by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World, World
The Arabic script on the signboard of a halal restaurant is seen covered, at Niujie area in Beijing, China, July 19, 2019. (REUTERS)
BEIJING: Authorities in the Chinese capital have ordered halal restaurants and food stalls to remove Arabic script and symbols associated with Islam from their signs, part of an expanding national effort to “Sinicize” its Muslim population.
Employees at 11 restaurants and shops in Beijing selling halal products and visited by Reuters in recent days said officials had told them to remove images associated with Islam, such as the crescent moon and the word “halal” written in Arabic, from signs.
Government workers from various offices told one manager of a Beijing noodle shop to cover up the “halal” in Arabic on his shop’s sign, and then watched him do it.
“They said this is foreign culture and you should use more Chinese culture,” said the manager, who, like all restaurant owners and employees who spoke to Reuters, declined to give his name due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The campaign against Arabic script and Islamic images marks a new phase of a drive that has gained momentum since 2016, aimed at ensuring religions conform with mainstream Chinese culture.
The campaign has included the removal of Middle Eastern-style domes on many mosques around the country in favour of Chinese-style pagodas.
China, home to 20 million Muslims, officially guarantees freedom of religion, but the government has campaigned to bring the faithful into line with Communist Party ideology.
It’s not just Muslims who have come under scrutiny. Authorities have shut down many underground Christian churches, and torn down crosses of some churches deemed illegal by the government.
But Muslims have come in for particular attention since a riot in 2009 between mostly Muslim Uighur people and majority Han Chinese in the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur minority.
Spasms of ethnic violence followed, and some Uighurs, chafing at government controls, carried out knife and crude bomb attacks in public areas and against the police and other authorities.
In response, China launched what it described as a crackdown on terrorism in Xinjiang.
Now, it is facing intense criticism from Western nations and rights groups over its policies, in particular mass detentions and surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims there.
The government says its actions in Xinjiang are necessary to stamp out religious extremism. Officials have warned about creeping Islamisation, and have extended tighter controls over other Muslim minorities.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, World
Beijing : The third round of negotiations between China and the US to end their trade war began on Thursday here as the parties planned to close their differences before March 1 deadline, media reports said.
Xinhua news agency confirmed the start of the high-level economic and trade consultations following a ceremony chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The talks will conclude on Friday.
Several preparation meetings were held from Monday to Wednesday between members of the delegations.
Analysts believe that the parties are not likely to reach a final agreement in this third round due to Washington’s demands.
The main problems posed by the US government are China’s protection of intellectual property, its forced technology transfer, subsidies from Beijing to local companies that generate inequality with foreign companies, cyber theft, exchange controls and market access of the Asian giant, Efe news reported.
Earlier negotiations held in Washington in January-end though were said to have produced “important progress”.
Although on Monday the US Treasury Department Undersecretary for International Affairs David Malpass answered “no” when asked by journalists whether the deadline to reach an agreement could be extended, the next day US President Donald Trump opened the door to the possibility.
“If we’re close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it’s going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide for a little while. But generally speaking I’m not inclined to do that,” Trump said.
The US imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, before Beijing retaliated with $110 billion of duties on US products.
Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on a 90-day commercial truce on December 1, to allow for negotiations, suspending the increase in US tariff rates on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : When Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan arrives in Beijing later this week, the newly-minted leader will have his task cut out: To secure fresh Chinese loans for his country’s hobbling economy.
Khan’s four-day visit, which begins on Friday, is also significant for Beijing, which is worried over the tardy progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Islamabad’s new government’s reported second thoughts on the project, a linchpin of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative.
“During his election campaign, he said some words against the Belt and Road initiative. We were worried if there would be some policy changes (if he came to power). But recently, I think, things have become better,” Wang Dehua, a South Asia expert at the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies, told IANS.
“This is Imran Khan’s first visit (to China) and will be a landmark one,” Wang added.
