Tag: China

  • ‘Taliban will legally qualify for recognition once they take over the entire country,’ PM Khan

    ‘Taliban will legally qualify for recognition once they take over the entire country,’ PM Khan

    American Magazine ‘Newsweek’ has published an exclusive interview with Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, conducted by its Senior Foreign Policy Writer Tom O’Connor.

    PM Khan talked about the troubles occurring in Afghanistan, China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the US emerging close relations with Pakistan’s top rival India and shed some light on Sino-US rivalry.

    In reply to a question by Tom about recognising the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, PM Khan said, “Pakistan is obliged to engage with the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan to prevent an economic and humanitarian collapse.”

    “Once a government in Kabul establishes control over the entire country, it would legally qualify for recognition. However, Pakistan would prefer to reach a decision regarding recognition of the new government together with other neighbors of Afghanistan,” he added.

    He stressed that the authorities in Kabul [Taliban] need to neutralise terrorist groups present in Afghanistan, particularly the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and said, “Pakistan will work with the authorities in Afghanistan to halt TTP and other terrorism from there.”

    While answering the question about the US and China’s influence in South Asia after Washington’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Khan stated, “The US can work with a new government in Afghanistan to promote common interests and regional stability and can play an important and positive role in Afghanistan by providing humanitarian assistance.”

    “But if China offers economic support to Afghanistan, it’s natural that the Afghans will accept it. The Taliban have welcomed the prospects of being incorporated in the CPEC and establishing close relations with China,” he added.

    Talking about the close ties between the US and India, PM Khan stated, “We understand that the U.S. military support to India is designed to contain China. However India will never confront China, especially not to serve U.S. strategic objectives. India’s purpose in arming itself so massively is to establish its hegemony in South Asia and especially to threaten and coerce Pakistan.”

    “We believe that the current US-China rivalry is unnecessary and contrary to the interests of both these global powers,” he said while hoping that both countries will reach the same conclusion in the near future.

    He concluded by saying that Afghanistan will only be stabilized through help and that the U.S., China and Russia and all other countries must “contribute” to reconstructing the country.

  • India spied on Pakistan and China, says US-based intelligence company

    India spied on Pakistan and China, says US-based intelligence company

    Texas-based Exodus Intelligence believes India used its “zero-day” security vulnerabilities, which hackers can use to attack systems, to spy on Pakistan and China, according to a report published in Forbes.

    Exodus Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder Logan Brown said that after an investigation, he believes India handpicked one of the Windows vulnerabilities from the feed—allowing deep access to Microsoft’s operating system—and Indian government personnel or a contractor adapted it for malicious means.

    The Exodus CEO maintained that India was subsequently cut off from buying new zero-day research from his company in April and it has worked with Microsoft to patch the vulnerabilities.

    Earlier this year, researchers at Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky witnessed a cyberespionage campaign targeting Microsoft Windows PCs at government and telecom entities in China and Pakistan.

    Aspects of the code looked like some the Moscow antivirus provider had previously seen and attributed to a company it gave the cryptonym “Moses”.

    Beyond the two zero-days already abused, according to Kaspersky, “at least six vulnerabilities” made by Moses have made it out “into the wild” in the last two years. Also according to Kaspersky, another hacking crew known as DarkHotel — believed by some cybersecurity researchers to be sponsored by South Korea — has used Moses’ zero days. South Korea is not a customer of Exodus.

    “We are pretty sure India leaked some of our research,” Brown said. “We cut them off and haven’t heard anything since then . . . so the assumption is that we were correct.”

  • PM Khan arrives in Tajikistan for SCO summit, Taliban leaders to be present

    PM Khan arrives in Tajikistan for SCO summit, Taliban leaders to be present

    Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on Thursday on a two-day visit to attend the 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO’s) Heads of State Summit.

    “The prime minister was received by Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda and was accorded a red carpet welcome at Dushanbe International Airport,” according to a tweet by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

    PM Khan, while addressing Pakistan-Tajikistan Business Forum, said, “We just wish and pray that finally after 40 years of conflict there will be peace in Afghanistan. It is extremely important for our [Pakistan and Tajikistan] trade for that region to be at peace so there would be better connectivity.”

    “Your president and I will be trying everything to make sure that there is peace especially between the two major communities [Pashtuns and Tajiks] so they get together and there is an inclusive government in Afghanistan”, he added.

    Right after his speech, PM Khan met President of Kazakhstan H.E. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at Dushanbe on the side-lines of SCO.

    PM Imran’s talks with the Tajik president will cover “the entire gamut of bilateral relations, especially enhancing trade, economic and investment ties with a particular focus on regional connectivity”, reports Radio Pakistan.

    Moreover, the premier will be holding bilateral meetings with other participating leaders as well during the summit.

    The SCO summit is the first meeting of the heads of states since the Taliban entered Kabul so all eyes will be on the Afghan representative at the meeting.

    According to details, if there will be representation from Afghanistan, it will be PM Khan’s first interaction with the Afghan interim government, as per The News.

