Washington:

Amid concerns over India’s ties with Russia, a top US official on Thursday cautioned New Delhi that a “bet on Russia as a long-term, reliable partner is not a good bet” and Moscow would side with Beijing over New Delhi in case of a conflict between the two Asian giants.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan made the remarks while replying to a question on MSNBC about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Moscow where he held extensive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We’ve made clear to every country in the world including India that a bet on Russia as a long-term, reliable partner is not a good bet,” said Mr Sullivan, who was in India last month for a meeting with his counterpart Ajit Doval.

The top American official had also met Prime Minister Modi during his visit.

“Russia is becoming closer to China. In fact, it’s becoming the junior partner to China. And in that way, they would side with China over India any day of the week. And … Prime Minister Modi, of course, has profound concerns about the potential for Chinese aggression against India. Which we have seen over recent years,” Mr Sullivan said.

The NSA, however, acknowledged that countries like India have a historic relationship with Russia and it’s not going to change dramatically overnight.

“This is playing the long game. It (US) is making investments in democratic partners and allies around the world including countries like India and we think that that will pay off as we go forward,” he added.

His remarks came a day after spokespersons of the Pentagon, the White House and the State Department reacted separately to questions on India’s relationship with Russia and Modi’s visit to Moscow.

Prime Minister Modi was in Russia for two days for the 22nd India-Russia annual summit that has been watched closely by the West amidst the raging Ukraine conflict.

During his talks with Mr Putin on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi told the Russian President that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed amid bombs and bullets.

India has been stoutly defending its “special and privileged strategic partnership” with Russia and maintained the momentum in the ties notwithstanding the Ukraine conflict.

India has not yet condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has consistently pitched for a resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Warsaw:

China is staging army drills with Belarus this week at NATO’s eastern border, in a sign of escalating tensions between Beijing and the US-led defence alliance.

The joint “antiterrorist” exercises on Russian ally Belarus’s soil near the Polish border come as NATO leaders gather for a summit in Washington, with the war in nearby Ukraine high on their agenda.

With relations between NATO on the one hand and China and Russia on the other at a low ebb, analysts believe that Beijing wanted to send the alliance a warning message with the timing of the drills.

Sino-Belarusian exercises have taken place before, but this is the first time since Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine, a NATO ally, in February 2022.

The exercises began July 8 in Brest, a city right on the border with Poland, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Chinese defence ministry.

The statement said the manoeuvres will last until mid-July, but did not give the exact number of Chinese soldiers involved.

Both sides are working to “improve combat techniques and deepen cooperation and communication between the two armies”, the statement added.

Chinese diplomatic officials insisted that the exercises were “not aimed at any country in particular”.

But Poland’s defence ministry slammed the timing of the exercises.

It warned of “the risk of the operations in question being used for disinformation and propaganda purposes… to coincide with the NATO summit”.

However small in scale, the exercises still involve China deploying troops on NATO’s doorstep, and to a country Russia used as a launchpad for its invasion of Ukraine.

And the exercises come as Beijing, one of Moscow’s key partners is also experiencing increasingly tense relations with NATO.

Strategic signal 

Analysts believe that the date and location of the exercises were not chosen by chance, arguing that China wanted to send NATO a message.

“Multilateral exercises are often used to send political signals,” Kelly Grieco of the Stimson Center foreign policy and defence think tank told AFP.

Indeed, she argues that when it comes to military drills, “it’s much more about political signal more than for the exercise itself”.

She points out that China had already carried out anti-terrorism exercises in Belarus four times between 2011 and 2018, but had not done so since.

That they are taking place “that close to the border is part of the signalling” too, she added.

Countries often organise their joint exercises to coincide with developments abroad — not least of them China, added Alice Ekman, senior analyst for Asia at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).

“In April 2023, the Chinese held exercises with Russia in the East China Sea, close to Japanese islands, on the eve of a trilateral US-Japan-South Korea summit to signal their opposition to such a summit being held,” Ekman told AFP.

