As Indian and Pakistani businessmen discussed ways to boost bilateral trade at a hotel in Lahore on Tuesday, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed led a rally and warned traders against doing business with India. Businessmen from the two countries gathered in the cool environs of Pearl Continental Hotel while Saeed led the rally opposing peace with India at a venue hardly a kilometre away. He warned Pakistani businessmen not to trade with Indians, claiming this would lead to the "economic murder" of Pakistan. A sizeable number of workers of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah joined the rally that was organised under the banner of the Defa-e-Pakistan Council. Waving banners and placards, the activists shouted slogans against Pakistani businessmen and politicians for extending a "hand of friendship" to an enemy country. In his address, Saeed said some elements were conspiring against Pakistan in the name of forging peace with India. "If they are interested to boost economic ties with neighbouring countries, they should prefer China. I want to tell Pakistani businessmen that we are not against trade with neighbouring countries. But I appeal to them, do not do it with India," he said. Saeed said the Pakistani government, politicians and businessmen should tell India that there will be "no peace and no trade" unless disputes over Kashmir and sharing of river waters are resolved. "We are against giving Most Favoured Nation status to India," he said. Saeed further said he was ready to face charges against him in any international court. "If the US or India has any evidence against me regarding my involvement in the Mumbai attacks, it should present it in the international court of law. I will fight the case," he added. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar are among the Pakistani leaders who addressed the high-profile business conference. The protest by Saeed came hours after US secretary of state Hillary Clinton described him as "one of the principal architects" of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. REFERENCE: Pakistan should trade with China not India: Hafiz Saeed PTI Lahore, May 08, 2012 http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Pakistan-should-trade-with-China-not-India-Hafiz-Saeed/Article1-852764.aspx
Prof. Swaran Singh | Multilateralizing China India Relations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK2BgDzZOFg
Indian exports, mainly driven by cotton and iron ore to China amounted to USD 20.8 billion while Chinese exports to India totalled to USD 40.8 billion, virtually double that of India - Bilateral trade between India and China exceeded the two countries' $60 billion target last year, driven largely by rising Indian imports of Chinese machinery that have left a record trade imbalance of $20 billion in China's favour. Figures released for last year showed that bilateral trade in 2010 reached $61.7 billion, with Chinese exports to India touching $40.8 billion. This marked a 43 per cent jump in trade volume from last year, when the recession reduced two-way trade to $43 billion. In 2008, China became India's largest trade partner with $51.8 billion in bilateral trade. Despite the growth, the figures underscore rising Indian concerns over the fast-widening trade deficit, with Indian exports, largely made up of iron ore, other raw materials and cotton, contributing a little over $20 billion — equalling the size of the deficit. Indian officials have pressed China, most recently during Premier Wen Jiabao's December visit to New Delhi, to address the growing deficit by providing better market access for Indian pharmaceutical and Information Technology companies here which have struggled to penetrate the Chinese market. Officials say the deficit is otherwise likely to widen even further in the coming year, with iron ore sales, which have driven Indian exports, expected to fall with the recent ban in Karnataka. India is China's third biggest supplier of iron ore, behind Brazil and Australia. But following the ban, Chinese importers have increasingly diversified their imports, seeking out new markets such as South Africa and Ukraine. China, in contrast, exports finished goods to India, mainly machinery. Growing demand for Chinese telecom and power equipment has fuelled the growth in trade. Indian officials say the one bright spot in the coming year could come from Indian pharmaceutical companies, with China set to accelerate a $2-billion reform in its healthcare sector in coming months. Officials from China's State Food and Drug Administration made a recent visit to India, with a delegation of Indian pharmaceutical companies scheduled to visit China in March. China's Health Minister Chen Zhu said last year the country welcomed Indian pharmaceutical companies, known here for their cost- competitiveness, to help address the growing demands of the China market. “We know India's pharmaceutical sector, including non-generic and creative medicine, is leading the developing world,” he said, adding that “China has a huge market potential for healthcare services and medicine. We more than welcome pharmaceutical companies from countries like India to China.” REFERENCE: India-China trade surpasses target ANANTH KRISHNAN BEIJING, January 27, 2011 http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1129785.ece
Iran Pakistan India China gas pipeline strategic economic point of conflict
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXYi5dIpM9E
