Asia
Modi to lead foreign dignitaries in a session on Int'l Yoga Day at UN Secretariat
India’s prime minister has a reputation of casting himself as an ascetic. So when Narendra Modi leads foreign dignitaries and bureaucrats in a session for International Yoga Day on Wednesday at the United Nations’ Secretariat in New York, millions of Indians will take note.
Yoga, an ancient discipline first practiced by Hindu sages, is now one of India’s most successful cultural exports after Bollywood. And it's become a piece of India's diplomacy. Surinder Goel, a 61-year-old yoga instructor in the capital, New Delhi, practices daily. He says the activity is “India’s contribution to the world.”
“Our prime minister has done a great job in spreading yoga to the world,” Goel said. “Today, even the Muslim countries learn and follow it, only because of the PM.”
Goel says yoga should be a daily practice worldwide, no matter how busy a person is.
READ: Biden is ready to fete India's leader, looking past Modi's human rights record and ties to Russia
“He (Modi) is the busiest man, despite that he practices daily. When our PM can do Yoga daily, why can’t the common person do it? We should make Yoga compulsory in schools. The whole world should do Yoga 365 days,” he says.
Nine years ago, the Hindu nationalist leader successfully lobbied the U.N. to designate June 21 as International Yoga Day. Since then, Modi has harnessed yoga as a cultural soft power to stretch his nation’s diplomatic reach and flex his country’s rising place in the world.
Modi has promoted yoga so much that even foreign diplomats have been seen stretching themselves in gardens and their embassy offices. Government bureaucrats and officers have taken to social media to show themselves folding in different poses and sometimes tiredly grabbing their backs after mass outdoor yoga sessions. The Indian military has done downward dog with trained K-9 units, boat pose atop an aircraft carrier and mountain pose in the high-altitude Himalayas in bone-chilling temperatures.
READ: Indian PM Narendra Modi invited to address Congress
Modi has also been living la vida yoga, flexing his own hardcore devotion to the practice.
In 2018 he posted a two-minute video on Twitter that showed him doing a range of yoga poses in a garden, including stretching and leaning backward on a rock in a spread-armed savasana that birthed many memes.
In 2019, after the final day of national polling, he retreated to a Himalayan mountain cave to meditate and seek isolation — with a camera crew that relayed live visuals to the entire nation.
A year later, Modi went the extra mile, tweeting videos showing an animated version of him doing yoga poses.
Now, Modi is guiding leaders from around the world in the practice of yoga to promote its benefits as part of his three-day visit to the U.S.
READ: Modi opponents boycott opening of new parliament building as PM reshapes India’s power corridor
With over 1.42 billion people, which recently surpassed China as the most populous, India has become fragmented largely along religious lines. Despite its religious roots, Modi has used yoga to try and boost his image in the diverse nation.
Modi’s ministers, following their leader in practicing yoga, have sometimes marked it with religious connotations by doing sun salutations and chanting Sanskrit verses considered holy in Hinduism. Government employees and students have been asked to practice the same, and some state administrations ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party have sought to make it mandatory in schools.
This has angered some of the prime minister’s critics. In particular, some Muslims — India’s largest minority, which has faced rising violence under Modi by Hindu nationalists — say they should not be forced to perform sun salutations or chant Hindu hymns.
Government ministers tried to address these concerns by guaranteeing that sun salutations would be optional, though some dissenters are not assured.
Srivalli Cherla has noticed yoga becoming more politicized in recent years.
READ: Indian Prime Minister Modi strikes new agreements on migration and green hydrogen in Australia
The 30-year-old yoga instructor based in India’s remote Ladakh region originally took to yoga for physical exercise in 2017. After months of consistent practice, she noticed subtle changes in her body and mental health, and realized yoga was helping her release anger she was holding on to.
“Whenever I am having a bad day, I come back home and roll out my yoga mat. It’s a form of mental discipline too; you learn not to give in to certain thoughts, so it challenges you mentally,” she says.
Cherla said she had signed up for a program to receive a yoga instructor certification recognized by the Indian government's Ayush Ministry, which promotes Ayurveda traditional medicine. But she quit just 10 days into training.
“The teacher passed a comment that essentially called it a Hindu — and not secular — practice, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve never seen it as religious. It’s part of India’s culture, but this comment made me realize what they were teaching didn’t align with my own beliefs or experience of yoga,” she says.
In New Delhi, yogi Goel agrees that yoga is for everyone, regardless of religion.
“We should not connect Yoga with religion or politics. Yoga is meant to benefit the common people, not ministers,” Goel says.
And he believes yoga has the power to do more than just diplomacy.
“Yoga can change the person, the country and the world," he says.
