November 3:
Russia’s Interfax-AVN News Agency reports that China and Kazakhstan have agreed to jointly develop nuclear energy and associated technologies. At talks held in Astana, Kazakhstan China’s Premier Wen Jiabao and Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov signed a number of agreements cementing their bilateral cooperation. Specifically, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and Kazakhstan's national nuclear company Kazatomprom signed a variety of cooperation agreements on topics including the joint development of uranium resources, the production of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants, long-term trade in natural uranium, the generation of nuclear energy, and the construction of nuclear energy facilities. China Nuclear Energy Industry Corp. also signed an agreement on the implementation of long-term nuclear energy project with Kazatomprom. The agreement follows a similar set of agreements signed with Pakistan last month.
November 4:
India has reopened a strategic airstrip along its unresolved border with China in Eastern Ladakh (Indian Kashmir) that will give it the capability to rapidly introduce its troops into the area. The reopening of Fukche airbase, which received a newly refurbished airstrip, comes several months after the Indian Air Force reopened Daulat Beg Oldie airfield, situated in the same region near the Karakoram pass. Fukche airbase, located barely three kilometers away from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), is at an altitude of 4,200 meters. New Dehli is also preparing to break ground on the Chushul Advanced Landing Ground, a third airfield in Ladakh along the Sino-Indian border located at a height of over 5,000 meters. Fukche is the second highest landing ground in the world. It was being used as a helicopter base by the Armed Forces and had not seen fixed wing aircraft operations since the 1962 Sino-Indian war. The Indian Express reports that the airfield is a part of a series of steps being undertaken to improve connectivity along the China border.
November 5:
In an address to India’s National Defense College, Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said India’s “foremost” foreign policy priority “would be to cope with the rise of China” and that India has to develop "more sophisticated ways of dealing with these new challenges posed by China." In comments carried by the Times of India, Mukherjee said: "We are today faced with a new China. Today's China seeks to further her interests more aggressively than in the past, thanks to the phenomenal increase of her capacities after 30 years of reforms. There are also new set of challenges which China poses such as the strategic challenge as China develops its capabilities in outer space; the geopolitical challenge as it reaches out to various parts of the globe in search of raw materials and resources."
November 6:
China National Space Administration (CNSA) will open an office in Moscow to help expand cooperation with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos.) "Special attention is currently being given to major and far-reaching research projects, such as the exploration of planets within our solar system and outer space," Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov said in comments carried by Russia’s Interfax-AVN News Agency. China and Russia are collaborating on the joint Phobos-Grunt Mars mission, through which a Russian spacecraft will deliver a Chinese micro-satellite into a Martian orbit. China and Russia are also cooperating in moon exploration. "We expect further intensification of bilateral relations with the beginning of the second phase of the national [Moon exploration] program," Perminov said.
[Editor’s Note: This announcement comes three days after Alexander Fomin, Russia’s First Deputy Director of Military-Technical Cooperation, said both countries were preparing to sign an agreement on intellectual property protection in the military-technical area, which will promote the development of new forms of bilateral cooperation.]
