After the Indian government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it will evaluate the “carrying capacity” of 13 Himalayan states, the focus is squarely on the northern hill state of Himachal Pradesh (‘Land of Snow’), which this season suffered 72 flash floods and where nearly 400 people (and thousands of animals) died in rain-related incidents. The “carrying capacity” is the maximum population size that an ecosystem can sustain without becoming degraded, according to the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment. This load-carrying capacity of hill towns and stations has come under critical pressure in recent years. Himachal Pradesh, or HP, has globally-famous hill stations such as Shimla, the Kullu Valley, Manali (most popular with foreign backpackers), and Dharamshala (the base for the Dalai Lama). With natural disasters on the rise – according to the state government, there were ten flash floods in 2020, 16 in 2021, and 75 in 2022 – Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu claimed that his state has suffered damages totaling Rs 12,000 crore ($1.4 billion) this year.No wonder, then, that while every summer HP is usually bustling with tourists, with kilometer-long traffic jams and chock-a-block hotels, the summer of 2023 saw less tourism, no doubt due to the calamities and viral videos of hotels and temples collapsing on the riverside. Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods that unleashed havoc, destroying hundreds of roads and damaging property. Experts say the impact of disasters has increased exponentially due to unchecked construction on river floodplains, unsafe construction in ecologically-sensitive areas, and hydropower projects, among other issues. A looming reason is the pressure of tourism. Every year, HP receives more visitors than its own population of nearly 7.8 million. In 2022, tourists numbered 15.1 million (both domestic and foreign). In fact, until the rains, HP had recorded 10.6 million tourists in the first six months of 2023, the highest ever for that time period. About 7 million of those were in May 2023 alone. Compare this to 1991, when tourist arrivals were about 2.38 million, or to the 4.68 million who visited in 2000. This increased to 19.6 million in 2017-18. HP, economically dependent on hydropower projects and tourism, is now planning to target about 50 million annual tourists by 2028. However, the increase poses another set of problems with the pressure on resources. Tourism taking a toll "The recent natural disasters are the result of overburdening and unplanned construction activities in the state,” said Mohinder Seth, president of the HP Tourism Stakeholders Association. “Almost all the hill stations are overburdened with tourists, with mushrooming growth of hotels and homestays… it is a further burden to urban areas.” Visitors come for the scenic locales and religious tourism as the state is home to numerous Hindu temples. However, stakeholders and experts say it is taking a toll on the state’s resources. In fact, the 2019 HP Tourism Policy admitted that the high influx of tourists leads to a disturbance of ecological balance in the fragile Himalayan region and emphasized the need for sustainable tourism. “Despite various benefits, mainstream tourism has negative connotations. The impact of mass-tourism and disregard to carrying capacity in the tourism development trajectory in the IHR (Indian Himalayan Region) have led to serious concerns among policymakers, residents and visitors,” the policy noted. It stated that “global issues of resource depletion and environmental degradation may be seen as important as local ones, including the long-term effects of tourism on climate change and the impact of adaptation and mitigation measures on travel patterns.” “Exploring trends promoting the tourism industry in a sustainable manner becomes dire,” the document added, noting that the “need of the hour, given our fragile ecosystem, is to ensure that this growth continues in a sustainable manner.” Seth explained that hill stations are witnessing tourists more than their carrying capacity, and felt that the state shouldn’t give permission to new hotels or homestays as it will lead to further disasters during natural calamities such as heavy rains or earthquakes. “Instead, the government should focus on strengthening existing facilities and ensuring proper drainage systems as it was one of the factors that increased the intensity of landslides,” he said. Hem Singh Thakur, an environmentalist and lawyer, said the heavy influx of tourist vehicles had led to radical changes in the environment. For instance, Lahaul and Spiti district, which is now open year-round for tourists after the opening of Atal Tunnel (under the Rohtang Pass) at a height of 10,071ft above sea level, is now witnessing heavy rains, a new phenomenon, as the cold desert used to receive snowfall around the year. “The excessive tourists in the region have resulted in huge carbon emissions in the cold desert, which is heating up with the pristine environment of the