Gravitas Live | China humiliated in the Pacific | Small Pacific countries reject china's deal | WION

[Applause] [Music] good evening and welcome to gravitas and pakistan let's get started [Music] [Music] have you heard of the law of the fish or what we call matsunai in india it's a universal political theory you could call it in simple words it means the big fish eat the small fish that is the law of the fish today ten tiny pacific island nations defeated this concept they stood up to a big fish called china aka the dragon these 10 countries rejected a chinese proposal a proposal china was so sure about that it sent its foreign minister with a pre-drafted deal unfortunately for them it did not sail these countries turned him away and this is a very important story one because the pacific is the new battleground the new theater for china's rivalry with the west and two because here's a lesson for bigger countries the ones who willingly walk into china's debt trap and let beijing dictate the terms of engagement this story is a lesson to all of them on how to stand up for one sovereignty even against a player as formidable as china on gravitas tonight we'll discuss we start tonight with a story that we're very happy to report a story of small island nations standing up to china tiny pacific countries rebuffing the dragon it's an incredible story and rare too you see smaller countries do not usually do this they're vulnerable they need money they end up as vassal states making a compromise becomes their survival tactic but not in this case china came knocking on their doors and they turned it away let me start from the beginning in fact we've been telling you about this all of last week we told you how china was targeting the pacific how china wanted a security pact with 10 pacific islands in fact china was so confident of having its way that it went with a pre-drafted deal guess what it has been given a royal snub the deal is off and wongi the chinese foreign minister will return home empty-handed for this the pacific nations deserve a round of applause because saying no to china is never easy and even now the threat for them is not over because china will try through some other means to gain a foothold but why is china targeting these countries what is its game plan and what happens next in this story and gravitas tonight we'll discuss all of it first let's tell you about what happened today wongi was in fiji he was hosting a virtual meeting with 10 pacific countries the solomon islands kiribati samoa fiji tonga vanuatu papua new guinea the cook islands nui and the federated states of micronesia all of these countries the leaders of all these 10 countries attended before today's meeting xi jinping had sent a message to all of them it said china would be a good brother to the region small problem china has been a bad brother to way too many countries for the pacific islands to trust it they saw through the motives what was china asking for a confidential security pact here's what they wanted basically to train the local police and pacific countries to get involved in cyber security issues to expand political ties with these countries to conduct sensitive marine mapping and to gain access to natural resources on land and water china wanted all of it this is what it meant by the controversial confidential security deal it went on to become controversial so these were china's demands what was it offering in return china was offering money and a lot of it millions of dollars in financial assistance training for police officers in the pacific projects to map the ocean and increase law enforcement cooperation what was in it for china strategic influence china wanted the pacific to be it's tough it wanted to replace the west to become the net provider of security to the region unfortunately for beijing the draft of this confidential pact was leaked and it created quite a storm a tug of war began the west was alarmed australia launched a diplomatic mission less than a week after taking office australia's new foreign secretary penny wong rushed to fiji the united states too swung into action washington struck a deal with fiji it made fiji a part of the indo-pacific economic forum ipef the same one that was launched last week during the quad summit you might remember that india's prime minister narendra modi was part of this launch ipef this forum is being seen as an alternative to china's regional comprehensive economic partnership our sep so first the leak then the western charm offensive the deal began to fall apart and all of this happened even before wongi had arrived in the pacific once he did he did try to contain the damage my advice for those people is that don't be too anxious and don't be too nervous because the common development and prosperity of china and all the other development countries would only mean greater harmony greater justice and greater progress of the whole world don't be too anxious he said the appeal did not work though the pacific countries took a stand micronesia led the charge it warned pacific nations against signing the pact palau took a stand too last year its president surangal whips junior refused to take calls from beijing whips believes wide-ranging ties with china could be harmful fiji's leader prime minister frank baini marama told the press that there was no