New Delhi: Though efforts are on to normalize relations between India and China, the ground reality is far from normal. At a time when there are reports of India’s solar manufacturing getting VGF support to reduce Chinese imports, or Union Minister Nitin Gadkari pulling China over road construction contracts, there are many projects in India that are being run by such companies Or are significantly associated with them, whose deep ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
Sources close to the government have said that such a top project is going on in Karnataka. Shindia Steels Limited, considered to be one of the largest joint ventures between India and China, has recently started operating a 0.8 MTPA iron ore pellet facility near Hospet in Koppal district of Karnataka, costing a little over Rs 250 crore. .
However, its main investor is Xinxing Cathay International Group Co. Ltd. (China). According to its website, it is separated from the former subsidiary enterprises and institutions of the PLA’s General Logistics Department and reconstructed and reorganized.
It is the same PLA with which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred during the conflict in eastern Ladakh last month.
The company that operates the Hospet project is overseen by the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council in China (SASAC).
And this is just a sample. There is another project in Andhra Pradesh, which has also raised security issues in the current scenario. China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) announced a multi-million dollar investment in a 200 MW PV manufacturing facility in 2018 at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
CETC is China’s leading military electronics manufacturer and also manufactures Hikvision CCTV cameras. It is known as China’s surveillance Caesar, which identified 11 million Muslim Uigars of Xinjiang through facial recognition and carried out a state-sponsored repression.
The US has long banned government agencies from buying Hikvision products. Several CETC research institutes and partner institutions have been included in the US government list, which prohibits imports based on national security.
India is re-examining the threat of a 2017 law that was passed by the Chinese legislature. This is known as a new intelligence law, which gives new powers to monitor suspects, raid premises and seize vehicles and equipment.
According to the US Defense Minister’s annual report on ‘Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019’, the law obliges Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Tick Talk, etc. to run China wherever they are, Provide help, support and support in intelligence work. This explains why the Government of India suddenly banned 59 Chinese apps, including Tick Talk.
Article 7 of the law states, “Any organization or citizen shall help, assist and cooperate with the State Intelligence in conformity with the law.”
And now India seems to have started identifying Chinese companies that have a relationship with PLA as a starter.
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