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In an indirect reference to China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, <keyword id="8830092" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="foreign-secretary-harsh-vardhan-shringla">Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla</keyword> on Tuesday warned against a global order that gave in to "skewed" arrangements without due consideration for "reliable, secure and sustainable" supply chains. <br /><br />During a speech on "India's Vision of <keyword id="9414657" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-indo-pacific">the Indo-Pacific</keyword>" at the Policy Exchange think tank in London, Shringla stressed on India's commitment to promote and contribute to infrastructure, connectivity, economic projects and supply chains in the region by always prioritising the needs of the host community. <br /><br />"We must not forget that many countries of the Indo-Pacific have suffered a history of colonialism, some of the wrinkles of which are still with us and still need to be ironed out. While doing so, and while moving ahead purposefully, we need to be mindful not to embrace constructs that themselves create dependencies and skewed arrangements," the Foreign Secretary said. <br /><br /> China's massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) seeks to build rail, maritime and road links from Asia to Europe and Africa in a revival of ancient Silk Road trading routes. <br /><br />India has been severely critical of the BRI, the pet project of President Xi Jinping, as the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is part of the BRI, passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India says it cannot accept a project that ignores its core concern on sovereignty and territorial integrity. <br /><br />Last year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that China is using its government power through <keyword id="9488325" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-belt-and-road-initiative">the Belt and Road Initiative</keyword> to achieve its national security objective, asserting that the Trump administration is leading global efforts to inform countries about the "predatory" Chinese economics. <br /><br />The Trump administration has been extremely critical of President Xi Jinping's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and is of the view that China's "predatory financing" is leaving smaller counties under huge debt endangering their sovereignty. <br /><br />Sri Lanka and the Maldives have borrowed heavily from Beijing in recent years for key infrastructure projects, worrying the US and other countries concerned by China's rise. <br /><br />"These concerns are particularly relevant as <keyword id="9714150" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-indo-pacific-region">the Indo-Pacific region</keyword> puts its mind to supply chains resilience and diversification in the post-coronavirus period. India is a party to several such conversations. For example, it is working with its Japanese and Australian friends on the Supply Chains Resilience Initiative," he said. <br /><br />The senior official pointed out that in the 21st century, the interconnectedness of the Indo-Pacific is finally coming into full play, with the region emerging as a driver of international trade and well-being. <br /><br />He said: "The Indo-Pacific ocean system carries an estimated 65 per cent of world trade and contributes 60 per cent of global GDP. Ninety per cent of India's international trade travels on its waters. <br /><br />"For us, and for many others, the shift in the economic trajectory from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific has been hugely consequential. The rise of China and the imperative for a global rebalancing have added to the mix. A rules-based international order is achievable only with a rules-based Indo-Pacific." <br /><br />He referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi's major speech in Singapore in 2018 as the basis for the Indo-Pacific vision embodied in the SAGAR doctrine. <br /><br />He added: "The Prime Minister used it as an acronym for 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'. This aspiration depends on securing end-to-end supply chains in the region; no disproportionate dependence on a single country; and ensuring prosperity for all stakeholder nations. <br /><br />"An Indo-Pacific guided by norms and governed by rules, with freedom of navigation, open connectivity, and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, is an article of faith for India." <br /><br />Shringla is in the UK as part of the final leg of his Europe tour and is scheduled to hold bilateral talks and interactions during his two-day visit, which concludes on Wednesday.

India's Foreign Secretary warns against global order giving into 'skewed' arrangements in an indirect reference to China's OBOR

<keyword id="6355111" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sushma-Swaraj">Sushma Swaraj</keyword>, India’s Minister of External Affairs, said in the <keyword id="48510" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajya-Sabha">Rajya Sabha</keyword> that China is trying to change the status quo in the <keyword id="4788912" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="doklam-tri-junction-area">Doklam tri-junction area</keyword>.<br /><br /> "Over the years, China has been trying to get closer and closer to where the tri-junction point ends. It has done things like repair roads, re-tar them and things like that," Swaraj said when asked why India is at a standoff with China on the border.<br /><br /> She then went on to describe what happened on June 16 that triggered the latest standoff.<br /><br /> "This time though, they came with bulldozers and construction equipment with the aim of breaching the point where the tri-junction ends. That is a threat to our security," said Swaraj. <br /><br /> "We have the law and right on our side," she said about India's position in the standoff.<br /><br /> When asked about China's <keyword id="3316632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="One-Belt-One-Road">One Belt One Road</keyword> (<keyword id="3694058" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="OBOR">OBOR</keyword>) project, Swaraj said that India doesn’t agree with it and has maintained its stand right from the start.<br /><br /> "As soon as we learned that they are making <keyword id="1934950" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="China-Pakistan-economic-corridor">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor</keyword> (<keyword id="6363059" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CPEC">CPEC</keyword>) a part of OBOR, we registered our protest," she said.<br /><br /> Swaraj added India’s allies are cautious about OBOR and China's motivations behind the ambitious projects.<br /><br />

India well-equipped against China, Sushma Swaraj tells Rajya Sabha members

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. <br /><br /> 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. <br /><br /> 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> <br /><br /> 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.<br /><br /> The CPEC will connect Kashgar (Xinjiang, China) and a deep sea port at Gwadar(Balochistan, Pakistan). <br /><br /> 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><br /><br /> 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.<br /> <br /> However, the Indian government replied that it considered the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement itself as "illegal and invalid”. <br /><br />

