India’s zero-sum mentality exposed when media cautious about Chinese naval fleet’s visit to Bangladesh

The PLA Navy's dock landing ship Jinggangshan. File Photo: VCG

India’s zero-sum mentality exposed when media cautious about Chinese naval fleet’s visit to Bangladesh

By 

Zhao Yusha  

Published: Oct 13, 2024

The Indian media's zero-sum mentality and their suspicion of China's normal military exchanges with South Asian countries have been exposed, Chinese experts said, as several India media adopted a wary tone in their coverage of a Chinese naval fleet's visit to Bangladesh. 

Chinese naval training ship Qi Jiguang (Hull 83) and amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan (Hull 999) arrived at Bangladesh's southeastern Chattogram seaport Saturday, kicking off a three-day visit. 

According to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, during the visit, the fleet will organize bilateral meetings with the Bangladesh side and hold open days and receptions on deck, and will conduct professional exchanges and other activities with local people, aiming to strengthen exchanges, cooperation and mutual trust with the Bangladeshi navy.

Yao Wen, Ambassador of China to Bangladesh, welcomed the training fleet at the port on Saturday, according to the Chinese embassy. 

This visit marks the first occasion in four years since a Chinese naval fleet last visited Bangladesh, and it is the first foreign naval fleet to visit since the establishment of the Bangladeshi interim government. The visit holds significant importance for deepening the China-Bangladesh friendship and cooperation, said the embassy.

Indian media outlet The Hindu linked the Chinese fleet's visit to Bangladesh with the construction at the Chattogram Seaport, and alleged the facility had earlier attracted attention as it has the potential to host submarines and warships.

"The visit highlights the complex geopolitical landscape in South Asia, with Bangladesh balancing its relationships with both China and India. While the interim government's foreign policy direction remains to be fully defined, this visit suggests a continuation of the close ties between China and Bangladesh," said Defence.in, an online portal on the Indian defense and aerospace sectors.

Indian media speculation and the wary attitude toward normal military exchanges between China and Bangladesh reveal a zero-sum mentality in how India views China's cooperation with other South Asian countries, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Sunday. Qian noted that this mentality stems from India's entrenched belief in treating other South Asian nations as its own backyard.

Qian said that India has been keeping a close watch on Bangladesh's policy toward China after the interim government took over, and the visit of the training fleet signals that Dhaka's pragmatic cooperation with China in not only military areas, but also in various fields will remain unchanged, as the two countries share profound ties of collaboration and both bear goodwill in pushing forward ties⍐. 

What failure of ‘Asian NATO’ idea at ASEAN indicates: Global Times editorial

By Global Times Published: Oct 12, 2024

      OPINION / EDITORIAL

  

 What failure of ‘Asian NATO’ idea at ASEAN indicates: Global Times editorial

The 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation are being held this week, with leaders or representatives from the 10 ASEAN countries, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the US, gathering in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. During the 27th China-ASEAN Summit on Thursday, leaders of China and ASEAN countries announced the substantial conclusion of the Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) upgrade negotiations. This important achievement signifies a joint effort by China and ASEAN to lead economic integration in East Asia, demonstrating both sides' strong support for multilateralism and free trade. It also reaffirms that the pursuit of stability, cooperation and development remains the unshakeable mainstream in the region.

Notably, prior to the ASEAN Summit, high-level officials from countries like the US and Japan hinted at bringing camp confrontation and geopolitical conflicts into the meeting. However, this intention was met with clear resistance. In particular, the idea of a so-called Asian NATO, proposed by Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, faced a strong backlash in the region. Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan bluntly stated, "We do not need NATO in ASEAN," while Indonesia's largest English-language newspaper, the Jakarta Post, warned that an "Asian NATO" aims to band against China, which is "very offensive" for the 10-member ASEAN. This significant pushback forced Ishiba to abandon any mention of "Asian NATO" at the meeting.