cold desert and the area is now witnessing heavy rains. This is causing heavy losses, for heavy rains are resulting in washing away of roads and other infrastructure in flash floods,” he said. Himachal Pradesh University professor Devinder Sharma highlighted the havoc in Shimla, a popular tourist destination, during the disasters this year. Shimla, which was developed by the British for a population of 25,000 and was once known as the summer capital of India, is now home to 250,000 people, resulting in heavy pressure on natural resources. "We need to focus on sustainable development as per the soil structure and norms. But call it man’s greed, widespread construction activity is carried out across the state by flouting norms. Hotels or homestays are being constructed on riversides which are against regulations and directions of the National Green Tribunal and other regulatory authorities,” Sharma added. Sharma said the cutting of hills for roads and other infrastructure projects to accommodate increased tourism is done in an unscientific manner, without soil tests or other topographic analysis. He emphasized that the hilly terrain in Himachal is not meant for four-lane roads, and the government should instead focus on constructing parallel roads to ensure stabilization of the hill strata and to minimize damage in heavy rains that are worsening due to climate change. Is sustainable tourism the way ahead? Both Himachal and neighboring Uttarakhand see a heavy tourist influx and are recording pressure on water resources and issues such as waste management. A March 2023 study, ‘The Environmental Impact of Tourism on Mountain States’ by Jia Gunthey, notes that the mountainous regions of India are suffering a great environmental impact due to the increase in tourism. “Himachal, along with Uttarakhand, bears the biggest burden of the environmental damage as a result of tourism,” the study says. Drawing attention towards waste management issues, she noted that in Dharamshala (HP), 200kg of dry waste is segregated daily and 25 tonnes a year. The author noted that “a large percentage of the waste comes from eateries which have grown in number due to increased tourism. There is also increased pressure on the soil, causing soil erosion and natural habitat loss. Additionally, there is a strain on water, and sources of water, which are heavily being used by restaurants, hotel chains and places of accommodation for the incoming tourists.” Thakur sought the promotion of electric vehicles in tourist hotspots. “This should specifically be done in high hill regions to reduce carbon emissions to save the environment. This will also lead to employment generation as locals will buy electric taxis or other small vehicles to ferry visitors across tourist attractions in major hill stations,” he said. Mohinder Seth and Professor Sharma stressed the need to arrest the mushrooming of illegal hotels while calling for proper regulation and monitoring mechanisms. “There should be proper research on the carrying capacity of tourism destinations in HP and the focus should be on sustainable tourism,” Sharma said. HP BJP spokesperson and a high official to former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Mahender Dharmani, said that though the tourism sector is a major contributor to the state’s GDP, the major hill stations now don’t have the capacity to accommodate a heavy influx of visitors. Hill stations can’t support high-rise buildings, as has been seen in the recent rains. There is a need to seek expert opinion to identify the carrying capacity in the ecologically-fragile Himalayan region and an action plan should accordingly be prepared, he added. For its part, the central government told the Supreme Court on Monday that it had set up a 13-member technical committee to evaluate the carrying capacity as set by the guidelines of the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment.
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Thaksin’s signature policies included a universal healthcare scheme opening virtually free treatment for basic ailments to tens of millions of poor for the first time, as well as village clinics and start-up funds. “He has always helped making our lives better,” 63-year-old Ankana Nattakit from Nakon Ratchasima said. “No other prime minister has done nearly anything as much for us. He’s the prime minister of the grassroots people.”
Vote on new PM Pheu Thai, the latest incarnation of Thaksin’s party, came second in elections held in May. After the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the election, was unable to form a government because military-appointed senators in the upper house refused to support it, Pheu Thai cobbled together a grouping of parties, including those backed by the military. A vote was underway on Tuesday that could lead to the party’s Srettha Thavisin, a property tycoon, becoming prime minister. Srettha has the backing of 314 legislators in the lower house but needs an additional 58 votes to secure the job, which requires the backing of a majority of both houses.