Biden ready to welcome Modi, looking past human rights record and ties to Russia
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is, on many counts, a curious choice for President Joe Biden to honor with a state visit.
Since Russia's Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine 16 months ago, India has boosted its economy by purchasing increasing quantities of cheap Russian oil.
Human rights groups and political opponents have accused Modi of stifling dissent and introducing divisive policies that discriminate against Muslims and other minorities. And India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has espoused a worldview in which there are no allies or friends, only “frenemies.”
Read: Mass shootings and violence leave dead and injured across the US this weekend
But Biden, who will welcome Modi to the White House on Thursday for a state visit, has made clear he sees U.S. ties to India — the world's biggest democracy and one of its fastest growing economies — as a defining relationship. New Delhi, as Biden sees it, will be essential to addressing some of the most difficult global challenges in coming years, including climate change, disruptions related to artificial intelligence, and China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific.
“Now, we know that India and the United States are big, complicated countries,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the U.S.-India Business Council in Washington ahead of Modi's visit. “We certainly have work to do to advance transparency, to promote market access, to strengthen our democracies, to unleash the full potential of our people. But the trajectory of this partnership is unmistakable, and it is filled with promise.”
Much is at stake for both sides in the Indian leader's three-day visit to the U.S., which begins Wednesday with a stop in New York, where Modi will lead an international yoga day event at the United Nations.
Biden wants to bring India closer to the United States as the administration tilts its foreign policy toward Asia and looks to build partnerships in the region in the face of an ascendant China.
Modi, for his part, is trying to usher in a more prosperous era for his nation of 1.4 billion, delivering on a promise he made when he swept into office more than nine years ago.
The Indian prime minister hopes to strengthen U.S.-India economic and military ties. He also has his own worries about Chinese military activities, along the Himalayan border and in the Indian Ocean. India has been locked in a long-running standoff with China in the rugged mountainous area of Ladakh, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.
Read: Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize deteriorated US-China ties, but China rebuffs the main US request
“As China has risen, India and the U.S. both need one another and the U.S. needs more partners in the Indo-Pacific,” said Jitendra Nath Misra, a professor of diplomatic practice at the O.P. Jindal Global University and a former Indian ambassador. “They can’t do it alone anymore because China is catching up with the U.S., and the Chinese economy is significantly larger than India’s. So, there is a congruence of geopolitical interests here.”
There are plenty of signs that the relationship already has taken a leap forward.
Trade between the U.S. and India in 2022 climbed to a record $191 billion. The Indian diaspora i n the U.S. stands at nearly 5 million and has become an economic, cultural and political powerhouse. Biden has sought to reinvigorate the Quad, an international partnership of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan. And U.S. defense sales to India have risen from near zero in 2008 to over $20 billion in 2020.
Still, the state visit comes with some problematic aspects for Biden, who as a presidential candidate pledged that human rights would be a driving force in his foreign policy.
Elaine Pearson, Asia director for the group Human Rights Watch, urged Biden in a letter not to shy away from confronting Modi on India's “worsening human rights situation.” Her organization plans a Tuesday screening in Washington of a BBC documentary critical of Modi that was banned by the Indian government.
The documentary delves into Modi's oversight as chief minister of Gujrat during the deadly 2002 anti-Muslim riots that left more than 1,000 dead. In 2005, the U.S. revoked Modi's visa to the U.S., citing concerns that he did not act to stop the communal violence. An investigation approved by the Indian Supreme Court later absolved Modi, but the stain of the dark moment has lingered.
More recently, Modi has faced criticism over legislation amending the country’s citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalization for some migrants but excludes Muslims, a rise in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities by Hindu nationalists, and the recent conviction of India’s top opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, for mocking Modi's surname.
“Modi’s government has also demonstrated blatant bias in protecting BJP supporters and affiliates accused in a range of crimes, including murder, assault, corruption, and sexual violence,” Pearson wrote, using the initials for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. “At the international level, Modi’s government has often proven unwilling to stand with other governments on key human rights crises, abstaining or refraining from condemning grave human rights violations elsewhere.”
The Indian government has continually defended its human rights record and insisted that India’s democratic principles remain robust.
Read: US ‘does not support’ Taiwan independence, Blinken says
Modi has offered only limited criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, urging Putin during a meeting last September to “move onto a path of peace.” The New Delhi-Moscow relationship dates back decades, with Moscow offering key cooperation on defense, nuclear energy and other issues.
The Biden White House has privately pressed India to cut its reliance on Russian oil, but has largely avoided publicly criticizing New Delhi’s stance. In 2021, Russian oil accounted for just 2% of India’s annual crude imports. That figure now stands at more than 19%.
Biden is expected to again raise India's reliance on Russian oil as well as human rights in his private talks with Modi, according to a senior Biden administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preparations for the visit.