Similarly, China staged military manoeuvres in the South China Sea in May 2024 as the US-Japan-Philippines-Australia meeting was in full swing, she added.

As well as moving closer to Russia, China is becoming increasingly hostile to NATO.

It accuses NATO of working to contain China at Washington’s instigation, with Beijing worried about the alliance’s expanding role in the Asia-Pacific region.

Moreover, China has never forgiven the bombing of its embassy in Belgrade by a NATO plane in 1999.

It also believes that the alliance has already overstepped its geographical sphere of influence in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

NATO is perceived by China as “clearly hostile for historical reasons”, Ekman said.

But those reasons were becoming “increasingly strategic as the threat from China becomes an integral part of the organisation’s strategic thinking”, she added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

China’s President Xi Jinping with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in Astana on July 3.
| Photo Credit: AFP

China is seeking to strengthen its leadership of an expanding bloc of nations it sees as a potential counterweight to the world order led by the United States.

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states met last week in Kazakhstan, with President Xi Jinping calling on strategic ally Russia and other partners to “firmly support each other”.

Founded in 2001 by Beijing and Moscow as an economic and security grouping, it includes India, Pakistan and several Central Asian states. It expanded last year to include Iran and this year welcomed Belarus. The talks in Astana took place ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Washington, where the Western military alliance is marking its 75th anniversary and reaffirming its support for Ukraine. In stark contrast, the SCO’s joint declaration made no mention of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

With China assuming the annual rotating chair of the SCO, analysts expect it will work to integrate the two new members and boost collaboration across its vast remit — bolstering, in turn, its own leadership of the alliance.

“The SCO is increasingly defining itself as an alternative vision for world order, juxtaposed against the traditional postwar order led by the United States and other Western powers,” said Bates Gill, a senior fellow for Asian security at the U.S.-based National Bureau of Asian Research.

The bloc’s expansion to include new members could be seen as echoing China’s and Russia’s repeated calls for their vast region to resist Western influence.

Sydney:

Cybersecurity firms backed by the Chinese authorities have been accused of stealing passwords and usernames from unnamed Australian networks in 2022, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) reported on Tuesday.

The investigation against the CCP-backed hacker group titled APT40 involved Australian Cyber Security Centre, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the United States National Security Agency (NSA), the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK), the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ), the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the Republic of Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIIS) and NIS’ National Cyber Security Center, and Japan’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) and National Police Agency (NPA), calling them authoring agencies.

The ACSA claimed that APT40 had conducted several cyber security operations for the PRC Ministry of State Security (MSS).

ACSA also claimed that “The activity and techniques overlap with the groups tracked as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 40” quoting the inputs from leading cyber security agencies from the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

According to the Activity summary section of the report by ACSA APT40 has repeatedly targeted Australian networks as well as government and private sector networks in the region, and the threat they pose to our networks is ongoing.

The tradecraft described in this advisory is regularly observed against Australian networks. Additionally, APT40 possesses the capability to rapidly transform and adapt exploit proof-of-concept(s) (POCs) of new vulnerabilities and immediately utilise them against target networks possessing the infrastructure of the associated vulnerability.

APT40 regularly conducts reconnaissance against networks of interest, including networks in the authoring agencies’ countries, looking for opportunities to compromise its targets.
The same report also claimed that the Hacker group also prefers to exploit vulnerable, public-facing infrastructure, using techniques that require user interaction, it puts high priority on obtaining valid credentials to enable a range of follow-on activities using web shells.

The investigative report of the ACSC claimed that in August 2022, a confirmed malicious IP address believed to be connected with the cyber group had interacted with the organisation’s computer networks between at least July and August. The compromised device probably belonged to a small business or home user.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In this picture issued by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Press Office, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before a meeting in Beijing, China, on July 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on world powers to help Russia and Ukraine resume direct dialogue and negotiations during a meeting Monday with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Mr. Orbán made a surprise visit to China after similar trips last week to Russia and Ukraine to discuss prospects for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

Mr. Orbán praised China’s “constructive and important initiatives” for achieving peace and described Beijing as a stabilizing force amid global turbulence, according to CCTV.

