Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20201013

A29
world news Diamars 13 OctOber 2020

India, China hold fresh talks on ending military faceoff

(AP) — Senior Indian and Singh said Monday that Chi-
Chinese military com- na and Pakistan were creat-
manders were holding ing conditions that suggest “a
fresh talks Monday aimed border dispute is being cre-
at ending a monthslong ated under a mission.”
standoff along their dis- Singh made the remarks
puted border in the re- while virtually inaugurating
mote Ladakh region.The 44 bridges in areas bordering
talks were being held on with China and Pakistan that
the Indian side of the officials say will facilitate eas-
frontier in the Chushul ier movement of the Indian
area. No details were im- troops.
mediately available.
“You are well aware of the
The negotiations come as situation created along our
tens of thousands of rival sol- northern and eastern bor-
diers on both sides backed by ders," Singh said. “First Paki-
artillery, tanks and fighter jets stan, and now also by China,
brace for a harsh winter in as if a border dispute is being
the cold-desert region where created under a mission.”
temperatures can fall to mi- The standoff began in May
nus 50 degrees Celsius (mi- and escalated in June to the
nus 58 Fahrenheit). deadliest violence between
India and China have held the sides in decades — a clash
several rounds of talks by between soldiers using clubs,
military, diplomatic and po- stones and their fists. Twenty
litical officials, including ne- Indian soldiers were killed
gotiations between their for- and dozens of others injured.
eign ministers and defense China is believed to have also
ministers in Moscow last suffered casualties but has the first time in 45 years, rais- trol line is 3,488 kilometers tack each other with firearms.
month. Although the stand- not given any details. ing the specter of a full-scale (2,167 miles) long, while India unilaterally declared
off has persisted, the talks military conflict. China says it is considerably Ladakh a federal territory
seem to have calmed the situ- After that clash, the two shorter. The line divides the and separated it from Kash-
ation along the border as no countries partially disen- The fiercely contested de areas of physical control rath- mir in August 2019, ending
new military aggression has gaged from the site in La- facto border, known as Line er than territorial claims. its semi-autonomous status.
been reported for a month. dakh’s Galwan Valley and at of Actual Control, separates Relations between the two It also vowed to take back
least two other places, but the Chinese-held and Indian- countries have often been the Chinese-controlled Ak-
Indian soldiers also are en- crisis has continued in at least held territories from Ladakh strained, partly due to their sai Chin plateau, which New
gaged in nearly daily fighting three other areas, including in the west to India’s eastern undemarcated border. They Delhi says is part of Ladakh.
along the de facto frontier glacial Pangong Lake. state of Arunachal Pradesh, fought a border war in 1962 China was among the first
with Pakistan in disputed Last month, the world’s two which China claims in its that spilled into Ladakh and countries to strongly con-
Kashmir, the Himalayan re- most populous nations ac- entirety. It is broken in parts ended in an uneasy truce. demn the move, raising it at
gion dived between the two cused each other of sending where the Himalayan nations Since then, troops have international forums includ-
archrivals and claimed by soldiers into each other’s ter- of Nepal and Bhutan border guarded the undefined bor- ing the U.N. Security Coun-
both in its entirety. Indian ritory in the Pangong area China. der and occasionally brawled. cil.
Defense Minister Rajnath and firing warning shots for According to India, the con- They have agreed not to at-

Philippine Congress enters crisis over leadership standoff

(AP) — A large faction of a turn for the worse when bol of House authority. he has the support of a ma- would serve as speaker for
Philippine legislators in Velasco’s supporters gath- jority of the lawmakers, Cay- the remaining 21 months.
the House of Representa- ered in person and online on “They’re throwing away the etano’s camp will agree that Cayetano recently offered to
tives elected a new leader Monday in a sports club in constitution, they are asking he get the speakership in a step down but his camp said a
Monday, but the incum- Quezon City in the capital for a revolutionary govern- legal House procedure after majority of lawmakers voted
bent speaker declared the region, declared Cayetano’s ment,” Cayetano said. “What the budget is passed. to reject his resignation. After
vote a “travesty” in a tense position vacant and elected happened today is really a Cayetano steered the initial
political standoff between Velasco to replace him. travesty.” “We’re lawmakers. We’re approval of the budget, his
two allies of the president. The club was arranged to Cayetano’s camp says it has starting to become a laugh- camp abruptly suspended
look like the House plenary the backing of 205 legisla- ing stock because those who congressional sessions, pre-
President Rodrigo Duterte hall, with a giant Philippine tors. It asked Velasco to iden- attended there are showing empting Velasco’s assump-
warned last week that he flag displayed on an LED tify the 186 lawmakers his they’re law breakers. Let us tion of the speakership under
would intercede if the lead- screen. Velasco offered to camp claims voted him to not destroy the institution,” the power-sharing deal.
ership row between House meet Cayetano for an orderly the speakership, along with a Villafuerte told reporters. Several lawmakers protested
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano transition. new House secretary-general Presidential spokesman Har- that the suspension blocked
and Rep. Lord Allan Velasco But Cayetano and his allies and sergeant-at-arms. ry Roque said Duterte does them from scrutinizing the
threatens the passage of next declared in a news conference not want to get dragged in budget, including crucial ap-
year's budget. The 4.5 trillion at the House that the vote for Duterte has called for a spe- the dispute but stressed the propriations for the Depart-
peso ($90 billion) budget is Velasco violated the law and cial session of the House urgency for Congress to pass ment of Health, which is
crucial in helping finance the rules of the 300-member starting Tuesday to hasten the budget. spearheading efforts to con-
the government’s response legislative chamber, which is the passage of the national tain COVID-19 outbreaks.
to the coronavirus pandemic dominated by Duterte’s al- budget, but it’s unclear how Duterte brokered a pow-
in a country with the largest lies. They mocked Velasco that will occur with two rival er-sharing deal last year in The Philippines has reported
number of confirmed infec- and his supporters for hold- speakers claiming the post. which Cayetano would as- more than 342,000 corona-
tions in Southeast Asia. ing a session in a sports club Rep. Luis Raymund Villa- sume the speakership for 15 virus cases, including 6,332
outside Congress and said fuerte Jr., a close Cayetano months until this month, to deaths.
The dispute, however, took they used a fake mace, a sym- ally, said if Velasco can prove be followed by Velasco, who