consensus china is a forum dialogue partner in the pacific islands forum and is also an important bilateral partner to the 10 pacific island countries that met today as always we put consensus first well that's how china has packed collapsed beijing thought it was a done deal with wongi's assurances failed to convince the pacific the world was watching today's meeting in fiji so a sizable number of journalists was old were also present to cover it soon after the talks were over they rushed to the chinese ambassador to fiji and they all had the same question why had the talks failed listen to china's response there has been general support from the countries of 10 countries which we have to promote relations but there are some you know of course there are some uh uh concerns on some specific issues and uh we have agreed that uh these two documents we will be discussed in the afterwards and until we have reached an agreement well this is what total humiliation sounds like china's bid to influence the pacific has failed and how wongi did sign some smaller deals he still wants to chase that security pack but the writing is on the wall for china nobody wants their friend requests these pacific nations have shown some bigger powers how a country's sovereignty can and must be protected so china's pacific project is not going too well what about the himalayan one one country is key to china's expansionist plans in south asia that country is nepal historically china has had little influence in kathmandu they their preferred partner was india just think of all the common links religion culture trade history the relations are less diplomatic and more of a brotherhood india nepal but even brothers squabble right now india and nepal are locked in a border dispute three territories are in question limpi adora lipu lake and kalapani but india and nepal claim these territories as their own now this squabble is not new since the late 1990s nepalese leaders have repeatedly rigged up the border issue one man takes the cake though former prime minister kept sharmauli he published a new map of nepal in 2019 it showed these three disputed areas as part of nepal ali's tenure nearly derailed india nepal ties he cozied up to china he accused india of spreading kobit 19 to nepal it was all kinds of propaganda but now kp sharma oli is gone there is a new government in nepal one that promised to reset relations with india and how's that going in april the new prime minister bahadur dava visited india he met prime minister narendra modi he offered prayers at the kashi temple basically he ticked the important boxes diplomacy and culture the next month prime minister modi traveled to nepal he visited the birthplace of buddha in lumbini and there the indian prime minister made an important statement india nepal ties are as ancient as the ocean and as stable as the himalayas does nepal agree with this the new government does want to reset in ties but the disputed territories remain an issue here's what the nepalese prime minister said on sunday the government of nepal is always ready to defend its territories the areas of limpy adhura lipulaek and kalapani are nepalese and the government of nepal has firm understanding about it the issue of border is sensitive and we understand that these issues can be resolved through dialogues and talks through diplomatic channels [Music] strong words there thereby is talking about defending the disputed land and that language is very important the use of the word defending you don't have to defend against partners especially not a long-standing one like india so on this issue deoba is following the only playbook maybe not as aggressive but the message is the same the question is why why is nepal's leadership antagonizing their most important friend and the answer is politics the nepalese have certain perceptions about india wrong but strong perceptions that india is undermining nepal's sovereignty that india is sort of like the big brother and apart leaders capitalize on these sentiments all he did the same in 2019 thereby doing it in 2022. it is more political than strategic if you're tough on india the people will support you that's the consensus so that's what leaders do but with china things are different let me tell you about mao zedong's dream for tibet he said tibet had five fingers ladakh arunachal pradesh sikkim bhutan and finally nepal mao said these five regions had to be liberated in which case nepal will have to defend itself really defend itself not against india but against china reports say china has encroached on 36 hectares of nepalese land it's a small country so 36 hectares is important their constructions in tibet are also altering the landscape for example some rivers are changing course and when rivers shift so do borders in may 2020 china made another claim this one was beyond belief chinese state media claimed that mount everest was part of china literally a himalayan insult the nepalese public was seething at beijing but their government was more cautious certainly no statements on defending the everest in fact the very next month nepal supported china at the united nations the u.n was voting on china's crackdown in hong kong 53 nations supported china among them was nepal what explains this difference in attitude why are nepalese leaders soft on china but hard on india