Besides Russia and Ukraine, the end of the war “depends on the decision of three world powers, the United States, the European Union and China,” Orbán wrote in a Facebook post showing him shaking hands with Mr. Xi.

Mr. Orbán met with Mr. Xi just two months ago when he hosted the Chinese leader in Hungary as part of a three-country European tour that also included stops in France and Serbia, which unlike the other two is not a member of the European Union or NATO.

Hungary under Mr. Orbán has built substantial political and economic ties with China. The European nation hosts a number of Chinese electric vehicle battery facilities, and in December it announced that Chinese EV manufacturing giant BYD will open its first European EV production factory in the south of the country.

“Peace mission 3.0” is how Mr. Orbán captioned a picture posted early Monday on the X social media platform depicting him after having stepped off his plane in Beijing. He was being greeted by Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying and other officials.

His previously unannounced visit comes on the heels of similar trips last week to Moscow and Kyiv, where he proposed that Ukraine consider agreeing to an immediate cease-fire with Russia.

His visit to Moscow drew condemnation from Kyiv and European leaders.

“The number of countries that can talk to both warring sides is diminishing,” Mr. Orbán said. “Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can speak to everyone.”

Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the EU at the start of July and Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Orbán had come to Moscow as a top representative of the European Council. Several top European officials dismissed that suggestion and said Mr. Orbán had no mandate for anything beyond a discussion about bilateral relations.

The Hungarian Prime Minister, widely seen as having the warmest relations with Putin among EU leaders, has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down EU efforts to assist Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine. He has long argued for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine but without outlining what that might mean for the country’s territorial integrity or future security.

That posture has frustrated Hungary’s EU and NATO allies, who have denounced Russia’s actions as a breach of international law and a threat to the security of countries in Eastern Europe.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. File.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday congratulated reformist Masoud Pezeshkian for his win in Iran’s presidential runoff election, state media reported.

“I attach great importance to the development of China-Iran relations and am willing to work with the President to lead the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership towards deeper advancement,” state news agency Xinhua reported Xi as saying.

The two countries “have a long history of friendly exchanges, and bilateral relations have maintained healthy and stable development… for over half a century,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.

“Faced with complex regional and international situations, China and Iran have always supported each other, worked together and continued to consolidate strategic mutual trust,” he added.

“(This) has not only brought benefits to our two countries’ peoples, but has also made active contributions to promoting regional and world peace and stability,” he said.

China is a close partner of Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.

Beijing’s efforts to pull Tehran into its flagship Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project have been complicated by sanctions.

However, Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an economic and security initiative backed by Beijing and Moscow, last year.

This handout picture released by the Vanuatu Ministry of the Prime Minister on July 2, 2024, shows Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai (R) receiving a key from Hu Chunhua, Vice-chairman of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, during an official handover ceremony of the new presidential palace to the government of Vanuatu. China’s embassy said the project had gifted Vanuatu “another landmark building”, while symbolising a new “milestone” in their increasingly warm relationship.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The government of cash-strapped Vanuatu will soon settle into a suite of new buildings funded by China, a move likely to reignite concerns about Beijing’s reach in the South Pacific nation.

At an official handover ceremony conducted in front of a towering China Aid billboard, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai announced the opening of the nation’s sweeping new presidential palace.

The project also included the construction of a new finance ministry and renovations to Vanuatu’s foreign affairs department, China’s embassy said in a statement released Tuesday.

Australia’s Lowy Institute think tank estimated China had spent upwards of $21 million on construction, a significant sum for an aid project in the developing nation of less than 300,000 people.

China’s embassy said the project had gifted Vanuatu “another landmark building”, while symbolising a new “milestone” in their increasingly warm relationship.

A Chinese delegation handed Salwai an oversized novelty golden key — also emblazoned with “China Aid” — kicking off a festive opening ceremony replete with Chinese dragon dancers and the brewing of the ceremonial kava drink.

Local media reported that hundreds of public servants would work, rent free, inside the new buildings.

China is “committed to developing friendly cooperation with Pacific island countries”, including Vanuatu, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.

Vanuatu is heavily indebted to China: about 40 percent of its external debt is owed to China’s Exim bank, according to the Lowy Institute.

China has funded a swathe of major infrastructure upgrades across the archipelago, part of an intensifying scramble for influence pitting Beijing against Western rivals.

Beijing’s ambassador to Vanuatu, Li Minggang, has said that China is ready and willing to “step up pragmatic cooperation in this field”.

But there are fears that Vanuatu and other Pacific states such as Tonga and Solomon Islands are increasingly vulnerable to what critics have described as China’s “debt-trap diplomacy”.

In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, left, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong shake hands during the Philippines and China 9th Meeting of their Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea in Manila, Philippines, on July 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

China and the Philippines held a crucial meeting on July 2 to try and ease escalating tensions following their worst confrontation in the disputed South China Sea that sparked fears of a wider conflict that could involve Manila’s ally, the United States.

There was no mention of any major agreement to try to prevent a repeat of the chaotic June 17 clash at Second Thomas Shoal that caused injuries to Filipino navy personnel and damaged two military boats.

Also read | In South China Sea dispute, a bolder Philippines tests Beijing’s resolve

The shoal off the northwestern Philippines has emerged as the most dangerous flashpoint in the disputed waters, which China claims virtually in its entirety. Chinese naval and civilian vessels have surrounded the Philippine marines aboard a grounded ship, tried to prevent their resupply and demanded the Philippines pull out.

The Chinese and Philippine delegations “affirmed their commitment to de-escalate tensions without prejudice to their respective positions,” the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said in a statement late on Tuesday. “There was substantial progress on developing measures to manage the situation at sea, but significant differences remain.”

Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Theresa Lazaro told her Chinese counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong, “that the Philippines will be relentless in protecting its interests and upholding its sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction” in the South China Sea, according to the Philippine side.

An agreement was signed to improve communications during emergencies at sea and both sides agreed to continue talks on enhancing ties between their coast guards but no details were provided. There was also another confidence-building plan to convene an academic forum among scientists and academics to improve marine scientific cooperation.

Ahead of the meeting, the Philippines planned to formally ask China’s delegation to return at least seven rifles that Chinese coast guard personnel seized during the June 17 faceoff at the shoal and pay for damage, a Philippine official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to discuss the sensitive matter publicly.

The Asian neighbors agreed to hold what they call the Bicameral Consultative Mechanism meetings, first held in 2017, to peacefully manage their conflicts. But the high-sea confrontations have persisted especially under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who, unlike his predecessor, has nurtured closer military and defense ties with the United States as a counterweight to China.

Apart from the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also lay overlapping claims to the strategic sea, which has rich fishing areas and potentially more deposits of gas than what has been found mostly in the fringes by a few coastal states so far.

Sporadic confrontations have flared between Chinese forces and those of Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in the past but the Southeast Asian nations have resisted aggressively confronting China for fear of destabilizing their substantial economic ties.

Under Marcos, who took office in 2022, the Philippines launched a campaign to expose aggressive Chinese actions by making public videos and photographs and allowing journalists to join coast guard patrol ships, which have figured in dangerous faceoffs with Beijing’s forces.

The U.S. has no claims to the contested waters, but it has deployed warships and fighter jets for patrols that it says aim to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight and to reassure allies like the Philippines and Japan, which also has territorial disputes with China over islands in the East China Sea.