The White House sees indications that Modi's government has been moving away from Russia since the start of the war, noting a subtle shift in tone in Modi's public comments about Ukraine, a growing desire by India to diversify its sources of military hardware, and an increasing awareness by the Indian government about China and Russia's tightening relationship and what it could mean for India.
Richard Rossow, chair of U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the Biden White House has made the calculation to keep its "powder dry” despite its disappointment with India's ballooning oil purchases.
“We don’t want to risk severing the relationship with India,” Rossow said of the administration's careful approach. “Find small and modest ways to nudge, but don’t make that a deciding factor.”
The official state visit portion of Modi's trip starts Thursday and includes an Oval Office meeting with Biden, an address to a joint meeting of Congress and a lavish White House dinner hosted by Biden and first lady Jill Biden.
Modi also is to be honored at a State Department luncheon on Friday hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and Blinken, and he is scheduled to address members of the Indian diaspora before departing Washington.
Biden and Modi are expected to make announcements on cooperation in higher education, space and more. High on the agenda is deepening defense cooperation. India has sought to reduce its reliance on Russian military hardware by buying from the U.S., France, Germany and other countries.
But it will likely take decades or more for India to completely wean itself off Russian military hardware, said Rudra Chaudhuri, director of Carnegie India, the New Delhi arm of the international think tank.
“Keep in mind that 65% of India’s defense kit is still Russian," Chaudhuri said. “Let’s say India reduces purchases from Russia to one third over 25 years, that’s still a big part of your defense ecosystem."
Days of sweltering heat, power cuts in northern India overwhelm hospitals as death toll climbs
A scorching heat wave in two of India’s most populous states has overwhelmed hospitals, filled a morgue to capacity and disrupted power, forcing staff to use books to cool patients, as officials investigate a death toll that has reached nearly 170.
In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, 119 people have died from heat-related illnesses over the last several days while neighboring Bihar state reported 47 fatalities, according to local news reports and health officials.
“So many people are dying from the heat that we are not getting a minute’s time to rest. On Sunday, I carried 26 dead bodies,” Jitendra Kumar Yadav, a hearse driver in Deoria town, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Ballia, told The Associated Press.
Other residents said they were scared of going outside after midmorning.
Read: Mass shootings and violence leave dead and injured across the US this weekend
The largest hospital in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh is unable to accommodate more patients. Officials said the morgue was full after 54 people, all of whom were elderly suffering from various health issues, died during the heat wave. Some families were asked to take the bodies of their relatives home.
On Sunday, the state health minister, Brajesh Pathak, said a two-member team will look into what caused the large number of deaths and investigate how many of them are directly related to heat.
While northern regions of India are known for sweltering heat during the summer months, temperatures have been consistently above normal, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, with highs reaching 43.5 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit). A heat wave is declared in India if temperatures are at least 4.5 C above normal, or if the temperature is above 45 C (113 F).
“We have been issuing heat wave warnings for the past few days,” said Atul Kumar Singh, a scientist at the IMD.
Despite the warnings, government officials did not ask people to brace for the heat until Sunday, when the death toll began to increase.
Read: Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize deteriorated US-China ties, but China rebuffs the main US request
Adding to the heat stress are consistent power outages across the region, leaving people with no running water, fans or air conditioners.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the government was taking measures to ensure an uninterrupted power supply. He urged citizens to cooperate and use electricity judiciously.
“Every village and every city should receive adequate power supply during this scorching heat. If any faults occur, they should be promptly addressed,” he said Friday night in a statement.
Inside the Ballia district hospital, the chaotic scenes were reminiscent of the coronavirus pandemic, with families and doctors scrambling as many patients required urgent attention. The corridors smelled of urine, garbage and medical waste, and hospital walls were stained with betel leaf spit.
“All our staff has been here for three days straight and are completely overworked,” said Dr. Aditya Singh, an emergency medical officer.
The wards in the hospital had no functioning air conditioners, and cooling units that were installed were not working properly due to power fluctuations. Attendants were fanning patients with books and wiping their sweat in an attempt to keep them cool.
Officials said more severe cases were being shifted to hospitals in bigger cities nearby such as Varanasi, and more doctors and medical resources were being sent to the district hospital to deal with the heat-induced crisis.
Climate experts say that heat waves will continue and India needs to prepare better to deal with their consequences. A study by World Weather Attribution, an academic group that examines the source of extreme heat, found that a searing heat wave in April that struck parts of South Asia was made at least 30 times more likely by climate change.
“Plans for dealing with heatwaves are essential for minimizing their effects and preserving lives. These plans include all-inclusive approaches to dealing with high heat occurrences, such as public awareness campaigns, the provision of cooling centers, and healthcare assistance,” said Aditya Valiathan Pillai, an associate fellow at a New Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Policy Research.