    This is the third visit of the prime minister to Central Asia.

    The SCO was founded in Shanghai in 2001 by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and China.

  • China bans incorrect ‘political views’ and ‘sissy men’ on national television

    China’s broadcasters were warned on Thursday to avoid musicians with “incorrect political viewpoints” and “effeminate” styles, as part of a broader crackdown on the country’s expanding entertainment industry, as reported by Reuters.

    President Xi Jinping has called for a “national rejuvenation,” with tighter Communist party control of business, education, culture and religion, as reported by Voice of America.

    Two government ministries, a party agency and an industry association published fresh guidelines on Thursday. The Party’s publicity department has said that some in the entertainment industry for their alleged bad influence on the youth and for “severely polluting the social atmosphere”.

    President of China Xi Jinping, has directed broadcasters to “resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics,” the TV regulator said, using an insulting slang term for effeminate men, “niang pao” which translates to “girlie guns” in English. 

  • China urges Pak for ‘practical measures’ after suicide attack kills two in Gwadar

    China urges Pak for ‘practical measures’ after suicide attack kills two in Gwadar

    The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned a suicide attack targeting a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals in Balochistan’s Gwadar district on Friday, asking Pakistan “to take practical and effective measures” to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future, reported Dawn.

    At least two children were killed and three people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself near the vehicle at around 7pm on Friday.

    In its statement, the Chinese Embassy demanded Pakistan to properly treat the wounded and conduct a thorough investigation on the attack, and severely punish the perpetrators.”

    It also extended “its sincere sympathies to the injured of both countries” and expressed its deep condolences to the victims in Pakistan.

    “At the same time, relevant departments at all levels in Pakistan must take practical and effective measures to accelerate, to implement strengthened whole-process security measures and upgrade security cooperation mechanism to ensure that similar incidents will not happen again,” the embassy said.

    Previously, on July 14, nine Chinese nationals and three Pakistanis lost their lives. Chinese workers and accompanying Pakistani staff were proceeding to their workplace for an ongoing project, as per a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

    After initially suggesting that the incident was an accident, the government earlier this month said a suicide bomber had attacked the bus which was carrying Chinese workers to the under-construction Dasu dam.

  • China is welcome to contribute to the rebuilding of the country: Taliban spokesman

    China is welcome to contribute to the rebuilding of the country: Taliban spokesman

    China has played a constructive role in promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and is welcome to contribute to the rebuilding of the country, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Chinese state media.

    “China is a big country with a huge economy and capacity — I think they can play a very big role in the rebuilding, rehabilitation, reconstruction of Afghanistan,” Shaheen told CGTN television in an interview late on Thursday.

    During Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s meeting with a Taliban delegation in Tianjin last month, the Chinese envoy said he hoped Afghanistan could adopt a moderate policy.

    Earlier, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, told a press briefing that China encourages and hopes that the Afghan Taliban can follow through its positive statements, unite with all parties and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, establish a broad-based, inclusive political framework that fits the national conditions and wins public support through dialogue and consultation.

  • Huawei faces lawsuit after allegedly spying on Pakistani citizens through stolen tech

    Huawei faces lawsuit after allegedly spying on Pakistani citizens through stolen tech

    Huawei has been sued in California federal court for creating a “backdoor” that allowed it to collect sensitive data “important to Pakistan’s national security”, reports Reuters.

    Business Efficiency Solutions (BES), a California-based IT consultant company, filed a complaint against the China-based tech giant on Wednesday, August 11.

    According to the complaint, Huawei subcontracted with BES in 2016 for its $150 million bid to develop software for a Pakistani government programme providing new technology for police and law enforcement in Lahore. BES said it created software for the project that collects data from government agencies, controls access to buildings, monitors social media and manages drones, among other things.

    Huawei officials allegedly demanded that BES send this information to the company in China for testing, and BES said it agreed to the demand but terminated its authorisation to use the technology after Huawei revoked its access to the testing laboratory.

    The complaint said Huawei has yet to return any of the confidential software design tools or uninstall the software, as BES said it had agreed to.

    BES said Huawei later demanded it install its data-aggregation software – used by Pakistani law enforcement to collect and analyse “sensitive data from different sources and government agencies” – in its Chinese lab, “this time not merely for testing purposes but with full access to data at the Lahore Safe City project.” BES said it agreed, under threat of termination and withheld payments, after Huawei said it had approval from the Pakistani government.

    Huawei has yet to respond to the lawsuit filed by BES through its legal team. BES also did not share any more information beyond the case that it filed in the federal court.

    The IT consulting firm also accused Huawei of stealing the “trade secrets, and other intellectual properties in its possessions after officials of the China tech company demanded it for testing.”

    Up until now, the lawsuit alleged that Huawei has not returned the software design tools to BES.

    Moreover, BES said that it only allowed Huawei to use the software with full access as the latter threatened that they will not be paid, which the Chinese giant has yet to do for some of the software in the project.

