WORLD
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Wednesday August 7, 2019Deadly mines
A soldier stacks anti-personnel mines before a controlled detonation at the official Destruction
Ceremony of Thailand’s Retained Anti-Personnel Mines 2019 event organized by the Royal Thai
Armed Forces, in Sa Kaeo on Tuesday. Photo: AFPWashington’s missile plan sparks concerns
China opposes the Indian gov-
ernment putting Chinese ter-
ritory at the west section of the
China-India border under its
jurisdiction, the Chinese For-
eign Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry’s comment
was a response to India’s move
to scrap the special status grant-
ed to the Indian-controlled
Kashmir, which also involves
the west part of the China-India
border.
“India has continued to
damage China’s territorial sov-
ereignty by unilaterally modi-
fying its laws. This is unac-
ceptable and will not have any
effect,” Chinese Foreign Minis-
try said.
“We urge the Indian side to
be cautious on the border issue,
strictly abide by the relevant
agreements of the two sides,
and avoid taking actions that
further complicate the border
issue.”
Indian Prime Minister Na-
rendra Modi’s Hindu nation-
alist party on Monday rushed
through a presidential decree
to scrap the Indian-controlled
Kashmir’s special status.
It also moved a bill propos-
ing the Indian-administered
part of the Himalayan region
be divided into two regions di-
rectly ruled by New Delhi.
Pakistan’s military “firmly
stands” by Kashmiris, the army
chief said Tuesday, a day after
India descended to cancel the
special status of Indian-con-
trolled Kashmir.The army’s top command-
ers met in the garrison city of
Rawalpindi to discuss the move
by India.
“Pakistan Army firmly
stands by the Kashmiris in their
just struggle to the very end. We
are prepared and shall go to any
extent to fulfil our obligations
in this regard,” General Qamar
Javed Bajwa said in a tweet sent
by a military spokesman after
the meeting.
Spokesman Major General
Asif Ghafoor said commanders
“fully supported” the civilian
government’s rejection of In-
dia’s move.
“Pakistan never recognized
the sham Indian efforts to le-
galize its occupation” of the
disputed mountainous region,
he added.
On Tuesday, an estimated
500 people demonstrated in
Muzaffarabad, the largest city
in Pakistani-controlled Kash-
mir, with more protests ex-
pected in major cities across
the country. Pakistani lawmak-
ers also began a joint-session of
parliament to discuss a possible
response to Delhi’s move.
Kashmir has been disputed
by India and Pakistan since in-
dependence in 1947. They have
fought two of their three wars
over the former principality.AFP – Global TimesThe Chinese Embassy in Cairo
issued a security reminder on
Tuesday, warning Chinese citi-
zens in Egypt to be more aware
of security risks after a car ex-
plosion killed at least 20 people
in downtown Cairo.
A car packed with explosives
blew up outside Cairo’s main
cancer hospital on Monday, the
interior ministry said.
The huge blast was caused
by a speeding car packed with
explosives, Egyptian officials
said Monday, as the president
decried a “terrorist incident.”
In its security reminder, theembassy said that Chinese citi-
zens in Egypt should raise their
awareness of security risks, pay
close attention to changes in
the security situation and avoid
visiting densely populated ar-
eas or sensitive religious sites.
“Tourists should obey the
unified command and arrange-
ments of tour guides, avoid
going out without authoriza-
tion or alone under any cir-
cumstance, and strictly avoid
the Sinai Peninsula area except
Sharm El-Sheikh and the Baha-
riya region of Giza Province,”
the statement said.Egypt has been under a
state of emergency in the past
month. On July 11, the Egyptian
parliament extended it for three
months beginning July 25.
That marked the ninth time
the state of emergency has
been extended since April 10,
2017, when President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi declared it for
the first time following deadly
bombings that targeted two
churches in Alexandria and
Tanta the day before, killing 44
people.Global TimesChina is very concerned about plans by
the US to develop and test a land based
intermediate-range missile in the Pacific
region after the US’ withdrawal from
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
(INF) treaty, the Chinese Foreign Minis-
try said on Tuesday.
“We are particularly concerned that
some senior US officials are saying that
the US is planning to deploy intermedi-
ate-range missiles in the Pacific region
‘sooner rather than later,’” said Fu Cong,
Director-General of the Department of
Arms Control of Chinese Foreign Min-
istry.
Fu’s comments came days after US
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the
US was free to deploy the weapons fol-
lowing its withdrawal last week from the
INF treaty with Russia.
“We call on the US to maintain re-
strained ... China will not stand idly by
and will be forced to take countermea-
sures if the US deploys intermediate
range ground-based missiles in this partof the world,” Fu told a news conference
on Tuesday.
Fu did not elaborate on what China’s
countermeasures will be, but said “ev-
erything is on the table.”
The INF treaty, signed in 1987 be-
tween then-bipolar Soviet Union and
the US, saw Moscow and Washington
agreeing to limit the use of conven-
tional and nuclear missiles with a range
of 500-5,000 kilometers, and was con-
sidered a cornerstone of global arms
control.
“We also call on our neighboring
countries to exercise prudence and not
to allow US deployment on its territory,
because that will not serve the national
security interests of these countries,” Fu
said.
Experts predicted that the US is con-
sidering putting its missile systems on
Guam, which is around 3,000 kilome-
ters away from the Chinese mainland
coastline, putting the most part of China
in range.“For a country that has experienced
the Cuban missile crisis, American peo-
ple would understand China’s feelings
when it comes to the US deployment of
missiles at the doorsteps of the Chinese
territory,” said Fu.
The Cuban missile crisis was a 13-day
stand-off between the US and the Soviet
Union, initiated by the American dis-
covery of Soviet ballistic missile deploy-
ments in Cuba.
“If you put more missiles on a piece
of land like Guam, it will be viewed as
a very provocative action of the US and
can be very dangerous,” Fu said. “China
will be forced to take countermeasures
and that would not help any country’s
security.”
China has no interest in participat-
ing in a trilateral nuclear arms reduction
negotiation with Russia and the US, as
there is a huge gap in the nuclear arse-
nals of China, US and Russia.
“It is also the view of the internation-
al community that the US and Russiashould maintain the existing arms con-
trol treaties, and continue to further cut
the huge nuclear arsenals so as to create
conditions for other countries to partici-
pate in this process,” Fu said.
China is not prepared to participate
in the trilateral negotiation, but that does
not mean China is not participating in
the international nuclear disarmament
efforts, Fu said, stressing that China is
not going to participate in an arms race.
“China has never participated in a nu-
clear arms race, and China will not par-
ticipate in one. This has been clearly laid
out in the newly published White Paper
on Chinese National Defense,” Fu said.
“China pursues a peaceful foreign
policy and defensive defense policy. And
China sticks to the policy of no first use
of nuclear weapons, and over the de-
cades China has exercised maximum re-
straint in the development of its nuclear
capabilities,” he noted.Global TimesBeijing opposes Delhi’s move to
encroach on Chinese territory
China issues security alert to citizens in Egypt
China will be forced to take countermeasures: official
Page Editor:
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