US ‘does not support’ Taiwan independence, Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday reaffirmed United States’ support of the "One China" policy, reiterating that Washington does not favour Taiwanese independence.
"We do not support Taiwan independence," Blinken said in a press conference following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday.
"We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We continue to expect the peaceful resolution of cross strait differences,” he said. “We remain committed to continuing our responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act including making sure Taiwan has the ability to defend itself."
Also read: Xi meets Blinken in Beijing
"At the same time, we and many others have deep concerns about some of the provocative actions that China has taken in recent years going back to 2016," Blinken added.
"And the reason that this is a concern for so many countries, not just the United States, is that were there to be a crisis over Taiwan, the likelihood is that could produce an economic crisis that could affect quite literally the entire world."
"Fifty percent of commercial container traffic goes through the Taiwan Strait every day. Seventy percent of semiconductors are manufactured in Taiwan. If as a result of a crisis that was taken offline, it would have dramatic consequences for virtually every country around the world," he added.
Also read: Blinken to meet Xi, State Department says, in bid to ease US-China tensions
Blinken's remark comes amid rising tensions between China and the United States over Taiwan. Taiwan's air force scrambled fighter jets last week after a group of ten Chinese aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line for the second time in a matter of days.
China views Taiwan, which is self-governing, as part of its own territory and has indicated its intention to forcibly integrate it. Despite recognizing Beijing as the legitimate government of China, the United States maintains informal relations and defense alliances with Taiwan.
Blinken's remarks appear to be a reversal of Biden's promise in September 2022 to defend Taiwan militarily in case of a Chinese invasion.
Also read: Blinken opens second day of talks in Beijing on mission to ease soaring US-China tensions
Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview broadcast on September 18, last year, whether US forces would defend the self-ruled island claimed by China, the US president replied: “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
Meanwhile, the US and China have pledged to stabilise their tense relationship following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's two-day visit to Beijing.
Blinken met China's President Xi Jinping for talks on Monday, restarting high-level communications between the rival superpowers, reports BBC.
Following the meeting with the Chinese president, the top US diplomat indicated that there remained major differences between the two states.
Also read: Blinken kicks off meetings in Beijing on high-stakes mission to cool soaring US-China tensions
"I stressed that... sustained communication at senior levels is the best way to responsibly manage differences and ensure that competition does not veer into conflict," Blinken told reporters after the 35-minute meeting at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.
"I heard the same from my Chinese counterparts," he said. "We both agree on the need to stabilise our relationship."
Blinken opens second day of talks in Beijing on mission to ease soaring US-China tensions
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has opened a second and final day of critical meetings with senior Chinese officials as the two sides expressed willingness to talk but showed little inclination to bend on hardened positions that have sent tensions soaring.
Blinken was meeting Monday morning with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and an encounter with President Xi Jinping was still in the cards before he departs in the late evening.
Neither Blinken nor Wang made any comment to reporters as they greeted each other and sat for their discussion.
Read:Blinken kicks off meetings in Beijing on high-stakes mission to cool soaring US-China tensions
In the first round of talks on Sunday, Blinken met for nearly six hours with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang after which both countries said they had agreed to continue high-level discussions. However, there was no sign that any of the most fractious issues between them were closer to resolution.
The two sides both said Qin had accepted an invitation from Blinken to visit Washington but Beijing made clear that “the China-U.S. relationship is at the lowest point since its establishment.” That sentiment is widely shared by U.S. officials.
The State Department said Blinken had stressed “the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication across the full range of issues to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation.”
Read: Attempt to ease US-China tension: Blinken kicks off meetings in Beijing
The Chinese, meanwhile, restated their position that the current state of relations “does not serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples or meet the shared expectations of the international community,” according to the foreign ministry.
Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and his two-day trip comes after his initial plans to travel to China were postponed in February after the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S.
Despite Blinken’s presence in China, he and other U.S. officials had played down the prospects for any significant breakthroughs on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies.
Read: Attempt to cool US-China tensions: Blinken in Beijing on high-stakes diplomatic mission
Still, his talks could pave the way for a meeting in the coming months between Biden and Xi. Biden said Saturday that he hoped to be able to meet with Xi in the coming months to take up the plethora of differences that divide them.
That long list incudes disagreements ranging from trade to Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In his meetings on Sunday, Blinken also pressed the Chinese to release detained American citizens and to take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States.
Read: Taiwanese foreign minister asks for support from European countries to maintain peace, stability
Blinken “made clear that the United States will always stand up for the interests and values of the American people and work with its allies and partners to advance our vision for a world that is free, open, and upholds the international rules-based order,” the State Department said.