Chinese carmakers sold 1.76 million vehicles in foreign countries in the first five months of 2023, marking growth of 81.5% compared to the same period last year, according to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
Industry experts highlighted that the Chinese vehicle market has begun to accelerate since April, but cautioned that challenges remain for carmakers to achieve sales growth for the entire year. Statistics released by the CAAM on Friday showed that passenger vehicles accounted for the majority of exports from China. From January to the end of May, sales increased by 96.6% and totaled 1.46 million units. Meanwhile, exports of commercial cars amounted to 291,000 units, marking growth of 30.9%. Exports of new energy vehicles – including electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen vehicles – increased by half to 457,000 units in the first five months of the year. The CAAM noted that the year-on-year growth rates are mostly attributed to lower comparative bases in 2022, which resulted from the considerable impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on production and sales. Car sales in China totaled 26.86 million units in 2022, marking modest growth of 2.1% compared to the previous year. Vehicle sales and production began to bounce back in June 2022, following Covid-19 outbreaks which effectively disrupted supply chains for almost two months and led to a shortage of components across the country, especially in Shanghai, which faced the most severe lockdowns. The Election Commission concluded its vote counting on Monday morning and announced the Move Forward Party’s victory in the May 14 general election.
EC chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong said MFP won 112 constituency MPs and 39 list seats, followed by Pheu Thai with 112 constituency MPs and 29 list MPs, Bhumjaithai with 68 constituency MPs and 3 list MPs, Palang Pracharath 39 constituency MPs and 1 list MP and United Thai Nation Party with 23 constituency MPs and 13 list MPs. A military conflict between China and Taiwan could take place in 2027, the self-governing island’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has claimed. Appearing on the UK’s LBC radio station on Thursday, Wu said: “We are taking the Chinese military threat very seriously… I think 2027 is the year that we need to be serious about.” He expressed hope that “like-minded partners, the UK included, can stop China from initiating any war against Taiwan.” Reuters revealed last month that the British government had approved a considerable increase in exports of submarine parts and technology to Taiwan in 2022. It followed a call by former prime minister Liz Truss for a “global NATO” to arm Taipei in the same way the alliance was arming Kiev.
Wu’s assessment of China-Taiwan relations echoes that outlined by CIA Director William Burns in February. Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, he claimed that “President Xi has instructed the PLA, the Chinese military leadership, to be ready by 2027 to invade Taiwan.” He added, however, that this alone does not mean Beijing had “decided to invade in 2027 or any other year.” A month prior to Burns’ comments, NBC cited an internal memo by General Mike Minihan, the head of the US Air Mobility Command (AMC), in which he told his staff that fighting over the island could break out within two years. However, while an AMC spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the memo, an anonymous Pentagon official told the outlet that “these comments are not representative of the department’s view on China.” On Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned that “those who play with fire on the question of Taiwan will burn themselves.” He insisted that Beijing “will never back down in the face of any act that undermines China’s sovereignty and security.” Earlier this month, the country’s state-run CCTV channel quoted President Xi as calling on the military to step up “training oriented toward actual combat.” Taiwan has been de facto independent since 1949, when the losing side in the Chinese civil war fled to the island and established its own administration. While only a handful of nations have recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state, the US has long maintained close, unofficial ties with Taipei, both militarily and economically. Formally, Washington still professes to adhere to the ‘One-China’ principle. Beijing considers the island to be an inalienable part of its territory that has been seized by separatists. While the Chinese leadership says it prioritizes a peaceful ‘reunification’, it has not ruled out military options. The history of China and Taiwan is complex and spans many centuries. Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China, was originally inhabited by Austronesian peoples, but was later colonized by the Dutch and the Spanish in the 17th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Taiwan was ceded to Japan by China as a result of the First Sino-Japanese War. After World War II, Taiwan came under the control of the Republic of China, led by the Nationalist government. However, in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong (毛泽东), won the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China. The Nationalist government, led by Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), and military fled to Taiwan and continued to rule there, with the support of the United States.
Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese political and military leader who played a major role in China's history during the 20th century. He was the leader of the Nationalist government of China from the 1920s until his death in 1975. He led the Nationalists in their fight against the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War and was the President of the Republic of China (ROC) which governs Taiwan, from 1949 until his death. When the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government were forced to flee to Taiwan. Chiang became the leader of the government in Taiwan, which was recognized as the legitimate government of China by many countries, including the United States, until the 1970s. Chiang Kai-shek led the government of Taiwan for more than two decades, during which time Taiwan underwent rapid economic development and modernization. However, his rule was also marked by authoritarianism and suppression of political dissent. Chiang's government also claimed to be the legitimate government of all of China, but this claim was not recognized by the international community, and the PRC refused to have any diplomatic relations with countries that recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of China. Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, succeeded him as leader of Taiwan. Since then, Taiwan has evolved into a democracy and has developed a separate political and economic identity from mainland China. For several decades, the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan maintained that it was the legitimate government of all of China, and was recognized as such by the United States and many other countries. However, in the 1970s, the United States switched its official recognition to the People's Republic of China, and most other countries followed suit. Since then, Taiwan has developed into a separate political entity, with its own government, economy, and political system. However, the People's Republic of China still claims Taiwan as a part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to reunify the island with the mainland. The relations between the two sides have been complex and sometimes tense, but in recent years, economic ties have increased significantly. China’s population has decreased for the first time in more than 60 years, official data shows — a historic turn for the world’s most populous nation that is now expected to see a long period of population decline.
The country of 1.4 billion has seen birth rates plunge to record lows as its workforce ages, a drop that analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on the country’s strained public finances. The mainland Chinese population stood at approximately 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022, Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Tuesday, a decrease of 850,000 from the end of the previous year. The number of births was 9.56 million, the NBS said, while the number of deaths stood at 10.41 million. Men also continued to outnumber women in China by 722.06 million to 689.69 million. The new figures mark the first fall in China’s population since 1961, when the country battled the worst famine in its modern history, caused by Mao Zedong’s disastrous agricultural policy known as the Great Leap Forward. The decline in population could have significant economic consequences for China. The country's workforce is shrinking, and the proportion of elderly people is increasing. This could lead to a decline in economic growth and a strain on the country's social security systems. The Chinese government has implemented a number of measures to address the population decline, such as the two-child policy and measures to support families with children. Additionally, the government has also emphasized the importance of increasing the birth rate and has called for more support for families with children. China has long been the world’s most populous nation, but is expected to soon be overtaken by India, if it has not already. Estimates put India’s population at more than 1.4 billion. The head of the NBS, Kang Yi, said people should not worry about China’s population decline as the country’s overall labour supply still exceeds demand. China’s population could reduce by 109 million by the year 2050, more than triple the decline of their previous forecast in 2019. Taiwan plans to give cash payouts of nearly $200 to every citizen this year, Premier Su Tseng-chang has announced, saying the island’s economic growth will be shared by everyone. The export-reliant economy, a global tech powerhouse for products including semiconductor chips, grew 6.45 percent in 2021, the fastest rate since it expanded 10.25 percent in 2010.While economic growth is expected to slow in 2023, the government has made plans to plough an extra T$380 billion ($12.4bn) in tax revenue from last year back into the economy to help protect the island from global economic shocks, including subsidies for electricity prices and labour and health insurance.