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

<br /> India has turned down the invitation to be a part of China and Pakistan’s One Belt One Road project. To this, China has reacted by saying that India would have a very “small role” in the project if it decides to join the initiative in the future. <br /><br /> Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-why-India-would-never-support-Chinas-OBOR-project-with-Pakistan/articleshow/58593889.cms">Here's why India would never support China's OBOR project with Pakistan</a><br /><br /> "It is strange that the onlooker is more anxious than the players. While India cares about its neighbours' debt burden, the neighbours appear willing to take on more," said a report by China’s state-run Global Times. <br /><br /> The article added that all countries along the route of the project have reacted actively to it, and therefore India can’t impede its neighbouring countries from cooperating with China for the same. <br /><br /> It added that China's high-profile initiative will not at all be effected by India’s refusal.<br /><br /> Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/china-to-fund-weapon-building-in-pakistan/articleshow/57690131.cms">China to fund weapon building in Pakistan</a> <br /><br /> India boycotted the forum of the project because of sovereignty concerns over the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (<keyword id="6363059" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CPEC">CPEC</keyword>), which 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">Pakistan-occupied Kashmir</a>. <br /><br /> "India was openly sceptical of China's Belt and Road Forum (BRF) hours ahead of the opening of the event, mainly due to concerns over the CPEC, a key project of the B&amp;R, and whether it might influence the disputed Kashmir region," the report said. <br /><br /> Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Donald-Trump-may-get-involved-in-India-Pakistan-peace-process/articleshow/58004373.cms">Donald Trump may get involved in India-Pakistan peace process</a><br /><br /> Pakistan and China have inked new deals worth nearly $500 million, which now cover airport, port and highway construction. <br /><br /> "As regards the potential debt burden, Pakistan's repayments will peak at around $5 billion in 2022, but this will be offset by transit fees charged in the CPEC," said another media report. <br /><br />(Image source International Business Times)<br />

Will give India a ‘small role’ if it comes asking to join OBOR in future, says China

China is seeking to set up more robust logistics in about a dozen countries, including three in India's neighbourhood, to allow its army to project and sustain its power at greater distances, a <keyword id="6362444" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="pentagon">Pentagon</keyword> report has said. <br /><br /> In addition to the three Indian neighbours -- Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar -- the other countries where China is considering to base its military logistics and infrastructure are Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, and Tajikistan, the report said on Tuesday. <br /><br /> In its annual report "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China (PRC) 2020" that was submitted to the US Congress on Tuesday, the Pentagon said these potential <keyword id="95524" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chinese-military">Chinese military</keyword> logistics facilities are in addition to the Chinese military base in Djibouti, which is aimed at supporting naval, air and ground forces projection. <br /><br /> "A global PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) military logistics network could both interfere with US military operations and support offensive operations against the United States as the PRC's global military objectives evolve," the Pentagon said in the report. <br /><br /> China has probably already made overtures to Namibia, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands, it said, adding the known focus areas of PLA planning are along the Seal Lines of Communication from China to the Strait of Hormuz, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. <br /><br /> Similarly, the Pentagon said, Beijing uses One Belt One Road (OBOR) to support its strategy of national rejuvenation by seeking to expand global transportation and trade linkages to support its development and deepen its economic integration with nations along its periphery and beyond. <br /><br /> "OBOR projects associated with pipelines and port construction in Pakistan intend to decrease China's reliance on transporting energy resources through strategic chokepoints, such as the Strait of Malacca," it said. <br /><br /> China leverages OBOR to invest in projects along China's western and southern periphery to improve stability and diminish threats along its borders, the report said. <br /><br /> First announced in 2013, China's OBOR initiative is a signature foreign and economic policy advanced by President Xi Jinping. <br /><br /> According to the Pentagon, a global PLA military logistics network could both interfere with the US military operations and support offensive operations against the United States as the Chinese global military objectives evolve. <br /><br /> "Host nations can perform an essential role in regulating the PRC's military operations as Chinese officials very likely recognise that a stable long-term relationship with the host nation is critical to the success of their military logistics facilities," it said. <br /><br /> Chinese military academics assert that bases abroad can enable forward deployment of its forces and support military conflict, diplomatic signalling, political change, bilateral and multilateral cooperation, and training. <br /><br /> They also suggest that a military logistic network could enable intelligence monitoring of the US military. <br /><br /> In August 2017, China officially opened its first military base in Djibouti. <br /><br /> Chinese Navy Marines are stationed at the base with wheeled armoured vehicles and artillery but are currently dependent on nearby commercial ports due to the lack of a pier on base, the report said. <br /><br /> Chinese personnel at the facility have interfered with US flights by lasing pilots and flying drones, and China has sought to restrict Djiboutian sovereign airspace over the base, the report said.

Chinese military is expanding its network into at least another dozen countries, according to the US Department of Defense