The Chinese foreign ministry countered in its statement that “China hopes that the U.S. will adopt an objective and rational perception of China, work with China in the same direction, uphold the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and handle unexpected and sporadic events in a calm, professional and rational manner.”
Blinken and other officials have emphasized the importance of the U.S. and China establishing and maintaining better lines of communication.
Biden and Xi had made commitments to improve communications “precisely so that we can make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible to avoid possible misunderstandings and miscommunications,” Blinken said before leaving.
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Xi offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates on Friday that the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries.”
Since the cancellation of Blinken’s trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while China’s commerce minister traveled to the U.S. And Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi in Vienna in May.
But those have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China’s refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and U.S. allegations from Washington that Beijing is attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.
And, earlier this month, China’s defense minister rebuffed a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of continuing discontent.
Meanwhile, the national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines held their first joint talks last week and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation, in part to counter China’s growing influence and ambitions.
This coincides with the Biden administration inking an agreement with Australia and Britain to provide the first with nuclear-powered submarines, with China moving rapidly to expand its diplomatic presence, especially in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific island nations, where it has opened or has plans to open at least five new embassies over the next year.
The agreement is part of an 18-month-old nuclear partnership given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Blinken kicks off meetings in Beijing on high-stakes mission to cool soaring US-China tensions
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday kicked off two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge.
Blinken opened his program by meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for an extended discussion to be followed by a working dinner. He'll have additional talks with Qin, as well as China's top diplomat Wang Yi and possibly President Xi Jinping, on Monday.
Neither Blinken nor Qin made any substantive comments to reporters as they began the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Read: Nearly 100 die as India struggles with a sweltering heatwave in 2 most populous states
Despite Blinken's presence in the Chinese capital, prospects for any significant breakthroughs are slim, as already strained ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years. Animosity and recriminations have steadily escalated over a series of disagreements that have implications for global security and stability.
Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years.
Biden and Xi agreed to Blinken’s trip early at a meeting last year in Bali. It came within a day of happening in February but was delayed by the diplomatic and political tumult brought on by the discovery of what the U.S. says was a Chinese spy balloon flying across the United States that was shot down.
The list of disagreements and potential conflict points is long, ranging from trade with Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia's war in Ukraine.
Read: Both sides suffer heavy casualties as Ukraine strikes back against Russia, UK assessment says
Blinken will also be pressing the Chinese to release detained American citizens and to take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States.
U.S. officials have said Blinken will raise each of these points, though neither side has shown any inclination to back down on their entrenched positions.
Shortly before leaving, Blinken emphasized the importance of the U.S. and China establishing and maintaining better lines of communication. The U.S. wants to make sure “that the competition we have with China doesn’t veer into conflict” due to avoidable misunderstandings, he told reporters.
Biden and Xi had made commitments to improve communications “precisely so that we can make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible to avoid possible misunderstandings and miscommunications,” Blinken said Friday.
Read: Indian child in custody of Germany's Youth Welfare Office since Sep 2021, court rejects parents’ plea
Xi offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates on Friday that the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries."
“I believe that the foundation of Sino-U.S. relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”
Biden told White House reporters Saturday he was “hoping that over the next several months, I'll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have, but also how ... to get along.”
Chances for such a meeting could come at a Group of 20 leaders' gathering in September in New Delhi and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November in San Francisco that the United States is hosting.
Since the cancellation of Blinken's trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while China’s commerce minister traveled to the U.S. And Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Wang in Vienna in May.
But those have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China’s refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and U.S. allegations from Washington that Beijing is attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.
And, earlier this month, China’s defense minister rebuffed a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of continuing discontent.
Austin said Friday he was confident that he and his Chinese counterpart would meet “at some point in time, but we’re not there yet.”
Underscoring the difficulties, China rejected a report by a U.S. security firm, that blamed Chinese-linked hackers for attacks on hundreds of public agencies, schools and other targets around the world, as “far-fetched and unprofessional”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson repeated accusations that Washington carries out hacking attacks and complained the cybersecurity industry rarely reports on them.
That followed a similar retort earlier in the week when China said Qin had in a phone call with Blinken urged the United States to respect “China’s core concerns” such as the issue of Taiwan’s self-rule, “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests in the name of competition.”
Meanwhile, the national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines held their first joint talks Friday and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation, in part to counter China's growing influence and ambitions.
This coincides with the Biden administration inking an agreement with Australia and Britain to provide the first with nuclear-powered submarines, with China moving rapidly to expand its diplomatic presence, especially in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific island nations, where it has opened or has plans to open at least five new embassies over the next year.
The agreement is part of an 18-month-old nuclear partnership given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
China's spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, issued a statement of cautious optimism as Blinken started his first day of meetings in Beijing.
