Miscellaneous News

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North and South Korea agree to work toward ‘common goal’ of denuclearization . . .

It was a day marked by an astonishing level of congeniality between the two, including a warm embrace at the signing of the “Panmunjeom Declaration,” named after the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone where it was forged.

It was, however, short on details as to what “denuclearization” means for each of them.

Still, the fact that Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in spent so much time together — and came up with a joint statement that even includes the word “denuclearization” — marked a surprising development after a year of threats and missile launches that brought the specter of war back to the Korean Peninsula.

“This provides the political space for Trump to have his own summit with Kim,” said Duyeon Kim, a visiting fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum in Seoul. “Whether or not Kim Jong Un means it is a completely different story.”


North and South Korea have agreed to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula . . .

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declares
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‘world’s largest host of
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’ [
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]



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"As per UNHCR, Pakistan is hosting the largest number of refugees globally, which number more than 1.45 million in the country, and most of them hail from Afghanistan. The report added that Pakistan unconditionally hosted millions of refugees and provided best possible facilities to these affected people of different countries especially Afghan citizens when the war was at its peak."

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At Last.....

Pakistan witness visible decline in terrorism fatalities: US report


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WASHINGTON: Pakistan has seen a visible decline in terrorism fatalities by almost 40 per cent last year, according to the US State Department report released here.

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We have already won the war against Terrorism. The remaining Terrorist will also be wiped of from
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very soon.


As per our DATA:

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Mainstreaming of FATA (Tribal Areas) key to prosperity: DG ISPR...

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RAWALPINDI: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday reiterated that the mainstreaming of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is the key to prosperity, adding that it is time to be aware of ‘inimical forces’ creating uncertainties.

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manqiangrexue

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And then there were 19 lil' piggies left. Woot!
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Dominican Republic forges tie with China, breaks with Taiwan
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(AP Photo/Andy Wong). Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi prepare to shake hands after they signed the joint communique at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

By EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ
Associated Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - The Dominican Republic's government announced Monday that it is establishing diplomatic relations with China and breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan and will later recognize Taiwan as an "inalienable part of Chinese territory."

The decision was the latest setback for Taiwan in the Caribbean and Latin America. Panama dropped its longtime ties with Taiwan last year and established relations with China, which considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory. The island is recognized as a sovereign nation by only 19 mainly small, developing countries, 10 of them in this region.

Taiwan swiftly condemned what it called China's "dollar diplomacy" and announced it would terminate ties with the Dominican Republic immediately, including all projects and assistance it provides to the Caribbean nation.

Beijing has been seeking to increase pressure on Taiwan's independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai's ruling Democratic Progressive Party says it wants stable relations with China, but it hasn't followed Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, in endorsing the "one China" principle.

Flavio Dario Espinal, legal consultant to the Dominican presidential office, said at a news conference that the change in foreign policy was based on the "needs, potential and future prospects" of his Caribbean nation.

"History and socioeconomics reality now force us to change course," he said.

Some analysts say Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of the most powerful Chinese leaders in decades, seems determined to bring Taiwan under Beijing's control during his time in office, something that would place him in the history books alongside Mao Zedong.

The island's 23 million residents are strongly in favor of maintaining their de facto independent status, but Xi has previously warned a Taiwanese envoy that the issue of unification cannot be put off indefinitely.

In Taipei, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said the Taiwanese government was "deeply upset by China's actions."

Wu said Beijing offered "vast financial incentives" to the Dominican Republic to get it to end 77 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Wu warned that Beijing has failed to deliver on hundreds of millions of dollars in pledges to some of Taiwan's former diplomatic allies.

Taiwan "strongly condemns China's objectionable decision to use dollar diplomacy to convert Taiwan's allies," Wu said. He said such moves only served to "drive a wedge between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

"While Taiwan faces serious diplomatic challenges, the government will not bow down to pressure from Beijing," Wu said.

In Santo Domingo, Espinal said that even without formal diplomatic relations with China, trade between the two countries "has grown year after year to the point that today China is the second biggest supplier of our imports."

After Panama cut its ties with Taiwan, then-Taiwanese Foreign Minister David Tawei Lee visited the Dominican Republic last July as part of a campaign to shore up its relations and propose new cooperation projects. During his stay in Santo Domingo, Lee also met with Taiwan's ambassadors in Latin America to discuss strategies for not losing more allies.

The Dominican Republic has received millions of dollars in donations for development programs from Taiwan, but the government also started commercial and political contacts with China beginning in the middle of the past decade.

According to the Dominican government, bilateral trade with China has reached $2 billion a year, making the Dominican Republic the second-largest trading partner for China among the Caribbean and Central American nations.

Espinal said the government informed Taiwan of its move earlier Monday and thanked the Taiwanese for "the cooperation that we have shared for years." He said that had allowed "the development of very important programs" for the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican announcement came when it was already Tuesday in China, and Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi and Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas held a brief event Tuesday morning marking the establishment of ties.

In a joint statement, the countries said the move was "in keeping with the interests and desire of the two peoples" and that the Dominican Republic will sever ties with rival Taiwan as a result.

"The Government of the Dominican Republic recognizes that there is but one China in the world, that the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory," the statement said.