ISLAMABAD: A consortium led by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has ‘run away’ from providing financial advisory services for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project apparently because of the US opposition to the plan and forced the government to look for alternative financing options. “It is apprehended that a probable reason for not signing the agreement (to act as financial adviser for the project) till date could be geopolitical situation in the region,” a summary presented to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Tuesday said. A meeting of the ECC presided over by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was informed by Petroleum Secretary Mohammad Ejaz Chaudhry that the Chinese consortium’s leader had “run away from the project”. It was informed that on the directives of decision-making forums, “a top class financial adviser had been appointed through international competitive bidding following procurement rules”. The contract with Habib Bank and Ernst & Young Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder (EYFRSH) — two other members of the advisory consortium — had been signed by Inter-State gas Systems (ISGS), a state owned company, in the first week of January but the ICBC had been delaying the signing of a formal agreement. Now, the HBL and the EYFRSH were also not giving a clear response, the meeting was informed. “The petroleum ministry informed that the existing parties of the ICBC and HBL are showing less interest in the IP project, so the ECC may go for other options,” an official statement issued after the meeting said. The ‘front-end engineering design’ feasibility and a detailed route survey are being done by a consortium comprising the ILF of China and Nespak and are expected to be completed by June, on the basis of which bids will be invited for the 800km pipeline inside Pakistan for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. The project involves a debt-equity ratio of 70:30 with the government having a majority share in equity. Tender documents have been issued to pipeline suppliers and EPC contractors so that the contracts can be executed by the third quarter of this year. The contracts will form a major portion of the funding requirement for the project. It has been proposed that as an alternative to the arrangement with the Chinese bank, the government should route the Infrastructure Development Cess recently imposed on gas consumers to Pakistani banks who should then create a fund with the government. The funding can be routed to the ISGS to meet financial requirements of the project that would help reduce the tariff for imported gas. Initial estimates suggest that the cess will be sufficient to meet the project’s funding requirements. The ECC was requested to allow cancellation of the ICBC contract and to approach the second bidder, comprising the United Bank, Burj Capital Pakistan, Eco Trade Development Bank, Fieldstone Group and Islamic Corporation for Development of Private Sector, to sign a contract to provide debt and private equity for the project on similar terms. The committee was also urged to consider government-to-government offers from China, Russia and Iran for providing funds for the project. Iran has offered $300 million and Russia has offered to provide funding if the EPC contract is given to its companies without bidding. To accept the options, the government will have to bypass the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s rules. The ECC constituted a committee comprising ministers for petroleum and water and power, State Bank governor, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and secretaries of economic affairs, finance and petroleum to prepare recommendations within four days so that work on laying the pipeline could be started by September to meet the completion deadline of December 2014. REFERENCE: Chinese bank ditches Iran gas project From the Newspaper | Khaleeq Kiani | 14th March, 2012 http://dawn.com/2012/03/14/chinese-bank-ditches-iran-gas-project/
The Urumqi riots of July 2009—the most deadly episode of ethnic unrest in recent Chinese history—continued to cast a shadow over developments in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The government has not accounted for hundreds of persons detained after the riots, nor investigated the serious allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees that have surfaced in testimonies of refugees and relatives living outside China. The few publicized trials of suspected rioters were marred by restrictions on legal representation, overt politicization of the judiciary, and failure to publish notification of the trials and to hold genuinely open trials as mandated by law. Several violent incidents occurred in the region in 2011, though culpability remains unclear. On July 18 the government said it had killed 14 Uighur attackers who had overrun a police station in Hetian and were holding several hostages. On July 30 and 31 a series of knife and bomb attacks took place in Kashgar. In both cases the government blamed Islamist extremists. In mid-August it launched a two-month “strike hard” campaign aimed at “destroying a number of violent terrorist groups and ensuring the region’s stability.” Under the guise of counterterrorism and anti-separatism efforts, the government also maintains a pervasive system of ethnic discrimination against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities, along with sharp curbs on religious and cultural expression and politically motivated arrests. The first national Work Conference on Xinjiang, held in 2010, endorsed economic measures that may generate revenue but are likely to further marginalize ethnic minorities. By the end of 2011, 80 percent of traditional neighborhoods in the ancient Uighur city of Kashgar will have been razed. Many Uighur inhabitants have been forcibly evicted and relocated to make way for a new city likely to be dominated by the Han population. REFERENCE: World Report 2012: China http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-china http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/china_2012_0.pdf
Beyond Guantanamo China's Uyghur Muslim Minority
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjZ7rt6vRSQ
1. (C) On June 25, PolOff conveyed to MFA International Organizations and Conferences Department UN Division Deputy Director Shen Yinyin U.S. appreciation for Chinese support of the designation of Arif Qasmani, Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, and Fazeel-a-Tul Shaykh Abu Muhammad Ameen al-Peshawari to the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee (reftel). Deputy Director Shen acknowledged the message but offered no further comment. PICCUTA REFERENCE: 2009: China places three Pakistan-based individuals on terrorist list 7th June, 2011 http://dawn.com/2011/06/07/2009-china-places-three-pakistan-based-individuals-on-terrorist-list/
Genocide in East Turkistan Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpV4xuaWvP4
1. (C) India has not provided sufficient information about the three Pakistan-based individuals it proposed to the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee to merit their listing as terrorists, MFA International Organizations and Conferences Department UN Affairs Division Deputy Director Shen Yinyin told PolOff August 21 as an informal response to reftel points requesting China lift its holds on Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LET/JUD) operatives Abdul Rahman Makki and Azham Cheema, and the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM), Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi. Deputy Director Shen noted that China “is very serious” about its commitments to UNSC Resolution 1267, but without adequate information on the three individuals, China would not lift the hold. 2. (C) Deputy Director Shen stated that soon after April 28, when China had placed a technical hold on the three individuals proposed by India, Chinese officials had approached the Indian government for more information on the cases but had since been reportedly told by the Indian government that the information India presented was sufficient to justify the listing. Adding to some frustration on China’s part, according to Shen, were media reports during that time suggesting that India had provided the United Kingdom with additional information on the three Pakistan-based individuals in response to UK requests. REFERENCE: 2009: China wanted more information from India before placing LeT, JeM operatives on terrorist list 7th June, 2011 GOLDBERG http://dawn.com/2011/06/07/2009-china-wanted-more-information-from-india-before-placing-let-jem-operatives-on-terrorist-list/
Genocide in East Turkistan Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyBkpM9MtY
One of the cables notes that China did not block the most recent Pakistan-related terrorist nomination made by the US. China has also supported the December 2008 designation of JuD, Hafiz Saeed (pictured above), Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and two others, days after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. - KARACHI: For the past many years China has continued to place a ‘technical hold’ in the United Nations to block imposition of sanctions on some alleged Pakistani militants on the ground that India has failed to provide sufficient information to merit such action. As a result Pakistan has been provided with some breathing space to further investigate their possible involvement in acts of international terrorism. According to some confidential cables of US embassy in Beijing, from June 25, 2009, to January 20, 2010, the United States desperately tried to influence the Chinese to lift the technical hold, but failed as sufficient information was not coming from India. The cables obtained by Dawn through WikiLeaks quote a Chinese official as saying that China “is very serious” about its commitments to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267, but without adequate information on “these three individuals”, it would not lift the hold. The individuals whom India wanted to be listed as `terrorist`, include Maulana Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Abdur Rehman Makki and Azam Cheema of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a relatively less heard people of these outfits. The UNSC Resolution 1267 asks member countries to impose sanctions against people who are listed as terrorists. The member countries of the Security Council, which wield a veto are empowered to block the listing. China being one of them blocked the listing of these alleged militants, repeatedly asking India to provide more information about them to enable it to lift the technical hold. Shen Yinyin, the deputy director of China`s ministry of foreign affairs international organisations and conferences department (UN affairs division), according to the cable of Aug 21, 2009, told the political officer of the US embassy that India had not provided sufficient information about Azhar, Makki and Azam Cheema, to merit their listing as terrorists. The US official had contacted the Chinese deputy director asking to lift the technical hold. The Chinese official responded that China `is very serious` about its commitment to UNSC Resolution 1267, but without adequate information on the three individuals, it would not lift the hold. Deputy director Shen stated that soon after April 28, when China had placed the technical hold on the three individuals, proposed by India to be listed as terrorists, Chinese officials had approached the Indian government for more information on the case as the information provided by it was not sufficient to justify the listing. However, she said the Indian government had maintained that the information it had presented was sufficient. To ask China to lift the `technical hold` the United States provided some more information, but apparently it failed to convince the Chinese officials. According to one US Cable sent from the Beijing Embassy on Jan 20 last year, the US political officer delivered some reference points concerning UN 1267 Committee listing of Makki, Cheema and Azhar. The US political officer requested that China not place a new hold on these three listings. The Chinese official, Shen acknowledged that China had not provided a definitive response to the additional information provided in October 2009. She said the MFA would review the information provided in the context of UNSC Resolution 1617 and provide a response as soon as