Asia-Pacific

Photo: The rebuilt Ramu Simar Vihar. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

Bangladesh Buddhists Live in the Shadows of Rohingya Fear

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 35th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles.

COX BAZAAR, Bangladesh (IDN) – Most of Bangladesh’s 1 million Buddhists live in Chittagong (now officially known as Chattogram), Chittagong Hill Tracks and here in Cox Bazaar areas. The latter is home to the teeming Rohingya refugee camps sheltering those who fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since the 2016 skirmishes with the Burmese military. Over an estimated 900,000 Rohingyas are sheltered here in what is believed to be the world’s largest refugee camp today.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 11 October 2019

Photo: Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The People’s Republic of China, speaking at the General Debate of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 27 September 2019. UN Photo | Loey Felipe

"China Today Is a Proud Member of the Global Community"

Viewpoint by Wang Yi

The following is the statement of Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of The People’s Republic of China, at the General Debate of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 27 September 2019

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1945, the United Nations was born in response to the call of the times. Four years later, the People’s Republic of China was founded, and the Chinese nation reemerged before the eyes of the world as a completely reborn nation.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 October 2019

Photo: The guards of honor formation takes part in a military parade during the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Cao Can)

China Rises to an Indomitable Superpower

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – On October 1, China’s President, Xi Jinping, celebrated 70 years of Communist party rule, and its rise to superpower status, at Tiananmen Square in Beijing that consisted of a military parade and hundreds of thousands of people participating in the event ending with a grand pageant.

The main attraction was the unprecedented military parade of around 15,000 military personnel, 580 pieces of military equipment and 160 aircraft including new hypersonic drones, and the Dongfeng-41 missile capable of striking the United States in 30 minutes with 10 nuclear warheads at once, each with a different target - irrefutably, a display of China’s military might.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 07 October 2019

Image: The fatalities (solid lines) and total casualties (dashed lines) in millions, immediately following nuclear attacks, versus the number of targets. Results for India (A) and Pakistan (B). Colours correspond to the yield assumed. Source: Science Advances.

India-Pak Nuclear War Would Kick Off Catastrophic Scenarios

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali *

FREMONT, California, USA (IDN) – Amid rising tension over Kashmir between the two nuclear neighbors, India and Pakistan, a new U.S. study examines how such an hypothetical future nuclear conflict would have consequences that could ripple across the globe. [Read also New Study Warns of Devastating Global Consequences of an India-Pakistan Nuclear War.]

A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50 to 125 million people that is more than the death toll during the six years of World War II, according to the research by Colorado University Boulder and Rutgers University.

: Suresh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 October 2019

Image: A map showing the changes in the productivity of ecosystems around the world in the second year after a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Regions in brown would experience steep declines in plant growth, while regions in green could see increases. (Credit: Nicole Lovenduski and Lili Xia). Source: University of Colorado Boulder.

New Study Warns of Devastating Global Consequences of an India-Pakistan Nuclear War

By Daniel Strain *

BOULDER, Colorado, USA (IDN) – A nuclear war between India and Pakistan could, over the span of less than a week, kill 50-125 million people—more than the death toll during all six years of World War II, according to new research.

A new study conducted by researchers from CU Boulder and Rutgers University examines how such a hypothetical future conflict would have consequences that could ripple across the globe. Today, India and Pakistan each have about 150 nuclear warheads at their disposal, and that number is expected to climb to more than 200 by 2025.

: Suresh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 October 2019

Photo: Kim Song, Chair of Delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly’s General Debate. (30 September 2019) UN Photo/Cia Pak

DPRK Blames U.S. For ‘Little Progress’ in Achieving Peace on The Korean Peninsula

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Lack of progress in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula is “entirely attributable” to the United States, a senior official from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) told the UN General Assembly on September 30.

Kim Song, head of the country’s delegation, observed that more than a year has passed since DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump issued a joint statement following a historic summit in Singapore in June 2018.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 01 October 2019

Photo: Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters on 28 July 2019. CC BY 2.0

The Roots of Hong Kong’s Crisis

By Henry Huang*

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – Hong Kong, the pearl of the East, yet lives in such a turmoil. The ongoing political crisis and massive protest have drawn a large amount of international concern and attention. There are multiple explanations of what has happened in Hong Kong. Some may say it is for a “wider demands for democratic reform.”^[1] On the mainland side, some may argue, “‘The demonstrations in Hong Kong are not about rights or democracy. They are a result of foreign interference.’”^[2]

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 September 2019

White Paper Expounds China’s Relationship with The World

By Globaltimes.cn

BEIJING (IDN-INPS) – The State Council Information Office issued a white paper titled "China and the World in the New Era“ on 27 September. This is the first governmental white paper that has comprehensively expounded the relationship between China and the world. The white paper focuses on China's international outlook, its development objectives and the role it plays with a purpose to increase the international community's understanding on China's development.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 28 September 2019

Photo collage: (left to right) Kumnung Chantasit demonstrating how to plant cardamom; An example of how banana trunks and leaves are used to protect the young trees; One of the hard working Thai chickens. Credit: Bronwen Evans.

Thai Farmer Shows How ‘Sufficiency Economy’ Works in Practice

By Bronwen Evans *

CHANTHABURI, Thailand (IDN) – There are generally two reasons why Thai farmers embrace organics – one is health and the other is economics. For 73-year old Kumnung Chanthasit it was the latter. He had farmed the same plot of land in Thailand’s eastern province of Chanthaburi since boyhood. Despite the rich volcanic soil, he found himself sinking deeper and deeper into debt as he struggled to pay for the fertilisers and pesticides he thought he needed.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 September 2019

Photo: President Vladimir Putin with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at the Zvezda Shipyard on 4 September 2019. Source: en.kremlin.ru

India, Russia Synergize and Leverage Mutual Strengths

By Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) –The Modi-Putin relationship is, perhaps, the most fascinating of India’s external “affairs”. The reasons for their diplomatic bonding and evolving personal chemistry may be many. And, the dazzle of events and optics, as is the wont in any political romance, take the focus away from tangible outcomes.

This is what happened during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Russian port city of Vladivostok on September 4-5 for a summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin.