October 19:
An editorial in Thailand’s The Nation has said the “factors that keep [China-ASEAN] ties vibrant are completely missing these days.” Beijing has “forgotten they used to pledge self-restraint” and instead has adopted “the new tendency for using aggressive rebuttals, emphasizing sovereignty and nationalism.” ASEAN members have been frustrated with China's lack of cooperation to resolve disputes in the South China Sea. China wants to conduct separate bilateral meetings with the four claimants – Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Philippines – rather than deal with the issue collectively as ASEAN prefers. During Thailand’s ASEAN chairmanship, the South China Sea disputes were not atop the agenda. When Vietnam takes over the chairmanship at the end of the year, however, Hanoi has vowed the disputes will be tabled at summits in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, in April and October 2010, respectively.
October 21:
A showdown is set between the People's Liberation Army’s (PLA) navy and Somali pirates. Fifty PLA special forces and two armed helicopters are aboard three navel vessels on the way to rescue a hijacked mainland bulk carrier, the De Xin Hai, in the Indian Ocean. Pirates say they that if boarded they will execute the 25 Chinese crew. The ship was carrying 76,000 tons of coal from South Africa to India when gunmen seized it about 700 nautical miles east of Somalia. "The Chinese government is highly concerned about this incident. We have activated the emergency mechanism and are actively carrying out rescue measures," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "We know what they are planning to do," a pirate representative said in comments carried by the South China Morning Post. "If they try [a rescue] we will execute the whole crew.”
October 22:
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry has launched a formal diplomatic protest with Beijing against Chinese “workers” that fired on, beat and stole the belongings and equipment of Vietnamese fishermen seeking shelter from Storm Ketsana late last month. The fishermen, who were aboard 16 boats, were on their way to Phu Lam Island, in the Paracel Archipelago – an island chain claimed by both countries – but occupied by the Chinese forces. Hanoi is requesting Beijing investigate and discipline those that ill-treated the fishermen, is insisting their belongings be returned and compensation made, and that measures be taken to prevent the recurrence of what the official Vietnam News Agency described as “inhumane treatment.”
October 23:
For the first time the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) has been extended to China. The NHWS, the world's largest international self-reported database of patient data, will cover over 400 Chinese cities and include more than 13,300 sets of Chinese patient data such as treatment information on over 140 types of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke and asthma. The new data will benefit pharmaceutical research institutions and drug manufacturers who are developing their businesses in China -- projected to be the world's largest pharmaceutical market by 2050. NHWS, a service of KantarHealth's Consumer Health Sciences, has collected patient data from the United States, Europe and Japan, Russia’s Interfax News Agency reports.
October 25:
India’s Home Minister P Chidambaram has said his country’s military will undertake “measures to strengthen border posts," the Press Trust of India reports. India will build 50 new border outposts along the icy frontier with China. New Delhi’s Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which guard the 3,500-km-long border, already have more than 140 outposts in the extremely inhospitable terrain. The posts are located at heights ranging from 9,000 to 18,500 feet and 60 percent are not accessible by roads. The plan to establish more outposts will allow Indian troops to better monitor the border. Other improvements include satellite phones, surveillance devices, all terrain vehicles, fiber-reinforced polymer huts, high-power snow cutters, deep-search mine detectors, oxygen cylinders for boarder troops, and solar power generating equipment.
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