The Dragon-Bear Hug

LT GENERAL P.C. KATOCH (RETD)

TO SAY THAT THE recent three-day visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow for a tête-à-tête with Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Washington goosebumps, would be an understatement. America’s Joe Biden administration had “warned” China not to militarily support Russia in Ukraine. This warning, despite the evidence of Russia using Chinese drones in Ukraine, was laughed at by Beijing with China’s foreign ministry responding that Chinese support to Russia would be similar to US support to Taiwan.

Xi Jinping’s peace plan for Ukraine was shot down by Washington as the US simply does not want a ceasefire in Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had warned that Xi’s proposal which calls for the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity but does not condemn the invasion or call for Russian withdrawal from occupied territories could be a stalling tactic. But many American scholars, strategists and former military and intelligence officials have placed on record that Russian special operations in Ukraine were forced by expanding NATO and posing an existential threat to Russia.

The POTUS is a puppet of America’s arms, oil and pharma lobbies of the US. POTUS who cannot effectively change gun laws in his own country must abide by the diktat of America’s ‘deep state’ to wage war against Russia using Ukraine as proxy. Not surprisingly Biden remains high and publicly shakes hands in thin air; while China continues to pump more and more fentanyl in the US.

non on April 6, 2023 demonstrates ad nauseam, Israel faces the same scourge of terrorism as India does. Intelligence sharing is key to fight this menace and informally since the early 1970’s, both country’s intelligence agencies have cooperated closely. The 2008 Mumbai terror attack brought forth the viciousness and deeply entrenched hatred harboured by terror groups towards Israel and India and their burgeoning friendship. Moshe Holtzberg, a Jewish miracle survivor of the 2008 terror attack who lives now in the Israeli city of Afula with his maternal grandfather Rabbi Rosenberg, was barely two years old when his parents were killed at the Nariman House, a Jewish outreach centre in Mumbai. He epitomises the challenges both the nations face and why they need to further tighten their embrace.

While defence cooperation remains pivotal in the Indo-Israeli relations considering the similarity in terror threat that both these nations have to confront, Israel is also a pioneer in dryland farming, greenhouse cultivation and drip irrigation keeping in view its scarcity of water and the desert landscape. Hence the Indo-Israel collaboration in the agriculture field goes a long way. The first stage of the Indo-Israeli Agricultural Cooperation Project started in 2008 following the signing of a three-year Action Plan based on a government-to-government Agreement. Within the

Just to drive home the point, I recollect that I had requested my Indian Army colleague who had come to pick me up from the Beirut airport around midnight of November 8, 2001 to make sure he showed me the Litany River on our drive to the UN base. I had just got deployed there as the Chief Humanitarian Officerat UNIFIL. Frankly I imagined it to be a big river like Satluj or Mahanadi or Cauvery for its water to be so attractive that Israel established a buffer zone south of this river from 1978 onwards till withdrawal in 1998, not only to keep the PLO fighters at bay but also to utilise the waters of this river. When the regulation UN Toyota Landcruiser suddenly stopped, rudely waking me up, all I could see was a short culvert. Getting down with curiosity, I was disappointed to see a river the size of our Upper Ganga canal. It highlights the adversities that Israelis face when they have laboured hard since their founding in 1948 to make the country green and bountiful.

Later, I had the honour to represent the Indian UNIFIL contingent at the Hannukah celebrations in Israel where I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the presence of the then Foreign Minister, formerly Prime Minister and later President of Israel Shimon Peres. In a simple yet sombre ceremony, they commemorated the Maccabean Jews victory over the forces of the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphane, regained control of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple in 164 BCE. A culture as ancient as the Jews will instinctively have a great respect and brotherhood with an even more ancient and eclectic culture like India. In the past century, this bonding has been cemented by our gallant soldiers in 1918 which is cast in stone in the war memorial in Haifa. The current generation of soldiers carry forward that torch of Indo-Israeli friendship with grit and determination.

“L’Chaim” - “To Life!” SP

PHOTOGRAPH: en.kremlin.ru on the basis of its own fundamental interests, prevailing global trends, and China is firm about strengthening strategic coordination with Russia. Putin said that Russia-China relations in recent years have delivered fruitful results in various areas, Russia stands ready to continue to deepen bilateral practical cooperation, step up communication and collaboration in international affairs, and promote world multi-polarity and greater democracy in international relations.

Russia was the first country Xi Jinping had visited after being elected President of China for the first time in 2013. Meeting President Putin now at the Kremlin, President Xi emphasised the profound historical logic for China-Russia relationship reaching where it is today. He said consolidating and developing China-Russia relations is a strategic choice China has made

Earlier, China had released a document on its position on the Ukraine crisis, advocating the political settlement of the crisis and rejecting the Cold War mentality and unilateral sanctions. Putin said Russia has carefully studied China’s position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine issue and is open to talks for peace. He welcomes China to play a constructive role in this regard. One document signed by President Xi and Putin states that both parties are determined to “provide strong mutual support in defending each other’s fundamental interests, above all sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, and development”.

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