In the run-up to Pakistan’s general election earlier this year, Khan had slammed his predecessor Nawaz Sharif for alleged corruption in the Chinese-funded project.
Beijing grew more worried when the new government under Khan reportedly said Islamabad thinks the deals under the CPEC were “unfair” and wants to renegotiate them with Beijing.
“This was a misleading interpretation by the media,” Wang added.
Xi Jinping has poured about a trillion dollars into the Belt and Road project that aims to connect Asia, Africa and Europe through a vast network of highways, railways and sea lanes.
Of the allocation, China has pledged some $60 billion for the CPEC alone, the crown jewel of its connectivity project that aims to connect Kashgar in its restive western province Xinjiang with Pakistan’s Gwadar port in the troubled Balochistan region.
Beijing knows the strategic importance of Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea which, once developed, will give China easy access to one of the most important trade arteries, the Straits of Hormuz.
China is building railways, highways and industrial parks under the framework of the CPEC, which, it says, will give jobs and bring prosperity to Pakistan. Islamabad too says this publicly.
The “iron-brothers” keep swearing unflinching loyalty to each other.
India has made no bones about its opposition to the CPEC as it claims the part of disputed Kashmir held by Pakistan through which the route of project is planned.
Besides this, the West sees the Belt and Road as a tool for Beijing to spread its geo-strategic influence and push poor countries like Pakistan into a debt trap by giving them high-interest loans.
When China and Pakistan inked the CPEC deal in 2013, Pakistan’s foreign debt was $61 billion, which now stands at about $95 billion. According to independent estimates, Islamabad owes $19 billion to Beijing alone.
Pakistani Railway Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad lent credence to these reports when he announced that Chinese investment in a rail project was being lowered from $8.2 billion to $6.2 billion, citing his country’s inability to repay.
“CPEC is like the backbone for Pakistan, but our eyes and ears are open,” Ahmad said.
China vehemently denies the charge of “debt diplomacy”, saying the US is jealous of the success of the Belt and Road initiative and Beijing’s rise. It maintains that the CPEC has brought stability to the region.
Pakistan is a broke nation today whose biggest lender is China. Since 1980, Islamabad has gone to the IMF 13 times seeking bail outs.
When Khan made the 14th attempt, the IMF told Islamabad to disclose all the financial details of the CPEC about which China and Pakistan have been cagey.
Khan changed his mind, flew to “friendly” Saudi Arabia and came back with a $6 billion loan.
The leader, who has vowed to change the fortunes of Pakistan, will try his luck yet again when he meets Xi.
Asked if he thinks Beijing will give another loan to Islamabad, Wang said: “No comments.”
Beijing has sounded positive about granting new loans to Islamabad with the Foreign Ministry saying that China supports Pakistan in dealing with a difficult financial situation.
In the face of a bleeding trade war with the US and a slowing down of China’s economy, Chinese critics have begun questioning the way Xi is giving loans to other countries.
If Beijing extends another loan to Pakistan after sanctioning $2 billion earlier this year, it is to be seen what promise it exacts from Islamabad.
Also, Beijing would never want the US-dominated IMF to know about the financial details of the CPEC.
Khan is all praise for the CPEC now and might go back home happy. However, he might be conveyed Beijing’s displeasure over Pakistan raising human rights issues in Xingjiang.
In October, Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister urged the Chinese envoy to soften the restrictions placed on Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. A Pakistani minister telling the Chinese envoy to handle the situation was unexpected for Beijing from its “best friend.”
The issue of stability in Afghanistan is also likely to figure between both sides as Beijing wants a peaceful Kabul for geo-strategic reasons.
The two allies will also discuss America’s foreign policy. The US has turned the heat on China on trade and other fronts. It has scrapped military aid to Pakistan and signed a big defence deal with India.
“It is natural that Pakistan will move closer to Beijing in the light of the growing proximity between Washington and New Delhi,” Wang said.
