CHINA WARNS NEPAL INSTABILITY MAY NEGATIVELY IMPACT ENTIRE ASIAN CONTINENT

* China has been repeatedly warning that continued political instability in Nepal will adversely affect entire South Asian region but, this is for the first time that a high ranking Chinese official has said that the effect could exceed beyond South Asia and may engulf the entire Asian continent.

* Mr. He Young, a member at the Central Secretariat of Chinese Communist Party in Beijing said, "We have been closely monitoring unfolding political events in Nepal. We have concluded that prosperity and peace in Nepal will be in the benefit of the entire region but, continued instability and anarchy in Nepal will affect the entire Asian continent ultimately".

@ Telegraph Nepal

China has once again urged Nepal's political parties to forge consensus or else Nepal's instability will have adverse impact in the entire Asian continent.

This, one of the high ranking Communist Party officials of China said upon meeting the eleven member Untied Marxist Leninists' Party delegation in Beijing.

The delegation is being led by former minister and UML secretary Mr. Yub Raj Gyawali, reports one of the leading national dailies of Nepal.

China has been repeatedly warning that continued political instability in Nepal will adversely affect entire South Asian region but, this is for the first time that a high ranking Chinese official has said that the effect could exceed beyond South Asia and may engulf the entire Asian continent.

Mr. He Young, a member at the Central Secretariat of Chinese Communist Party in Beijing said, "We have been closely monitoring unfolding political events in Nepal. We have concluded that prosperity and peace in Nepal will be in the benefit of the entire region but, continued instability and anarchy in Nepal will affect the entire Asian continent ultimately".

He also reminded that all political forces of Nepal had joined hands to abolish Monarchy and repeatedly urged the parties to unite.

"China will never interfere in Nepal's internal matters and we will also not tolerate any other extern force to interfere in Nepali affairs", said the Chinese official.

Mr. He Young had recently visited Nepal leading a 21 member Chinese delegation. He had secretly met with vice chairman of Unified Maoists' Party Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai.

CHINA “COMMITTED” TO SETTLING BORDER DISPUTE

["China is committed to settling the border dispute through friendly consultations and is ready to work with the Indian side to safeguard peace and stability in border areas,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said.]

By Ananth Krishnan

The Chinese government has said it was “committed” to reaching a settlement to the long-running border dispute with India, even as the two countries’ special representatives held the fourteenth round of negotiations here on Tuesday.

"China is committed to settling the border dispute through friendly consultations and is ready to work with the Indian side to safeguard peace and stability in border areas,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said.

On Monday, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon began the fourteenth round of talks over the boundary dispute with State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who is China’s designated special representative for the talks.

Following last month’s meeting in Hanoi between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the two representatives have been instructed to address the issue with a “sense of urgency.”

The talks are currently focused on finding a framework for a final package settlement of disputed areas in the western section of the border, in Aksai Chin, and in Arunachal Pradesh in the east, which China has claims on.

Mr. Hong would not comment on the specifics of the negotiations.

But the official Global Times newspaper said on Tuesday the Chinese government’s position was that both countries “will take into consideration each other’s concerns, and work toward an equitable and

justified settlement of border issues that is acceptable to both sides.”

Indian officials say a hardening of China’s claims on Arunachal Pradesh means the talks are likely to remain long, drawn-out. China voiced strong opposition to the Prime Minister’s visit to the State last year, which it refers to as “Southern Tibet.”

The Global Times quoted Zhao Gancheng, a leading Chinese strategist, as saying “Indian activities near the border” and “remarks made by senior Indian officials who played up the China threat” had “harmed the chances” reaching a quick resolution.

 @ The Hindu

INDIA’S GDP GROWTH OF 8.9 PER CENT IN Q2 EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

NEW DELHI: Belying expectations of a slowdown, the Indian economy expanded at better than expected pace of 8.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal, prompting experts to peg the growth rate for the current financial year at 9 per cent. 

The growth rate during the period depicts India as the second fastest growing large economy after China, which had registered a growth of 9.6 per cent in the September quarter. 

Driven by robust farm output and services sector growth in the second quarter, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.9 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal. 

The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) also upped the GDP growth of first quarter (April-June) to 8.9 per cent, from 8.8 per cent earlier. 

The revision is on account of the new base year adopted in the calculation of inflation and industrial output. 

The numbers prompted Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to say "amid all the depressing news there is a good news" and also exude confidence of the economic expansion to be over 8.75 per cent. 

"We may be confident that at the end of this year the GDP growth will not be less than 8.7-8.75 per cent... It may be more," Mukherjee said. 

The government as well as the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) had earlier estimated the economy to grow by around 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal, up from 7.4 per cent in 2009-10. 

High numbers also prompted the Finance Ministry advisor to be positive on the economic expansion in the current fiscal. 

"It is not impossible any more. We are very close to that," Chief economic advisor (CEA) Kaushik Basu said to a query on whether the economy will grow by 9 per cent in the current fiscal. 

HSBC Group Country Head Naina Lal Kidwai said there is a very strong chance of Indian economy clocking 9 per cent growth this fiscal. 

During the second quarter, the farm sector recorded a growth rate of 4.4 per cent, up from 0.9 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago. 

The growth in the sector has been higher than the level of 2.5 per cent in the April-June quarter. 

The manufacturing sector during the second quarter grew at a rate of 9.8 per cent as compared to 8.4 per cent during the same period last year. 

However, the 9.8 per cent growth in manufacturing in Q2 was slower than 13 per cent recorded in Q1. 

"Investment in manufacturing has been slowing down which is visible from the decline in the growth rate in the sector on a quarterly basis. I expect the GDP growth to be between 8.7-8.9 per cent during the current fiscal," Deloitte Principal Economist Shanto Ghosh said.

@ The Times of India