[🇨🇳] China VS India

[Saif]

India trade deficit with China widens to record $99.2 bln amid dumping concerns

India recorded a trade deficit of $99.2 billion with China in the 2024/25 fiscal year that ended in March, trade data showed, driven by a surge in imports of electronics goods and consumer durables. The data comes as US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause last week on most tariff hikes

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

India trade deficit with China widens to record $99.2 bln amid dumping concerns
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 16, 2025 21:56
Updated :
Apr 16, 2025 21:56

A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. Photo : REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files

India recorded a trade deficit of $99.2 billion with China in the 2024/25 fiscal year that ended in March, trade data showed, driven by a surge in imports of electronics goods and consumer durables.

The data comes as US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause last week on most tariff hikes for major trading partners including India, while sharply increasing levies on Chinese goods, stoking fears that Chinese firms may divert goods to other markets.

In March alone, goods imports from China jumped over 25 per cent year-on-year to $9.7 billion, led by electronics, electric batteries and solar cells. Total imports from China rose to $113.5 billion in 12-months through March, according to detailed trade data released by commerce ministry on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, India's exports to China fell 14.5 per cent to $1.5 billion in March from a year earlier, with total exports dropping to $14.3 billion in the 12-months period, data showed.

"This is a wake-up call for India, as the rising imports reflect deeper structural dependencies of the Indian economy," said Ajay Srivastava, founder of Global Trade Initiative, a Delhi-based trade policy think tank.

India's rising exports of electronics goods, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods are also fuelling imports from Chinese, due to their heavy dependence on imported components, he said.

India's exports to China are now lower than in 2013/14, despite a significantly stronger rupee back then, Srivastava said, and warned that imports could rise by about 20 per cent in the current fiscal year as Chinese firms are re-routing exports to several markets, for exports to the US

China emerged as India's second biggest trading partner in 2024/25, with two-way trade of $127.7 billion, after the United States, the data showed.

The government plans to set up a monitoring unit to track a surge in cheaper imports from countries like China, and warned firms against helping foreign exporters bypass US tariffs, officials said on Tuesday.​

 

[Saif]

India-Pakistan conflict offers rich intelligence opportunity for China

The conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir offers a potentially rich intelligence harvest for China in its own rivalry with India as it gleans data from its fighter jets and other weapons used in action by Pakistan. Security analysts and diplomats say China's military modernisation has r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

India-Pakistan conflict offers rich intelligence opportunity for China
REUTERS
Published :
May 09, 2025 16:53
Updated :
May 09, 2025 16:53

China's J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, November 24, 2015. Photo : REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha//Files

The conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir offers a potentially rich intelligence harvest for China in its own rivalry with India as it gleans data from its fighter jets and other weapons used in action by Pakistan.

Security analysts and diplomats say China's military modernisation has reached a point where it has the ability to deeply scrutinise Indian actions in real time from its border installations and Indian Ocean fleets as well as from space.

"From an intelligence perspective, this is a rare target of opportunity right on China's borders involving a key potential adversary," said Singapore-based security analyst Alexander Neill.

Two US officials said a Chinese-made J-10 Pakistani jet fighter shot down at least two Indian military planes - one of them a French-made Rafale fighter. India has not acknowledged the loss of any of its planes while Pakistan's defence and foreign ministers have confirmed the use of J-10 aircraft but not commented on which missiles or other weapons were used.

The aerial clash is a rare opportunity for militaries around the world to study the performance of pilots, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles in active combat, and use that knowledge to prepare their own air forces for battle.

Competing regional giants and nuclear powers, India and China are widely seen as long-term strategic rivals, sharing a 3,800 (2,400 mile) Himalayan border that has been disputed since the 1950s and sparked a brief war in 1962.

The most recent standoff - that started in 2020 - thawed in October as the two sides struck a patrolling agreement.

Security analysts say both sides have taken steps to strengthen their military facilities and capabilities along the border, but it is also from above that China packs an intelligence gathering punch.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) notes that China now fields 267 satellites - including 115 devoted to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and a further 81 that monitor military electronic and signals information. It is a network that dwarfs its regional rivals, including India, and is second only to the US

"Both in terms of space and missile tracking capabilities, China is much better off now in terms of being able to monitor things as they happen," said Neill, who is an adjunct fellow at Hawaii's Pacific Forum think-tank.

China's defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions about the deployment of its military satellites and other questions about its intelligence gathering.

Pakistan's military media wing and information minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any information sharing with China.

Pakistan has previously said it has an "all-weather strategic, cooperative partnership" with China.

India has not commented on the issue, but its top diplomat in Britain, High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami, told Sky News on Thursday that China's relationship with Pakistan was not a concern for India.

"China requires a relationship with all of its neighbours, that includes us," he said.

MISSILE DEPLOYMENTS

Chinese military intelligence teams would be eager to garner information on any Indian use of air defences and launches of cruise and ballistic missiles - not just in terms of flight paths and accuracy but command and control information, analysts and diplomats say.

Any deployment of India's BrahMos supersonic cruise missile - a weapon it developed jointly with Russia - would be of particular interest, some analysts say, given they do not believe it has been used in combat.

China has also beefed up its intelligence gathering at sea. It has been increasingly active in the Indian Ocean in recent years, with China deploying space tracking ships as well as oceanographic research and fishing vessels on extended deployments, open source intelligence trackers say.

Regional diplomats say that while the Chinese navy has been relatively cautious about extensive warship deployments into the Indian Ocean, still lacking a broad network of bases, it actively seeks intelligence with these other vessels.