The failure of the "Asian NATO" idea highlights several issues. First, it demonstrates that, unlike the self-satisfied perception of NATO and the US' allies, NATO is viewed as a "harbinger of disaster" by other nations. NATO's actions to enhance its image through stirring up public opinion and to expand its influence by creating and exploiting geopolitical conflicts have only solidified its image as a creator of conflict and chaos in the eyes of other countries. Public sentiment in ASEAN countries reveals a clear disdain for NATO. Describing the organization as a "Cold War zombie" is not an exaggeration; in the minds of regional countries, it should have been swept into the dustbin of history long ago.

Second, regional countries are not merely opposed to introducing the NATO model to the Asia-Pacific, but also against importing NATO's Cold War mentality and camp confrontation, as well as positioning China as a hypothetical enemy in geopolitical conflicts. The principles of NATO and those of Asian countries are distinctly different. NATO is primarily a military alliance of Western countries, while Asian countries prioritize independence and autonomy. NATO's mission is to promote so-called deterrence and defense primarily through military might, whereas Asian countries value peace and emphasize development. NATO's obsession with external intervention often tramples on the sovereignty and human rights of other nations, while many Asian countries have painful histories of colonization and invasion, making them deeply resentful of external interference. Moreover, Asian nations embrace "Oriental Wisdom." Having learned that the ocean is vast because it admits all rivers, Asian countries are able to see clearly that "gunboat diplomacy" or "bully logic" lead nowhere while openness and inclusiveness are the right path.

NATO maintains its existence by creating a common external threat. However, such a threat does not exist in Asia, and attempts to direct conflict toward China will not succeed. China has maintained its position as ASEAN's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for four years in a row. As a trustworthy friend and reliable partner, China firmly supports the construction of the ASEAN community, backs the bloc's central role in regional cooperation, and advocates for ASEAN to play a greater role in international affairs. The comprehensive and high-quality implementation of the RCEP, along with projects like the China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, serves as a testament to the Belt and Road Initiative, while emerging industries such as the digital economy and green economy are generating powerful momentum for cooperation. A survey released in April by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore indicated that ASEAN countries view China more favorably than they do to the US. Nikkei Asia acknowledged that even in the Philippines, observers deem the idea of an "Asian NATO" as unrealistic.

We noticed that some Western media outlets have reflected on the reasons for the failure of the "Asian NATO" idea, and such reflections should not remain superficial. During the leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation, Ishiba expressed willingness to strengthen high-level exchanges, intensify dialogue and communication at all levels, and push for steady and long-term development of Japan-China relations, which is a commendable attitude. 

We hope that this year's leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation serve as a reminder to all external countries: the region welcomes partners in peaceful development, but not those that create trouble and conflict⍐. 

Boeing to slash 17,000 jobs - 10% of its workforce

 Boeing to slash 17,000 jobs - 10% of its workforce - as factory strike enters its fifth week following safety controversies

By James Gordon For Dailymail.com  and Associated Press

Published: 05:08, 12 October 2024 | Updated: 05:15, 12 October 2024

Boeing plans to lay off about 10% of its workers in the coming months, about 17,000 people, as it continues to lose money and tries to deal with a strike that is crippling production of the company's best-selling airline planes.

New CEO Kelly Ortberg told staff in a memo Friday that the job cuts will include executives, managers and employees.

The company has about 170,000 employees worldwide, many of them working in manufacturing facilities in the states of Washington and South Carolina.

The nearly month-long strike of 33,000 workers has only added to the company's litany of problems meaning it will now have to undergo another round of belt-tightening. 

Boeing factory workers and supporters gather on a picket line during the strike
near the entrance to a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington

Among the recent issues facing the company, the Federal Aviation Administration increased scrutiny of the company after a panel blew out of a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. 

Boeing has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $243.6 million fine to avoid a criminal trial for conspiracy to commit fraud tied to the Max, but relatives of the 346 people who died in two Max crashes want tougher punishments.

And Boeing got attention for all the wrong reasons when NASA decided that a Boeing spacecraft wasn't safe enough to carry two astronauts home from the International Space Station.

Boeing staff with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers walked off the job on September 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract offer. 