Su said a total of T$140 billion, part of the tax revenue, would be spent as cash payouts and each citizen would get T$6,000 ($195.61). “The fruit of economic achievements will be shared by all citizens, from young to old,” Su told reporters on Wednesday, adding the potential payout requires approval from parliament, where the ruling Democratic Progressive Party has a majority. “We wish to give all citizens a New Year blessing after the beginning of the Lunar New Year,” Su told reporters, referring to the week-long holiday that starts on January 20. He did not give details of how the government would deliver the payouts. Taiwan is a major producer of semiconductors used in everything from cars and smartphones to fighter jets. Its economy continued to grow stably during the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years helped by strong chip demand for consumer electronics as more people worked from home. Taiwan’s central bank in December cut its 2022 estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 2.91 percent from its previous forecast of 3.51 percent in September. For 2023, it projected GDP would grow by 2.53 percent. The economy grew 4.01 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier. Tens of thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s main opposition party have gathered in Dhaka to protest against the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand new elections. The protesters rallied on Saturday at the Golapbagh sports ground, where the crowd chanted “Sheikh Hasina is a vote thief” amid heightened tensions in the Bangladeshi capital. The rally comes days after security forces stormed the headquarters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Tuesday. At least one person died and dozens of others were injured in the raid.
Anti-government protests have erupted across the country in recent months triggered by power cuts and fuel price hikes. The prime minister has rejected calls to stand down. A BNP official said that some 200,000 people had joined Saturday’s rally by mid-morning. Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruq Ahmed rejected the claim and said the venue could not hold more than 30,000 people. “Our main demand is Sheikh Hasina resign and parliament is dissolved and let a neutral caretaker government step in to hold a free and fair election,” BNP spokesman Zahiruddin Swapan said. The protests have been peaceful, but SWAT teams, counterterrorism units and canine squads were on standby, Ahmed said. Police have also set up checkpoints on roads to the city and increased security there. BNP officials accused the government of triggering an unofficial transport strike to try to prevent people from joining the rally. The rally comes a day after two BNP leaders were arrested on allegations of inciting violence. More than 2,000 activists and supporters of the opposition party have been detained since November 30 to prevent them from attending the protest. Western governments, the United Nations and human rights organisations have raised concerns over the political climate and human rights violations in Bangladesh. Independent observers have reported that the past two general elections were rigged by Hasina’s government, forcing losses by the BNP. On Tuesday, 15 Western embassies issued a joint statement, calling for Bangladesh to allow free expression, peaceful assembly and fair elections. The UN made a similar declaration a day later. Amnesty International’s Yamini Mishra said this week’s violence showed that authorities “have very little regard for the sanctity of human life and sends a chilling message that those who dare to exercise their human rights will face dire consequences”. After a period of unprecedented protests, China is going to relax corona rules across the country. People with mild symptoms and people who have tested positive but have no symptoms can remain in quarantine at home from now on. Until now, entire neighbourhoods and factories have been completely cut off from the outside world due to massive lockdowns. People were also transferred to quarantine facilities, which were overcrowded and unhygienic.
According to China's National Health Service, most infections are asymptomatic or result in mild symptoms, meaning those infected don't need any special treatment. "They can go into isolation at home and if their situation worsens, they can be transferred to a hospital." Whether this means the end of the zero-covid strategy, the health service has not said. Since the start of the corona pandemic, China has regarded covid-19 as an extremely dangerous virus in the same category as cholera or the bubonic plague. That attitude changed last week when experts concluded that the omikron variant is considerably less dangerous than previous mutations. The deputy prime minister responsible for fighting the virus confirmed this. Frustration and grievances over China’s zero-COVID policy have led to large protests in more than a dozen cities, on a scale unseen since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989. These youth-led social protests involved open calls for a change not just in COVID-19 policies but in governance and politics as well. The big message from the scenes coming out of China: The suppression of policy debates in an increasingly centralised bureaucracy can ignite social unrest overnight despite intensified censorship and security enforcement. For the moment, the Chinese Community Party has responded by moving to ease some virus restrictions despite high daily case numbers, signalling softened positions in the face of mounting protests. But the key test for President Xi Jinping lies ahead: What has he really learned from the outpouring of anger on China’s streets, in its universities and at its factories?