“Hope this meeting can help steer China-U.S. relations back to what the two Presidents agreed upon in Bali," she said in a statement on Twitter.
However, two U.S. officials downplayed hopes for major progress and stressed that the trip was intended to restore a sense of calm and normalcy to high-level contacts.
"We’re coming to Beijing with a realistic, confident approach and a sincere desire to manage our competition in the most responsible way possible,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific.
Kurt Campbell, the top Asia expert at the National Security Council, said "intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we’re going to manage tensions. That is the only way to clear up misperceptions, to signal, to communicate, and to work together where and when our interests align.”
Nearly 100 die as India struggles with a sweltering heatwave in 2 most populous states
At least 96 people died in two of India's most populous states over the last several days, officials said Sunday, with swaths of the country reeling from a sweltering heatwave.
The deaths happened in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and eastern Bihar where authorities warned residents over 60 and others suffering various maladies to stay indoors during the daytime.
Read: Heatwave likely to continue for 5 to 6 days: Met office
All the fatalities in Uttar Pradesh, totaling 54, were reported in Ballia district, some 300 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Lucknow, the state capital. Authorities found out most of those who passed away were over 60 years old and had preexisting health conditions, which may have been exacerbated by the intense heat.
S. K. Yadav, a medical officer in Ballia, said in the past three days, some 300 patients were admitted to the district hospital for various ailments aggravated by heat.
Due to the gravity of the situation, authorities canceled leave applications of medical personnel in Ballia and provided additional hospital beds in the emergency ward to accommodate the influx of patients.
Officials said most of the admitted patients are aged 60 and above, exhibiting symptoms of high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, breathing difficulties and heart-related issues.
Read: Severe heatwave across 4 northern districts likely to continue
R.S. Pathak, a resident of Ballia who lost his father on Saturday, said that he witnessed an increased flow of patients at the hospital’s emergency ward while attending to his father.
“This has never happened in Ballia. I have never seen people dying because of the heat in such large numbers,” he said. “People fear venturing out. The roads and markets are largely deserted.”
Ballia, along with central and eastern Uttar Pradesh, is currently grappling with oppressive heat.
On Sunday, the district experienced a maximum temperature of 43 degrees Celsius, surpassing the normal range by five degrees. The relative humidity was recorded at 25%, intensifying the effect of the heat.
Read: Heatwave sweeping Chuadanga with country’s highest temperature
Atul Kumar Singh, a scientist from the India Meteorological Department, or IMD, said temperatures across the state were presently above normal. He added, “no relief is expected in the next 24 hours.”
The IMD issued an alert saying heatwave conditions would last until June 19 in parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The state’s health minister, Brijesh Pathak, said that they have opened an investigation into the cause of death of “so many people” in Ballia.
In eastern Bihar, scorching heat has engulfed most of the state, leading to 42 deaths in the past two days. Among the fatalities, 35 occurred at two hospitals in the state capital of Patna where over 200 patients suffering from diarrhea and vomiting were being treated.
Patna recorded a maximum temperature of 44.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday.
The main summer months — April, May and June — are generally the hottest in most of India, before monsoon rains bring in cooler temperatures.
But temperatures have become more intense in the past decade. During heat waves, the country usually suffers severe water shortages, with tens of millions of its 1.4 billion people lacking running water.
A study by World Weather Attribution, an academic group that examines the source of extreme heat, found that a searing heat wave in April that struck parts of South Asia was made at least 30 times more likely by climate change.
In April, the heat caused the death of 13 people at a government event in India’s financial capital of Mumbai and prompted some states to close all schools for a week.
Attempt to ease US-China tension: Blinken kicks off meetings in Beijing
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday kicked off two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge.
Blinken opened his program by meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for an extended discussion to be followed by a working dinner. He'll have additional talks with Qin, as well as China's top diplomat Wang Yi and possibly President Xi Jinping, on Monday.
Neither Blinken nor Qin made any substantive comments to reporters as they began the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Also read: Attempt to cool US-China tensions: Blinken in Beijing on high-stakes diplomatic mission
Despite Blinken's presence in the Chinese capital, prospects for any significant breakthroughs are slim, as already strained ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years. Animosity and recriminations have steadily escalated over a series of disagreements that have implications for global security and stability.
Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years.
Biden and Xi agreed to Blinken's trip early at a meeting last year in Bali. It came within a day of happening in February but was delayed by the diplomatic and political tumult brought on by the discovery of what the U.S. says was a Chinese spy balloon flying across the United States that was shot down.
Also read: China’s foreign minister airs concerns in phone call with Blinken ahead of planned visit
The list of disagreements and potential conflict points is long, ranging from trade with Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia's war in Ukraine.