(Gaurav Sharma is the IANS correspondent in Beijing. He can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Islamabad : Islamabad expects that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would regain pace after Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Beijing next month with the signing of a framework agreement on industrial zones, progress on agricultural cooperation and addition of a social sector joint working group.
A senior government official told Dawn news on Monday the Khan’s visit to China would reinvigorate the CPEC implementation that had slowed down over the past several months owing to political transition in Pakistan.
During the visit, the two sides would formally ink a framework agreement on industrial zones and set in motion on-ground development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) starting with Rashakai near Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
They would also formally sign documents to include Social Sector Joint Working Group of the Joint Coordination Council (JCC) of the CPEC. He said officials from the two governments were currently in the process of sharing final documents.
A Chinese delegation led by M.A. Aiguo, Vice Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, are currently in Pakistan to explore areas of mutual interest in the agriculture sector, considered by the two governments as key to employment generation and increase in crop output.
The delegation had a meeting with Privatisation Minister Khusro Bakhtiar on Monday and was given an overview of Pakistan’s agriculture sector that employed 45 per cent of manpower, contributed about 24 per cent to GDP, 20 per cent to total exports and provided livelihood to 64 per cent of the country’s rural population, a statement said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington/Beijing : US President Donald Trump has signed an order imposing tariffs worth $60 billion in Chinese imports in his strongest trade action against any country. Beijing threatened Washington with higher tariffs worth $3 billion for imported US products.
Financial markets plunged on fears of a potential trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trump declared that China was responsible for thousands of lost American jobs and billions in lost revenues.
The White House said on Thursday it was taking action in retaliation for China’s use of pressure and intimidation to obtain American technology and trade secrets.
The measures included a significant change in Trump’s looming steel and aluminium tariffs that would aim them primarily at China, the Washington Post reported.
After Trump’s announcement, China’s Commerce Ministry said it was proposing tariffs on 128 US products including pork, wine and seamless steel tubes.
It will include an additional 15 per cent tariff on products including fruit, nuts, wines and seamless steel tubes and an additional 25 per cent tariff on pork and recycled aluminium products.
“The measures will be implemented in two stages: in the first stage, the 15 per cent tariff will be imposed if the two countries cannot reach an agreement on trade issues within a scheduled time. In the second stage, the 25 per cent import tax will be imposed after evaluating the impact caused by the US policies,” the Chinese Ministry said.
But it also urged the Trump administration to resolve differences through dialogue to “avoid damage to the broader picture of Chinese-US cooperation”.
Trump’s actions fulfil his campaign pledge to demand fairer trade deals with countries and to retaliate against trading partners if the US does not secure better agreements.
“We have one particular problem,” the US President said before signing the order that will impose tariffs on hundreds of Chinese products, from shoes and clothing to consumer electronics. “We have a tremendous intellectual property theft situation going on.
“We’re doing things for this country that should have been done for many, many years… It’s going to make us a much stronger, much richer nation,” he said at the White House.
In addition to the tariffs, the US also plans to impose new investment restrictions, take action against China at the World Trade Organisation while the Treasury Department also will propose additional measures.
Trump said he respected his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping but Washington “would no longer tolerate running a trade deficit of nearly $400 billion with China”, its second-largest trading partner, after the EU.
The US administration’s increasing focus on punishing China was evident in its decision to exempt allies like the EU, South Korea, Brazil, Canada and Mexico from what were supposed to be worldwide tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
The levies, which go into effect on Friday, will largely hit China.
Stock markets were hit by fears that Trump’s tariff plan could trigger a trade war. Japan’s Nikkei share index fell 4.5 per cent and in the US the Dow Jones sank 2.9 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed down 3.4 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended 2.5 per cent lower.
Trump, on March 8, signed proclamations to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminium, causing mounting dissent among trading partners around the world.
Trump had exempted Canada and Mexico from the import levies for the duration of talks aimed at renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
—IANS