After the student-led Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, which were triggered by the death of pro-reform leader Hu Yaobang, the ruling CCP drew lessons from the incident by adopting a collective leadership model that was more open towards policy debates in government and in society. The Chinese leaders who followed, including Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, moved away from strongman politics towards a power-sharing model at the top. More broadly, the CCP underwent a thorough shift — what was labelled “re-institutionalisation” — led by senior leaders like Zeng Qinghong (China’s vice president under Hu Jintao), Li Yuanchao (vice president during the early years of Xi’s rule), and political theorist Wang Huning. This move towards a semblance of inner-party democracy encouraged policy debates at various levels and pushed forward a decentralisation process that empowered local officials to promote economic development. Some observers described the process as an example of the CCP’s “authoritarian resilience”, in which a single leader could not dominate policy-making in all realms and had to share power with other colleagues in the Politburo and its Standing Committee — the party’s top bodies. The political game was transformed from the conventional winner-take-all model to a power-balancing model, in which all of the Politburo Standing Committee members were vested with almost equal political authority, resulting in more power-sharing and high-level checks and balances. The regime’s authoritarian feature was lessened by fragmented policy enforcement, relatively subdued censorship and abundant policy debates. Xi became a game changer in 2012, when he replaced Hu Jintao as CCP general secretary and started a “re-centralisation” process that consolidated his power as the core leader of the party. Facing a disgruntled society vexed by yawning income disparity and corruption, Xi borrowed from Mao Zedong’s tactical playbook and urged civil servants and military officers to reconnect with the common people — while tightening limits to discussions of ideas such as democracy and freedom of speech. With the ruling party’s tightening control of the media and the rectification of ideology, opinion leaders in China have appeared more cautious than before about voicing different views over public policies or human rights. This has brought the move towards more robust policy debates within the CCP under Jiang and Hu to a screeching halt. The result: increased risks from policy blunders, since there are fewer checks and balances in place.
The city had been a British colony for almost a century as a result of the Opium Wars. Beijing pledged to maintain a “one country, two systems” arrangement after the return of its territory. The scheme allowed Hong Kong to maintain a large degree of self-rule in internal affairs, while ceding to the central government issues of national defense and foreign policy. Jiang stepped down from his leadership positions over the course of several years from 2002 onward, making way for the Hu Jintao administration. He is credited with overseeing a peaceful transition of power, in contrast to the more chaotic shifts seen previously in China’s modern history.
The statesman’s last public appearance was in October 2019, when he stood beside President Xi Jinping and other dignitaries during a parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. According to his obituary, he battled with leukemia and suffered from multiple organ failure prior to his passing. North and South Korea have exchanged warning shots off their western coast, accusing each other of breaching their maritime border amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s weapons tests. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it broadcast warnings and fired warning shots to repel a North Korean merchant vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea boundary, at approximately 3:40am local time on Monday (18:40 GMT Sunday). North Korea’s military said it fired 10 rounds of artillery warning shots towards its territorial waters, where “naval enemy movement was detected”. It accused a South Korean naval ship of intruding into North Korean waters on the pretext of cracking down on an unidentified ship.
“We ordered initial countermeasures to strongly expel the enemy warship by firing 10 shells of multiple rocket launchers near the waters where the enemy movement occurred,” the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. JCS said the North Korean artillery firings breached a 2018 inter-Korean accord on reducing military animosities and undermines stability on the Korean Peninsula. It said the North Korean shells did not land in South Korean waters but that it is boosting its military readiness. There were no reports of clashes, but the poorly marked sea boundary off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast is a source of long-running animosities between the two countries. It is the scene of several bloody inter-Korean naval skirmishes and violence in recent years, including North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island and its alleged torpedoing of a South Korean navy ship that killed 50 people in 2010. |
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