possible. According to another cable, the contents of which have been published by some newspapers, the US State Department viewed China as acting at the behest of Pakistan in holding the designations. The cable of December 30, 2009, sent in the name of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had alleged that “on the international stage, Pakistan has sought to block the UNSCR 1267 listings of Pakistan-based or affiliated terrorists by requesting that China places a hold on the nominations”. The cable notes that China did not block the most recent Pakistan-related terrorist nomination made by the US. China has also supported the December 2008 designation of JuD, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and two others, days after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. REFERENCE: India failed to provide information for listing militants as terrorist By Idrees Bakhtiar 7th June, 2011 http://dawn.com/2011/06/07/india-failed-to-provide-information-for-listing-militants-as-terrorist/ China blocked U.N. sanctions against terror group at Pakistan's behest NARAYAN LAKSHMAN WASHINGTON, December 7, 2010 http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article936090.ece
Chinese forces hit defenseless Uyghur protesters in Xinjiang July 10, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7FcBVpUlSk
BEIJING:China is facing a network of militants entrenched in neighbouring states, but authorities, especially in Pakistan, are trying to stamp out violence and protect China’s interests, the governor of China’s Xinjiang region said on Wednesday. China has blamed incidents of violence in Xinjiang on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Some Chinese officials have blamed attacks on Muslim militants trained in Pakistan, though China’s Foreign Ministry has refrained from public criticism of Pakistan. Xinjiang’s governor, however, was more explicit. “We have certainly discovered that East Turkestan activists and terrorists in our neighbouring states have a thousand and one links,” Nur Bekri said on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament, when asked about a Pakistan connection with attacks in Xinjiang. “But officials, especially in Pakistan, have said over and over again they oppose any violent activities directed against China and will maintain China’s national sovereignty and core interests,” he said. Both Chinese and Pakistani officials have in the past said that the militants based in western China have ties to the Pakistani Taliban and other militants in northwestern Pakistani regions along the Afghan border. Officials in Kashgar, a city in south Xinjiang, said a stabbing attack there in late July was orchestrated by members of the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement who trained in Pakistan before returning to China. Bekri said he was assured of Pakistani support in the campaign against militancy. “China and Pakistan are indeed all-weather friends. This is the basis founded by the previous generations of leaders,” Bekri said. Pakistan and China have long been allies but Pakistan has leaned closer to China after its tense relationship with the United States, its major donor, was strained in May when US forces killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan where he appears to have hidden for several years. China sees Xinjiang as a bulwark against the predominantly Muslim countries of central Asia. The region, with a sixth of the country’s land mass, is also rich in natural resources, including oil, coal and gas. The Muslim Uighur people account for just over 40 percent of the region’s 21 million population. Many chafe at government controls on their culture and religion. Last week, the government said attackers wielding knives killed 13 people in a remote southern part of Xinjiang before police shot seven of them dead. Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say China overstates the threat posed by militants in Xinjiang, which sits astride south and central Asia. REFERENCE: China official sees militant links in Pakistan Reuters | 7th March, 2012 http://dawn.com/2012/03/07/china-official-sees-militant-links-in-pakistan/
UN Targets Human Rights Abuses in China
US - China human rights hypocrisy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQBEcg0DvqM
BEIJING—A senior Chinese official on Wednesday alleged that some Uighur militants in northwestern China have deep-seated ties to Pakistan-based terror groups, reviving an accusation that could put strains on the relationship between Beijing and its most important regional ally. Nur Bekri, the top government official in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, said Chinese officials believe the Pakistani government opposes recent attacks directed at China. Nonetheless, the unusually explicit comments during a high-profile legislative session suggest growing concern over Islamabad's inability to fight terrorism. Some ethnic Uighurs have waged a long and bloody campaign for independence from China. Beijing has long accused Uighur separatists of being part of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, known as ETIM, which it says has ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. "We have discovered some East Turkestan activists and terrorists from our neighboring country have countless links," Mr. Bekri said during a meeting in Beijing of the National People's Congress, China's legislative body, which meets once a year. He emphasized that Pakistan itself is an "all-weather friend" of China, echoing previous remarks from Chinese officials. Pakistani Foreign Ministry and military officials couldn't be reached to comment. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a previous statement that it would continue to support China in fighting the ETIM. Mr. Bekri's comments follow earlier claims in August by the city government of Kashgar, in far western Xinjiang, that suspected assailants there had received explosives and weapons training in terrorist camps across the border in Pakistan. Analysts have said the increasingly public accusations suggest Beijing is either unhappy with Islamabad's counterterrorism efforts or is keen to show that attacks in Xinjiang originated abroad. China has emerged as one of Pakistan's staunchest defenders in recent years, and a critical supplier of civilian and military aid, particularly as its ties with Washington have soured. At the same time, accusations by Chinese officials over Xinjiang militants' ties to Pakistan echo claims by India and Afghanistan, which have both criticized Pakistan for failing to take aggressive enough action against terrorist groups there. The latest accusations by Mr. Bekri appeared to be the highest-level finger-pointing yet at Pakistan over potential ties between its militants and Uighur separatists. Foreign Ministry officials in recent months have declined to say whether they believe Uighur militants have ties in Pakistan. At a daily press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin praised Islamabad's counterterrorism efforts. "Pakistan is at the forefront of the international campaign against terrorism and has sacrificed a lot," Mr. Liu said. "We believe the international community should speak highly of Pakistan's efforts in fighting terrorism." Leaders from across China are convening this week for the annual gathering of China's rubber-stamp parliament. The Communist Party is attempting to present a unified front even as the country's western regions of Xinjiang and Tibet face upticks in violence. In the latest instance of violence, at least 13 people were killed last week in a remote region near the Xinjiang border with Pakistan after an attack by knife-wielding assailants in Yecheng County, according to local authorities. At least seven suspected attackers were also shot and killed by police. Beijing has aggressively encouraged investment in Xinjiang in recent years, and has attempted to boost trade between the autonomous region and neighboring Central Asian states. The region is also home to some of China's most abundant oil and gas reserves. Nonetheless, the arrival of growing numbers of entrepreneurs belonging to China's ethnic Han majority is leading to greater wealth disparity and perpetuating violence, according to analysts. Ethnic clashes in the regional capital of Urumqi between Uighurs and Han Chinese in 2009 left nearly 200 people dead. Security forces dramatically stepped up their presence in the years since. Mr. Bekri, the region's top government official, has also pledged to crack down on religious activities the government deems illegal. REFERENCE: China Points Finger at Pakistan Again Xinjiang Official's Claim Over Uighur Militants' Ties Could Strain Beijing's Bond With Regional Ally By BRIAN SPEGELE ASIA NEWSMarch 7, 2012, 6:38 a.m. ET - —Wayne Ma and Dinny McMahon in Beijing and Tom Wright in New Delhi contributed to this article. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204781804577266952254783484.html
WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s visit to China, which he declared his country’s best friend, makes it harder to sell an angry US public on aid to Islamabad, a key US senator said on Tuesday. “Frankly, I’m getting tired of it, and I think Americans are getting tired of it as far as shovelling money in there at people who just flat don’t like us,” said Republican Senator James Risch. Continued aid to Pakistan, Risch argued, was “a hard sell to the American people” when cash-strapped Washington sends assistance to Islamabad, only to see “the head of Pakistan go to China and… stand up and say ‘you\re our best friend’.” His comments came during a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on sour US-Pakistan ties in the wake of the raid in which elite US commandos killed Osama bin Laden in a military academy town not very far from Islamabad. And they follow Mr Gilani’s arrival in China. Asked at the hearing about the visit, former White House national security adviser Jim Jones said Washington must work to ensure that Mr Gilani’s visit to China does not worsen his country’s already strained India ties. “If any part of Pakistan thinking is that better relations with China make India mad, and that’s therefore a good thing to do, then that’s flawed thinking,” said Jones. “We need to try to ensure that we can make sure that relations don’t get worse as a result of this kind of trip and this kind of rhetoric,” said Jones. He also said Washington must strive to convince countries like China, Brazil and India “that with this great economic power that they’re about to have, and already have in some cases, there comes some great responsibilities in terms of making the world a better place.”—AFP REFERENCE: US senator criticises China visitFrom the Newspaper Yesterday http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/18/us-senator-criticises-china-visit.html
James Risch is a member of following Committees:
Energy and Natural Resources, Member
Foreign Relations, Member
Select Committee on Ethics, Member
Select Committee on Intelligence, Member
Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Member
Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Member
Subcommittee on Energy, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on European Affairs, Member
Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and
International Environmental Protection, Member
Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, Member
Subcommittee on Water and Power, Member
RICHARD NIXON TAPES- China & Changing the World (Kissinger)
Courtesy: http://youtu.be/J4n2P_fZB08
Henry Kissinger February 14, 1972 -- 10:32 PM 020-092 White House Telephone
"QUOTE"
September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
