themselves dismayed with the agreement, taking to the streets to protest what they saw as growing Chinese influence in their country. India, which has eyed Chinese infrastructure deals and military activity in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region warily, also objected."This is going to be a standing example for the other countries to watch, because China is not Father Christmas, handing out dollar bills. They want return on the money, and they want the money to come within a certain, certified period," K.C. Singh, former secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/indias-concern-with-beijing-expansion-grows-with-sri-lanka-port-deal-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in July</a>."Is it a model then for future extension of the Chinese strategic footprint?" Singh added. "When ... countries can't return the money, then you grab territory?"<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">ReutersA map of projects subsumed under One Belt, One Road program by China as of March 2017.</div></div></div>The port deal was a part of China's One Belt, One Road initiative, a project to link scores of countries in Asia, Oceania, Africa, and Europe through Chinese-backed railways, shipping routes, and infrastructure projects.As a part of that effort, China has funded development projects in poorer countries, which it leverages for more advantageous relations or for regional access. The trend has also been called "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-debt-trap-diplomacy-hits-philippines-with-exorbitant-loans-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debt-trap diplomacy</a>."Hambantota is not the only port deal secured by the Chinese government or a Chinese state-owned company in recent years. Beijing has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to win over locals and develop a deep-water port in Gwadar, on Pakistan's Indian Ocean coast.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/StringerShipping containers at the port of Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, China, June 14, 2017.</div></div></div>The moves <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-hoping-to-extend-maritime-reach-china-lavishes-aid-on-pakistan-town-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are a departure</a> from China's usual approach to such foreign projects, but the focus has concerned India and the US, which see Beijing's investment in Gwadar as part of efforts to expand Chinese naval influence.Chinese state firms are also growing their presence in Europe, buying up ports and cargo terminals on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts - including Spain, Italy, Greece, and Belgium. Chinese state-owned enterprises now control <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/02/why-is-china-buying-up-europes-ports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about one-tenth</a> of all European port capacity.European leaders have become concerned Beijing plans to leverage its financial interests into political clout. Greece, where Chinese influence has grown in recent years, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/26/world/europe/greece-china-piraeus-alexis-tsipras.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has blocked</a> recent EU efforts to condemn China over its human-rights record and other policies.US Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, speaking alongside Spencer, voiced similar concerns about China."The Chinese are playing the long game. They are, as the secretary said, everywhere I go, they're there," Neller said. "They're going and they're buying airfields and ports to extend their reach ... they want to win without fighting." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-trading-opportunities-alibaba-hsbc-jose-rasco-2018-3">An investment chief at HSBC sees huge trading opportunities outside the US</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

China is 'weaponizing capital' - and it's keeping the head of the US Navy awake at night

REUTERS/China DailyChinese People's Liberation Army Navy recruits during a parade at the end of a semester at a military base of the North Sea Fleet, in Qingdao, Shandong province, December 5, 2013.China is nearing completion of a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-base-in-djibouti-near-camp-lemmonnier-africa-us-concern-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"logistical support" facility</a> in the East African country of Djibouti, and Beijing may soon look to establish similar facilities around the world, according to a new Pentagon report.China started building the Djibouti base in early 2016, constructing it near Camp Lemonnier, a US special-operations outpost.The Chinese Foreign Ministry <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-base-in-djibouti-near-camp-lemmonnier-africa-us-concern-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> the base, located near one of the world's busiest shipping channels, would allow the country's military to "better fulfill escort missions and make new contributions to regional peace and stability." Beijing has also said the Djibouti base could help it extend its anti-piracy efforts, which it has undertaken off the coast of Somalia <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-military-in-talks-for-logistics-facilities-in--djibouti-2015-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">since 2008</a>.The Pentagon said the facility, likely to be completed in the next year, would allow China to further participate in UN peacekeeping operations and provide humanitarian aid. But US military officials have expressed concern about it."You would have to characterize it as a military base," Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, chief of US Africa Command, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-base-in-djibouti-near-camp-lemmonnier-africa-us-concern-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in March</a>. "It's a first for them. They've never had an overseas base."Google MapsCamp Lemonnier, a US military base in Djibouti, is strategically located between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula."We've never had a base of, let's just say a peer competitor, as close as this one happens to be," Waldhauser said. "So there's a lot of learning going on, a lot of growing going on."According to the Pentagon <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2017_China_Military_Power_Report.