<br /><ul><li><strong><keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> has registered an objection against the yet to be launched bus service between <keyword id="3001" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pakistan">Pakistan</keyword> and <keyword id="1334" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>.<br /><br /></strong></li><li><strong>India’s concern over the route is because it passes through Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir raising questions of security in lieu of its strained relations with both nations.<br /><br /></strong></li><li><strong>The Ministry of External Affairs has raised questions over the legality of ‘Boundary Agreement’ of 1963, which India never acknowledged. <br /><br /></strong></li><li><strong>Both China and Pakistan are hoping to boost their ‘friendship’ with the bus service.<br /></strong></li></ul>Raising security concerns over the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/china-and-pakistan-deepen-their-friendship-with-a-new-bus-service-connecting-both-countries/articleshow/66431797.cms">deepening ‘friendship’</a> China and Pakistan has forced<a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/pakistan-china-bus-service-india-lodges-protest-lahore-kashgar-bus-service-pok-pakistan-occupied-kashmir-raveesh-kumar-china-pakistan-economic/307625"> India to protest against the proposed bus service</a>. The point of contention being that the route of the bus passes through Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir connecting Lahore in Pakistan to Kashgar in China. <br /><br />The transportation service -- which is all set to start from 3rd November under the flagship ‘China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’ (CPEC) is suppose to strengthen Sino-Pakistan relation in turn spreading fears of national security in India. <br /><br />The Ministry of External Affairs has raised questions on the validity and legality of ‘China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement’. They’re stating that no notification was sent their way to inform them about any such bus service by either of the two neighbouring countries. <br /><br />As per the ministry, any bus service connecting Pakistan and China through <keyword id="357630" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Azad-Kashmir">Azad Kashmir</keyword> (Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir)<a href="http://www.newsonair.com/Main-News-Details.aspx?id=354767"> ‘will violate India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’</a>. <br /><br />Apparently, Pakistan and China do not share an international boundary. On paper, the Boundary Agreement is a document from 1963 which established a ‘so-called’ boundary relations between China and Pakistan. But since India also claims territorial rights on parts of the region, it refuses to acknowledge any such agreement between the two.<br /><br />India earlier refused to be a part of ‘One Belt One Road’ (OBOR) project owing to the strained relation it has with China and Pakistan. <br /><br />Apart from all the tensions India has with the route of bus-service, Pakistan’s engagement with China on the CPEC project has faced more controversy in light <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pakistans-bailout-from-the-imf-hinges-on-an-examination-of-its-chinese-debt/articleshow/66213581.cms">Imran Khan taking the helm</a> in Pakistan. As of now, the project has only<a href="https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/10/25/under-the-guise-of-friendship-china-is-looting-pakistan/"> widened trade deficit and debts in the country</a> since China did not avail any industrial technology to support Pakistan with the project.<br />

India’s foreign ministry thinks that the Pakistan-China bus route ‘will violate India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’

<br />In a three hour long speech on wednesday, President <keyword id="191809" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xi-Jinping">Xi Jinping</keyword> gave himself a shining report card and a long do-do list as he is trying to turn the page at the critical once-in-five years party congress of the top leaders of the Communist Party of <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>. Considered China's most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping or even Mao Zedong, Xi will try to use the congress to lay the foundation to extend his term for even longer than the normal 10 years and the congress also assumes significance for Xi as he will have a far greater ability to choose his colleagues than he had in the last congress held in 2012. It is because of this that India will have to keep a close watch at the developments in <keyword id="1333" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="beijing">Beijing</keyword>.<br /><br /> Another term for Xi does not augur well for <keyword id="6354642" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="modi">Modi</keyword>. First, China has lately started asserting in the world economic sphere, especially with its One-Belt-One-Road (OBOR) project. OBOR needles India as it passes through Indian territory occupied by Pakistan. A stronger and more confident Xi will not only find a new zeal to increase China’s global economic clout but can also flex its economic muscle in the region by investing in more infrastructure projects in the region, which will also give it strategic as well as diplomatic heft at India’s expense. Second, a stronger and more confidant Xi can also escalate the border tussle with India. Xi wants to make China the number one global power by replacing USA but finds rising India a stumbling block. India’s growing alliances in Indo-Pacific region (Japan, Australia and Southeast nations such as Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia) and with USA to rebalance China’s aggression is viewed as an obstacle by the Chinese regime. Xi would like to test India newly acquired confidence, especially with regard to Bhutan. India and Bhutan have a special security arrangement under which India will extend support whenever the Himalayan state faces a security threat. Doklam may be over but China is not going to digest the humiliation that India posed to it. China may have pulled out of the border tussle due to the upcoming Congress. After the Congress, it can escalate tension with India. India’s Modi-led efforts to gain supremacy in the region will come under serious challenge with a stronger Xi. Modi’s ‘Act East’ policy can face strong resistance from China.<br /><br /> One positive for Modi is that with Xi growing stronger, there will be greater liking for stronger leaders in India. That will ensure he remains popular with the masses<br /><br />