Over the last week, some trackers noted unusually large fleets of Chinese fishing vessels moving apparently in unison to within 120 nautical miles of Indian naval drills in the Arabian Sea as tensions rose with Pakistan.

Pentagon reports on China's military modernisation and analysts note that China's fishing fleets routinely perform a coordinated militia function that plays an important intelligence gathering role.

"These vessels may double up as listening posts, tracking development rhythms and response patterns, feeding early warning, naval intel to their sponsors," wrote open source tracker Damien Symon in an X post that highlighted the deployment of 224 Chinese vessels near Indian naval exercises on May 1.

Chinese officials do not usually acknowledge the existence of fishing militia or intelligence work carried out by other nominally-civilian vessels.

Given its deep and broad strategic relationship with Pakistan, Beijing can also be expected to fully exploit its network of envoys and military teams there for key nuggets.

"The presence of Chinese military advisers and other personnel in Pakistan is well-known given how Pakistan's Ministry of Defence has been importing some of its most advanced military hardware from China, so we can be certain the PLA would be able to access relevant data," said James Char, a Chinese security scholar at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

India-Pakistan conflict offers rich intelligence opportunity for China

The conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir offers a potentially rich intelligence harvest for China in its own rivalry with India as it gleans data from its fighter jets and other weapons used in action by Pakistan. Security analysts and diplomats say China's military modernisation has r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

India-Pakistan conflict offers rich intelligence opportunity for China
REUTERS
Published :
May 09, 2025 16:53
Updated :
May 09, 2025 16:53

View attachment 17172
China's J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, November 24, 2015. Photo : REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha//Files

The conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir offers a potentially rich intelligence harvest for China in its own rivalry with India as it gleans data from its fighter jets and other weapons used in action by Pakistan.

Security analysts and diplomats say China's military modernisation has reached a point where it has the ability to deeply scrutinise Indian actions in real time from its border installations and Indian Ocean fleets as well as from space.

"From an intelligence perspective, this is a rare target of opportunity right on China's borders involving a key potential adversary," said Singapore-based security analyst Alexander Neill.

Two US officials said a Chinese-made J-10 Pakistani jet fighter shot down at least two Indian military planes - one of them a French-made Rafale fighter. India has not acknowledged the loss of any of its planes while Pakistan's defence and foreign ministers have confirmed the use of J-10 aircraft but not commented on which missiles or other weapons were used.

The aerial clash is a rare opportunity for militaries around the world to study the performance of pilots, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles in active combat, and use that knowledge to prepare their own air forces for battle.

Competing regional giants and nuclear powers, India and China are widely seen as long-term strategic rivals, sharing a 3,800 (2,400 mile) Himalayan border that has been disputed since the 1950s and sparked a brief war in 1962.

The most recent standoff - that started in 2020 - thawed in October as the two sides struck a patrolling agreement.

Security analysts say both sides have taken steps to strengthen their military facilities and capabilities along the border, but it is also from above that China packs an intelligence gathering punch.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) notes that China now fields 267 satellites - including 115 devoted to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and a further 81 that monitor military electronic and signals information. It is a network that dwarfs its regional rivals, including India, and is second only to the US

"Both in terms of space and missile tracking capabilities, China is much better off now in terms of being able to monitor things as they happen," said Neill, who is an adjunct fellow at Hawaii's Pacific Forum think-tank.

China's defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions about the deployment of its military satellites and other questions about its intelligence gathering.

Pakistan's military media wing and information minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any information sharing with China.

Pakistan has previously said it has an "all-weather strategic, cooperative partnership" with China.

India has not commented on the issue, but its top diplomat in Britain, High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami, told Sky News on Thursday that China's relationship with Pakistan was not a concern for India.

"China requires a relationship with all of its neighbours, that includes us," he said.

MISSILE DEPLOYMENTS

Chinese military intelligence teams would be eager to garner information on any Indian use of air defences and launches of cruise and ballistic missiles - not just in terms of flight paths and accuracy but command and control information, analysts and diplomats say.

Any deployment of India's BrahMos supersonic cruise missile - a weapon it developed jointly with Russia - would be of particular interest, some analysts say, given they do not believe it has been used in combat.

China has also beefed up its intelligence gathering at sea. It has been increasingly active in the Indian Ocean in recent years, with China deploying space tracking ships as well as oceanographic research and fishing vessels on extended deployments, open source intelligence trackers say.

Regional diplomats say that while the Chinese navy has been relatively cautious about extensive warship deployments into the Indian Ocean, still lacking a broad network of bases, it actively seeks intelligence with these other vessels.

Over the last week, some trackers noted unusually large fleets of Chinese fishing vessels moving apparently in unison to within 120 nautical miles of Indian naval drills in the Arabian Sea as tensions rose with Pakistan.

Pentagon reports on China's military modernisation and analysts note that China's fishing fleets routinely perform a coordinated militia function that plays an important intelligence gathering role.

"These vessels may double up as listening posts, tracking development rhythms and response patterns, feeding early warning, naval intel to their sponsors," wrote open source tracker Damien Symon in an X post that highlighted the deployment of 224 Chinese vessels near Indian naval exercises on May 1.

Chinese officials do not usually acknowledge the existence of fishing militia or intelligence work carried out by other nominally-civilian vessels.

Given its deep and broad strategic relationship with Pakistan, Beijing can also be expected to fully exploit its network of envoys and military teams there for key nuggets.

"The presence of Chinese military advisers and other personnel in Pakistan​

The funny thing is Pakistan itself doesn't claim to shoot down Rafale but US is saying that China has shot down Rafale. Anyway, we have found PL 15 of Chinese J10 found in unexploded condition. We have HQ 9 missile in our land founded in unexploded condition to gather its data.