like i said one reason is the politics the china factor is not politically beneficial if that changes in the future so will nepal's attitude but by then will it be too late china invests nearly 268 million dollars in nepal every year 268 million dollars annually that money is building bridges making roads creating power grids i know it sounds great but chinese funds always come at a cost just look at sri lanka so nepal must be wary of this chinese embrace their leaders are used to playing india against china or acting tough on india to gain votes but that strategy is extremely risky it could derail ties that have been built over centuries so prime minister deva needs to tone down the rhetoric he needs to focus on the reset as for india it's time to introspect india prides itself on people-to-people relations in south asia whether it's afghanistan nepal bangladesh or sri lanka india's commitment has always been to the people not the governments and the best example of that was 2015 india came to nepal's rescue during the devastating earthquake and despite that why is the perception not changing why do nepalese citizens have misconceptions about india solving that must be india's priority if not nepal's leaders will continue with the rhetoric and there's more news from nepal in fact the country has a history of air crashes it probably has one of the most dangerous skies in the world there have been 27 air crashes in nepal in 30 years on sunday they had their latest air disaster a small plane carrying tourists from india japan and germany went off the radar minutes after takeoff our next report tells you what happened next around 10 a.m local time a small plane took off from pokhara it's a small tourist town some 200 kilometers west of kathmandu 22 people were on board the plane was headed towards johnson travel time was 15 minutes but it never landed it was a twin engine jet on board were four indians 13 nepalese citizens three japanese nationals and two germans a day later their bodies were pulled from the crash site the plane went down near leite hill there was nothing indicating the plane wasn't fit to fly but experts say they saw this coming nepal has a checkered aviation history it has seen 27 crashes in 30 years 20 of them in the last decade alone in 2019 a chopper crash killed seven passengers in 2018 a plane crash killed 51 people in 2016 another terra air flight went down just eight minutes after takeoff in 2012 a flight crashed while trying to make an emergency landing 19 people died after every crash the question asked is why why is nepal so prone to air crashes blame treacherous topography made worse by human carelessness it's not easy to land a flight in nepal there's no established airway pilots must navigate keeping the mountains and weather in mind the radar system is dated meaning there is minimum assistance from ground so everything depends on what the pilot can see from the cockpit on a cloudy day when visibility is poor flying in nepal becomes a challenge there have been instances of planes entering a cloud losing sight and hitting a mountaintop plus the airstrips in nepal are narrow tucked between mountains and dense forests if not mountains planes often end up hitting wild animals there were at least 70 such hits in 2019 including all sorts of animals from wild boars to porcupine nepal has eight of the world's 14 highest mountains it's a pilot's nightmare the government hasn't helped the country's only international airport has just one runway meaning a flight coming into kathmandu needs to circle over the airport for a considerably long time before being cleared for landing all of these factors explain why just 14 countries currently operate flights to nepal some 20 airline companies operate here none boasts of a great safety record and all are banned from flying into european airspace nepal's aviation sector also has questionable maintenance record in may 2019 atara air flight had to make an emergency landing after its cabin door opened mid-air for now nepal's civil aviation authority has launched an investigation into the weekend's crash experts say one of the reasons why crashes keep happening in nepal is because lessons from crash investigations are never learned from one troubled neighbor to another pakistan has sent a delegation to india they crossed over at the waga border on sunday today they held talks with indian officials in new delhi what did they talk about the indus water treaty it was signed way back in 1960 this treaty decides how india and pakistan share the indus water river the river waters the last round of talks was held in pakistan so this time the delegation came to india and politically does not have any significance because these talks are never disrupted just think about it the treaty was signed in 1960 and since then india and pakistan have fought three wars dozens of water incursions infiltrations terror attacks but through all of it this treaty survived and frankly it's a surprise there have been 117 rounds of indus water talks this one the one happening today is the 118th edition how has this treaty survived for 62 years because of two reasons number one india's refusal to weaponize or politicize the indus waters india has an advantage that it refuses to use and reason number two pakistan's dependence on the shared water india needs pakistan