INDIA FORMS ARUNACHAL SCOUTS FOR BORDER
Just days ahead of a round of talks with China over their disputed border, India has announced a new military battalion will be named after the Indian state at the center of the Sino-Indian territory dispute. Since the Sino-Indian war of 1962, China has claimed 56,000 sq miles of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, what China calls “South Tibet.” Tensions between the two Asian powers over the disputed territory have been heightened in recent years and India has been bolstering its defenses along the along the border, where China holds a distinct advantage in military installations and basic infrastructure. According to the head of India’s air force, P.V. Naik, “Eight advance landing grounds are being upgraded and there are five to six major airfields where infrastructure will be improved to enable them to received more modern aircraft.”
The new military battalion, meanwhile, will be named the Arunachal Scouts, although it was raised from a garrison in Shillong, in the neighboring state of Assam. Some 5,000 troops strong, the Arunachal Scouts will be drawn from locals trained in specialized, high-altitude combat (Arunachal Pradesh straddles the Himalayas). Arunachal’s chief minister, Dorjee Khandu, insisted the new force would reflect the “martial strength” of the region, where India has formed several paramilitary groups out of local “martial” ethnic groups, such as the Assam Rifles, Gorkha Rifles, and Naga Regiment. (Financial Times November 11, 2010)
A LOOK AT CHINAS STRING OF PEARLS
The phrase “string of pearls” has been used to describe the array of port facilities and listening posts littered around South Asia and the Indian Ocean where China has made investments since the phrase was coined in 2004 study by a U.S. Defense Department contractor. While Beijing insists its investments are purely commercial, analysts in India and the U.S. have insisted China’s strategy has military implications. A Jamestown Foundation China Brief examines some of the widely-cited “pearls” in China’s string: Hambantota, a large port in the island-nation of Sri Lanka, has received $360 million in development funds from China in a construction agreement signed March 12, 2007. The funds are to be used to build a harbor, cargo terminals, and a refueling depot. Chittagong, the largest port in Bangladesh, has been another source of Chinese investment. Beijing has agreed to help finance an $8.7 billion expansion of the port. Bangladesh hopes to turn the facility into a major hub for South Asian trade, and is developing a network of road and rail links from the port to Burma, India and China. (Jamestown Foundation China Brief Volume 10 Issue 23)
[Editors Note: The author goes on to refute a widely-reported claim that China has established a submarine base in the Maldives, and challenges the conventional “string of pearls” wisdom by arguing that none of the mentioned facilities are likely serve as “a base for Chinese warships,” adding that all three countries have stronger ties to New Delhi than Beijing. However, while most of the facilities are not explicitly military in nature, China continues to expand its strategic reach in the Indian Ocean, currying favors in regional capitals with its economic investments. Not mentioned in the report is China’s massive investment in the Pakistani port at Gwadar and listening posts in Burma.]
PAKISTAN DENIES REQUEST FOR DRONE EXPANSION
CIA director Leon Panetta has deemed the U.S. program to target militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas with unmanned aerial drones “the only game in town.” With Pakistan unwilling to target militant hideouts in North Waziristan and elsewhere, and the U.S. unable to use ground troops or conventional airstrikes to target al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their allies in Pakistan, the U.S. has dramatically escalated the intensity of drone strikes under President Obama (it has conducted over 100 strikes this year alone; the Bush administration carried out 43 in eight years ).
However, the program is conducted with the quiet consent of the Pakistani military and a request by the Obama administration to expand the scope of those strikes was recently rejected by Pakistan’s leadership. The U.S. reportedly asked Islamabad to expand the scope of the strikes beyond the tribal areas to the provincial capital of Quetta, Baluchistan, where many suspect the Afghan Taliban’s leadership takes refuge. A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government would not allow drone strikes outside the tribal areas and Pakistan “will not compromise on sovereignty.” (Los Angeles Times November 21, 2010)
IRAN SUPPORTS KASHMIR STRUGGLE, IRKS INDIA
Indo-Iranian ties stretch back thousands of years and in modern times relations have been could best be defined as cordial, which has ruffled feathers in Washington at times. But fissures in the relationship have emerged in recent years, for example when India voted against Iran at the IAEA over its rogue nuclear program, when Indian companies divested from Iran’s energy sector, and when India pulled out of the long-planned Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. The latest fillip in ties came after a speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in which he implored Haj pilgrims to “provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime.” It was the third time this year Iranian officials mentioned supporting the Muslim struggle in Kashmir – the volatile territory administered by India and claimed by Pakistan. In response, India summoned Iran’s Charge De Affairs, insisting the statement was affront to the country’s territorial integrity. Then, on November 19, India for the first time abstained from voting on a UN resolution alleging human rights Iranian human rights violations, rather than voting in Iran’s favor. The Daily Press cited a government source as saying “This decision is purely the outcome of the statements that have come from Iran affecting our vital interests and integrity.” (Daily Press November 20, 2010)
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