Xi’s marathon speech had some strong message for India, Modi needs to watch out

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (R) talk to US Vice President Mike Pence at a family photo during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Port Moresby on November 17, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>A major Asia-Pacific summit's failure was down to "deliberate protectionism" and "excusing" by "individual economies," China's foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Monday, using loaded language aimed directly at the United States.</li><li>For the first time since its inception back in 1993, a leaders' communiqué has not been issued after the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting and it's really all because of the US and China.</li><li>China-US ties are on a downswing following the failed summit in Papua New Guinea, and ahead of a critical G20 meet at the end of the month.</li><li>A day after US Vice President Mike Pence accused China of seeking to "drown our partners in a sea of debt," the world's two great powers simply refused to reach out over the wording of bits of the proposed APEC communiqué.</li><li>But the truth is things between the US and China were heading south long before the summit started and don't bode well for a Trump-led trade war rapprochement anytime soon.</li></ul><div id="story-description"><p>It was a summit to help sort out the Pacific's problems, but, in the end, it was all about the lingering spat between two of the world's most-powerful nations.</p><p>At the start of November, with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping injecting a little optimism into a bilateral relationship that's been at its lowest ebb in decades, unfortunately it now seems resolving US-China trade differences ahead of a possible face-to-face at the G20 meeting in Argentina looks pretty distant.</p><p>The weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Port Moresby was one of open hostility, bilateral acrimony, and big-brother posturing over which giant would make the stronger regional partner.</p><p>The ill will spilled over into what was now a historic APEC summit for all the wrong reasons.</p><p>The annual meeting, this year held in the New Guinean capital of Port Moresby, ended in disarray and a little chaos when a belligerent contest between the two dominant powers ensured that, for the first time, there was no consensus communiqué for the 21 national leaders to walk away with.</p><p>That failure was "by no means accidental," the Chinese government foreign ministry spokesman Wang Yi said in his weekly comments posted on the foreign ministry's website.</p><p>"It is mainly that individual economies insisted on imposing their own texts on other parties, excusing protectionism and unilateralism, and not accepting reasonable revisions from the Chinese and other parties," Wang said, in a reference to the US and the disintegration that was APEC's final hours.</p><p>Not only could leaders not meet at a consensus ­position for the first time in a quarter of a century, but Peter O'Neill, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, was bundled out of the summit in a media scrum and Chinese officials were accused of pressuring the country's foreign minister and breaking into his office.</p><p>It is the first time since 1993 that a leaders' communiqué has not been issued after the annual APEC meeting.</p><h2><strong>Giants in the room</strong></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for a family photo during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Port Moresby on November 17, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p></div><p>O'Neill referenced "the two big ­giants in the room" when asked why the closing communiqué was not drawn up, amid chaotic scenes.</p><p>The unusually tense gathering of Pacific nation leaders in Port Moresby fell into disarray after speeches from Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Mike Pence, fell into tit-for-tat rhetoric and criticism of their chosen paths to regional leadership.</p><p>The simmering tension between the power rivals boiled over after Papua New Guinea were presented with a set of significant pledges from the major competing blocs.</p><p>A day after Pence accused China of seeking to "drown our partners in a sea of debt," the two regional giants imported their trade war into APEC, refusing to cede even a few disputed paragraphs in the proposed APEC communiqué, according to a report in <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/">The Australian</a> published on Monday.</p><p>It is understood China refused to agree to US calls for changes to world trading rules targeting predatory economic conduct and demanding state-owned enterprises be forced to compete on "a level playing field" with private businesses.</p><p>No surprises where these changes were aimed.</p><p>And perhaps no surprises when Chinese officials were reportedly kicked out of PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato's office by security a few hours later as they sought to secure their own changes to the communiqué.</p><p>But the problems really started from the outset, and merely reached a crescendo when Xi and Pence gave subsequent addresses on Saturday night.</p><h2><strong>Xi you in Port Moresby </strong></h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>James D. Morgan/Getty Images for Carnival Australia</span></p><p class="caption"> The Chinese President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, speaking at the APEC CEO Summit, November 17, 2018 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Pacific Explorer is one of three Carnival Australia cruise ships currently providing delegate accommodation and conferencing facilities to support PNG's hosting of APEC 2018. </p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Xi had been in Port Moresby since Thursday, last week.</p><p>The first generation of Chinese migrants that dominate retail stores across New Guinea are Fujianese - Xi was governor of Fujian province from 1999 until 2002, so he comes with perhaps a better connection to China's role in Papua New Guinea than most other leaders.</p><p>He has toured facilities on this state visit, written op-eds and enjoyed the spotlight as the undoubted star of the show.</p><p>And he was busy too, as China and PNG signed off on a total of 14 agreements before the summit deteriorated.</p><p>About $300 million in soft loans are on the table for PNG prime minister O'Neill to divvy up, while the Chinese-owned Rabu nickel mine will also grow to the tune of $1.5 billion.</p><p>Other deals range across visa exemptions that allow labor and education exchanges, economic and technical cooperation, establishment of a joint economic and trade committee, strengthening investment and production capacity cooperation, promotion of trade, a "dry land rice" technical project, further infrastructure investment, as well as "cooperation in the field of education, human-resource development and culture and tourism."</p><p>But it hasn't been a great public-relations success, however much money is being splashed around.</p><p>Oddly, the Chinese delegation refused local media entry into President Xi's meeting with regional leaders on Friday, which set the tone for an APEC riven by concerns of backroom wheeling and dealing at the hands of the Chinese.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>FAZRY ISMAIL/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Officials prepare a podium for China's President Xi Jinping during the APEC CEO Summit 2018 in Port Moresby on November 17, 2018, a part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>A strategic slumber</strong></h2><p>Meanwhile, the traditional Pacific powers appear to have awoken from their geostrategic slumber to a new day in the Pacific, full of challenges presented by what they characterize as China's territorial ambitions, couched in rich infrastructure promises through Xi's "Belt and Road Initiative."