by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd),
In its pursuit of global maritime dominance, China has decided to create a force of three aircraft-carriers — one for each of its fleets.
Like India, China first acquired an old Soviet-era aircraft-carrier, but (unlike us) refurbished it at home and commissioned it as the ski-jump equipped Liaoning in 2012. A bigger, indigenously-designed and- built ship, designated “Type 001A”, followed in April 2017. An even larger successor, designated “Type 002”, shunning the ski-jump and emulating US design philosophies, is on the way.
In order to maintain three operational carriers, the PLA Navy (PLAN) will need to build at least five or six such ships. While the Chinese economy does have the strength to fund such an ambitious programme, India needs to note two aspects of this strategy.
For years, China remained dogmatically opposed to aircraft-carriers, deriding them as “sitting ducks” for missiles and submarines, and evolving an “anti-access, area denial” (A2/AD) doctrine, to keep US carriers at bay. Six years’ experience of operating the Liaoning has obviously convinced Beijing that the availability of tactical air-power at sea on a 24×7 basis is vital for PLAN operations in distant waters. The reconciliation of China’s faith in A2/AD with a hugely expensive carrier-building programme signifies that this doctrinal shift has been debated and approved by the Party Politburo.
The second point of note is the intense Chinese focus on autarchy in weapon-systems; huge resources and effort have been devoted to develop a home-built fighter for their new carriers. Disregarding Moscow’s protests over IPR violation, China acquired a prototype Russian Sukhoi-33, in 2000, and within a decade, reverse-engineered it to deliver the Shenyang J-15 (Flying Shark) carrier-borne fighter.
Against this background, India’s endeavours to produce a carrier-borne fighter deserve attention. The Indian Navy (IN), having tasted success in indigenous warship design and building, decided to turn to the aeronautics field in the 1990s. Finding the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme in the doldrums, the navy saw an opportunity for India to join the select list of countries producing carrier-borne aircraft. The decision to initiate a LCA-Navy programme acknowledged the talent and ingenuity of our aircraft designers and engineers, and aimed to energise our stagnant defence-technology base.
A closer examination of the embryo-LCA revealed some major challenges in adapting a shore-based aircraft to fly from a ship. They included lack of engine thrust, a weak undercarriage, requirement of an arrester hook and need for fuselage strengthening. Undaunted, the navy affirmed its faith in the programme by initiating a development programme and contributing over Rs 400 crore as well as engineers and test pilots to this DRDO project. The LCA-Navy prototype rolled out in July 2010 and its first flight took place in April 2012.
Very early in the programme, the IN acknowledged the possibility that this project may (a) either not succeed or (b) fail to meet the timelines required for India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1). A conscious decision was thus taken that in parallel with the LCA, the navy would identify an alternative aircraft for its new carriers. As the LCA-Navy programme kept slipping, this alternative turned out to be the MiG-29K, which was purchased along with INS Vikramaditya.
The IAF version of LCA was delivered for squadron service in 2016. The IAF has placed an order for 123 aircraft; thus securing the short-term future of the LCA, regardless of other fighter acquisitions. The LCA-Navy, on the other hand, received a setback when, in December 2016, the IN was said to have “rejected” this aircraft for its future aircraft-carriers. This ostensible volte face by the IN appears to have come as a blow to DRDO and the LCA-Navy prototype, having completed simulated carrier take-offs from a specially created ski-jump ashore, is parked in a hangar, awaiting resumption of trials.
The navy had good reasons for its actions, and dejection over the LCA-Navy is misplaced. There was an urgent need to formulate the specifications of the navy’s second indigenous aircraft-carrier (IAC-2), which could only happen once it was known what type of aircraft will operate from it; and the LCA-Navy was clearly far from ready. Moreover, DRDO deserves this rebuke for tardy progress of LCA-Navy, and for projecting unrealistic targets and timelines. While the LCA-Navy may have “missed the bus” for IAC-2, it can certainly remain a candidate for the ski-jump equipped Vikramaditya (in-service) and IAC-1 (nearing completion).
The IAC-2 will enter service at a juncture where a maritime balance-of-power struggle may be under way between China and India. PLAN ships and submarines are already frequenting the Indian Ocean, and its carrier task-forces will soon arrive to establish dominance along China’s maritime “silk road”. India’s response to attempted intimidation at sea will need to be robust, and decisions relating to the design and capabilities of IAC-2 assume strategic importance.