rather needs this treaty so they will not violate it and we'll explain why but first some basic facts the indus water treaty covers six rivers india has full access to the three eastern ones satellite bias and ravi pakistan has access to the three western rivers indus jailer and chennai at the same time india can also generate electricity from these western rivers in other words india can build dams and pakistan does have the right to object and when that happens when pakistan objects there must be a negotiated settlement this is how the treaty works now pakistan cannot survive without this treaty 80 percent of the agricultural fields depend on indus waters what world what's worse is that pakistan cannot control it the indus originates somewhere near tibet it flows through kashmir into pakistan and from here it empties into the arabian sea that is the indus trajectory india is located higher up the stream while pakistan is located further down meaning india controls the river flow into pakistan and that is a lot of strategic advantage if india wants to it can flood pakistan if india wants to it can also trigger a drought in pakistan you know by turning off the taps and reducing the water flow india can build infrastructure to do all of this but india has not done any of it and that's what we're discussing tonight why has india not use this advantage what would be the consequences of such a move would it be legally sound the answer to the last one the legally sound one is no the indus water treaty cannot be cancelled unilaterally let me tell you what it says the provisions of this treaty shall continue to force continue in force until terminated by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments in simpler words it means cancellation requires both sides to agree india and pakistan having said that india can still go ahead yes it would violate the rules but remember we're talking about pakistan they don't believe in rules they don't play by the rules cross-border terrorism and infiltration is breaking all the rules so india is under no moral pressure to uphold this treaty you see all treaties are based on certain understandings like sovereignty like security pakistan has already violated all those understandings so india's decision if it chooses to walk out of the indus water treaty would be a response not an escalation but we doubt india will do that two reasons for that number one such a move could affect india's global standing india is seen as a responsible international player not an unreliable partner that violates treaties and number two india has never initiated a war there's no reason to believe that india will now start a water war with pakistan and beyond these two reasons there's a third one which is humanity floods and droughts affect ordinary citizens in this case the ordinary citizens of pakistan their rulers will still live in luxury the people will suffer so no indian government has taken this drastic step of causing a flood or a drought in pakistan despite all the cross-border terrorism all the anti-india activism all the border incursions india has never violated the indus water treaty it came quite close to doing so in 2016 after the uri attack india was rethinking the treaty remember the indus water talks were also suspended but in the end new delhi relented and don't get me wrong we're not saying that india must engineer droughts or floods in pakistan or that ordinary pakistan pakistani should suffer we're talking about leveraging not weaponizing and these are two different things perhaps india can push for a renegotiation or add new terms to the existing treaty basically utilize its strategic edge over the indus river today's meeting suggests the opposite india is 100 committed to the industry it said the question is how long will that commitment continue just like droughts affect ordinary pakistanis terrorism affects ordinary indians and for new delhi that must be priority number one i'll end with the words of prime minister narendra modi in 2016 blood and water cannot flow together think about it meanwhile there's a wild claim circulating in britain this one's being attributed to the mi6 and it concerns the well-being of the russian president the claim is that vladimir putin has died and that the kremlin is using his body double for public appearances here's a report these are the headquarters of mi6 britain's foremost secret service agency it collects human intelligence to support the uk's national security their latest report is shocking mi6 says vladimir putin may already be dead yes the bosses at this intel body say the russian president is no more is this wishful thinking a case of state propaganda or a fact-based assertion no one knows for sure but the claims are going viral they are making headlines in britain here's what they say the mi6 has told them putin is very ill and when he dies his death it will be kept secret for weeks if not months there's also the possibility that he's already dead it's impossible to know it is believed that putin has employed body doubles in the past when he has been unwell and the kremlin could be doing so now so what are these assertions based on if putin is indeed dead what caused it the mi6 will not say the british media will not stop guessing some say he had abdominal cancer others say he suffered from parkinson's disease