On the economic front, the big news this year is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which consists of a series of rail and road network projects that by all accounts could have a long-term positive impact on Pakistan’s economy. The transportation networks and pipelines which form the CPEC will connect Kashgar, China with Gawadar after passing through large swathes of Pakistan. It is expected that the project will promote trade not only by promoting…
Posts published in December 2016
GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan will be drawing greater benefit from the multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the region is set to get a sizeable economic zone to boost trade and commerce. “The economic zone, spreading over 250 acres, will have scope for economic activities at larger scale,” said a government official while referring to a joint coordination committee meeting on CPEC which was held in Islamabad recently. China would like to involve other countries in…
ISLAMABAD: Beijing has pledged to finance three more road projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), making its total contribution to the corridor-related road projects to Rs1.025 trillion so far. China will provide Rs107.76 billion as soft loan for the three new projects, National Highway Authority (NHA) spokesman Kashif Zaman told Dawn on Monday. It is already providing Rs917bn for another three road projects. The three new projects to be financed by China fall on…
BEIJING—China’s Communist Party elite was craving a firm hand on the tiller when it chose Xi Jinping for the nation’s top job in 2012. Over the previous decade, President Hu Jintao’s power-sharing approach had led to policy drift, factional strife and corruption. The party’s power brokers got what they wanted—and then some. Four years on, Mr. Xi has taken personal charge of the economy, the armed forces and most other levers of power, overturning a…
US President Barack Obama signed US National Defense Authorization Act for the 2017 Fiscal Year into law on Friday. For the first time, it included a section that allows civilian officials at the level of assistant secretary of defense or above and serving military officers to visit Taiwan for exchanges – a breakthrough in upgrading the level of military exchanges since 1979 when the US ended its diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The signed bill was…
China has tested the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, state media reported on Monday, as it tries to end the West’s monopoly on the world’s most advanced warplanes. The test comes as the nation flexes its military muscles, sending its sole aircraft carrier the Liaoning into the western Pacific in recent days to lead drills there for the first time. The newest version of the J-31, now renamed the FC-31 Gyrfalcon, took to…
A court in central China on Monday jailed a former deputy sports minister who once sat on China’s Olympics committee for 10 and a half years after finding him guilty of bribery. Xiao Tian, who as a deputy head of the General Administration of Sport held a position equivalent of a vice minister, was put under investigation for suspected corruption last year. The court in Nanyang in Henan province said that Xiao had taken Ұ7.96…
The author is a senior fellow of the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Indian media reported recently that Nepal would hold its first ever joint military exercise with China on February 10, 2017. Indian media said the joint military exercise appeared unconventional. But so far the news has not been confirmed officially by China and Nepal. Indian media hyping up China-Nepal joint military exercise is to partly put pressure on…
The author is a staffer of the publication The peace agreement signed with Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, on September 29, 2016, is considered a breakthrough and shows Afghans’ strong will for peace. Afghan government called warring factions, through thick and thin, to stop violence and bloodshed and come to negotiating table. Seeking peace talks, within the last decade, was a highly complicated issue in the political history of the country which came…
3 militants killed in Kunduz city in North of Afghanistan By KHAAMA PRESS – Sun Dec 25 2016, 5:41 pm
At least three militants were killed during an operation in the strategic Kunduz city in North of Afghanistan. According to the local security officials, the militants were killed in the outskirts of Kunduz city and at least two others were wounded. A spokesman for the 21th Pamir Corps in northern Afghanistan, Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, said the militants were killed late on Saturday night in Buz Kandahari and Hazrat Sultan areas of the city. The anti-government…
Taliban’s shadow deputy governor among 6 killed in Faryab By KHAAMA PRESS – Sun Dec 25 2016, 3:02 pm
The shadow provincial governor of the Taliban group was killed along with five others during an operation in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the militants were killed during an operation in the restive Ghormach district. MoD further added that 8 other militants also sustained serious injuries during the operation. No further details were given regarding the identity of the Taliban leader killed in the operation. The Taliban militants group…