Last week, President Bush visited Beijing on the anniversary of Richard Nixon's visit in February 1972, the first presidential trip to China.(1) To commemorate further the Nixon trip, the National Security Archive and the George Washington University's Cold War Group of the Elliott School of International Affairs are publishing recently declassified U.S. documents on the Sino-American rapprochement. This material documents Nixon's efforts to make contacts with Beijing during 1970-1971 as the basis for rapprochement after decades of hostility. Most of the documents, held in the files of the Nixon Presidential Materials Project at the National Archives, were released in April 2001; they are only the tip of an iceberg of very rich material in the Nixon papers. The new releases make it possible to publish here for the first time, a nearly-complete record --some pages are still classified--of the historic talks between Zhou Enlai and Henry Kissinger during the latter's secret trip to China in July 1971. September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
This collection opens up with documentation on Nixon's and Kissinger's efforts to establish communication with China in the fall of 1970. Since the beginning of his presidency in early 1969, and even earlier, Nixon had been interested in changing relations with China, not least to contain a potential nuclear threat but also, by taking advantage of the adversarial Sino-Soviet relationship, to open up another front in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It took time, however, for Nixon and Kissinger to discover how to carry out a new policy toward Beijing and such complications as the U.S. invasion of Cambodia in 1970 created detours in White House efforts to sustain a dialogue with Beijing.(2) September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
Earlier efforts to make contact with China having gone nowhere, in September 1970 Nixon directed Kissinger to renew the effort. An October 1970 meeting with Pakistan's ruler Yahya Khan (see document 3) had some potential for expediting contacts because Pakistan had provided a channel for earlier Sino-American communication in 1969.(3) Nevertheless, as the documents show, Kissinger was also trying other channels, such as the Romanian government and an old friend, Jean Sainteny, who had connections at the Chinese embassy in Paris. The Pakistani channel produced an important message from Zhou in December 1970, which quickly generated a White House response (see documents 5 and 7). In April 1971, both sides were engaged in important signaling---the Chinese with "Ping Pong diplomacy" and Nixon with public statements of interest in visiting China--while Kissinger was waiting for Beijing's response to the message sent in December. On 27 April 1971, he was about to make another effort to contact Sainteny when the Pakistani ambassador delivered Zhou Enlai's belated reply (see document 16). Mao Zedong's and Zhou's interest in receiving a visit from Nixon laid the way for Kissinger's secret trip in July 1971 and the beginning of the U.S.-China effort to discuss the issues that had divided them over the years. September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
The documents show that general agreement on the Taiwan problem was the sine qua non for Nixon's trip and diplomatic normalization generally, although Kissinger elided that issue altogether in his memoirs. Nixon was reluctant to give up too much on Taiwan (see item 32), but he knew that the success of the trip depended on U.S. admission that it did not seek "two Chinas or a "one China, one Taiwan solution." In his talk with Zhou on 9 July, Kissinger did not use Zhou's formulation that "Taiwan was a part of China" but he nevertheless acknowledged it when he declared that "we are not advocating a `two Chinas' solution or a `one China, one Taiwan' solution."(4) Kissinger's declaration prompted Zhou to say what he had not yet said, that he was optimistic about Sino-American rapprochement: "the prospect for a solution and the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries is hopeful" (see document 33 at p. 13). As important as this exchange was, in his 1979 memoir Kissinger misleadingly wrote that "Taiwan was mentioned only briefly during the first session."(5) Yet some 9 pages, nearly 20 percent, of the 46-page record of the first Zhou-Kissinger meeting on 9 July 1971, include discussion of Taiwan, with Kissinger disavowing Taiwanese independence and committing to withdraw two-thirds of U.S. military forces from the island once the Vietnam War ended. Moreover, Kissinger told Zhou that he expected that Beijing and Washington would "settle the political question" of diplomatic relations "within the earlier part of the President's second term." Kissinger did not say what that would mean for U.S. diplomatic relations with Taiwan but undoubtedly Zhou expected Washington to break formal ties with Taipei as a condition of Sino-American diplomatic normalization. September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
Undoubtedly, Kissinger hoped that the Taiwan problem would gradually fade away, with peaceful "evolution" uniting China and its wayward province, but Taiwan proved resilient and the downgrading of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship remained a sore point for Republican Party conservatives during the 1970s. Indeed, Nixon's resignation in 1974 and the political weaknesses of his successor, Gerald Ford, made it impossible for Kissinger to complete the U.S.-PRC normalization process. Ford could not break ties with Taiwan without raising the ire of the Republican right. Undoubtedly, when Kissinger published his memoir he did not want to provoke the conservatives, much less Taipei, by disclosing what he had said to Zhou about Taiwan. September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
