Category Archives: China and Chinese influences

Western Deception re Sri Lanka: Many Agencies

Orcadian’s NOTES in response to Benjamin Norton’s Revelatory Essay on the Sources of Debt faced by Sri Lanka 

A = “NORTON’S article needs to be tattooed on the brains of every mindless Western  journalist, every Western academic, everyone at the BBC, over the brains of Mike Pompeo, over Abe’s tombstone, over Morrison and Turnbull’s brain and over the Sri Lankans who repeatedly lie or fail to acknowledge that the vast majority of debt Sri Lanka owes is to the West, not to China.  There was NEVER a China debt trap. That was a false narrative propagated by Western interests to disguise the true picture about the vast US and Western debt trap.”

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Colossal Deception: Gross Lies about Sources of Sri Lanka’s Debt Burden foisted on the World by Western Agencies

Benjamin Norton, in Multipolarista, July 12 July 2022 where the title reads thus “Real debt trap: Sri Lanka owes vast majority to West, not China” ... with highlighting emphasis in colours imposde by the Editor, Thuppahi

Sri Lanka owes 81% of its external debt to US and European financial institutions and Western allies Japan and India. China owns just 10%. But Washington blames imaginary “Chinese debt traps” for the nation’s crisis, as it considers a 17th IMF structural adjustment program.

  A protest in Sri Lanka in April 2022

 

 

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Is China’s Eclectic Mix of Communism with Capitalism a Threat?

Tomasz Kamusella, in The Conversation, 26 October 2021, where the title runs thus “How China combined authoritarianism with capitalism to create a new communism”

After the 1989 fall of communism in the Soviet bloc, five self-declared communist states remain today: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam. Belarus and Venezuela can also be added to the mix as they fulfil the criteria of a communist state – even though they do not officially invoke the ideology. So, at present, the number stands at seven. The question is, now that capitalism is the engine of China’s economy, what is communism today? And if the number of communist states is poised to grow in the near future, as some predict, what does this prospect mean for democracy?

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China at Cutting Edge in Sea Warfare? A Drone Ship

Item at https://youtu.be/KkQrTjcqWNc …. 12 June 2022 with headline  = “Chinese AI-operated drone ship completes maiden sea voyage (VIDEO)”

Beijing’s unmanned stealth combat vessel has successfully completed its three-hour maiden sea voyage off Panzhi Island in the East China Sea, Chinese media reported on Saturday. The state-run newspaper Global Times reported that the 200-ton ship can be sent into “dangerous combat zones” on reconnaissance missions and to fight aircraft, submarines and other surface vessels without the risk of casualties aboard.

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A View of Australia from ORCADIAN somewhere in the Orkney Islands

Orcadian, responding to an Email circulated by Thuppahi conveying the views of JOHN LANDER,  circulated by Senaka Weeraratne

John Lander, a former Australian ambassador, gives a most thoughtful analysis on the fictions of the China threat. Western diplomats need to return to the basics of what makes for good diplomacy. We are increasingly seeing Western diplomats becoming irrational, bordering on insane.

 

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Face-to-Face in the Solomon Islands: Two Global Giants

Scott Ritter, in Global Times, 27 May 2022, where the title reads “Chinese diplomacy in South Pacific upends US-Australian security plans”

The visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the Solomon Islands on May 26, part of a 10-day tour of the South Pacific, including Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor, has stoked western fears about growing Chinese influence in the region. Upon his arrival to the capital Honiara, the Chinese Foreign Minister is expected to sign cooperation agreements with the Solomon Islands.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) holds arms with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare after arriving in Solomon Islands for a visit on May 26, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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The BRI and Sino-Indian Rivalry Today

Bhumitra Chakma & Xiudian Dai: book entitled The Belt and Road Initiative and the Politics of Connectivity: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the 21st Century

A BOOK which

  • llustrates New Delhi’s reaction to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
  • Assesses the Sino-Indian rivalry within the contexts of great power rivalry and geo-economics
  • Explores the dimensions of the rivalry, and analyses their causes, dynamics and implications

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China’s Maverick Status in Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis

Bharatha Mallawarachi, Krutika Pathi and Joe McDonald, in The Diplomat, 20 May 2022, where the title reads  “China Becomes Wild Card in Sri Lanka’s Debt Crisis”

Beijing has promised to “play a positive role” in talks with the IMF and offered Colombo more loans but is reluctant to cut its debt.

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Australia’s “Whitey” Parliament of Yesteryear

Frances Mao, BBC News, Sydney 20 May 2022, where the title runs as “Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?”

 Some of Australia’s MPs, pictured here, fail to reflect the country’s diversity, critics say

Australia is one of the most multicultural nations in the world, but it’s a different story in the country’s politics, where 96% of federal lawmakers are white. With this year’s election, political parties did have a window to slightly improve this. But they chose not to in most cases, critics say.

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China & India shunt aside Third Parties — Seeking Dispute Settlement Face-to-Face

Sutirtho Patranobis, in Hindustan Times, 1 April 2022, “China, India opposed to interference in border dispute” …. with highlighting inserted by The Editor, Thuppahi

The Chinese defence ministry was responding to comments from a top US official who said India was facing a severe situation on its border with China.

Jan 01 (ANI): Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China exchanged greetings and sweets along the LAC at Demchok on New Year’s Day, in Leh on Saturday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

China and India are firmly opposed to any third party interference in the border dispute, the Chinese defence ministry said on Thursday, adding that the two countries have agreed to resolve differences by negotiating and consulting each other.

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