China focus - The return of the dragon!

[Bengal_Tiger]

China, Russia to hold first joint Mediterranean naval drills in May

BEIJING



Chinese and Russian naval vessels participate in the Joint Sea-2014 naval drill outside Shanghai on the East China Sea, in this file photo taken on May 24, 2014.



REUTERS/CHINA DAILY
(Reuters) - China will hold joint naval drills with Russia in mid-May in the Mediterranean Sea, the first time the two countries will hold military exercises together in that part of the world, the Chinese Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

China and Russia have held naval drills in Pacific waters since 2012. The May maneuvers come as the United States ramps up military cooperation with its allies in Asia in response to China's increasingly assertive pursuit of maritime territorial claims.

A total of nine ships from the two countries will participate, including vessels China now has on anti-piracy patrols in waters off Somalia, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng told a monthly news briefing.



"The aim is to deepen both countries' friendly and practical cooperation, and increase our navies' ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats," Geng said.

"What needs saying is that these exercises are not aimed at any third party and have nothing to do with the regional situation."

Geng gave no specific date for the drills, which will be focused on navigation safety, at-sea replenishment, escort missions and live fire exercises.

Since Western powers imposed economic sanctions on Russia last year over the violence in Ukraine, Moscow has accelerated attempts to build ties with Asia, Africa and South America, as well as warming relations with its former Soviet-era allies.

China and Russia are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and have close diplomatic, economic and military ties, with China traditionally relying on Russia for its most advanced equipment.

President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Moscow next month to attend a parade celebrating the end of World War Two.

China has been increasingly flexing its military muscles since Xi assumed the presidency in 2013, jangling nerves around the region and globally, though Beijing insists it is a force for peace and threatens nobody.

China's navy has become a focus of Xi's efforts to better project the country's power, especially in the disputed South China Sea.

U.S. President Barack Obama accused China on Tuesday of "flexing its muscles" to advance its territorial claims at sea.

China says about 90 percent of the 3.5 million sq km (1.35 million sq mile) South China Sea is its sovereign territory. The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam also claim large parts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/30/us-china-russia-military-idUSKBN0NL16F20150430

[Bengal_Tiger]

Afghan official seeks Chinese investment

Afghan official seeks Chinese investment

HERAT, Afghanistan, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's western Herat province has very conducive investment condition in the western region and welcomes Chinese companies to invest there, said the province's acting governor Asiludin Jami.

"The condition for investment is conducive in Herat. Herat's industrial park is ready for Chinese companies' investment," Jami told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently.

Describing Chinese government's proposal to revive "Silk Road Economic Belt" as an initiative for bolstering connectivity among the regional countries and boosting economic activities in the region, the acting governor said, "Afghanistan, especially Herat province would largely benefit from revitalizing the Silk Route and Afghanistan could even export its products to European countries if the ancient road is revived."
During Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani's visit to China last year, Herat and Tianjin had been announced as sister cities, the governor Jami said, adding a Chinese delegation would visit Herat in near future to evaluate the ways and means to increase trade transaction between the two cities.
He also called for the Chinese help and investment in completing the railway project connecting Iran to Herat. He added that the two-third of the railway has already been completed by Iran and the remaining one-third part of the project inside Afghan soil has yet to be completed due to fund shortage.
Enjoying relatively peaceful environment and having more than 100 small and medium plants and factories, Herat has been regarded as a developed and prosperous province in Afghanistan.

http://www.globalpost.com/article/6532285/2015/04/29/afghan-official-seeks-chinese-investment

Herat.



Ice cream factory in Herat.



Biscuit factory in Herat.



Marble factory in Herat.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Can India and China Both Court Afghanistan?

India needs to do more to gain the upper hand in Afghanistan.



By Harsh V. Pant

May 04, 2015

While welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in India last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined that “the relationship between India and Afghanistan is not just between two countries or governments. It is a timeless link of human hearts.” With that spirit Modi made it clear that India would support Afghanistan’s security forces and open the Attari check-post in Punjab to Afghan trucks in order to increase trade between the two countries. Modi stated: “India will walk shoulder to shoulder with you and the Afghan people in a mission of global importance.”

