XIAMEN, China: Chinese President Xi Jinping has told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that their two countries should pursue “healthy, stable bilateral ties,” state media reported Tuesday in the wake of a protracted border standoff.
The exchange, mentioned in brief dispatches and tweets by China’s official Xinhua news agency, apparently occurred on the sidelines of the just-concluded summit of BRICS emerging economies hosted by China.
Xinhua said Xi told Modi that “healthy, stable bilateral ties” were “in line with the fundamental interests” of the two neighbors.
A separate Xinhua tweet said Xi called for relations to be brought onto the “right track.”
The two nuclear powers engaged in a bitter, weeks-long military confrontation in a disputed and strategically important area in the Himalayas.
They backed off only last week, just days before Modi arrived in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen for the summit, which had opened Monday amid tension over the boundary dispute.
The contested area, Doklam, is claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India.
New Delhi announced early last week that both countries were pulling back their border forces, while Beijing said only that India had withdrawn “all its border personnel and equipment that were illegally on the Chinese territory.”
The stand-off began on June 16, sparking one of the worst crises in decades between the two countries.
India does not claim Doklam for itself but is closely allied with Bhutan, which it regards as a buffer against rival China to the north.
India and China have a long history of mistrust and went to war in 1962 over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The five-country BRICS grouping includes both nations as well as Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
Xi tells Modi ‘healthy, stable’ China-India ties needed: Xinhua
Xi tells Modi ‘healthy, stable’ China-India ties needed: Xinhua
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