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a>, issued this week, the Djibouti base, "along with regular naval vessel visits to foreign ports, both reflects and amplifies China's growing influence, extending the reach of its armed forces," and it may be the first of many such overseas bases."China most likely will seek to establish additional military bases in countries with which it has a longstanding friendly relationship and similar strategic interests, such as Pakistan, and in which there is a precedent for hosting foreign militaries," the report says.Thomson ReutersA member of Pakistani navy at the Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan province, April 12, 2016.China is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-chinese-ship-opens-new-trade-route-via-pakistani-port-2016-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">already heavily involved</a> in the Pakistan port of Gwadar and is building a network of roads and power plants under a project known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.Intelligence and logistics support remains an issue for Beijing, especially in the Indian Ocean.As such, China's People's Liberation Navy is looking to establish more hubs "to be able to operate across the greater Asia-Pacific region in high-intensity actions over a period of several months," the Pentagon report states, adding:Beijing, for its part, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-china-slams-pentagon-report-on-overseas-military-bases-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dismissed the report</a>, which also said China spent $180 billion on defense in 2016 - more than the $140 billion officially allotted for defense."We have noted the report released by the US which made irresponsible remarks about China's national defence development in disregard of the facts," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-china-slams-pentagon-report-on-overseas-military-bases-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>, according to AFP. Hua declined to comment on "speculation" but said the "friendly cooperation (between China and Pakistan) does not target any third party."ReutersChinese submarines and warships during an international fleet review to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Navy in Qingdao, Shandong province, on April 23, 2009.Beijing has tried to sooth regional and global concerns about expansionism, saying multiple times that it is not seeking American-style "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-launches-charm-offensive-for-first-overseas-naval-base-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hegemony</a>" through military bases.A Western diplomat <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-launches-charm-offensive-for-first-overseas-naval-base-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told Reuters</a> in March 2016 that China was framing the Djibouti base as part of its "one road, one belt" economic initiative, seeking to help link Ethiopia to the sea and further open trade corridors for Chinese goods and services."China does not want to be seen as a threat," the diplomat <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-launches-charm-offensive-for-first-overseas-naval-base-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>.Faisal Mahmood/ReutersA banner with Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, left,, China's President Xi Jinping, center, and Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, ahead of Xi's visit to Islamabad, on April 19, 2015.But around the same time, China itself suggested that more bases like the one in Djibouti could be in the offing."We are willing to, in accordance with objective needs, responding to the wishes of host nations and in regions where China's interests are concentrated, try out the construction of some infrastructure facilities and support abilities," Foreign Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-hints-more-bases-on-way-after-djibouti-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wang Yi said</a> in March 2016.Washington is not the only power that has expressed dismay about the Djibouti base and other activity in the region.In India, the construction of the base added to concern Beijing was extending its "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-launches-charm-offensive-for-first-overseas-naval-base-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">string of pearls</a>," referring to its military assets and partnerships in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific region.The Djibouti facility <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-launches-charm-offensive-for-first-overseas-naval-base-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">is seen by New Delhi</a> as a base for Chinese naval air assets, which could facilitate surveillance activity over the Persian Gulf and Indian's western territories. (India has also objected to China's planned shipping network with Pakistan, saying it cuts through disputed parts of Kashmir.)"If I were Indian I would be very worried about what China is up to in Djibouti," a Western diplomat briefed on Chinese plans <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-launches-charm-offensive-for-first-overseas-naval-base-2016-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> in March 2016.REUTERS/Jim BourgIndian sailors watch military vehicles pass during India's Republic Day parade in New Delhi, January 26, 2015.India has tracked seven Chinese submarines entering the Indian Ocean since the end of 2013, regarding them warily. "The pretext is anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden," a Indian defense source <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-closely-tracking-chinese-submarine-which-is-likely-to-head-for-karachi-after-colombo-snub/articleshow/58649191.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told The Times of India</a> in May. "But what role can submarines play against pirates and their dhows?"More recently, India <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-india-wont-include-australia-in-naval-drills-fears-china-backlash-2017-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">declined an Australian request</a> to take part in Indian Ocean naval exercises, reportedly out of fear of antagonizing Beijing. (Though Delhi <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/05/its-not-china-its-you-india-seems-to-tell-spurned-aussies-malabar-australia-navy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may also have doubts</a> about Canberra's reliability.)Australia and India, along with countries like Vietnam and Japan, have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/unsure-of-the-future-of-us-leadership-asian-countries-consider-alliances-to-counter-china-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">considered informal alliances</a> to bolster regional security in light of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-china-concerns-spark-australia-spy-law-review-2017-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">growing Chinese influence</a> and doubts about US commitment under President Donald Trump.Those moves have not escaped notice in Beijing, which called them a sign of a lingering Cold War mindset, <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/china-cautions-india-others-against-any-informal-alliance/articleshow/59018656.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to Hua, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. "Some people approach and handle the country to country relations with zero sum opinion," she said. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/most-advanced-missile-system-operational-south-korea-united-states-thaad-china-russia-military-2017-5">The US's most advanced missile system is operational in South Korea - and it has China and Russia alarmed</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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