Blinken will also be pressing the Chinese to release detained American citizens and to take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States.
U.S. officials have said Blinken will raise each of these points, though neither side has shown any inclination to back down on their entrenched positions.
Shortly before leaving, Blinken emphasized the importance of the U.S. and China establishing and maintaining better lines of communication. The U.S. wants to make sure "that the competition we have with China doesn't veer into conflict" due to avoidable misunderstandings, he told reporters.
Also read: Blinken warns Central Asia of dangers from war in Ukraine
Biden and Xi had made commitments to improve communications "precisely so that we can make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible to avoid possible misunderstandings and miscommunications," Blinken said Friday.
Xi offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates on Friday that the United States and China can cooperate to "benefit our two countries."
"I believe that the foundation of Sino-U.S. relations lies in the people," Xi said to Gates. "Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race."
Biden told White House reporters Saturday he was "hoping that over the next several months, I'll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have, but also how ... to get along."
Chances for such a meeting could come at a Group of 20 leaders' gathering in September in New Delhi and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November in San Francisco that the United States is hosting.
Since the cancellation of Blinken's trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while China's commerce minister traveled to the U.S. And Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Wang in Vienna in May.
But those have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China's refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and U.S. allegations from Washington that Beijing is attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.
And, earlier this month, China's defense minister rebuffed a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of continuing discontent.
Austin said Friday he was confident that he and his Chinese counterpart would meet "at some point in time, but we're not there yet."
Underscoring the difficulties, China rejected a report by a U.S. security firm, that blamed Chinese-linked hackers for attacks on hundreds of public agencies, schools and other targets around the world, as "far-fetched and unprofessional"
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson repeated accusations that Washington carries out hacking attacks and complained the cybersecurity industry rarely reports on them.
That followed a similar retort earlier in the week when China said Qin had in a phone call with Blinken urged the United States to respect "China's core concerns" such as the issue of Taiwan's self-rule, "stop interfering in China's internal affairs, and stop harming China's sovereignty, security and development interests in the name of competition."
Meanwhile, the national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines held their first joint talks Friday and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation, in part to counter China's growing influence and ambitions.
This coincides with the Biden administration inking an agreement with Australia and Britain to provide the first with nuclear-powered submarines, with China moving rapidly to expand its diplomatic presence, especially in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific island nations, where it has opened or has plans to open at least five new embassies over the next year.
The agreement is part of an 18-month-old nuclear partnership given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Speaking ahead of Blinken's arrival, two U.S. officials downplayed hopes for major progress and stressed that the trip was intended to restore a sense of calm and normalcy to high-level contacts.
"We're coming to Beijing with a realistic, confident approach and a sincere desire to manage our competition in the most responsible way possible," said Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific.
Kurt Campbell, the top Asia expert at the National Security Council, said "intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we're going to manage tensions. That is the only way to clear up misperceptions, to signal, to communicate, and to work together where and when our interests align."
Indian child in custody of Germany's Youth Welfare Office since Sep 2021, court rejects parents’ plea
Ariha Shah was born to Bhavesh Shah, a Gujarati software engineer, and his wife Dhara in Berlin in February 2021. Within seven months of her birth, Bhavesh and Dhara’s days of parenting came to an abrupt halt as Ariha was taken by the Jugendamt, German childcare services, on September 23, 2021, based on allegations of “assault.”
The intervention came after Ariha was taken to the hospital after she sustained injuries in her “outer genital area”. This prompted the Jugendamt to take swift action, immediately taking the child away to foster care, with her parents allowed to visit once every fortnight or so. The authorities swiftly launched an investigation into the matter and registered a case of child sexual abuse against the parents.
Ariha’s mother, however, told the media that the injury was caused by an accident by the child’s grandmother.
Also read: True story behind Rani Mukerji’s latest film “Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway”
The assault charges were withdrawn after an inquiry, but the parents were charged with negligence instead. However, the case was closed in February 2022, with no official charges filed against them, according to NDTV.
Despite this, the baby was not returned to her parents. Instead, the Jugendamt filed a civil custody case for the termination of parental rights and permanent custody of the child. Since then, the parents have been fighting a legal battle for the custody of their child, who is now over two years old.
In a recent hearing, a court in Berlin’s Pankow denied custody of 27-month-old Ariha Shah to her parents and handed her over to Germany's Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt).
Also read: Doctors advise people over 60 to stay indoors as India's northern state swelters in extreme heat
The couple had requested to the German court that their child be given to them or at least to Indian Welfare Services.
Denying the appeal, the court granted Ariha's custody to the German state on Friday and dismissed the claim of her parents that the injury sustained by her was "accidental".