The design, production and flight-testing of the LCA and LCA-Navy prototypes have generated invaluable experience, knowledge and data which must not be allowed to go waste. Its development must be pursued, and on successful completion of its ship-trials programme, the LCA-Navy can be assigned a carrier-borne operational (or even training) role commensurate with the limitations imposed by its performance.
In a wider perspective, much of what has been said, so far, is equally true of India’s vital but languishing Kaveri turbo-jet engine programme. One cannot emphasise strongly enough that the LCA and the Kaveri turbojet constitute the heart and soul of India’s aeronautical future, and temporary setbacks must not be allowed to derail these projects. MoD needs to enunciate a 50-year vision to carefully nurture these vital programmes by (a) ensuring a long production-run for the LCA as well as its “evolved” successors and (b) by acquiring foreign expertise for “de-bugging” and operationalising the Kaveri, whatever the time and cost.
India abandoned its first indigenous fighter, the HF-24 Marut, prematurely on the flawed assumption that we would never find the right engine to power it; ignoring the reality that technology does not remain static. This was a blunder we must never repeat. Having come so far down the developmental path, the LCA production must not stop at 123 aircraft. Along with the enhanced Kaveri turbojet, the LCA programme must form the launch-pad for all future fighter projects for the IAF and the Indian Navy.
(Admiral Arun Prakash is a former chief of the Indian Navy. This article is in special arrangement with South Asia Monitor)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, World
Beijing : China remains the world’s largest developing country despite having a a low per capita GDP, lingering urban-rural gap, weak industrial competitiveness and technological innovation, according to an economist.
The remarks were made by Wang Yuanhong, an economist at the State Information Centre, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
“We should look at both economic aggregate and per capita figures when measuring the real development level of a country,” Wang said.
Despite being the world’s second largest economy, China’s per capita GDP in 2016 was only 80 per cent of the world average, one-seventh of the US and was ranked the 68th globally.
“Chinese per capital consumer spending was only $2,506 in 2016, less than half of the world average and only 7 per cent of the US.”
The Engel’s coefficient, which measures food expenditures as a proportion of total household spending, stood at 29.3 per cent in China, much higher than developed economies.
“It means the Chinese people still have to spend big on basic needs, and their expenditure on culture, health care, entertainment and tourism are much less than people in developed countries,” Wang said.
He said China was still “a follower in technological innovation”, with businesses inadequate in research and development.
“Eighty per cent of core technology, most of high-end equipment, and core components are reliant on imports.”
Despite emerging new technology, products and business models, China is yet to complete building an innovation-driven growth pattern, Wang said.
The disparity of people’s incomes per capital between provinces can be as large as more than four times, and there is still a marked gap in infrastructure and public services between cities and villages.
“China’s urbanisation ratio was only 58.52 per cent in 2017, far below the around 80 per cent of developed countries,” Wang said.
Compared with developed countries, China lags behind in many other areas including environment protection, investment effectiveness and market supervision, the economist added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Economy, Emerging Businesses, Large Enterprise, Markets, Medium Enterprise, News, Politics
By Biswajit Choudhury,
Changzhou (China) : Trina Solar of China, the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels globally and India’s biggest supplier, awaits further easing of business conditions for the sector to begin production in the country for which the company has acquired land in Andhra Pradesh, according to Chairman and CEO Gao Jifan.
In an exclusive chat here with Indian reporters on the sidelines of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Chinese solar giant, Gao said he also had occasions to speak about the importance of developing the Indian solar market with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a time the country is in a mission mode on solar energy as a co-founder of the Gurugram-headquartered International Solar Alliance.
The sheer scale of Trina’s achievements testify to its pride of place in China, which has been struggling with its own emission problems. Founded in 1997, it became the first solar PV maker to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. The company has already shipped 32 gigawatt (GW), or 32,000 megawatt (MW), of modules to the rest of the world. Its products are available in 70 countries and shipments last year alone amounted to 9 GW.
Trina, which specialises in the manufacture of crystalline silicon PV modules and system integration, currently has about 10 per cent share of the global market. It also produces ingots, wafers and solar cells. It has over 20 per cent share in the Indian market and has cumulatively supplied 3 GW of equipment.
