VIF Information Alerts - 14th May 2018

China’s first domestically-built aircraft carrier sets out for sea trials
Published: Global Times
13 May 2018

China's first domestically built aircraft carrier set out to sea from a port outside the Dalian Shipyard Sunday morning to begin its first sea trial, as experts said the carrier will likely be delivered to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy by the end of this year.

The aircraft carrier cast off from a port in Dalian at 5:30 am Sunday. It was assisted by several tug boats and accompanied by a fireworks display and the vessel's full-throated horn. At 7:14 am the carrier made a successful turn and headed out to sea,disappearing in the fog at 7:30 am.Click here to read... [2]

China’s economic growth story will be cut short under Xi Jinping, research firm predicts
Published: South China Morning Post
14 May 2018

China’s growth will slow to 2 per cent by the end of the next decade from 6.9 per cent last year, a London-based research firm has predicted, painting a gloomy picture for the world’s second biggest economy.

Under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, China may be unable to continue its “rapid climb up the economic ladder” in the coming decades to reach a high income status – a key part of Xi’s vision of becoming a “modern socialist country” by 2035 and a “rich and powerful socialist country” by 2050, according to a research note published by Capital Economics on Monday.Click here to read... [3]

How China is trying to impose Islam with Chinese characteristics in the Hui Muslim heartland
Published: South China Morning Post
14 May 2018

Throughout Ningxia, Islamic decor and Arabic signs are being taken off the streets. They only went up a decade ago, when the authorities were highlighting the Hui ethnic minority culture to lure tourists. Driving south from Yinchuan along the dusty plains of the Yellow River, the roadside is now littered with onion domes – green, gold and white – freshly removed from market buildings, hotels and parks.

Secular buildings were the first target, but the government has also banned new “Arab style” mosques, and there are plans to convert some of the existing ones to look like Chinese temples.Click here to read... [4]

Pakistan bars US diplomat from leaving amid tense relations
Published: The Times of India
13 May 2018

Pakistani authorities have barred a US diplomat involved in a fatal traffic accident from leaving the country, forcing an American military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him, media reported on Saturday.

The move came a day after Pakistan said it would restrict the movements of all American diplomats in the country in response to Washington's similar restrictions on Pakistani embassy diplomats.Click here to read... [5]

Pakistani terrorists carried out 26/11 Mumbai attacks, admits former PM Nawaz Sharif
Published: Hindustan Times
12 May 2018

Islamabad Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has questioned the policy of using Pakistan-based militant groups for cross-border attacks on India as he mounted a scathing attack on the powerful military establishment’s perceived meddling in politics.

Sharif, ousted from his post by the Supreme Court last July for dishonesty in the Panama Papers case and subsequently barred from contesting elections for life, indicated during an interview with Dawn newspaper that Pakistan had been isolated by the world community for failing to counter terrorism.Click here to read... [6]

Door opens to keep Britain in EU (security)
Published: POLITICO
11 May 2018

The EU’s new military pact should be opened up to countries outside the bloc — such as the U.S., Norway and the U.K. — after Brexit, according to a proposal to be discussed by European defense ministers next month.

The idea — put forward as a “food for thought paper” by Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands — would, if implemented, erode the EU exclusivity of the military cooperation forum. But it offers another way besides NATO to keep Britain, in particular, engaged in European security structures after next year.Click here to read... [7]

IB: Khalistan groups hiring criminals to revive militancy
Published: The Tribune
14 May 2018

Noting that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI has been active in Punjab and providing all kinds of logistic and financial support, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that pro-Khalistan groups are hiring local criminals to carry out terror activities and revive militancy in the state.Click here to read... [8]