</p><p>After five years of touting, billions of dollars of investment, and a series of names that failed to articulate its exact purpose, the still uncertain Belt and Road initiative (One Belt, One Road or OBOR) is China's quasi-interconnected network of land and sea links that purport to open up a trade corridor and at the least seed Chinese influence through Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.</p><p>China's expansive - and expensive - play to gain friends, partners and customers in the resource-rich Pacific states like New Guinea have been causing a rising angst among the formerly influential powers in the region.</p><p>Australia is a former colonial power here, as its closest military ally, the US, while there has been some newfound and welcome ballast from Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.</p><p>Abe met with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand in the days leading up to the summit, while Pence was in Japan last week as Japan tightens its regional bonds, while China becomes more assertive in the Pacific and the contested South China Seas.</p><p>Critics have suggested that while Western countries are bound to particular standards when it comes to aid, the Chinese state-led investments and loans have been galvanizing corrupt practices and leveraging so-called "debt-trap diplomacy."</p><p>For security reasons, Pence originally planned to fly in and out of New Guinea by way of Cairns, in Australia.</p><p>But following the rapid-fire diplomacy on display from Beijing, the vice president decided at the last moment to stay in Port Moresby, perhaps with Xi's dominant performance weighing on minds in Washington.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during an informal press conference at APEC Haus in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>A 'one-way' road</strong></h2><p>Certainly, when Pence got up to deliver his address, minutes after Xi, on Saturday, he spoke his mind on the behaviors of a rising China in the region.</p><p>Pence set out in blunt terms what he saw as the two stark choices facing Pacific nations caught between China and the Western bloc.</p><p>He warned these nations of the dangers of being seduced by the easy money of China, describing a Beijing that offers struggling Pacific nations "opaque" loans with strings attached.</p><p>China, he warned, is happy to create a "staggering debt burden."</p><p>In a sign of how much Chinese and US relations have deteriorated, the vice president appeared to openly mock president Xi's signature foreign policy in front of a blank Chinese delegation, suggesting the belt was "constricting" and the road was "one-way."</p><p>For good measure, Pence drew on President Donald Trump, when he accused China of having "taken advantage of the United States for many, many years," adding: "those days are over."</p><p>That speech was reportedly met with stony silence from the Chinese delegation, particularly because Xi's star had reached its APEC apex moments earlier when he assured the gathering of regional heads that his One Belt, One Road strategy was obviously not a debt trap.</p><p>Any final agreement on a joint communiqué was done and dusted when the US sought clauses on China's predatory trade conduct and demanded China's state-owned enterprises compete on a level with other private businesses.</p><h2><strong>Power play</strong></h2><p>Before the summit burst into the latest live battlefront in the ongoing trade war between the US and China, O'Neill announced that PNG "invited" Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the US to work together on the goal of connecting 70% of its population to electricity by 2030.</p><p>The move represents, along with Australian and US participation in the development of the Lombrum naval base at Manus Island port, a key staging facility as part of the counter play offered by the Western bloc.</p><p>Right now, only about 13% of Papua New Guinea's population has any reliable access to electricity. Rolling out power promises to directly raise the living standards of communities in cities, towns, and remote villages - and is commonly a precursor for the growth of the private sector and industry.</p><p>For its part, Australia is focusing anew on the Pacific after once again being caught between its strongest ally and its biggest trading partner.</p><p>The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a press conference on Monday that the "APEC family" remains committed to working together, despite the US and China spat.</p><p data-reactid="43">"If the major powers here are not going to agree, we shouldn't be pretending that they do. And we shouldn't be trying to smooth that over for the sake of a communiqué, and we should call that out."</p><p data-reactid="46">However, he said there were many areas of agreement, such as the need to improve digital connectedness and the benefits of dropping trade barriers.</p><p data-reactid="47">"We are all still absolutely committed to stronger trading outcomes because we understand that here in the APEC family we have been able to reduce tariffs," Morrison said in a pointed reference to what is not happening between the world's two biggest economies.</p><p data-reactid="47"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Carlos Barria/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2 data-reactid="47"><strong>No reason for optimism </strong></h2><p data-reactid="47">China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reserved a few words of advice for the US ahead of Xi and Trump's showdown in Buenos Aires where the 2018 G20 Summit will be held.</p><p data-reactid="47">"Our advice for the relevant country is that instead of pointing fingers at others, it would be better to match its deeds with its words and truly treat all countries, big or small, as equals, respect the right enjoyed by other countries to choose the development path in light of their national conditions and make substantial contributions to the development of developing countries."</p><p data-gtm-vis-polling-id-6236702_632="174" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-6236702_632="5556" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-6236702_632="5556" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-6236702_632="2700">Trump and his Chinese counterpart are to meet at the G20 in Argentina, and hopes had been rising that the two might be able to seek some way to hit reverse on a trade war in which Xi has warned their will "be no winners."</p><p data-gtm-vis-polling-id-6236702_632="174" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-6236702_632="5556" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-6236702_632="5556" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-6236702_632="2700">Trump had recently been talking up his personal admiration for Xi and Tweeted a few weeks earlier of his optimism of an outcome heading into the G20.</p><p data-gtm-vis-polling-id-6236702_632="174" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-6236702_632="5556" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-6236702_632="5556" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-6236702_632="2700">That optimism may be dead in the warm Pacific waters as Xi now heads to Brunei and the Philippines with a newly appreciative sense of US regional opposition.</p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-life-boston-gangster-whitey-bulger-2015-9">The true story behind Boston gangster Whitey Bulger</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

