PEW POLL: LESS THAN 25 PERCENT OF CHINESE LIKE INDIA
Less than a quarter of Chinese have a favorable opinion of India, according to a new poll released by the Pew Research Center. India’s 62% unfavorable rating puts it at a tie with Iran for least-liked country in China (the US had only a 48% unfavorable rating). The annual survey of global attitudes also found that the number of Chinese who view India’s economic rise has dropped from 60% in 2010 to just 44% in 2012. (Indians were even more pessimistic about China’s growth, with only 24% saying China’s growth was “a good thing for India.”) Perhaps most surprising about the poll was not Chinese citizens’ negative attitude toward India. Whereas a full 60% of Pakistanis expressed “very favorable” views toward China, the highest among any country polled, only 4% of Chinese viewed Pakistan “very favorably.” (Pew Research Center, October 16 2012)
INDONESIA, INDIA TALK JOINT MILITARY TRAINING
Defense Ministers from India and Indonesia met in Jakarta October 16 to discuss joint training and military sales, as well as the possibility of co-producing military equipment. A source told Defense News that potential sales of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, co-produced by India and Russia, were discussed at the meeting. India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands sit just 80 nautical miles from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. (Defense News, October 16 2012)
[Editors' Note: In recent years the two sides have engaged in some two dozen rounds of joint patrolling in the Strait of Malacca.]
DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT TALIBAN ATTACKER OF PAKISTANI ACTIVIST
One of the two alleged shooters of 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai has been identified. The man, known only as Attaullah, was previously detained by Pakistani security forces in 2009, during a military campaign to push the Taliban out of the Swat valley. According to one official who spoke to Reuters, Attaullah spend three months in custody before being released after no evidence of wrongdoing was found. The Malala attack has put renewed pressure on the government to launch an offensive into the militant strongholds of North Waziristan, an operation Washington has been urging for years. In the immediate wake of the attack, Pakistan’s Interior Minister insisted there were no plans for a military operation “for the time being.” (Reuters, October 18 2012)
FIFTY YEARS AFTER BORDER WAR, CHINESE TELECOMS A RISK
Chinese telecom companies pose a threat to India’s security, argues British journalist John Elliott. Several countries have expressed concern following a warning issued by a US congressional committee that two Chinese telecom companies, Huawei and ZTE, were a threat to US national security. According to the report, the companies were capable of disrupting information networks and sending sensitive data covertly back to China. Both companies have become leading telecom providers in India over the last decade. India has been lured by competitive pricing, purchasing $6.7 billion in telecom equipment from China in 2010-2011 alone. China is currently India’s largest trading partner and is bidding for power plants, power transmission grids, and several high profile engineering and construction projects. In the article, Elliott calls for the Indian government to ban Chinese high technology companies from all security and communications sensitive networks. “India is clearly vulnerable to these security risks from a country that is its biggest long-term defence threat.” (Riding the Elephant, October 15 2012)