China Reform Monitor: No. 1218

March 17:

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Gambian counterpart Neneh MacDouall-Gaye have signed a joint communique in Beijing to resume diplomatic relations. The two countries established formal diplomatic relations in 1974, but in 1995 Gambia resumed "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Gambia's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and China's state-owned Sinohydro held three days of meetings aimed at increasing power production in Gambia. "Our objective is squarely to meet the short and medium term power needs of Gambians," said Sinohydro's Africa vice president Liu Xiaomin. The goal is to boost power production by building a 50 megawatt power plant, installing a 132 kilovolt power transmission backbone line, and reinforcing the existing 33 kilovolt transmission system, the official Global Times reports.

April 4:

The Japan Coast Guard has deployed 12 ships to patrol areas around Japanese-controlled, Chinese-claimed islands in the East China Sea, reports Japan Today. The fleet, consisting of two refurbished ships, ten newly-built 1,500-ton patrol ships, and two helicopter-equipped patrol vessels, will become fully operational this month. The ships are equipped with 20-millimeter guns and water cannons, are 96 meters in length and capable of high-speed cruising. Besides the 12 new ships, six more 1,000-ton patrol ships and one helicopter-equipped patrol vessel have been deployed. Piers and lodging facilities at Ishigaki port in Okinawa will serve as a base. The number of personnel for the 11th Regional Coast Guard has been increased to 1,722, of whom 606 were assigned exclusively to Senkaku patrol activities.

April 5:

To “keep a close watch on China's expanding maritime activities,” Japan has set up a Ground Self-Defense Force garrison on its westernmost island of Yonaguni, 150 km south of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, Kyodo reports. About 160 members belonging to the new unit will be in charge of monitoring vessels and aircraft by radar, especially around the Japan-controlled and China-claimed Senkaku Islands. Three China Coast Guard vessels recently entered Japanese territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the Japan Coast Guard said. According to Japan's Coast Guard, during the intrusion (the ninth this year) one of the Chinese vessels was armed, Kyodo reports.

April 6:

Pakistani Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has assured Zhang Chunxian, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC, that his military will ensure a secure environment for the completion of the extensive network of roads and rail connecting Pakistan's Gwadar deep sea port with Xinjiang, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Zhang, who is travelling with the party secretary of Xinjiang, led a senior Chinese delegation that visited Karachi and Gwadar to review progress on CPEC. The Express Tribune reports that during a meeting with Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Zhang highlighted the impact the multibillion-dollar project would have on the region, and said Pakistan and China were “iron brothers” joined by land, mountains and rivers.

April 7:

Xinjiang province has earmarked more than 160 billion yuan ($24.7 billion) for infrastructure construction this year, the official Shanghai Daily reports. A total of 163.4 billion yuan, or almost 55 percent of the region's total planned investment in 2016, will be spent on 223 major infrastructure projects. "Under the circumstances of the economic slowdown, these projects, totaling 440 in number, will play an important part in boosting Xinjiang's economic and social development," said Ahmat Manap, an official with the regional development and reform commission. Key projects include the expansion of the Urumqi airport and the Xinjiang stretch of the power transmission line linking the Junggar Basin to Anhui. Another 80 billion yuan will be invested in industrial projects, such as natural gas production and textiles, and 66.5 billion yuan into social causes including bilingual kindergartens and poverty alleviation.