This year's APEC summit set out to address problems in the Pacific, but it only deepened the US-China feud

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mark Kolbe/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Prime Minister Scott Morrison gives the order for work to commence on the construction of the Western Sydney airport on September 24, 2018 in Sydney, Australia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved to counter China's growing influence in the Pacific by announcing that it is time Australia make a "step-up to the Pacific."</strong></li><li><strong>The PM is promising nearby Pacific nations closer economic, military and diplomatic ties, following a decade of Chinese expansion.</strong></li><li><strong>The comments, which were made without naming China, are reminiscent of former US President Barack Obama's unfulfilled pledge of an "Asia Pivot," made during a visit to Canberra - also a thinly disguised and largely abandoned strategy to check the advance of China.</strong></li><li><strong>Morrison aims to make the Pacific the center of Australian foreign policy. The centerpiece of that will be a $A2 billion facility to fund major regional projects.</strong></li><li><strong>He said Australia needs a "southwest Pacific that is secure strategically, stable economically, and sovereign politically."</strong></li></ul><p>In Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's first landmark Pacific policy address, the newly installed PM said Australia will commit anew to the Pacific, setting up a multibillion-dollar infrastructure bank to fund projects in the region and appointing a series of new diplomatic posts.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; color: black;">"Australia will step up in the Pacific and take our engagement with the region to a new level," the prime minister said Thursday.</span><br /><br />"While we have natural advantages in terms of history, proximity and shared values, Australia cannot take its influence in the southwest Pacific for granted, and too often we have," Morrison said.<br /><br />Morrison announced new <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> force mobile-training team, annual meetings of defense, police, and border security chiefs, and new diplomatic posts in a number of Pacific countries.<br /><br />The centerpiece will be a $2 billion AUD financial facility to help fund major regional projects while the existing export financing agency (EFA) will be boosted by another one billion dollars.</p><div>Referring to Australia's 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, Morrison said the stability and economic progress of the Pacific region are of "fundamental importance," and no single country can tackle the challenges on its own.</div><div><br />Morrison announced his Pacific Pivot ahead of a milestone meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Asia-Pacific regional leaders next week at the <a href="https://www.apec2018png.org/">APEC forum in Papua New Guinea</a>.<br /><br />Morrison said it was time Australia opened a "new chapter in relations with our Pacific family."<br /><br />"Australia has an abiding interest in a Southwest Pacific that is secure strategically, stable economically, and sovereign politically."</div><div></div><div><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-treasury-secretary-hank-paulson-warns-us-china-trade-war-2018-11">Former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson warns of an 'economic iron curtain' if the US and China can't find a way to get along</a></em></div><div></div><div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rick Rycroft-Pool/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. President Barack Obama (C) meets senators and lawmakers following his address in the Australian Parliament on the second day of his 2-day visit to Australia, on November 17, 2011 in Canberra, Australia.`</p></div><p></p></div></div></div><h2>A familiar tone</h2><div>In a speech that strongly echoed former <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/17/remarks-president-obama-australian-parliament">US President Barack Obama's "Asian Pivot"</a> address in Canberra in 2011, Morrison outlined his own plan to project Australian soft power in an attempt to thwart China's unchecked economic and industrial expansion across the Pacific over the last decade.<br /><br />In a pretty unforgettable speech to Australia's parliament on November 17, 2011, Obama declared that "America is back!"<br /><br />"Let there be no doubt: in the Asia-Pacific in the 21st century, the United States of America is all-in."<br /><br />That was about the zenith of the much-vaunted pivot, and at around exactly the same time China started to take its interests in the Pacific to a fresh intensity.<br /><br />According to Reuters' calculations, since Obama's"Asia Pivot," China has poured $1.3 billion in concessionary loans and gifts to almost instantly become the Pacific's second-largest donor after Australia.</div><div></div><div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2018%3Anewsml_RC1D979ABC60%3A172824989&amp;search=all%3Axi%20jinping">Damir Sagolj/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects troops at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison in one of events marking the 20th anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule, in Hong Kong</p></div><p></p></div></div></div><h2>Falling under Beijing's influence</h2><div>Today, China is the region's biggest bilateral lender, although Australia's significant aid programs mean it remains the largest financial backer in the South Pacific.<br /><br />While China has always maintained a political stake in the region as part of its ongoing diplomatic chess battle with Taiwan, the sheer magnitude and speed of Chinese assistance eventually raised alarms and even hysteria among Western-aligned nations that the string of southern Pacific island states was very quickly falling under Beijing's influence.<br /><br /><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Rod McGuirk</span></p><p class="caption">Scott Morrison.</p></div><p></p></div></div>But if Australia's backyard was finding itself over a Beijing barrel, then Morrison put his hand up for the first time to acknowledge that Australia and its major allies, the US foremost amongst them, wore some of the blame for that and had neglected the region for too long.<br /><br />Australia, he said, had taken the Pacific and its nations "for granted."<br /><br />Speaking from a military facility in Townsville where US troops are based, Morrison redrew the Pacific's strategic importance to Australia's foreign and defense policy.<br /><br />Morrison promised closer economic, military and diplomatic ties in what will undoubtedly be seen from Beijing as a move to counter its efforts to drive its controversial One Belt, One Road initiative or in this case its 21st-century maritime silk road.</div><div></div><div><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/xi-jinping-surprising-speech-hong-kong-zhuhai-macau-bridge-opening-2018-10">Xi Jinping caught everyone off guard while celebrating China's $20 billion, 35-mile sea bridge</a></em><br /><br />Fortunately, Beijing won't even have to pick up the phone with Morrison's Foreign Minister Marise Payne already in Beijing heading up Australia's first mission to China in several years after an extended diplomatic freeze out.