Incidents of confrontation and skirmishes are reported from the western front in Ladakh to eastern areas in Sikkim. In between, Nepal has also butted in, claiming a stretch of land on which India has built a road connecting Ladakh with Uttarakhand as its own. Army chief, General Mukund Naravane, meanwhile, had further muddied the waters saying the claims were at the behest of others. That sparked any remarks from the Nepal defence minister, accusing the Army Chief of being unprofessional for making a political statement.

In the midst of these clashes on the border, China has announced evacuation of all its citizens from India. The Chinese embassy had requested its citizens to book their flights which are now put on schedule from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The current series of border flashes started on May 5 when Chinese troops stalled routine patrolling by Indian forces in the eastern Ladakh when some 250 troops clashed on both sides with sticks, fisticuffs and then stone pelting in which soldiers were injured on both sides. Following that, on May 9, incidents happened in north Sikkim borders. Then there were clashes in western Ladakh in Galwan valley, an area where there were until now no disputes. Whether Nepal was prompted by others or not, China’s actions of strident activism in the India-China borders are being prompted by a remote meeting thousands of kilometres away from the theatres of confrontation.

The Chinese National People’s Congress session which began in Beijing last Friday is always a platform for the top Communist Party leadership for making statements. More than ever, the party’s sole leader now, president Xi Jinping, now desperately needs to convey impressions of strength and power to his clientele.

China has suffered several reverses and loss of face due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. At this year’s annual meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO), no less than 160 countries, including India, joined in with a demand for an independent probe into the origin of the coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan in China. This was a prickly issue which bothered China to no end. It had tried to stall such a probe, right from the beginning. However, in the face of the strident demands, Xi conceded with a provision that it should be conducted only after the coronavirus pandemic was behind the world. That was a ploy, and everybody saw it for that. A pope somewhere in 2029 or 2030 would not be of any use for anybody.

Right now, China is seeking to convey a message to its domestic constituency about its invincibility. The need for show of strength is all the more important because of the severe economic challenges it is facing at home and also in the face of overall uncertainties created by the spread of corona virus pandemic has already produced two shocks.

As if exporting the raging coronavirus pandemic is not enough, China has now set the Hong Kong stock into deep turmoil, along with a sense of fear among those in the neighbouring South East Asian ones. China’s National People’s Congress has resolved to pass a national security law for Hong Kong which will abrogate all civil liberties and ban sedition, cessation, subversion of the central government in Beijing. This will be sought through a rarely used constitutional provision in the handover treaty. The new law has attracted criticisms from US and others. Strong actions are expected from US further complicating the problem ridden US-China diplomatic relations.

Hong Kong had enjoyed democratic rights and rights to protest against the government as enjoyed in UK since the territory was passed from Britain to China in 1997.China had promised to continue the dual system and separate treatment of Hong Kong at the time of its handover. Last year, the city had witnessed increasing restless protests against the mainland authority efforts to detract civil liberties from its people. The move to increasingly integrate Hong Kong into the dictatorial regime in the mainland had unnerved major investors in the territory and its substantial financial markets. The stock market had gone down sharply today.

The second surprise is the absence of announcement of any GDP growth target for the current year which was eagerly awaited by the Chinese people as well as China watchers and economists all over. While China’s annual parliament session — the National People’s Congress — has been kicked off in Beijing, a vital omission underlines the uncertainty through which the country is passing. Chinese premiere, Li Keqiang, who was in charge for making pubic various components of Chinese economic policy, has declined to spell out any specific target for economic growth in the coming year. Refusing to state the growth target, Li said that the country was facing with factors which were too difficult to predict due to the Covid 19 pandemic and uncertainties in the global trade and economic environment.

This is the first time since economic reforms were launched in China from the days of Deng Tsiao Ping that the annual growth target has been left unstated. For year after year, China has specified growth target and surprisingly mostly achieved or over-achieved it. There have been suspicions about making up the figures as well. Instead, Li said that the there was so much uncertainty following the spread of corona virus in the country that specific targets old not be stated. Instead, the Premiere made an announcement about creating 9 million new urban jobs to support the urban unemployed, while last year they aimed at creating 11 million such jobs. Urban unemployment target has been kept at 6 per cent which meant 27 million were jobless. The more correct figure is said to be around 80 million, according to reports.

China’s economy has suffered a contraction by 7 per cent this year due largely to the lock-down to check spread of corona virus. Last year the economy had expanded by about 6 per cent almost on target. However, China’s export dependent economy is facing adverse global headwinds, which is surely leaving an imprint. Nevertheless, showing the directions of its national ambition and policy move, the premiere announced a 7 per cent hike in defence budget, while all other outlays were pruned significantly. China largest trade partner, the United States, is hardening its stance and there is bipartisan support for legislation and other moves to punish China for its handling of the pandemic.

Reflecting China’s need for reasserting and propping up its authoritarian dictatorial regime, the NPC had decided to pass the draconian law for Hong Kong which will allow presumptive arrest of pro-democracy protestors. This, most Hong Kong-ers have said would be the end of Hong Kong as it has been until now. (IPA Service)