The U.S. documentation represents only a partial record of a more complex reality. While Chinese archival sources are largely unavailable, a growing body of scholarship in China and the United States draws upon Chinese language sources to show that Beijing was just as energetic as Washington in trying to signal interest in a new relationship. For example, in his recent book, Mao's China and the Cold War, University of Virginia historian Chen Jian discusses in fascinating detail the internal deliberations in Beijing during the late 1960s and early 70s.(6) One intriguing episode in Chen's account is the story of the four marshals whom Mao instructed in 1969 to report on trends in world politics, especially U.S-Soviet, Sino-Soviet, and Sino-American relations. Worried about a dangerous confrontation with Moscow, two of the marshals, Chen Yi and Ye Jianying, proposed that Beijing play "the card of the United States" to provide leverage with Moscow. During the last decades of the Cold War, top U.S. officials would sometimes recommend playing the "China card," but it is a rare policymaker who understands that the United States may also be the object of other nations' card playing.(7) September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
As useful as the new Chinese materials are in elucidating the story of the rapprochement, for the most part Bejing's archives are closed to all but party insiders. It may be too optimistic to hope that the availability of U.S documentation from the highest levels of the Nixon administration will induce Chinese authorities to disclose their record of these historic developments. Whether archival openness will depend on other steps toward a more politically open society remains to be seen, but until a new archival regime emerges in Beijing, both American and Chinese historians will have to rely on an incomplete U.S. record. September 1970-July 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 66 Edited by William Burr, February 27, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/
"UNQUOTE"
US Declassified Document before the Fall of Dhaka: Handwritten note from President Richard M. Nixon on an April 28, 1971, National Security Council decision paper: "To all hands. Don't squeeze Yahya at this time - RMN" The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971 REFERENCE: The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 79 Edited by Sajit Gandhi
December 16, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB79/
"An statement of an Honest General who was absent minded too" President Yahya Khan On East Pakistan [KEEP IN MIND THE RECENT RANT OF REVOLUTION IN PAKISTAN WITH THE HELP OF HONEST GENERAL]
As per Ms. Anjum Niaz
(Sealed off as 'Top Secret' by the State Department and CIA, now after three decades, 46 declassified documents - some 'sanitized' - and a audio clip of Nixon-Kissinger offer a compelling peek at President Nixon and his security advisor Henry Kissinger giving a sly wink to the Pakistan army to kill, rape and terrorize innocent East Pakistanis during the 1971 India-Pakistan crisis)
Inside the Oval Office, August 2, 1971, an exasperated President Nixon and his national security advisor Henry Kissinger curse India for wanting to pick up a fight with Pakistan. Actually, the timing is skewed for Nixon who has clandestinely taken a shine to Chou En-Lai facilitated by Pakistan President Gen.Yahya Khan. But the "god-damn Indians" - as Nixon and Kissinger call them - are giving the Americans a run for their money by refusing to sit and watch silently the two siblings - East and West Pakistan - slug it out with each other.
"We have already given 100 million dollars to India for the refugees (pouring in from E. Pakistan)," Kissinger informs Nixon who is convinced the US is "making a terrible mistake" by heaping dollars on New Delhi. "India is economically in good shape, but no one knows how the god-damn Indians are using this money. They are not letting any foreigners enter the refugee areas. Any foreigners, and their record is outrageous!" keens Kissinger.
The White House conversation comes the day after the Beatle George Harrison and his soul mate Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar player hold a "Concert for Bangladesh"(months before its birth) to raise money for the refugees escaping the reign of terror unleashed by Pakistan army after Mujibur Rehman's Awami League has swept the polls in East Pakistan during the 1970-71 general elections but is now being outlawed.
"So who is the Beatle giving the money to - is it the god-damn Indians?" asks a frustrated Nixon. "Yes," says Kissinger flatly, adding that Pakistan has also been given $150,000 food aid but the major problem "is the god-damn distribution." Nixon jumps in, "we have to keep India away". Kissinger couldn't agree more: "we must defuse the refugee and famine problem in East Pakistan in order to deprive India (read Indira Gandhi) of an excuse to start the war with Pakistan."
"We have to avoid screwing Pakistan that outrageously. It could blow up everything," concurs Kissinger. And the solution according to him is: "we should start our god-damn lecturing on political structures, as much as we can and while there will eventually be a separate East Bengal in two years (he says it so very casually) but it must not happen in the next six months." REFERENCE: When America looked the other way By Anjum Niaz Friday, January 03, 2003
http://www.zcommunications.org/when-america-looked-the-other-way-by-anjum-niaz
NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Newly-declassified papers of the US government reveal that the then President Richard Nixon had ordered his aides not to hamper Gen Yahya Khan’s war effort in East Pakistan, despite warnings from his Dhaka envoy that American weapons were being used to carry out a massacre there, Star News reported on Wednesday. In what was billed as an exclusive report, the New Delhi- datelined report quotes American documents as saying that the then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Nixon were poised to cut off diplomatic ties with New Delhi in the middle of the 1971 conflict but they were stopped by Pakistan’s surrender and the ceasefire declared by India. Two days ago, India celebrated Vijay Diwas or Victory Day — the day in 1971 that Pakistan forces agreed to surrender in Dhaka. “Now 31 years later, the US has declassified 46 documents on its role during the crisis,” Star News added.
