BEIJING: China accused India on Wednesday of “concocting” excuses over the illegal entry of the South Asian nation’s military into Chinese territory on their disputed border, adding that China had shown great restraint.
The stand-off on a plateau next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim, which borders China, has ratcheted up tension between the neighbors, who share a 3,500-km (2,175-mile) frontier, large parts of which are disputed.
Early in June, according to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China’s Donglang region and obstructed work on a road on the plateau.
The two sides’ troops then confronted each other close to a valley controlled by China that separates India from its close ally, Bhutan, and gives China access to the so-called Chicken’s Neck, a thin strip of land connecting India and its remote northeastern regions.
India has said it warned China the road construction would have serious security implications.
In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said the Indian military was still in Chinese territory, and that China had acted with a great deal of restraint, demanding that India withdraw its forces.
“But the Indian side not only has not taken any actual steps to correct its mistake, it has concocted all sorts of reasons that don’t have a leg to stand on, to make up excuses for the Indian military’s illegal crossing of the border.”
The ministry reiterated that the border had been agreed in 1890 by the governments of China and Britain, India’s colonial ruler until 1947, and later with the Indian government.
India’s actions are not only a serious encroachment of Chinese territory, but a challenge to regional peace and stability and normal international order, it added.
Indian officials say about 300 soldiers from either side are facing each other about 150 meters (yards) apart on the plateau.
They have told Reuters that both sides’ diplomats have quietly engaged to try to ensure the stand-off does not escalate, and that India’s ambassador to Beijing is leading the effort to find a way for both sides to back down from confrontation without losing face.
China says restrained in face of India “concocting” excuses over border
China says restrained in face of India “concocting” excuses over border
Thai reformist party ‘confident’ in dissolution case
- Pita Limjaroenrat’s reformist Move Forward Party won most seats in last year’s general election
- But conservative senators stopped him becoming prime minister because of the push to change lese majeste laws
Pita’s reformist Move Forward Party (MFP) won most seats in last year’s general election, but conservative senators stopped him becoming prime minister partly because of the push to change the laws shielding King Maha Vajiralongkorn from criticism.
The kingdom’s Constitutional Court is considering a petition to dissolve MFP, but on Sunday Pita outlined the party’s nine-point defense, saying he believed the case would not go against them.
“I’m extremely confident with my nine arguments. Our nine arguments focus on the jurisdiction and the process,” he told reporters.
Thailand has a history of judicial intervention in politics and in 2020 MFP’s predecessor party, the Future Forward Party, was wound up by court order over finance issues.
Pita warned that dissolving MFP — the largest single party in parliament — could have serious repercussions.
“That means an attack on democracy,” he said.
“It’s not just me personally, it’s not just the party, but it’s really about the discussion about democratic space here in Thailand.”
Thailand’s election commission asked the Constitutional Court to dissolve MFP in March, after an earlier ruling by the court that the party’s pledge to reform lese-majeste laws amounted to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.
The court will hold a hearing in the case on Wednesday, but is not expected to give a ruling.
Pita said the party’s lawyers would argue that the court does not have jurisdiction to rule in the case and that the election commission did not file the petition lawfully.
They will also insist there is no need to dissolve the party, and any penalty imposed should be proportionate.
“We believe that the intention of our MPs in signing the petition to change the law was not an action to overthrow or subvert the institution (of constitutional monarchy),” Pita said.
The dissolution of the Future Forward Party in 2020 was the catalyst for mass youth-led street demonstrations that shook Bangkok for months.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets at the height of the demonstrations, many making unprecedented public criticism of the royal family as well as demands for transparency and reform.
More than 270 people have been charged with lese-majeste in the wake of the protests, including two elected MPs.
Thailand’s royal defamation laws are among the strictest in the world, with each charge bringing a potential 15-year prison sentence, but critics say the law is misused to stifle legitimate political debate.
South Korea to blast loudspeaker broadcasts after North’s trash balloons
- Loudspeaker broadcasts directed at North Korea will be ‘unbearable’ for the Kim Jong Un regime
- South Korea stopped the broadcasts under an agreement signed by the two Korea’s leaders in 2018 declaring a new era of peace and harmony
SEOUL: South Korea will begin loudspeaker broadcasts directed at North Korea on Sunday that will be “unbearable” for the Kim Jong Un regime, its National Security Council said, after Pyongyang resumed sending balloons carrying trash across the border.
