- Border clash in the Himalayas
- How seriously does China take COP15?
- Sinolytics.Radar: life after zero-Covid
- Terror attack on Chinese citizens in Kabul
- Xi and Putin plan talks
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India and China share a roughly 3,500-kilometer-long border. Since the Sino-Indian border war of 1962, its partly unclear location has repeatedly caused conflicts. This month, border troops from both countries clashed in the Arunachal Pradesh region. Fortunately, there were no casualties – at an altitude of 5,000 meters, the soldiers of the two nuclear powers fought almost archaically. In order to prevent a drastic escalation, they are mostly equipped only with clubs.
Nevertheless, the local skirmishes have geopolitical significance, writes Michael Radunski. After all, in the rivalry between the US and China, Washington begins to discover India as a partner – from an economic and security perspective. It seems unlikely that the potentially volatile border situation will improve any time soon. With new roads and runways, both sides show that they do not plan to back down even an inch.
Since Tuesday, more than 100 countries have been negotiating a new global agreement on the protection of ecological diversity under the Chinese presidency at the COP15 Biodiversity Conference. However, the conference is not taking place in China, but in Montreal, Canada. Zero-Covid has made a meeting in China impossible; now Beijing will have to accept a shared host role.
Time is short: Around one million species face extinction, and half of the world’s economic output depends on healthy ecosystems. With the topic of biodiversity, Xi Jinping wanted to set global accents. In October 2021, China’s president announced a biodiversity fund of just over 200 million euros at the first, virtual part of COP15. But in Montreal, China has yet to take a clear position on many crucial issues, write Timo Landenberger and Christiane Kuehl. In the run-up to the conference, Beijing had not yet made any binding commitments on any agenda items.
Today marks the first anniversary of our Sinolytics.Radar format. This popular section has so far featured 52 charts with explanations of current issues, which have met much acclaim for their visual presentation of complex topics. To mark this anniversary, we now offer all charts in one publication. Click here for the free download.
Fabian Peltsch
Feature
Conflict at 5000 meters
Indian and Chinese troops have once again engaged in violent clashes on their disputed border in the Himalayas. The bloody incident in the Tawang sector in the Arunachal Pradesh region last Friday resulted in injuries on both sides.
It was the most violent incident between China and India since 2020 – and brings back bad memories of the border war between the two nuclear powers in 1962. Fortunately, the current situation is far from that. But the incidents at an altitude of around 5,000 meters show how tense and fragile the relationship between China and India is. On top of that, the United States is increasingly betting on India in its rivalry with China.
China and India: No fixed border in the high mountains
The border between India and China in the Himalayan Mountains has been disputed for decades; time and again skirmishes erupt there. This is because the exact line of the border has not been defined. Rather, it is a “line of actual control” (LAC). This line is around 3,500 kilometers long and stretches across the harsh heights of the Himalayas – from Ladakh in the west to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in the east.
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