    Huawei is a Chinese firm that has been banned in the United States (US) after it was accused of being a security risk. Thus, Google forcibly removed its services from the devices of the Chinese phone maker.

    However, Huawei recently decided to live without Google by debuting its own operating system across all of its devices.

  • ‘Kabul should avoid pointing fingers at Pakistan for its own failures’: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

    ‘Kabul should avoid pointing fingers at Pakistan for its own failures’: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

    Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi asked the Afghan government to avoid pointing fingers at Pakistan for its own failures and look into its governance issues.

    In a press briefing at the Foreign Office (FO), he said Pakistan had repeatedly said it had no favourites in Afghanistan and saw all sides of the conflict as Afghans.

    “It is unfortunate to scapegoat Pakistan for the failures of others; the issues of governance and meltdown of Afghan National Defence Forces need to be looked into — and not just start pointing fingers at Pakistan.”

    “The time has come when the world wants answers to what has been achieved in Afghanistan in these past 20 years. The taxpayer in the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and Europe wants to know who is responsible for no achievement. Pakistan will not be apologetic, as we are not accountable nor responsible for the trillions spent and nothing to show for it. No capacity building, no arms, where has everything gone?” remarked Qureshi.

    “Pakistan is against a forceful takeover of Afghanistan. Pakistan does not want a military takeover, as we do not support one. We speak of a political takeover. A military takeover will result in more bloodshed and the people of Afghanistan have suffered and this suffering should end. Leadership inside Afghanistan should rise to the occasion and avoid a military takeover. We urge all sides to show respect for human rights and international humanitarian laws,” said Qureshi.

    “We had made a request to be present there, but unfortunately, it was not accepted,” he said, adding that at the time of India assuming the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidency, Pakistan had asked it to operate objectively.

    However, India did not behave in a manner that was befitting of that responsibility, the foreign minister said. “India has been, in our view, in breach of its obligation as president of the Security Council.”

    Pakistan has been facilitating the peace process, and its role has been and will continue to be of a facilitator, the foreign minister said.

    “We cannot guarantee, we can only facilitate,” he said, noting it was up to the Afghans to decide their future, and now the world community was backing Pakistan’s narrative that there is no military solution in Afghanistan.

    While on the request of President Ashraf Ghani, intra-Afghan peace talks were postponed in Islamabad, Pakistan now looks forward to the August 11 peace talks of the troika consisting of Pakistan, China, and Russia with an aim of chartering a political way out for an Afghan-led peace process.

    “We reiterate the need for the effective use of available peace mechanisms,” Qureshi said, adding Pakistan has always stressed the need for talks.

  • ‘World’s smallest baby’ goes home after 13 months in hospital

    A baby thought to be the world’s smallest at birth has been discharged from a Singapore hospital after 13 months of intensive care, BBC reported.

    Kwek Yu Xuan weighed only 212g, the weight of an apple, when she was born with the height of 24cm.

    She was delivered at just under 25 weeks, which is very early of the average 40 weeks.

    BBC News

    According to the University of Iowa’s Tiniest Babies Registry, the girl who previously held a record was a girl in the US who weighed 245g at birth in 2018.

    Yu Xuan’s mother gave birth to her by emergency C-section four months early after she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia — dangerously high blood pressure that can damage vital organs and be fatal for both mother and baby.

    Yu Xuan now weighs a much healthier 6.3kg (14 pounds).

    The baby girl had a “limited chance of survival”, according to Singapore’s National University Hospital (NUH) where she was born.

    “Against the odds, with health complications present at birth, she has inspired people around her with her perseverance and growth, which makes her an extraordinary ‘Covid-19’ baby — a ray of hope amid turmoil,” the hospital said in a statement.

    Yu Xuan was given multiple kinds of treatment and relied on different kinds of machines to survive.

    Doctors say her health and development went well under their care and she is now healthy enough to be discharged.

    Yu Xuan still has chronic lung disease and will need help with her breathing at home. However, doctors say she is expected to get better with time.

    Yu Xuan’s parents were able to pay for her treatment through a crowdfunding campaign that raised $366,884 (Rs 44,522,019).

  • Government selects five Pakistani movies for a screening in China

    Government selects five Pakistani movies for a screening in China

    As part of the celebratory activities of 70 years of Pakistan-China diplomatic ties, five movies from Pakistan will be screened during a first-ever Pakistan Film Week starting from Wednesday, August 4.

    According to details, Pakistan Embassy, Beijing and China-Film Administration have jointly organized the four-day film week to further enhance cultural exchanges between the two countries.

    The premier of Sohai Ali Abro’s Motorcycle Girl will be held on August 4, with Chinese and English subtitles. Other films included in the list are Humayun Saeed’s blockbusters Punjab Nahi Jaungi and Bin Roye.

    Mahira Khan’s Ho Maan Jahan and Mathira’s Blind Love will also be screened in the following days.

    In November 2020, Parwaaz Hai Junoon became the first Pakistan film to hit the cinemas in China. The movie received the round of applause from around 400 people including officials of the Chinese government.