The Council met on Sunday morning, after dozens of balloons with trash attached were found in Seoul and in areas near the border earlier in the day and overnight.
“The measures we will take may be unbearable for the North Korean regime but they will send a message of hope and light to the North’s troops and its people,” the Council said.
South Korea has warned it would take “unendurable” measures against the North for sending the trash balloons, which could include blaring propaganda broadcasts from huge loudspeakers set up at the border directed at the North.
Pyongyang started sending balloons carrying trash and manure across the border in May and has said the move was in retaliation to anti-North leaflets flown by South Korean activists as part of a propaganda campaign.
On June 2, it said it would temporarily halt sending the balloons because 15 tons of trash it sent was probably enough to get the message across on how “unpleasant” it was. However, it vowed to resume if leaflets are again flown from the South by sending hundred times the amount.
A group of South Korean activists defied the warning and have since flown more balloons to the North with leaflets criticizing its leader Kim Jong Un together with USB sticks containing K-pop videos and dramas, and US dollar notes.
North Korea has shown some of the angriest reactions toward the leaflet campaign and the loudspeaker broadcasts, in some cases firing weapons at the balloons and speakers in the past.
South Korea stopped the broadcasts under an agreement signed by the two Korea’s leaders in 2018 declaring a new era of peace and harmony and vowing to ease military tensions to eliminate the chances of another war breaking out.
But tensions have mounted since then as North Korea pushed ahead with the development of ballistic missiles and declared it sees South Korea as its “enemy number one,” unveiling a range of weapons that it said were aimed at the South.
South Korea’s broadcasts are blasted from multiple speakers stacked in large racks and include world news and information about democratic and capitalist society with a mix of popular K-pop music. The sound is believed to travel more than 20 kilometers into North Korea.
South Korea’s military said the North launched about 330 balloons with trash attached starting Saturday and about 80 of them dropped in South Korea.
New Haiti PM hospitalized after asthma attack, condition stable
- A medical doctor by training, Garry Conille had served as Haiti’s premier for a short period in 2011-2012
- He was appointed to the premiership by Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council on May 29 and was sworn in only on Monday
PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haiti’s new prime minister, Garry Conille, was rushed to hospital on Saturday following “a slight illness” but was in a stable condition, a government statement said.
“After a week of intense activity,” Conille “suffered a slight illness on the afternoon of Saturday June 8, 2024, and went to hospital for treatment,” the statement by the prime minister’s press office said late in the evening.
“His condition is currently stable,” it added.
A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier that the prime minister had suffered an “asthma attack” and would possibly be transported out of the country for treatment.
Conille, 58, was appointed to the premiership by Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council on May 29 and was sworn in only on Monday.
A medical doctor by training, Conille had served as Haiti’s premier for a short period in 2011-2012, and was until recently regional director for UN aid agency UNICEF.
The job before him is monumental: to relieve the political, security and humanitarian crises devastating the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and to pave the way for the first elections since 2016.
Since his appointment, he has been holding a series of meetings with stakeholders and representatives, while working with the Council on forming a cabinet.
The press office statement said Conille thanked the Presidential Councillors for visiting him in hospital and that he “welcomes the public’s expressions of affection.”
Gang violence has long wracked Haiti, but at the end of February armed groups launched coordinated attacks on strategic sites in Port-au-Prince, claiming they wanted to overthrow the unelected and unpopular prime minister Ariel Henry.
Henry, who had been running the country since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in 2021, eventually agreed to resign and hand over power to the nine-member transitional council.
Before his collapse on Saturday, Conille visited the international airport in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, praising the efforts of the security forces which had enabled flights to resume after being halted for more than three months due to gang attacks.
The violence has severely affected food security and humanitarian access, with much of the capital in the hands of gangs accused of abuses including murder, rape, looting and kidnappings.
Last year, a UN-backed security force to be led by Kenya was promised as a boost to the struggling Haitian police, but its deployment has been repeatedly delayed.
Kenya’s president said in late May that the force could be ready to deploy in the coming weeks.
India’s Prime Minister Modi to take oath for third term today
- Composition of Modi’s Cabinet to be revealed after swearing-in ceremony
- Modi was formally elected leader of India’s winning coalition on Friday
NEW DELHI: India’s incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet will take an oath of office for a third term today, Sunday, after he was elected leader of the coalition that won the most seats in the recent general vote.
Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has governed India as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the past decade. While the coalition won the election last week, for the first time since 2014, the BJP has lost its absolute majority in parliament, making it dependent on allies to form a government.
The composition of the Cabinet will be revealed when Modi and his ministers are sworn in.
“The swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Council of Ministers following the General Elections 2024 is scheduled on 09 June 2024,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
“On the occasion, leaders from India’s neighborhood and Indian Ocean region have been cordially invited as distinguished guests.”
Among the guests were listed the presidents of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the vice president of Seychelles, and the prime ministers of Bangladesh, Mauritius, Nepal, and Bhutan.
“The visit of the leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his third consecutive term is in keeping with the highest priority accorded by India to its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and ‘SAGAR’ vision,” the statement said, referring to Security and Growth for All in the Region — Modi’s geopolitical framework of maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.
The statement did not mention India’s rivals — China and Pakistan.
While Beijing had congratulated Modi, Islamabad said on Friday that congratulations would be “premature” as his government had not been formed yet.
On Friday, Modi was formally elected leader of the NDA, after securing support from two key allies — the Telugu Desam Party in southern Andhra Pradesh state and Janata Dal (United) in eastern Bihar state.
“NDA has become synonymous with good governance in the past 10 years, and we have worked to make the country touch new heights of success. This is the most successful alliance in India’s history,” Modi said after coalition members backed him as prime ministerial candidate.
“We were neither defeated nor are we defeated.”
The final results from India’s marathon, six-week election, which began on April 19, were released on Wednesday. The BJP won 240 seats, while 272 were needed for a majority.
The NDA coalition bagged 293 seats in the 543-member lower house of parliament.
It was challenged by an alliance of two dozen opposition parties — the Congress Party-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, which has 223 seats.
Norway wealth fund to vote against Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package
- Musk’s pay was approved in 2018, but voided by a judge, who said the amount was unfair to shareholders
- Norway's severeign fund holds a 0.98 percent stake worth $7.7 billion of Tesla shares
OSLO: Norway’s $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Saturday it will vote against ratifying Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package, which is up for a shareholder vote next week, after a Delaware judge invalidated it earlier this year.
The fund is Tesla’s eighth-biggest shareholder, according to LSEG data.
Musk’s pay, the largest for a chief executive in corporate America, was approved in 2018, but voided by a judge earlier this year, who said the amount was unfair to shareholders, calling it an “unfathomable sum.”
The fund said it appreciated “the significant value generated under Mr. Musk’s leadership since the grant date in 2018.”
Still, “we remain concerned about the total size of the award, the structure given performance triggers, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the operator of the fund said.
In 2018, the fund had voted against the package.
“We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics,” NBIM added.
The fund, which holds a 0.98 percent stake worth $7.7 billion according to fund data, has been critical of excessive CEO pay.
Responding to a post on social media platform X, Musk said the fund’s decision is “not cool,” adding that if the fund actually surveyed the constituents, they would discover “overwhelming support in favor.”
Last year it voted against more than half of US CEO pay packages above $20 million, warning they did not align with long-term value creation for shareholders.
Unions
The fund also said it would vote for a shareholder proposal calling on Tesla to adopt a freedom of association and collective bargaining policy, a win for labor unions seeking to assert their influence over the US car maker.
The vote comes as Tesla continues to face industrial action in Sweden, with its mechanics on strike since Oct. 27, in one of the country’s longest labor disputes.
Norway’s wealth fund, which owns 1.5 percent of all the world’s listed stocks, also in 2022 backed a shareholder proposal calling on Tesla to adopt a policy of respecting labor rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining.
The electric vehicle producer faces a backlash in the Nordic region from unions and some pension funds over its refusal to accept the demand from its Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions.
Texas
The wealth fund voted for transferring the EV maker’s state of incorporation to Texas from Delaware, a vote Musk sought after the Delaware judge invalidated his pay.
The fund also said it would vote for a proposal to elect Musk’s younger brother Kimbal, 51, to Tesla’s board of directors. The fund had voted in favor of his election in 2018, according to fund data.
Tesla shareholders will vote on Musk’s pay, as well as the re-election of directors, including Musk’s brother, at their annual meeting scheduled on June 13.