yet others claim it was the result of a surgery everyone seems to be adding to the speculation on social media mi6 agents are being called conspiracy theorists given the number of times putin has been declared dead many are questioning the state of british journalism the russian foreign minister has responded to he has rejected all such media reports and ruled out any signs of ailment this is what he told a french broadcaster i don't think that sane people can see in this person's signs of some kind of illness or aimment you can watch him on screens read and even listen to his speeches i leave it to the conscience of those who spread such rumors now here's the thing putin's health and private life are taboo subjects in russia they are almost never discussed in public forget being reported by the media so when the west raises questions on his health there's reason to be cynical especially during wartime when narratives can turn the tables so these stories about putting being dead could just be a bid to demoralize russian troops it's not for nothing that they say the first casualty of war is always the truth [Music] in sri lanka it was another weekend of violent protests let me show you some pictures this was the scene in colombo on saturday it was the 50-day anniversary of the protest thousands of sri lankans flooded the streets they were demanding the resignation of president gotta by rajapaksa and his new prime minister ranil vikramasinghi the police responded with force they used water cannons tear gas and batons eventually the protesters were driven away but how long can this continue how will the cycle of protests and crackdowns end prime minister vikram singh has an idea he wants the protesting youth to join the government listen to this the youth are calling for a change in the existing system they also want to know the current issues therefore i propose to appoint four youth representatives to each of these 15 committees one of them will be appointed by the youth parliament the other three will be from the protesting groups and other activist groups we say same man at first glance it makes sense the youth are angry and protesting so why not listen to their demands maybe some some of their inputs may be valuable and could be used the problem is the timing sri lanka you see is going through its worst financial crisis since independence and this situation calls for experts for technocrats angry youngsters from the street may not be of much help but in sri lanka experts are in short supply for example no one wants to be the finance minister of the country and without a finance minister you cannot negotiate with the imf you cannot secure a bailout so last week they appointed a finance minister ranil vikrama singh that's right the prime minister has been settled with the finance ministry as well his first objective is to strike a deal with the international monetary fund the imf vikrama singh is preparing an economic reforms package if the imf approves it the bailout can go ahead but if the imf in fact needs assurances in fact let me tell you what their official statement says since sri lanka's public debt is assessed as unsustainable approval by the executive board of an imf supported program for the country would require adequate assurances that debt sustainability will be restored in other words major reforms and strict austerity measures that's what the imf wants now it was always on the cards the question is what does sri lanka do in the meantime they're down to their last dollars there is no money to import food and fuel so until the imf's check arrives what is sri lanka's plan seek more bilateral health that's what they plan to do and on top of their bucket list is india on friday sri lanka's high commissioner to india met finance minister nirmala sitharaman and here's what they discussed funds to import essential goods and fuel balance of payment support and if possible a currency swap that is what sri lanka is asking for now sri lanka central bank is already in talks with the reserve bank of india colombo is hoping for a swap facility of one billion dollars but india alone is not going to be enough sri lanka needs other lenders to step up china for instance in the last decade china were eagerly lending to sri lanka now they're being cautious vikrama singh says china has agreed to lend a few hundred millions those were his words a few hundred millions the problem is sri lanka needs billions not millions right now the country is living day to day foreign assistance may keep the island afloat but not for very long eventually they need a bailout and this is worrying sri lankan economists because sri lanka has a strange fiscal policy first sign of trouble and they sell government assets the new administration is proving to be no different vikrama singh wants to privatize sri lankan airlines he could offload other state assets too like ports or airports maybe even power grids and this would be a bad idea for two reasons number one key government assets and services will end up in private hands so less accountability and higher costs and number two who will buy them what if chinese companies take over the sri lankan assets that would be a strategic nightmare so prime minister ranil vikrama has his work cut out he must negotiate with the imf he must appease the protesters he must reform