In a desperate attempt to get their child back, Bhavesh and Dhara urged the Indian government to step in.
On June 3, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi urged the German authorities “to do all that is necessary to send Ariha to India at the earliest, which is also her inalienable right as an Indian national”.
Also read: At least 9 killed in ethnic clashes in India's northeast, where 100 have died in month of violence
Meanwhile, 59 members of the Indian parliament from 19 political parties, including the BJP, Congress, and the Trinamool Congress, had written a joint letter to German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann and asked him to do everything possible to ensure that Ariha was repatriated to India at the earliest, insisting that "India can well look after her own children".
This case has been noted for its similarity to that of Sagarika Chakraborty, another Indian national whose two children were taken away and placed in foster care by Norwegian authorities in 2011, accusing her of “improper parenting”. Rani Mukerji’s recent film "Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway" was based on Chakraborty’s struggle to get her children back.
Attempt to cool US-China tensions: Blinken in Beijing on high-stakes diplomatic mission
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing early Sunday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to try to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge.
Blinken was to begin two days of talks with senior Chinese officials in the afternoon. He is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years.
The trip comes after he postponed plans to visit in February after the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S.
Yet prospects for any significant breakthrough on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies are slim, as already ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years. Animosity and recriminations have steadily escalated over a series of disagreements that have implications for global security and stability.
Blinken plans to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sunday, top diplomat Wang Yi, and possibly President Xi Jinping on Monday, according to U.S. officials.
Biden and Xi agreed to Blinken’s trip early at a meeting last year in Bali. It came within a day of happening in February but was delayed by the diplomatic and political tumult brought on by the discovery of what the U.S. says was a Chinese spy balloon flying across the United States that was shot down.
The list of disagreements and potential conflict points is long: ranging from trade with Taiwan, human rights conditions in China to Hong Kong, as well as the Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea to Russia's war in Ukraine.
U.S. officials said before Blinken's departure from Washington on Friday that he would raise each of them, though neither side has shown any inclination to back down on their positions.
Shortly before leaving, Blinken emphasized the importance of the U.S. and China establishing and maintaining better lines of communication. The U.S. wants to make sure “that the competition we have with China doesn’t veer into conflict” due to avoidable misunderstandings, he told reporters.
Biden and Xi had made commitments to improve communications “precisely so that we can make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible to avoid possible misunderstandings and miscommunications,” Blinken said Friday.
Xi offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates on Friday that the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries."
“I believe that the foundation of Sino-U.S. relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”
Read: China complains to South Korean ambassador in tit-for-tat move after Seoul summoned Beijing’s envoy
Biden told White House reporters Saturday he was “hoping that over the next several months, I'll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have, but also how ... to get along.” Chances could come at a Group of 20 leaders' gathering in September in New Delhi and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November in San Francisco that the United States is hosting.
Since the cancellation of Blinken's trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while China’s commerce minister traveled to the U.S. And Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Wang in Vienna in May.
But those have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China’s refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and U.S. allegations from Washington that Beijing is attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.
And, earlier this month, China’s defense minister rebuffed a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of continuing discontent.
Austin said Friday he was confident that he and his Chinese counterpart would meet “at some point in time, but we’re not there yet.”
Underscoring the situation, China rejected a report by a U.S. security firm, that blamed Chinese-linked hackers for attacks on hundreds of public agencies, schools and other targets around the world, as “far-fetched and unprofessional”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson repeated accusations that Washington carries out hacking attacks and complained the cybersecurity industry rarely reports on them.
Read: US confirms China has had a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019
That followed a similar retort earlier in the week when China said Qin had in a phone call with Blinken urged the United States to respect “China’s core concerns” such as the issue of Taiwan’s self-rule, and “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests in the name of competition.”
Meanwhile, the national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines held their first joint talks Friday and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation, in part to counter China's growing influence and ambitions.
This coincides with the Biden administration inking an agreement with Australia and Britain to provide the first with nuclear-powered submarines, with China moving rapidly to expand its diplomatic presence, especially in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific island nations, where it has opened or has plans to open at least five new embassies over the next year.
The agreement is part of an 18-month-old nuclear partnership given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Speaking before Blinken's departure, two U.S. officials downplayed hopes for major progress and stressed that the trip was intended to restore a sense of calm and normalcy to high-level contacts.
"We’re coming to Beijing with a realistic, confident approach and a sincere desire to manage our competition in the most responsible way possible,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific.
Kurt Campbell, the top Asia expert at the National Security Council, said "intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we’re going to manage tensions. That is the only way to clear up misperceptions, to signal, to communicate, and to work together where and when our interests align.”
Read more: A US-China war will be an ‘unbearable disaster’, world big enough for both superpowers: Chinese Defence Minister