Free Republic

As precursors to possible nuclear war go, fistfights and stone throwing aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind. But along India and China’s long, contested border, that’s exactly what has been happening for the past month, prompting President Trump on Wednesday to offer to mediate what he called a “now raging dispute” between Asia’s two major military powers. Tensions along the 2,000 mile stretch have been high for decades, with the Indian government reporting more than 1,000 mostly minor incursions by Chinese troops between 2016-18. But hostilities have increased over the last several weeks following large Chinese troop...

India has rejected a Chinese request to enter territorial waters in the Andaman Sea in an effort to search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 over concerns that the request might be an excuse for military snooping. “There was no need for anybody else to search the area,” Press Trust of India, the country’s largest news agency, quoted unidentified government sources as saying. India thus “politely rejected” the Chinese request to allow People’s Liberation Army Navy shifts enter waters near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The request was made on Wednesday and entailed the dispatch of four ships, including...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - - India and China are close to an agreement to stop tension on their contested border touching of confrontation while they try to figure out a way to break decades-old stalemate on overlapping claims to long stretches of the Himalayas. The border defense cooperation pact that diplomats are racing to finalize ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China next week is a small step forward in a complicated relationship marked by booming economic ties but also growing distrust. In May, the two armies ended a three-week standoff in the western Himalayas after Chinese troops...

The platoon of Chinese soldiers slipped across the boundary into India in the middle of the night, according to Indian officials. They were ferried across the bitterly cold moonscape in Chinese army vehicles, then got out to traverse a dry creek bed with a helicopter hovering overhead for protection. They finally reached their destination and pitched a tent in the barren Depsang Valley in the Ladakh region, a symbolic claim of sovereignty deep inside Indian-held territory. So stealthy was the operation that India did not discover the incursion until a day later, Indian officials said. China denies any incursion, but...

Should we worry that the people of China, India and other undeveloped countries are getting richer? Apparently so, according to the newspapers and the "experts" they quote. They don't come right out and say that global prosperity is bad for us. Instead they say, as The New York Times recently said, "As development rolls across once-destitute countries at a breakneck pace, lifting billions out of poverty, demand for food, metals and fuel is red-hot, and suppliers are struggling to meet it. Prices are spiraling, and Americans find themselves in what amounts to a bidding war with overseas buyers for products...

Reviving the five-decades old slogan 'Hindi Chini, Bhai Bhai', Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Tuesday asserted that the two countries are not rivals or competitors but friendly neighbours out to improve their relations through cooperation. Noting that India and China are the largest developing countries, he talked about Panchsheel and emphasised that the two countries should work together to make the 21st century that of Asia. Complete Coverage: Wen Jiabao in India "Some see India and China as competitors...I disagree," Wen said interacting with the students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi before winding up his four-day visit...

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on Sunday accorded a red carpet welcome on his arrival for a ground breaking official visit to China. The visit is aimed to meet with the new generation of Chinese leaders and forge better mutual understanding and trust and resolve pending bilateral problems in a peaceful manner. On his arrival at the VIP terminal of the Beijing International Airport, Vajpayee, the fourth Indian prime minister to visit China since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1950, was warmly greeted by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Indian Ambassador to China, Shiv Shankar...