US urges vigilance on Chinese investment as Xi opens Peru port

US urges vigilance on Chinese investment as Xi opens Peru port
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China's President Xi Jinping (L) and Peru's President Dina Boluarte applaud during the virtual inauguration ceremony of the Chancay "megaport" at the government palace in Lima on Nov. 14, 2024. (AFP)
US urges vigilance on Chinese investment as Xi opens Peru port
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China's President Xi Jinping (L) and Peru's President Dina Boluarte attend the virtual inauguration ceremony of the Chancay "megaport" in the small town of Chancay at the government palace in Lima on Nov. 14, 2024, on the sidelines of the APEC Summit. (AFP)
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Updated 15 November 2024
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US urges vigilance on Chinese investment as Xi opens Peru port

US urges vigilance on Chinese investment as Xi opens Peru port
  • The $3.5-billion complexis a symbol of the Asian superpower’s growing influence on the continent as it prepares to face off with a new Donald Trump administration
  • China's President Xi vowed in his speech to “promote connectivity” between China and South America.

LIMA: As China and Peru launched South America’s first Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, on Thursday, the United States called on Latin American nations to be vigilant.

The $3.5-billion complex, located 80 kilometers north of Lima, is meant to serve as a major hub for Chinese trade at a time the Asian giant is under threat of major tariff hikes after Trump reenters the White House for a second term.

The port was officially opened in a ceremony attended virtually by China's President Xi Jinping and Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte from Lima, where they will attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Friday and Saturday.

Xi vowed in his speech to “promote connectivity” between China and South America.

Peru — one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies over the past decade — is China’s fourth-largest Latin American trading partner, with bilateral flows of nearly $36 billion in 2023.

Amid the celebration, Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, spoke out. “We believe it is essential that countries across the hemisphere ensure that PRC economic activities respect local laws as well as safeguard human rights and environmental protections,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

Pointing to the long US relationship with Peru, Nichols said: “We’ll be focused on building those relations and making sure that Peruvians understand the complexities of dealing with some of their other investors going forward.”

He said that the United States has also recently provided support to Peru, including train donations to the city of Lima, space cooperation led by NASA and the donation of nine Black Hawk helicopters to help police battle transnational crime.

Dan Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia, said that the United States came with an “affirmative agenda” and was not seeking to force countries to choose between rival powers.

“We do want to make sure that countries have choices and they were able to make them freely without coercion,” Kritenbrink told reporters.

The United States for two centuries has considered Latin America its sphere of interest, but it has faced increasing competition around the world, especially in the economic sphere, from China.

US policymakers often highlight debt associated by Chinese projects and China’s use of its own workers in mega-projects.

The port will allow South American nations to skirt ports in Mexico and the United States as they trade with Asia.

Xi is set to meet on Saturday in Lima with outgoing US President Biden in their likely final encounter before Donald Trump returns to the White House.


Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march

Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march
Updated 26 sec ago
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Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march

Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march
  • Indian farmers march for longstanding demand for minimum prices of crops
  • Farmers in South Asian country have political influence due to sheer numbers

NEW DELHI: Indian police fired tear gas Friday at protesting farmers attempting to march to the capital New Delhi to push for their longstanding demand of guaranteed minimum prices for their crops.

Farmers this week revived their dormant “March to Delhi” campaign seeking to channel the spirit of a dramatic protest in 2021, when they stormed the capital on tractors.

To stop the farmers at Shambhu, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, police set up heavy barricades of concrete blocks and lines of razor wire in advance of the march.

Authorities also suspended mobile Internet services along the route of the procession to prevent communication among the protesters.

Waving blue and yellow flags, the farmers broke through part of the blockade before they were halted by police.

“In February, we held four rounds of talks with the government but since then there have been no further discussions on our demands,” farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters.

“We want the government to let us exercise our democratic right to protest.”

In addition to price guarantees for their harvest, farmers are demanding a grab-bag of other concessions, including loan waivers and increased compensation for land acquired by the government several years ago.

Farmers in India have political influence due to their sheer numbers, and the renewed protests come as the national parliament is in session.

Two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people draw their livelihood from agriculture, accounting for nearly a fifth of the country’s GDP, according to government figures.