In addition to proclaiming India’s support for Afghanistan’s security forces, Modi announced that India is “prepared to join the successor agreement to Afghan-Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement” which will “re-establish one of the oldest trading routes of South Asia.” For his part, Ghani signaled his disappointment with Pakistan over its refusal to allow direct trade with India via the Wagah border, and suggested that if the deadlock continues Afghanistan “will not provide equal transit access to Central Asia [for Pakistani trucks].”

But even as the Afghan President is welcomed in India, there is a sense that New Delhi is fast losing its carefully nurtured decade-old clout in Afghanistan. Compared to his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, Ghani has been lukewarm toward India. His visit to Delhi came long after his outreach to Pakistan and China, both of whom seem more firmly embedded in the peace overtures to the Taliban than India. Ghani has been to Pakistan twice and the Afghan Army Chief recently attended the graduation parade at Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul. The Ghani government has also been keen to see China take a more active role in the reconciliation process. India stands isolated with many in the country wondering whatever happened to the much-hyped Delhi-Kabul strategic partnership.

It is not that Delhi has not been active. Soon after the Modi government came to office in India, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Afghanistan in September 2014 to underscore India’s commitment to remain engaged in the country’s reconstruction activities in a significant way. Describing India as Afghanistan’s first strategic partner, Swaraj suggested that Delhi would always share the Afghan people’s vision of a “strong” and “prosperous” Afghanistan. Delhi has conveyed to the Ghani government in strong terms that India is there to stay in Afghanistan, even after the western troops have left. The Modi government is keen to expand its security profile in Afghanistan and has provided Kabul with military vehicles, choppers and automatic weapons in a bid to strengthen the army as a first step in that direction. It has also, after years of dilly-dallying under the previous government, taken a decision to invest $85.21 million in developing the strategically important Chabahar port in Iran, allowing India to circumvent Pakistan and open up a trade route with landlocked Afghanistan.

But while Delhi was preoccupied internally over the last few years with a weak government unable to make up its mind on substantive defense engagement with Kabul, other actors (China in particular) decided to step up their role. Ghani has lost no time in reaching out to China, which he visited in October 2014 when China hosted a conference to discuss peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan. Ghani called on the Taliban to join and enter an Afghan dialogue, and China echoed Ghani’s call, urging groups to “lay aside former enmity and join the political reconciliation process.” There was high flying rhetoric as Ghani said his country viewed China “as a strategic partner, in the short term, medium term, long term and very long term.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping reciprocated by hailing Ghani as an old friend of the Chinese people with whom China prepared to work towards “a new era of co-operation,” and “to take development to a new depth.” Despite China’s concerns that a deteriorating security situation could threaten greater investment, it agreed to give Afghanistan $327 million in aid over the next three years — $81.8 million in 2014 and the remaining sum between 2015-2017. More significantly, China also agreed to act as a mediator between Afghanistan and Pakistan while Ghani pledged to help China fight its own Islamic militants.

Both Beijing and Kabul recognize each other’s importance. Afghanistan has requested assistance from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in its fight against the Taliban. Providing assistance to Afghanistan may form a part of Xi’s wider plan to establish a 6,437 km “Silk Road” economic belt to connect China’s western regions with Europe by way of Central Asia. Security concerns have prevented Chinese investments in Afghanistan from getting off the ground.

China is interested in playing a larger role in Afghanistan, long seen as primarily a U.S. responsibility after its 2001 invasion. China’s Afghan policy is now feeling the pressure emanating from the withdrawal of western troops and Taliban surge threatening to give a boost to Islamist militancy in China’s western Xinjiang region. Much like the rest of the region, China remains worried about the withdrawal of western forces from Afghanistan as it fears a broader destabilization of the region post-2014.

The growing problems in Pakistan have also alerted China to the reality that its leverage over Pakistan may not be enough in managing the regional turmoil. As tensions have risen in Xinjiang, the perceived Pakistan link to the Uyghur militancy has led to a reassessment in China of its approach towards Afghanistan, especially as concerns are rising in Beijing that Islamabad has was not been very effective in controlling the training of Uyghur militants in Pakistan. For all the hyperbole, the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan last month should also be assessed in this context.