After last month’s confrontation in Second Thomas Shoal, where Chinese forces were caught on video brandishing machetes, an axe and improvised spears, Washington renewed a warning that it’s obligated to help defend the Philippines under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty if Filipino forces, including the coast guard, come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

Marcos said the Chinese actions would not activate the treaty because no shots were fired.

Zhang Zhijie, a 17-year-old Chinese badminton player, died after collapsing on the court during the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as per a report in Marca. The shuttler was playing against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano in the opening game on June 30, which was tied 11-11 when he collapsed. He was immediately given medical treatment, however, he was declared dead at the hospital.

Badminton Asia and the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) said in a joint statement on Monday, “China’s Zhang Zhijie, a singles player, collapsed on the court during a match in the evening. He was sent to the hospital where he passed away at 23:20 local time yesterday. He was attended to by the tournament doctor and medical team. He was taken in the standby ambulance in less than two minutes and sent to hospital.”

“The world of badminton has lost a talented player,” the statement added.

Videos of the incident recently went viral on the internet, showing a 40-second wait before Zhang was attended to by emergency personnel. There has been harsh criticism directed at officials, with many questioning if prompt medical assistance might have saved his life. In the short clip, a man is seen running to help the shuttler after he collapses, however, he stops mid-way and waits for further instruction.

According to the BBC, a PBSI spokesman later said that “medical teams had to follow a rule where they needed the referee’s permission before entering the court.” He said, “That is in accordance with the regulations and standards of procedure that applies to every international badminton tournament.” Meanwhile, the Indonesian badminton body declared that he had experienced a sudden cardiac arrest.

The young player, who originally hailed from Jiaxing in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, joined the national junior squad in 2023 and won many championships, including the team and men’s titles in Group B of the China Badminton Junior Championships in 2023 and 2024.

The China Badminton Association also expressed deep sorrow and shock. “Zhang Zhijie loved badminton and was an outstanding athlete of the national youth badminton team,” they said. The statement continued, “At present the local hospital has not yet identified the cause of death.”

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu also took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her condolences. She wrote, “Absolutely heartbreaking news coming from the Junior Asian Badminton Championships about the loss of young badminton player Zhang Zhi Jie.”

Absolutely heartbreaking news coming from the Junior Asian Badminton Championships about the loss of young badminton player Zhang Zhi Jie.

I offer my deepest condolences to Zhang’s family during this devastating time. The world has lost a remarkable talent today.

— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) June 30, 2024

“I offer my deepest condolences to Zhang’s family during this devastating time. The world has lost a remarkable talent today,” she continued.

New Delhi:

India on Friday said it opposes unilateral actions seeking to change the status quo by force in South China Sea amid concerns over China’s escalatory moves against the Philippines’ maritime operations in the region.

Tensions between China and the Philippines escalated following a violent clash between their maritime security personnel a few days ago in the South China Sea.

“We have always emphasised on adherence to international law, respect for the rules-based order, and resolution of disputes in a peaceful manner,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“Other than that, we also believe that there should not be any incident or approach that destabilises the region,” he said.

Mr Jaiswal also underlined India’s long-held position that the disputes must be resolved peacefully.

“We oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion as well. And we underline the need for peaceful settlement of disputes,” he said.

There have been growing global concerns over China’s sweeping claims of sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons.

Several countries in the region including Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei, have counterclaims.

India and many other democratic countries have been pressing for peaceful settlement of the disputes and for adherence to international law, especially the UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea).

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to his Filipino counterpart Eduardo M Ano this week following the fresh tensions in the South China Sea.

Mr Sullivan and Mr Ano discussed shared concerns over China’s “dangerous and escalatory actions against the Philippines’ lawful maritime operations near Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, a White House readout said.

“Mr Sullivan reiterated ironclad US commitment to the US-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty, which extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft — to include those of its Coast Guard — anywhere in the South China Sea,” it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)