Protests in November 2020 against agricultural reform bills lasted for more than a year, a major challenge to efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to reform the sector.

A year later, their campaign prompted Modi to repeal three contentious laws that farmers claimed would let private companies control the country’s agriculture sector.


London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report

London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report
Updated 24 min 53 sec ago
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London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report

London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report
  • Sadiq Khan, 54, has been a prominent face in UK politics for 20 years
  • New Year Honours List not yet given final approval by king, PM: Financial Times

LONDON: London Mayor Sadiq Khan is reportedly set to receive a knighthood in the New Year Honours List to be announced by King Charles.

Khan, the first Muslim mayor of the UK capital, is believed to have made the annual list of those recognized by the monarch for public service, alongside other prominent current and former British politicians.

Sources close to the mayor did not deny he was in line for the knighthood when approached by the Financial Times.

Khan, 54, has been a prominent face in UK politics for two decades, having been elected to Parliament in 2005 to represent his home borough of Tooting in London.

He served as a government minister under Gordon Brown, became mayor of London in 2016, and won a historic third term in May this year.

The FT said the draft of the list has yet to receive final approval by King Charles or Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A government spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation on honours.”


Police prevent Indian Punjabi farmers marching to Delhi to demand better prices

Police prevent Indian Punjabi farmers marching to Delhi to demand better prices
Updated 1 min 58 sec ago
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Police prevent Indian Punjabi farmers marching to Delhi to demand better prices

Police prevent Indian Punjabi farmers marching to Delhi to demand better prices
  • Farmers break through one layer of police barricades only to find security forces waiting behind iron crowd control barriers
  • The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of more state support for crops and a debt waiver

SHAMBHU, India: Indian police used tear gas and pepper spray against dozens of farmers who began marching from Punjab state along a key highway to Delhi on Friday to demand better prices for their crops.
The confrontation took place just over 200 km (125 miles) north of the capital as about 100 farmers, most from the northern breadbasket state, attempted to resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ (Let’s go to Delhi) march, blocked since February.
Farmers broke through one layer of police barricades only to find security forces waiting behind iron crowd control barriers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said before the march got under way that it would go as far as security forces allowed.
“We will be only around 100 people so it is not like we can break police barricades,” Pandher said.
The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of more state support for crops and a debt waiver, and say the government must honor a promise to double their incomes.
They have been camped at Shambhu on Punjab’s border with neighboring Haryana state since February, when police halted their march.
The Haryana government on Friday suspended mobile Internet and bulk text message services in some places until Dec. 9 to “stop the spread of misinformation and rumors,” and police said “sufficient force” had been deployed to maintain law and order.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not comment on Friday’s protests, but Haryana senior minister Anil Vij, who is from Modi’s party, said the farmers would need to secure permission if they wanted to proceed to Delhi.
Modi’s government was forced to repeal some farm laws in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers when they camped outside Delhi for months.
A spokesperson for India’s main opposition Congress party said it “fully supports” the farmers’ demands.


Indonesia, Philippines agree on repatriation of Filipino on death row

Indonesia, Philippines agree on repatriation of Filipino on death row
Updated 06 December 2024
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Indonesia, Philippines agree on repatriation of Filipino on death row

Indonesia, Philippines agree on repatriation of Filipino on death row
  • Indonesian authorities will discuss further details with the Philippines’ embassy in Jakarta on Mary Jane Veloso’s transfer
  • Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin and later sentenced to death