Ghani’s visit to India has been an important opportunity for India to underline its role in the unfolding strategic dynamic in the region. The Modi government has to make it clear that, unlike its predecessor, it takes its responsibilities as a regional power seriously. Beijing is widely considered a more credible regional player and this has enhanced its profile in Afghanistan as well. India, despite being the nation most loved by ordinary Afghans, has given an impression that it is not serious about making hard choices. The Modi government’s success in changing that impression will determine if India will be able to preserve its equities in Afghanistan.

http://thediplomat.com/2015/05/can-india-and-china-both-court-afghanistan/

1. China and India competing with each other to woo Afghans by giving favours benefits no one more than Afghans themselves.


2. I don't agree with this article completely. For example in military terms I don't see the Chinese training Afghan military personnel like the Indians do.

Militarily India will be the more eager state out of China and India to help Afghans.


3. The Pakistanis can be pressured heavily in to ending or significantly reducing their support for the Taliban if:

- China
- Turkey
- Iran

all pressurize them heavily.

I haven't mentioned India because it doesn't have that much leverage as Pakistan hates it anyway.

Neither have I mentioned Russia as they don't have that much leverage over Pakistan though they are definitely anti-Taliban.



Turkey supports Uzbeks, Turkmens and Hazaras in Afghanistan as well as the Kabul government and will not allow the Taliban to capture Turkic areas.

Iran also supports the Shia Hazaras and is right next door to Afghanistan and I doubt will allow it to fall to the Taliban.

The Taliban and their master Pakistan are getting weaker and weaker in the face of the many international powers who hate them.

[Bengal_Tiger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Irm1HlwnQ

'World's first' robot kitchen cooks for visitors at CES Asia in Shanghai

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 26 May, 2015, 12:43pm
UPDATED : Friday, 29 May, 2015, 3:36pm
Adrian Wan in Shanghai





Moley Robotics' automated kitchen cooks for attendees at CES Asia in Shanghai.
Visitors to the inaugural Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in Shanghai on Monday were cooked food by a robotic kitchen, the first of its kind according to its creators.

Designed by London-based Moley Robotics, the automated kitchen consists of two large robotic arms which can construct dishes based on an iTunes-like library of recipes. The arms were designed by the Shadow Robot company, which also provides technologies to NASA, and consist of 20 motors, 24 joints and 129 sensors allowing them to mimic the movements and dexterity of human hands.

Chef Tim Anderson, a former winner of the BBC's Masterchef competition, acted as a recipe consultant, developing the crab bisque dish that was served to visitors at CES Asia.

“I chose crab bisque as a dish because it’s a real challenge for human chef to make well, never mind a machine," Anderson said.

"If it can cook a bisque, it can do stir-fries and we’re looking forward to teaching it many more recipes in the months to come.”



On display at the conference was full-scale reproduction of Moley's mass-market device, designed to fit in regular kitchens and featuring smaller control arms and dishwashing functionality.

The device - still a prototype for now - is expected to go on sale in 2017, with a library of more than 2,000 dishes.

The robotic kitchen can cook any dish that the chef is able to create as it simply replicates what a human does, said Moley founder and chief executive Mark Oleynik.

“For that reason there is no limit on the amount of recipes,” he said.

More work has to be done on the development of the robotic hand technology and the accompanying kitchen equipment before it can hit the market, he said.

The product on display included a fully equipped kitchen, though there will also be the choice to have the robot integrated into an existing kitchen, he said.

“Some Chinese recipes may require additional equipment, such as a rice steamer, for example. Whatever equipment the chef has used, the robot should also have one. The kitchen robot is able to work with any additional equipment required for the preparation of the dish,” he said.




The robot kitchen's arms consist of 20 motors, 24 joints and 129 sensors allowing them to mimic the movements and dexterity of human hands.

Oleynik said he began to develop the concept in early 2014, and has been using his own money for research and development of the project, though he declined to say how much.

“I used my own money because I believe in it,” he said. “Many people want to have home-cooked food, but not everybody wants to cook. The robot can do it for you.”

The robot kitchen has attracted strong interest from investors, he said, adding that the company would announce new funding in July.

In the next step, the technology will be developed to let users share their recipes with others, and potentially make money from them, though it will unlikely be carried by the version that will be on sale in 2017, Oleynik said.

http://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/1808963/worlds-first-robot-kitchen-cooks-visitors-ces-asia-shanghai

[Bengal_Tiger]

Audi R8 e-tron gets CES Asia debut in Shanghai

Tuesday May 26, 2015
07:37 AM GMT+8



The Audi R8 e-tron is introduced to CES Asia attendees in Shanghai with a range of extras.

