K.Venkateshwar.Rao

POLITICS  / K. Venkateshwar Rao 24 APRIL 2020 With the growing number of deaths and the increasing spread of coronavirus across the continents, the global community’s ire towards China seems to be growing. The Chinese strategy of projecting itself as a victim of the pandemic and extending a helping hand in this hour of crisis appear to have increasingly few takers. Calling Out China Moreover, the USA, the UK, France, Australia, and Germany are joining the chorus who are castigating China for suppressing the facts on COVID-19 and misleading their own people and the world, thereby enabling the worldwide spread of coronavirus. Amid the growing clamor in favor of penalizing China in some way, the US state of Missouri has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court against the Chinese government, the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and other Chinese officials and institutions. The State of Missouri alleges that Beijing’s actions of arresting whistleblowers and suppressing inf...

POLITICS   / K. Venkateshwar Rao 3 DECEMBER 2019 The clean sweep by pro-democracy candidates in the recently concluded district council elections against the backdrop of prolonged street agitation by Hong Kongers may be termed as a victory of democracy in Hong Kong. But China thinks otherwise. Hong Kongers may rejoice on the triumph of pro-democracy candidates, but will this success pave the way for greater democracy for Hong Kongers or force China to stiffen its stand is a question, reply to which is being eagerly awaited by the industrial and political communities across the globe. Pro-democratic candidates’ victory has angered the Chinese government, and it is apparent by the Communist Party newspaper,  The People’s Daily’s  stand that the triumph is foreign powers’ conspiracy. Echoing the government’s stand,  China Daily  in an editorial said that young agitators sabotaged the campaign of pro-establishment candidates and threatened ...

POLITICS   / K. Venkateshwar Rao 8 NOVEMBER 2019 What started as a protest in June 2019 against an extradition bill that would have undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy has now snowballed into a movement for greater freedom and political reforms, thus challenging the legitimacy of the government. Despite repeated warnings by the pro-China authorities, a majority of Hong Kong citizens, including a growing number of school children are vowing to support the uprising through thick and thin. This indicates that China is facing the most sustained challenge since the revolution in Tiananmen Square, thirty years ago. The mass demonstrations by “Hongkongers” (citizens of Hong Kong describe themselves as “Hongkongers” rather than “Chinese”) are in bold defiance of the Chinese authority, and a crackdown could prove quite costly for China. An open and prosperous Hong Kong is vital for China, as Hong Kong’s wealth has filled the coffers of China. Hong Kong is a massive financial hu...

POLITICS   / K. Venkateshwar Rao 21 OCTOBER 2019 President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping concluded his two-day informal summit with Modi on Saturday, October 12, 2019. The duo held discussions on wide-ranging issues and exhumed confidence in strengthening bilateral ties between the two nations at Mamallapuram near Chennai. Now, the hotly debated point is will the summit result in any positive outcome for India? History stands testimonial to the fact that in spite of Indian efforts to improve relationships with China, the Chinese have always tried to belittle  India in the UN and preferred Pakistan over India. Against the backdrop of the USA-China trade war, the President Xi Jinping trip is being viewed as an attempt to explore opportunities for more significant concessions for Chinese products in India. Why the doubt? India and China, the two Asian giants, have nothing in common other than a population of over a billion. Just as two swords cannot b...