Gao explained that while India will continue to be a prime market for Trina, module-making is a high-investment activity and costs of manufacturing in India are very high. Solar power tariffs, as discovered through competitive bidding, have, however, been falling at the same time and are currently below Rs 2.50 per unit.
“Unfortunately, PV manufacturing lacks a supply chain in India and we prefer to import equipment from overseas,” Gao said.
“If costs of making in India do not support the economics of production for the customer, it makes our job difficult. Our basic principle is to provide value for the customer. If the local customer cannot afford our products, that makes it difficult for us to produce,” he said.
Another gap in India is the lack of reliable power supply for production, he said.
The company has signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a manufacturing plant with an investment of Rs 2,800 crore. Around 90 acres of land have been earmarked for the proposed unit at Atchutapuram in Visakhapatnam district. State Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has said the factory would create employment opportunities for 3,500 people.
Trina had, in 2014, supplied 600,000 panels for India’s largest solar project of 151 MW at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh.
“I hope India opens up the PV market,” Gao said, underlining the importance of producing locally if Trina wants to grow in the country. However, the lack of a developed domestic supply chain means that production is not cost-competitive. Nearly 90 per cent of India’s solar panels are imported, while Indian manufacturers have to depend on accessories from China.
India’s national solar programme, launched in 2010, has a domestic content requirement clause in order to protect and encourage local industry. It mandates that a solar power producer compulsorily source a certain percentage of solar cells and modules from local manufacturers in order to be able to benefit from the government guarantee to purchase the energy produced.
In this connection, a World Trade Organisation panel has earlier ruled that India’s domestic content requirement for the solar sector is inconsistent with its treaty obligations.
Besides, cheaper Chinese imports have provoked industry bodies like the Indian Solar Manufacturers’ Association to demand safeguard levies and anti-dumping duties.
On the other hand, with the sharp fall in solar and wind tariffs in India, as well as in equipment costs, government incentives had dried up, according to solar stakeholders.
A recent report by global accounting firm KPMG says that in the absence of strong local manufacturing, India will need to import $42 billion of solar equipment by 2030, corresponding to 100 GW of installed capacity.
The latest Bloomberg New Energy Finance report on the Indian solar sector, titled “Trade Dispute Overshadows Rising Market”, projects India’s solar cells and PV market, currently at 8.6 GW, to cross 12 GW by 2020. Around 90 per cent of Indian imports of PV cells and modules last year came from China and were worth over $3 billion.
Gao also said that Trina has set up a new business vertical to develop the rooftop solar market for the residential segment, as well as for big and small industry, the total size of which in India is around 1 GW.
(Biswajit Choudhury was in China at the invitation of Trina Solar. He can be reached at biswajit.c@ians.in)
—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
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : China has sold a highly-sensitive tracking system to Pakistan, which could boost Islamabad’s ability to develop multi-war heads.
According to the South China Morning Post, an influential Chinese think tank says that China is the first country to have given such sensitive equipment to Pakistan.
China is the biggest arms supplier to Pakistan, India’s arch-rival.
Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the China Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Optics and Electronics in Chengdu, Sichuan province, told the Post that Pakistan’s military recently deployed the Chinese-made system “at a firing range” for use in testing and developing its new missiles.
The statement from the CAS said the Chinese team enjoyed VIP treatment during the nearly three months it spent in Pakistan assembling and calibrating the tracking system and training technical staff on how to use it.
“The system’s performance surpassed the user’s expectations,” it said.
The amount paid by Islamabad was not known.
An optical system is crucial in missile testing. It usually comes with a pair of high-performance telescopes equipped with a laser ranger, high-speed camera, infrared detector and a centralized computer system that captures and follows moving targets, the Post said.
The device records high-resolution images of a missile’s departure from its launcher, stage separation, tail flame and, after the missile re-enters the atmosphere, the trajectory of the warheads it releases.
The uniqueness of the Chinese-made system lay in its use of four telescope units, “more than normally required”, Zheng said.
Each telescope, with a detection range of several hundred km, is positioned in a different location, with their timing synchronized precisely with atomic clocks.
Together, the telescopes provide visual information of unprecedented detail and accuracy, which missile developers can use to improve designs and engine performance.
Using more telescopes allows the system to track more warheads simultaneously from different angles, reducing the risk of losing a target.
“We simply gave them a pair of eyes. They can use them to look at whatever they want to see, even the Moon,” he said.
—IANS
