Bangladesh: A Nuclear-Dream

Bangladesh is heading towards the path of becoming the third nuclear nation in South Asia. The topic came in discussion during meetings between the Chinese minister Yang Jiechi and Bangladesh's foreign advisor Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.
The Chinese minister was on a two-day tour to Bangladesh recently.

The foreign advisor of Bangladesh said, China is a partner and the visit of Chinese minister would further strengthen this relationship.

´Our friendship is rooted in history, but like all relationships, ties between nations also have to be renewed and reinvigorated from time to time, and this visit was an occasion to do just that,´ the foreign adviser stated.

The Chinese foreign minister said, military cooperation is an important part of the overall bilateral relation between Bangladesh and China. Jiechi, who also met the army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, made the remarks to journalists.

Via American Chronicle

Image Day - Free Tibet

Tibetan activists in-exile take part in a candle-light peace march in Mumbai. More than eighty people have so-far died after the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans.

> Getty Images

The New Arms-Race

There are two distinct versions of the operation mounted by the US Navy to shoot down a crippled military satellite over the Pacific. The official version, expounded in mind-numbing detail by Pentagon officials yesterday, is that the US had no choice but to launch a missile to bring down the satellite.

It had been out of control since its launch 13 months ago.

A supplementary argument, not broached by the Pentagon, was that the military technology loaded on to the satellite was not anything that America wanted another country to find on its territory.

The other interpretation of the mission is not incompatible with the first but far more worrying. While acknowledging that the satellite was in trouble and a missile strike was one way of dealing with it, this version has it that the operation was in fact a covert test of a space weapon.

Such tests were outlawed by the US-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty of 1972. By abrogating the treaty in one of his first acts as President, George Bush opened the way for tests of the "son" of Reagan's "Star Wars".

Since then, the US has conducted a series of experiments in which missiles have been launched to intercept other missiles, with varying degrees of success.

A year ago, China surprised America when it shot down a satellite at a very high altitude. It was the most glaring demonstration yet of China's steady rise as a military power. It is hard not to regard this week's show of missile prowess by the US as directed towards China. Beijing, for one, was in no doubt.

Via The-Independent

UK and China to lead the world - PM

The Prime Minister has said that the UK and China will "lead the world" in the construction of eco-towns and sustainable urban development.

Speaking in Shanghai, the PM announced two agreements with China on environmental issues - the provision of £50 million from the Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) and an extension to the EU-China Near Zero Emissions Coal Programme.

"Two countries will lead the world in the creation of eco-cities and eco-towns - that is China and Britain....over the next few years the development of this new higher level of environmental cooperation will have the support of the British government."

Via Box-UK

Wanted: Water

The waters of the Yangtze have fallen to their lowest levels since 1866, disrupting drinking supplies, and posing a threat to endangered-species.

The government also revealed yesterday that the country's most prosperous province, Guangdong, has just had its worst year since 1949.

But the immediate concern is the Yangtze, which supplies water to millions of people in a delta that accounts for more than 40% of China's economic output.

"Before 1996, we were short of water for three months of the year, but now there are only three months when we can use water as normal," Wu Chunping, the vice-manager of Jianli county's water utility, was quoted by Xinhua.

Via Guardian-Unlimited

India to boost China-relations

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The leaders of India and China are meeting in Beijing in an effort to boost friendlier relations. It's Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first visit to China, which will discuss strengthening economic-ties, as well border disputes.

Choosing-Friends

The African nation of Malawi has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of relations with China. In a press conference in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, Foreign Affairs Minister Joyce Banda confirmed that her nation was breaking its 42-year relationship.

"The Government of the Republic of Malawi recognizes that there is but one China in the world, the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China," she said.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Since then they have engaged in an all-out contest to win diplomatic-allegiance from countries around the world.

Via AP