SHANGHAI, May 26 ― Electric concept car, the Audi R8 e-tron, is being introduced to attendees at CES Asia in Shanghai with a range of extras that make it capable of autonomous driving.

A raft of extras augment the recent Geneva Motor Show's Audi R8 e-tron, including a laser scanner, video cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar sensors, all of which help the Piloted Driving Concept understand its surroundings.

Those additional gadgets form part of a vehicle that can go 0 to 100km/h (62.1 mph) in 3.9 seconds, knocks out 340 kW of power, and has a driving range of 450km (279.6 mi) according to Audi figures.

CES Asia runs May 25-27, 2015. ― AFP-Relaxnews

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/dr....pWdBeoep.dpuf

[Bengal_Tiger]

Karzai shopping in Beijing a few days ago.

[randolph85]

China treats Muslims as subhuman, that is enough for me to say F China.

The Chinese remind me of the Emiratis in particular and gulf Arab states in general in that they are abandoning their culture and building imitations of the west not in just infrastructure but also culture. They may be a superpower in the next few decades, but culturally they are being assimilated to western culture and before we know it they will just be the slanty eyed America of the east.

[Bengal_Tiger]

0.2 million (200,000 worshippers) to pray Eid in the city of Qinghai, China.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Eid has been celebrated across China.

[jankhan]

Mashallah

[Bengal_Tiger]

jankhan
This message is hidden because jankhan is on your ignore list.

Stay out of my threads, you are a well known troll and sarcastic Pakistani creep.

I have even stopped updating the "Pashto Focus" thread because of trolls like you and now it's on Khyberwatch (where you are banned).

"Pashto Focus"

[Bengal_Tiger]

China starts assembling world's biggest radio telescope





BEIJING (AFP) -

China has started assembling the world's largest radio telescope, which will have a dish the size of 30 football pitches when completed, state media reported as Beijing steps up its ambitions in outer space.

The five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) nestles in a bowl-shaped valley between hills in the southwestern province of Guizhou, images posted online show.

Technicians began attaching 4,450 triangular-shaped panels to the telescope's reflector on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

FAST will be the world's largest single-aperture telescope, it said, overtaking the Arecibo Observatory in the US territory of Puerto Rico, which is 305 metres (1000 feet) in diameter.

For years Chinese scientists have relied on "second hand" data collected by others in their research and the new telescope is expected to "greatly enhance" the country's capacity to observe outer space, Xinhua said.

"Having a more sensitive telescope, we can receive weaker and more distant radio messages," it cited Wu Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, as saying.

"It will help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy and explore the origins of the universe."

Beijing is accelerating its military-run multi-billion-dollar space exploration programme, which it sees as a symbol of the country's progress. It has plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually to send a human to the moon.

The dish will have a perimeter of about 1.6 kilometres, Xinhua said, and there are no towns within five kilometres, giving it ideal surroundings to listen for signals from space.

The region's karst topography -- a landscape of porous rock fissured with deep crevasses and underground caves and streams -- is ideal for draining rainwater and protecting the reflector, it added.

Construction on the telescope started in March 2011 and is scheduled to finish next year, Xinhua said

http://www.france24.com/en/20150724-china-starts-assembling-worlds-biggest-radio-telescope

[Insight]

Stay out of my threads, you are a well known troll and sarcastic Pakistani creep.

I have even stopped updating the "Pashto Focus" thread because of trolls like you and now it's on Khyberwatch (where you are banned).

"Pashto Focus"

You called @jankhan a Pakistani creep. Have you even read his posts? I would not call him a supporter of Pakistan.

[Insight]

Bengal_Tiger,

While I think Chinese economic ties with Afghanistan will be good thing once the deals that the puppet Kabul regime inked with China are renegotiated because they are all bad deals, this in no way should be confused with me brushing aside objections I have to Chinese domestic policy, especially with regards to how it treats the Muslims there and banned them from fasting Ramadan- something that is no suprise considering how China treats everything else within its land.

You have a very unique outlook of geopolitics, some of which is insightful when not emotional. You mix emotion with your analysis which makes some of what you say seem propagandistic dedications to China rather then honest analysis of what is the reality, rather then trying to seek an accurate picture. The title of this thread is self explanatory.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Remove user from ignore list Insight
This message is hidden because Insight is on your ignore list.

Stop quoting me.

Bye.