Boeing had already imposed rolling temporary furloughs, but Ortberg said those will be suspended because of the impending layoffs.

The Federal Aviation Administration increased scrutiny of the company after a
panel blew out of a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January 2024

The company will further delay the rollout of a new plane, the 777X, to 2026 instead of 2025. 

It will also stop building the cargo version of its 767 jet in 2027 after finishing current orders.

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.

About 33,000 union machinists have been on strike since September 14.

Two days of talks this week failed to produce a deal, and Boeing filed an unfair-labor-practices charge against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

As it announced layoffs, Boeing also gave a preliminary report on its third-quarter financial results - and the news is not good for the company.

_________________________________________________________________________

Boeing said it burned through $1.3 billion in cash during the quarter and lost $9.97 per share. 

Industry analysts had been expecting the company to lose $1.61 per share in the quarter, according to a FactSet survey.

Boeing announced some large write-downs on Friday - a $2.6 billion charge related to delays of the 777X, $400 million for the 767, and $2 billion for defense and space programs including new Air Force One jets, a space capsule for NASA and a military refueling tanker.

The company based in Arlington, Virginia, said it had $10.5 billion in cash and marketable securities on September 30. Boeing is scheduled to release full third-quarter numbers on October 23.

The strike has a direct bearing on cash burn because Boeing gets half or more of the price of planes when it delivers them to airline customers. 

The strike has shut down production of the 737 Max, Boeing's best-selling plane, and 777s and 767s. 

The company is still making 787s at a nonunion plant in South Carolina.

The new CEO faces many challenges to turn the company around.

'Our business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate the challenges we face together,' Ortberg told staff. 

He said the situation 'requires tough decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers over the long term.' 

'While our business is facing near-term challenges, we are making important strategic decisions for our future and have a clear view on the work we must do to restore our company,' Ortberg said.

Ortberg also vowed to take 'additional oversight' of Boeing's troubled defense and space businesses, which will experience 'substantial new losses' in the third quarter, he said in the message to employes. 

Ortberg took over at Boeing in August, becoming the troubled company's third CEO in less than five years. He is a longtime aerospace-industry executive but an outsiders to Boeing.

U.S. officials believe Israel will target military and energy sites in Iran, NBC reports

 🔶U.S. officials believe Israel will target military and energy sites in Iran, NBC reports

By Amina Ismail and Ahmed Tolba October 13, 202

BEIRUT/CAIRO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - U.S. officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to Iran's attack this month to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reported on Saturday.

The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in a year of war as Israel battles Iran-backed groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile barrage on Oct. 1, which was launched in retaliation for Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the killings of a string of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the NBC report said, citing unnamed U.S. officials and adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.

Thick smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs from a generator that caught fire, according to residents,
as seen from Baabda, Beirut, Lebanon, October 12, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

U.S. and Israeli officials said a response could come during the current Yom Kippur holiday, according to the report.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants erupted a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel at the start of the Gaza war, and has sharply escalated in recent weeks.

Hezbollah said on Sunday it was fighting Israeli forces trying to infiltrate Ramya village in southern Lebanon.

Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle "terrorist infrastructure".

"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, including terrorist cells, launchers, anti-tank missile posts, and terrorist infrastructure sites," it said.

Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.

UN PEACEKEEPERS

Israel has intensified its military operations in recent weeks, bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah's top leaders, and sending ground troops across the border.

Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.

Israel's expanded operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon's government, which says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in over a year of fighting. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but includes scores of women and children.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday, expressed "deep concern" about reports that Israeli forces had fired on U.N. peacekeeping positions in Lebanon in recent days and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said.

Five peacekeepers have been injured in three separate incidents since Thursday, the peacekeeping mission UNIFIL has said.

The fighting in the region which includes all of Tehran's allied militant groups -- Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq -- has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into a full-scale conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement on Sunday it had targeted a military site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with drones as part of its support of the Palestinian people and Lebanon. It said it would continue escalating attacks against Israeli strongholds.