<br /><br />"This is not just our region, or our neighborhood. It's our home," Morrison said.<br /><br />Morrison flagged that the region requires around $4 billion per year in investments up to 2030, adding, "It's where Australia can make the biggest difference in world affairs."<br /><br />But that is something China has been more than happy to help achieve.<br /><br />Beijing has sewn up diplomatic relations with eight Pacific island countries, from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Niue, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu. (Others of course, recognize Taiwan.) <br /><br />In the ten years between 2006 and 2016, The Lowy Institute a Sydney-based think tank, reckons Beijing has probably injected more than $2.3 billion into the region </div><div></div><div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Hamish Blair/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A general view of play during the 5th v 6th match between Fiji and Cook Islands played at Club Hippique during the ICC East Asia Pacific Women's Championship on May 17, 2012 in Port Vila, Vanuatu.</p></div><p></p></div></div><br /><br />China has been more than happy to accommodate small nations such as Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands with concessional loans, criticized by many as overt "debt-trap diplomacy." <br /><br />Colombo's failure to get on top of $6 billion in debt repayments to Beijing's state-owned enterprises has already given Beijing what many analysts consider a critically handy strategic toehold in Sri Lanka, in the port of Hambantota, including a 99-year-lease. <br /><br />The port has idyllic views of the major Indian Ocean sea lanes.<br /><br />Elsewhere China is copping its first significant OBOR pushback out of the Asia-Pacific. Malaysia is trying to find itself some wriggle room, preferably around perceived inequalities in the huge $23 billion of China-originated infrastructure deals Kuala Lumpur has signed off on.<br /><br />Part of Australia's appeal to the Pacific will be in aid and funding transfers that have traditionally not been about incurring trade deficits or weighty balance of payments crisis.<br /><br />However, academics including James Laurenceson, deputy director of the Australia China Research Institute say that analysis of debt in the Pacific strongly suggests that the "debt-trap diplomacy" argument is without much foundation.<br /><br />What is certain, however, is that over and above China's bilateral aid programs across the pacific and its support for regional organisations, Beijing has been at pains to show it is a partner in good faith. <br /><br />Beijing has backed and hosted major regional meetings, most recently in 2013, in which it announced a suite of aid measures to boost economic resilience and diplomatic engagement, while also providing strong support to regional organisations, most particularly the Pacific Islands Forum.<br /><br />China has provided generous scholarship programs for Pacific islands students and contributes significant human resources and training for pacific island government officials.<br /><br />Johnny Koanapo Rasou, Vanuatu's Member of Parliament for <a href="https://www.gov.vu/en/public-information/196-china-s-diplomacy-in-the-pacific">Tanna Constituency</a>, where China has been delivering badly needed road works and infrastructure, said in a press statement last year that Vanuatu had its eyes wide open as China's assistance becomes more and more evident.<br /><br />"Our people are now learning more about China's capability to positively contribute to our development aspirations."<br /><br />"The manner in which the Chinese Government is delivering their aid to Vanuatu is different from the styles we are used to from New Zealand or Australia. <br /><br />"But we must accept that all our development partners have different state structures. China is a communist state but it has created an enabling environment for its own citizens to flourish and therefore they themselves can go out and invest in other countries." </div><h2>League of debtor nations</h2><div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Nick Perry</span></p><p class="caption">In this June 1, 2015 photo, a walking path leads up a barren moonscape on Yasur volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu.</p></div><p></p></div></div><br /><br />However, according to Thomson Reuters almost half (49.08%) of Vanuatu's external debt belongs to China.<br /><br />In August, Tongan Prime Minister <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pacific-debt-tonga-graphic/tonga-pm-fears-asset-seizures-as-pacific-debts-to-china-mount-idUSKBN1L10KM">'Akilisi Pōhiva said</a> he hoped Pacific states could negotiate together to find a way out from under Beijing's loans, before Tonga began to lose control of state assets as was happening in Sri Lanka.<br /><br />Chinese loans make up more than 60% of Tonga's total external debt burden.<br /><br />Another focus for Beijing has been the variety of resources available in loosely governed Papua New Guinea, which lays claim to the biggest Chinese debt, nigh on $590 million.<br /><br />New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu all receive military aid from China. Fiji's military leaders in particular have been welcoming of Chinese economic, military and strategic assistance. China's state media Xinhua has a quiet, but impactful bureau in Suva.<br /><br />While the US and its allies have been distracted with conflicts in the Middle East, China stepped up its military activities in the South Pacific. <br /><br />Chinese companies have sought and often secured access to strategic ports and airfields across many regional archipelagos.<br /><br />According to Anne-Marie Brady, a political scientist from Canterbury University, satellite interests are an important aspect to China's surge into the South Pacific.<br /><br />"In 2018, China launched 18 BeiDou-3 satellites into space. Beidou-3 is China's indigenous GPS, it provides missile positioning and timing and enhanced C4ISR capabilities for the Chinese military, as well as navigation services to more than 60 countries along the Belt and Road, including in Oceania. <br /><br />Professor Brady said China's mobile satellite station receiving station vessels regularly dock in Papeete (Tahiti) and Suva (Fiji), as do other quasi-military boats such as the Peace Ark and China's well-equipped polar research vessels.<br /><br />Brady a leading expert on Chinese investment in then pacific said many Pacific leaders now acknowledged China as "the dominant power in the region." <br /><br />"China's strategic and military interests in the South Pacific build on longstanding links and fill the vacuum left by receding US and French power projection in the region, as well as Australia and New Zealand's neglect of key relationships in the region."</div>         <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harris-faulkner-fox-news-anchor-black-female-cable-news-2018-11">Fox News' Harris Faulkner is the only black woman in cable news with a daily show: 'It's a tremendous amount of responsibility'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Australia's new prime minister sounds like he wants to take on China's growing influence in the South Pacific

India has yet again become one of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) donors to <keyword id="12266" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nepal">Nepal</keyword>. India came on the fifth spot, displacing China.<br /><br /> India is behind US, UK, Japan and Switzerland in Nepal’s development partners.<br /><br /> As per Nepal finance ministry's latest Development Cooperation Report on FY 2015/16, India is on fifth spot, disbursing $35.76 million from July 16 2015 to July 15 2016.<br /><br /> In FY 2014/15, India's name had gone missing from the list of top 5 development partners of Nepal as its ODA disbursement had plummeted by over 50%.<br /><br /> Meanwhile, for FY 2015/16, USAID disbursed $ 118.93 million, United Kingdom $ 89.47 million, Japan $ 45.91 million, Switzerland $ 36.98 million and India $35.76 million.<br /><br /> India provides technical assistance to Nepal through scholarships, training and study tours.<br /><br /> According to Ministry of External Affairs, actual funds to assist Nepal annually are in the range of Rs 300 to 400 crore annually.<br /><br /> India regaining its position in the list of Nepal's top development partners comes at a time when Nepal has officially agreed to become a part of China's ambitious, but contentious, OBOR project.<br /><br />

India is among top 5 development partners of Nepal, beats China

India has joined <keyword id="6355833" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-nations">United Nations</keyword>’ TIR convention in a bid to position itself as a regional trading and transit hub.<br /><br /> <keyword id="4670734" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="UN-TIR-convention">UN TIR convention</keyword> is an international customs transit system and enables goods to move under customs control across international borders without the payment of the duties and taxes.<br /><br /> India is the 71<sup>st</sup> nation to join the TIR system, which has widest geographical coverage.<br /><br /> This gains significance as China's '<keyword id="3316632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="One-Belt-One-Road">One Belt One Road</keyword>' (OBOR) is the dominating project straddling economics and geopolitics.<br /><br /> Umberto de Pretto, the secretary general of IRU which manages the TIR Convention, told TOI from Geneva that India's accession would have a big impact on regional connectivity. "TIR can help implement the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement by addressing policy incompatibility among the BBIN group. For example, Bangladesh does not recognise insurance policies made in India, Nepal or Bhutan. With TIR, there would be no need for bilateral arrangements as guarantors are covered by the global guarantee chain,” said Pretto.<br /><br /> Once the system is integrated, it will become easier to service African and Asian markets when the DMIC (<keyword id="67342" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-Mumbai-Industrial-Corridor">Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor</keyword>) comes online.<br /><br /> China is already a part of the TIR.<br /><br />

India moves to position itself as trading and transit hub, counters China’s project. Here’s how

Counter-terrorism and economic reforms will dominate the discussions amongst the leaders of the world's 20 largest economies at the G20 Summit in Germany next week, to be attended by Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>. <br /><br />The 12th G20 Summit on July 7-8 in Hamburg, a major port city in northern Germany, will also discuss issues like free and open trade, climate change, migration, sustainable development and global stability. <br /><br />The prime minister will lead the Indian delegation at G20 meeting, which will also include NITI Aayog Vice Chairman and India's G20 Sherpa Arvind Panagariya. <br /><br />Besides, the Department of Economic Affairs Secretary will also be there to lead discussions on the finance track of the summit, Alok Amitabh Dimri, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Economic Relations) in the <keyword id="6374106" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ministry-of-External-Affairs">Ministry of External Affairs</keyword> said. <br /><br />The summit will conclude with a joint statement by the world leaders. <br /><br />The G20 is the central forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues. The G20 countries account for more than four-fifths of gross world product and three-quarters of global trade, and are home to almost two-thirds of the world's population. <br /><br />The "Group of Twenty" is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the <keyword id="6361754" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="United-Kingdom">United Kingdom</keyword> and the USA. <br /><br />Germany assumed the <keyword id="4709730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="g20-presidency">G20 Presidency</keyword> on December 1, 2016. <br /><br />In a media briefing about Indian engagements at G20 Summit, Dimri said it will begin with a two-hour "leaders' retreat" on July 7 morning where the theme of the discussions will be counter-terrorism. <br /><br />He said this theme goes well with the prime minister's engagements with other world leaders and there was expectation that the issue of counter-terrorism will remain a separate thrust area as was the case with the last G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey last year. <br /><br />The summit will also include four working sessions, including on growth and trade, climate and energy as well as on sustainable development and labour-related issues. <br /><br />Dimri said Panagariya as India's G20 Sherpa has already been part of three preparatory meetings on the summit agenda and will attend one more such meeting before the world leaders meet in Hamburg. <br /><br />Modi is leaving for Israel on July 4 for a three-day visit and will go to Germany after that for the G20 meet. <br /><br />The finance track of the G20 meeting will include discussions on issues like fiscal and monetary reforms, climate finance and green finance. <br /><br />Dimri said open and free trade would be another area of focus at the summit deliberations, while a special focus on Africa is also expected as it was one of the key thrust areas for the host Germany's Chancellor <keyword id="76" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Angela-Merkel">Angela Merkel</keyword>. <br /><br />Besides, women and youth employment, gender inequality, re-skilling and health will also figure among discussions and outcome of the meeting. <br /><br />Advisers to the heads of state and government, known as Sherpas, have been preparing for this meeting for long. <br /><br />Asked whether Modi will also have bilaterals with any of the world leaders on the sidelines, the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said any bilateral meeting is announced very close to the event. <br /><br />"There is a process involved in that... We will keep you informed as and when those things materialise," he said. <br /><br />On whether the leaders' retreat on counter-terrorism would also include issues like cross-border terror threats, Dimri said one has to understand that the summit was not taking place in any regional context and it was a global summit. <br /><br />He further observed that the summit was taking place in Germany and it was more logical that the events in Europe would figure with regard to counter-terrorism related discussions. <br /><br />He also clarified that the leaders' retreat was not a formal session and the Chair (Germany) has decided to pull aside the world leaders for two hours for this retreat before opening of the Summit on the subject of counter-terrorism. <br /><br />"This shows the significance the world leaders attach to this issue," he said, while clarifying it was not one of the formal sessions where discussions happen as per the agenda and here the world leaders will interact with each other in in "very intimate surroundings". <br /><br />At the same time, some outcome should be expected as the leaders would be discussing this important issue, he said. <br /><br />On whether India can expect support on CCIT (Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism) -- its key anti-terror initiative at UN --- Dimri replied in affirmative, and said the CCIT has been there in most of the bilateral or multilateral documents. <br /><br />Asked whether India was prepared to counter, if China talks about its OBOR (One Belt, One Road) initiative, Dimri said one needs to understand such summits do not involve the leaders going and speaking at their own volition as there are fixed agenda points for discussions that get finalised after rounds of meetings by Sherpas. <br /><br />"These are not one-off meetings and have been preceded by a number of meetings through the year, including of working groups, meetings of Sherpas and they have bunched up agenda from multiple streams...and OBOR has not been discussed so far," he said. <br />

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