JAKARTA: Manila and Jakarta signed an agreement Friday to repatriate Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino on death row for drug charges in Indonesia since 2015, with officials saying she could return to the Philippines before Christmas.
The announcement came following the Philippines’ Department of Justice undersecretary Raul Vasquez meeting with Indonesia’s senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in Jakarta Friday, where both ministers signed the agreement.
Following the signing, Indonesian authorities will discuss further details with the Philippines’ embassy in Jakarta on Veloso’s transfer, Yusril said.
“We agree to return the person concerned to the Philippines and furthermore the obligation to provide guidance to prisoner Mary Jane Veloso becomes the responsibility of the Philippine government,” Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Friday.
He added that they are hoping the transfer “will be carried out before Christmas, 25 December.”
Yusril also said Indonesia will respect the Philippines’ government decision if Manila decide to grant clemency to Veloso.
Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin and later sentenced to death.
She was due to face the firing squad in 2015 but the Philippine government won a last-minute reprieve for her after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested and put on trial for human trafficking in which Veloso was named as a prosecution witness.
The mother-of-two’s case sparked an uproar in the Philippines, with her family and supporters saying she was innocent and had been set up by an international drug syndicate.
Vasquez on Friday expressed the Philippine government’s “heartfelt gratitude” for Jakarta over Veloso’s transfer, adding that Manila respected the Indonesian court’s decision on her case.
“We do understand and we respect the decision of the Indonesian courts with respect to the sentence that was meted on our citizen Mary Jane Veloso,” he said.
“Once transferred to the country, she will serve her sentence in accordance, as agreed upon, in accordance with Philippine laws and regulations with respect to the Penal Code.”
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws including the death penalty for traffickers.
At least 530 people were on death row in the Southeast Asian nation, mostly for drug-related crimes, according to data from rights group KontraS, citing official figures.
As of early November, 96 foreigners were on death row in Indonesia, all on drugs charges, according to data from the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections.
Indonesia is also in talks with Australia and France after President Prabowo Subianto had agreed to fulfil their requests to hand back some prisoners who were sentenced on drug charges.
The prisoners include the five remaining members of Australia’s “Bali Nine” — namely Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens — who are in jail on life sentences.
The Indonesian government also received a letter from the French government requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui, who has been jailed in the Southeast Asian archipelago since his 2005 arrest.
Despite the ongoing negotiation for prisoner transfers, the Indonesian government gave the signal Thursday that it will resume execution — on hiatus since 2016 — of drug convicts who are on death row.
“The government will... study the acceleration of the execution of the death penalty for drug convicts that are legally binding and have no more legal remedies,” Coordinating Political and Security Minister Budi Gunawan said Thursday.


Modi’s party says US State Department targeting India

Modi’s party says US State Department targeting India
Updated 06 December 2024
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Modi’s party says US State Department targeting India

Modi’s party says US State Department targeting India
  • New Delhi and Washington have forged a strong relationship in last two decades
  • Both have vowed to further strengthen ties despite some differences and irritants

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the State Department and “deep state” elements in the US of trying to destabilize India in conjunction with a group of investigative journalists and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.
The accusation comes as a surprise as New Delhi and Washington have forged a strong relationship in the last two decades and both have vowed to further strengthen ties despite some differences and irritants.
Gandhi’s Congress party used the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)’s articles that “singularly focused” on the Adani Group and its alleged closeness to the government to undermine Modi, the ruling party said on Thursday.
Group chair Gautam Adani and seven others were indicted last month in the US for being part of a $265 billion scheme to bribe Indian officials — allegations the group has termed “baseless.”
OCCRP’s articles have also accused state-sponsored hackers in India of using Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to target government critics.
The government has previously denied both allegations.
The BJP has previously accused Gandhi, the OCCRP and 92-year-old billionaire financier-philanthropist George Soros of attacking Modi.
On Thursday, it cited a French media report that said that OCCRP was funded by the US Agency for International Development and “other deep state figures” like Soros.
“The Deep State had a clear objective to destabilize India by targeting Prime Minister Modi,” the BJP said in a series of messages on X.


“It has always been the US State Department behind this agenda...OCCRP has served as a media tool for carrying out a deep state agenda,” it said.
Sambit Patra, a BJP national spokesperson and lawmaker, repeated the accusations at an official media briefing by the party on Thursday.
“A French investigative media group...has revealed that... 50 percent of OCCRP’s funding comes directly from the US State Department,” Patra said. “OCCRP has served as a media tool for carrying out a deep state agenda.”
The State Department, US AID, Soros and the Congress party did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Indian foreign ministry also did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling party’s accusation against the State Department.
OCCRP said in a statement it was an independent media outlet and not associated with any political party.
“The US government, while providing some funding to OCCRP, has no say in our editorial processes and no control over our reporting,” it said.
The government has lately been facing heat over the US indictment of Gautam Adani, who opposition leaders say Modi has always protected, and the country’s parliament was suspended multiple times last week as opposition lawmakers demanded a discussion on the issue.
Modi’s BJP and Adani have denied the accusations.