The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, on southern Israeli communities in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza, aimed at eliminating the militant group Hamas, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave.⍐

Peacekeepers wounded by Israeli fire in Lebanon, U.N. says, as tensions rise

Peacekeepers wounded by Israeli fire in Lebanon, U.N. says, as tensions rise

Israeli forces have fired at three U.N. positions in the south of Lebanon, the United Nations said Thursday, escalating a nearly week-long standoff with peacekeepers.

By Abbie Cheeseman

, 

Jarrett Ley

, 

Evan Hill

 and 

Lior Soroka

WP Updated October 10, 2024 

A U.N. peacekeeper vehicle drives in Naqoura, near the Lebanon-Israel border, in
southern Lebanon in 2020. (Aziz Taher/Reuters)

BEIRUT — Israeli forces have fired at three U.N. positions in the south of Lebanon over the past 24 hours, the United Nations said Thursday, dramatically escalating a nearly week-long standoff between international peacekeepers and advancing Israeli ground troops.

Two peacekeepers were injured and receiving treatment, according to a statement from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), after an Israeli tank fired toward an observation tower at their main headquarters in the southwest city of Naqoura.

The statement also accused Israeli soldiers of firing on two other positions nearby, hitting the entrance to a bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering in Ras Naqoura, along the coast, and damaging equipment at a relay station closer to the border.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement late Thursday that Hezbollah “operates from within and near civilian areas in southern Lebanon, including areas near UNIFIL.” On Thursday, the statement said, IDF troops operating next to the base in Naqoura “instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire.”

Tensions between the IDF and UNIFIL forces first came to light Sunday, when a U.N. official confirmed that Israeli forces were in the process of building a forward operating base on Lebanese soil that was “dangerously” close to another U.N. position. The Israeli troops withdrew Tuesday, according to the U.N. secretary general, but had returned by Wednesday morning, said Andrea Tenenti, the UNIFIL spokesperson in Beirut.

The situation was changing by the minute, Tenenti said Wednesday, “putting our peacekeepers at risk and hindering our ability to operate effectively.”

    

VIDEO

U.N. peacekeepers vow to stay in Lebanon

1:30

U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon spokesman Andrea Tenenti said on Oct. 10 that Israel struck three U.N. peacekeeper positions over the past 24 hours. (Video: Reuters)

The original flash point, known as 6-52, houses Irish and Polish troops and is located some 750 yards from the southeastern border town of Maroun al-Ras: the entry point for the last Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006 and the site of some of that war’s bloodiest fighting. The IDF presence there offered a rare window into the progress of its ground offensive against Hezbollah, while Thursday’s escalation underscored the precarity of the peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Satellite imagery taken Saturday by Planet Labs and obtained by The Washington Post showed around 30 Israeli military vehicles positioned in three locations next to the U.N. base, some just a few feet away — matching recent photographs taken by troops inside.

Oct. 5, 2024

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The IDF did not respond to multiple requests for comment about why its forces were positioned so close to a U.N. position.

There are more than 10,000 UNIFIL peacekeepers from 50 countries stationed along the Lebanon-Israel border, tasked with monitoring the cease-fire reached by the two countries after the 2006 conflict — one that mostly held until Oct. 8 last year, when Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Israel retaliated with months of airstrikes across Lebanon.

Last week, as Israeli troops invaded southern Lebanon, the IDF ordered the United Nations to evacuate its bases near the border. But Tenenti said the instructions were vague and did not specify which of its 50 positions should be vacated. Soon after the order came down, Tenenti said, the dozens of countries that make up the force collectively agreed their troops would remain in place.

“We decided we need to continue to fly the U.N. flag,” Tenenti said. “This is our mandate, and although that mandate has been heavily challenged, it is important to send the signal that we are staying.”

Israeli troops began to station themselves around 6-52 almost as soon as the United Nations declared its troops would stay put — leading UNIFIL to put out a rare statement blasting the IDF for “unacceptable” activities that put peacekeepers in harm’s way. The United Nations said it was in “repeated” conversations with the Israeli mission in New York over the “dangerous” developments.