It quoted the documents as saying showing “how America blatantly violated its own arms embargo in arming Pakistan, despite ground reports of a systematic genocide by Pakistani forces in East Pakistan,” the report said. “To all hands, don’t squeeze Yahya at this time,” said a handwritten note by President Richard Nixon in April 1971 — perhaps the clearest indicator of US interests in backing Pakistan’s military dictator. Only a month earlier in March 1971, the American consul-general in Dhaka wrote to his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saying: “Am deeply shocked at massacre by Pakistani military in East Pakistan, appalled at possibility these atrocities are being committed with American equipment, and greatly concerned at United States vulnerability to damaging allegations of association with reign of military terror.” With the American administration choosing to ignore such warnings it was up to the Indian government to internationalise the killings in East Pakistan, the report added. “The genocide in East Pakistan caught the world media’s attention because world media happened to be in West Bengal for the elections and we who were in eastern command would send them to places where they could shoot for themselves,” said Star News quoting India’s Gen Sethna, former Vice Chief of Army Staff, as saying.
Despite the media pressure Richard Nixon continued to support Yahya Khan sometimes for reasons, which seem implausible. “In all honesty, Dr Kissinger pointed out, the President has a special feeling for President Yahya. One cannot make policy on that basis, but it is a fact of life,” says an extract from the Memorandum of Conversation: Henry Kissinger, Assistant to the President to Kenneth Keating and US ambassador to India. It was perhaps this “fact of life” which saw the US completely disregarding its own arms embargo by transferring F-5 fighters then considered state of the art to Pakistan, less than 10 days after the ceasefire. According to the American embassy in Tehran: “Three F-5A fighter aircraft with Pakistani markings and piloted by Pak pilots transited Tehran en-route from Turkey to Pakistan on December 26. Aircraft were noted by several employees including a Pakistani who spoke with one Pak pilot and the reported pilot indicated, that the aircraft had come from US.” As Indian armed forces gained upper hand in the war, the mood in the White House grew increasingly desperate. The documents show both Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger had decided on breaking diplomatic ties with the India but the Pakistani surrender and the Indian ceasefire brought a quick end to the Indo-US diplomatic standoff, the agency said. REFERENCE: Don’t squeeze Yahya Khan, Nixon told aides in 1971 By Jawed Naqvi December 19, 2002 Thursday Shawwal 14, 1423 http://www.dawn.com/2002/12/19/top11.htm
DHAKA: March 25, 1971. We didn’t know about that until the next morning. I was then living in an apartment in a multi-ethnic, middle-class locality of Dhaka. For years we had lived in amity with our neighbours sharing each other’s joys and sorrows. But feelings were changing. Friendships were giving way to animosity. Suspicion and distrust soured relationships. When the curfew was lifted for a few hours in the morning of March 26, I stepped out of my apartment to shop for some food for the family. Suddenly I was stopped by a car that screeched to a halt besides me. The occupants asked me brusquely where I was going. When I told them why I was out on the street at a time when most preferred the safety of their homes, they offered to take me to the market which was not far and insisted that I accompany them. I realised that all was not well and they were looking for easy targets. I then began talking to them in highly Persianised Urdu to establish my ethnic identity. I was wearing a kurta and pyjama that was and still remains the attire of Muslim Bengalis. By then the urban population had discarded the lungi which previously distinguished the natives from the migrants. After driving a short distance, my ‘benefactors’ realised that this was a case of mistaken identity. They lost interest in including me in their wild killing spree. Hurriedly, they dropped me by the roadside saying they had an urgent chore and therefore could not take me to the market. I thanked my stars. We never came to know how many people were killed on that terrible night. Later we learnt that among the unfortunate victims were leading intellectuals, writers, professors, artists, poets and exceptionally bright professionals. Among those innocent people were Prof Guha, Prof Thakur Das and Munier Choudhry. They were patriots working tirelessly for the improvement of their homeland. The list of potential victims had been meticulously prepared with the help of the leaders and activists of some newly formed organisations called Al Shams and Al Badr. Though such allegations were refuted vociferously by the government, it was generally believed that there was a great deal of truth in the rumours that were circulating. The bodies of the slain were later discovered scattered in the vicinity of Mohammadpur, a housing colony which was founded by Field Marshal Ayub Khan for the rehabilitation of Muslims uprooted from India. The massacre of March 25 backfired. The public anger at the killing of Bengali intellectuals exposed the minority Urdu-speaking population to the vendetta that was inevitable. They were isolated and thereafter lived in perpetual fear that instilled in them a ghetto mentality they could never shed. For years they had chased illusions and false images while claiming a sham superiority in number and intellect that simply did not exist. REFERENCE: March 25 — a watershed By Akhtar Payami March 25, 2008 Tuesday Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429 http://archives.dawn.com/2008/03/25/op.htm#4
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