Taiwan split from mainland China amid civil in 1949, and Beijing campaigns relentlessly to isolate the island globally. It cut off relations with Tsai's government shortly after she took office in 2016 and has been steadily ratcheting up both diplomatic and economic pressure. Chinese analysts say Beijing will likely continue to use its economic and political clout to lure away other Taiwanese allies until Tsai accedes to China's demands.

The office of Tsai, the Taiwanese president, said in a statement that Beijing's actions against Taiwan - including ramped up military drills around the island - have increased tensions in the region.

Beijing's actions have "unilaterally undermined the peaceful status quo across the strait and are not what a responsible member of the international community should be doing," the statement said. "Such mistakes should be stopped immediately."

Beijing insists that only it has the right to represent China in international society. The island is excluded from the United Nations and other multinational bodies that require official governmental recognition at China's insistence.

Associated Press reporters Emily Wang in Beijing and Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
 
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Suspected Israeli strikes hit Iran-linked targets in Syria, escalating regional tensions....

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"Missile strikes at two Iran-linked bases in Syria caused huge explosions and killed dozens of pro-government fighters, a monitoring group said Monday, in an attack seen as Israel’s latest blow in a shadow war to contain Iranian influence.

At least 26 people were killed, four of them Syrians, the Syrian Observatory said. Representatives of a regional alliance that includes Iran, Syria and the Hezbollah paramilitary group said that Iranians were among the dead, and some cited a much higher toll."

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The possibility of Russia Pakistan Economic Corridor (RPEC)..

Over the past decade, Pakistan and Russia have been repairing a relationship that was badly damaged during the Cold War.

State-to-state ties are not grounded in emotion but based on shared interests. No two countries can remain friend or foes forever; the convergence or divergence of mutual interests decides the nature of ties between two states. Though relations between Russia and Pakistan have remained turbulent over the years, they have been warming up over the last decade, with top political, diplomatic and recent military engagements. Kremlin is reaffirming its role in its immediate domain and beyond, whereas Islamabad is seeking new avenues in its vicinity. Moreover, the new arrangement of Pakistan-Russia defence relations is a symbiotic realism that flouts conventional wisdom. This is essentially a paradigm shift in the global policy framework. Old allies such as US and Pakistan are drifting away amid changing geopolitics and unfolding regional crescendos.

Russia’s cozying up to Pakistan is indeed a sign of Pakistan’s rising importance in the emerging international domain. Its lifting of the arms embargo against Pakistan in 2015 undoubtedly signifies that Russia is getting quite comfortable with the idea of cooperation with Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Russia also began the delivery of Mi-35 advanced assault helicopters to Pakistan; Islamabad and Moscow concluded the $153 million helicopter deal during then-Chief of Army Staff General (retd) Raheel Sharif’s visit to Russia in June 2016. A preliminary contract was signed at the Pakistan Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi in August 2015.

No two countries can remain friend or foes forever; the convergence or divergence of mutual interests decides the nature of ties between two states

Pakistan is significant for Russia in two dimensions. First, it serves as an outlet to the Central Asian Republics and the Kremlin would never desire instability there. Second, the strategic location of Pakistan connects the Central Asian region with the Middle East and Indian Ocean — thus Russian goods can access the international market very conveniently through Pakistan.

Moscow also wants to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture technology, including drip irrigation and desert farming. Likewise, Russia is also interested in utilizing China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The fundamental reason for which Moscow would like to become, even an auxiliary, part of CPEC is that it is the long-cherished desire of Russian rulers to have access to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Since the times of the Russian Czar Peter the Great to the present-day Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, all have wanted to somehow provide Russia access to warm waters of Asia. Most of the other seas surrounding Russia are not navigable. Russia’s engagement with Pakistan to utilize latter’s geostrategic location complementing with CPEC have already begun. Russian Telecom giant, VimpelCom, is also consolidating its position in Pakistan. After purchasing Mobilink, it has also acquired Warid. Both the brands after merger would benefit from VimpelCom’s $1 billion investment into building one of the largest and most ambitious IT infrastructures in the industry in Pakistan. The Russian telecom is now eyeing on Bank Alfalah too.

In mid-2017, Russia’s Gazprom International and Pakistan’s Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Moscow aimed at mutual cooperation, joint ventures and use of state-of-the-art technology that would aid exploration and development. Russia has already expressed its interest to invest $8 billion in Pakistan and a major part of it will go in the country’s ailing energy sector.

Senior Pakistani journalist Syed Talat Hussain who is associated with Geo News, on Monday revealed that a big Russian delegation led by Mayor of Leningrad is coming to Pakistan as Moscow “plans on purchasing banks, laying down railways lines and enhancing their interest in telecommunications. As America’s role shrinks, other powers court Pakistan,” he wrote. Talat Hussain further revealed that the Russians see Bank Alfalah as a big ticket investment in Pakistan.

Pakistan is at the crossroads of economic giants. With the increasingly improving security situation, these booming economies are looking up to Pakistan for their economic interests. Pakistan can cash in its geo-economic and geostrategic location, but by playing cautiously. With Russia’s growing interests in different sectors of Pakistan’s economy and tapping into the potential areas where it can either invest or capture the market for Russian goods, it seems that after Chinese adventurism of CPEC, Russia Pakistan Economic Corridor (RPEC) is also in the making. The thought of it may be ahead of time, but if Pakistan plays balanced chess moves on the board of international and regional politics in particular, it can become hotbed of intersecting world economies.

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