Yet those talks appear to have done little to calm tensions on the ground. U.N. positions have been “repeatedly hit” by the IDF, according to UNIFIL’s statement Thursday. Israeli fire damaged vehicles and a communications system in Naqoura, the statement said, and a drone was observed inside the base. IDF soldiers also “deliberately fired at and disabled the position’s perimeter-monitoring cameras,” UNIFIL said.

“For now, we are staying,” a U.N. official told The Post on Thursday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “But this is bad.”

The peacekeepers’ continued presence in an active and growing war zone is likely to lead to further confrontations with Israeli forces. In the Irish area of responsibility alone, three UNIFIL bases sit in villages under IDF evacuation orders. And across the territory they are charged with monitoring, U.N. officials say, most UNIFIL soldiers are largely confined to bunkers, surrounded by heavy fire, unable to carry out basic tasks.

Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday that the IDF’s “hostile acts … could constitute war crimes,” while Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, said in a post on X that it was “reprehensible & unacceptable to injure peacekeepers.”

Recent reports in Irish media said some troops from 6-52 had called home to say they did not know how or when they would be able to leave Lebanon. In a photo leaked by a peacekeeper at the base and published in Irish newspapers, the barrel of a tank was facing directly at the window of their post.

Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Wednesday that the IDF “will balance between its operational needs to defeat Hezbollah and the safety of UNIFIL personnel on the ground. The responsible and wise thing to do at this moment on behalf of the U.N. would be to evacuate all peacekeepers from southern Lebanon until the fighting is over,” he added.

Israeli officials have long criticized UNIFIL as a toothless mission, preoccupied with monitoring small border violations rather than preventing militants from entrenching themselves in the south.

David Mencer, spokesperson for Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said Thursday that UNIFIL has been “an abject failure.” Its “purpose was to ensure that Hezbollah did not exist between the Litani River and our southern border,” he added. “They’ve never fulfilled that task.”

The full scope of Israel’s ground offensive remains unclear. Large parts of the south have been almost entirely depopulated by relentless aerial bombardment, leaving few eyewitnesses behind, and the border areas that have seen the heaviest fighting are inaccessible to journalists.

While the IDF has declined to say how many troops it has sent into Lebanon, military analysts and former Israeli defense officials shared a range of estimates with The Post, the lowest of which was 20,000. The satellite imagery taken around the UNIFIL base Saturday was among the clearest documentation to date of Israeli military movements inside the country.

Newer satellite photos show that Maroun al-Ras is one of at least five locations where Israeli forces have pushed into Lebanon. Vehicle tracks, scorched earth and damaged or destroyed buildings mark other paths of Israeli advances in the towns of Yaroun, Odaisseh and Kfar Kela over the past week. Another image from Planet Labs shows vehicle tracks leading from the border to the village of Meiss el Jabal. The tracks first appeared Monday, extending further into the village and its outskirts on Tuesday.

Oct. 8, 2024

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Meiss el Jabal

LEBANON

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Satellite © Planet Labs 2024

Since beginning its ground operations in southeast Lebanon last week, Israeli troops have moved westward, adding new troop divisions at each stage. Evacuation warnings — which Israel has placed on at least 117 villages and towns, according to a Washington Post tally — have spread across much of the southern border and now cover almost a third of the country’s coastline.

Normally, UNIFIL would be patrolling alongside the Lebanese army and coordinating deconfliction between the warring parties to allow for humanitarian evacuations and aid convoys. Now, their presence is a largely symbolic one and increasingly under threat.

Monitoring activities are limited to whatever the cameras and radars attached to their positions can capture, and some of that equipment has been damaged. Some UNIFIL forces can move around their positions but not beyond them.

“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” the United Nations said in its statement Thursday. “We are following up with the IDF on these matters.”

Ley and Hill reported from New York and Soroka from Tel Aviv. Steve Hendrix in Jerusalem, Samuel Oakford in New York, Imogen Piper in London and Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report.