his government and eventually he must reduce the powers of the executive presidency that's a lot to do for one man our next story is from france on the 28th of may as real madrid and liverpool clashed in the champions league finals football fans ran riot on the streets of paris they vandalized public property they clashed with the french police the question is why and the answer depends on who you ask the fans say they were roughed up by the police for no reasons the police say the fans turned up without tickets war awards followed the french authorities are furious as are football clubs the ones which are involved the question is why are football fans so violent here's a report tear gas pepper spray clashes [Music] violence these are not scenes from a protest site these are images from a victory celebration the victory of real madrid over liverpool [Applause] is on the 28th of march the whites won the uefa champions league title they beat the reds 1-0 in a match that started 37 minutes late why late thanks to both their fans most of them turned up ticketless some even came with fake tickets both kinds forced their way into the stadium they fought with the police and vandalized public property all in a bid to get inside the cops too responded with a heavy hand i have never seen such disorganization around the start day france it is not the first time that the star de france hosts large events the star de france was built in saint denis 24 years ago it is the third champions league final organized year i have never seen such disorganization [Music] the madness went on for an hour it subsided when the match began only to flare up again as it ended this time out of joy hundreds of rowdy fans most of them shirtless began confronting the cops what for apparently for not letting them in earlier high on their club's victory they ran riot on the streets within minutes the distraught liverpool fans joined them it's not clear why they became violent apparently they took the anger of their loss out on the cops the chaos lasted way beyond midnight such was the scale of the mayhem that french authorities had to organize an emergency meeting [Music] the next morning they were seen rushing to the sports ministry in attendance were the french interior minister the paris police prefect and a host of sports officials they called the chaos a national embarrassment and pinned most of the blame on the liverpool fans neither the club nor its players agree with this assessment the liverpool mayor says she is disgusted at the brutal treatment of the club's fans and that it would be shameless to pin the blame on them liverpool defender andy robertson says the event was not well organized and the way fans were treated was disgraceful now here's the thing football fans are notorious for being rowdy what unfolded in paris is not an exception so the question is why are football fans violent experts point to the concept of identity fusion that's an extreme form of social bonding that makes people consider the game a part of their identity and fans of the game they're brothers in arms this makes them travel long distances spend huge amounts of money and exhibit visual symbols of allegiance to their team for die hard fans these symbols could be anything a tattoo of their favorite club a fight with the fans of the rival team or even taking on authorities after a bitter defeat this explains the hooliganism it doesn't justify it bureau report we on world is one let's also take a look at what else is making news across the world this is gravitas global headlines [Music] relentless russian shelling targeted the city of severo donetsk in the donbass region destroying over 90 percent of its critical infrastructure as russian forces edged towards the center of the eastern ukrainian city nigeria's disease control agency has said the country recorded 21 cases of monkey pox since the start of the year one which was fatal a beijing man has landed thousands of his neighbors in quarantine after he ignored an order to stay at home and later tested positive for cobit 19 prompting a police investigation [Music] sudan's army chief abdel fattah al-burhan has lifted a state of emergency imposed since last year's military coup appending a fragile transition following the 2019 ouster of president omar al-bashir colombian leftist leader gustavo petro has come out on top in the first round of the presidential election and will now face a surprise contender businessman rodolfo hernandez in a second round on june 19th the death toll in georgia's boat collision has now risen to five as rescuers have recovered three more bodies the incident occurred after two vessels collided on a river in the southeastern part of the u.s state of georgia [Music] the iconic mona lisa painting at the louvre in paris came under attack as a man tried to smash the bulletproof glass and then smeared cake on the surface but the artwork was unharmed due to the protective glass encasing it the death toll in the northeastern brazil floods rose to 79 as search and rescue operations continued amid reports of dozens still missing [Music] sam burns overturned a seven-shot deficit before beating world number one and masters champion scotty sheffler at the charles schwab challenge on the pga tour shaffler and burns both finished at 9 under for the tournament and burns drained at 38-foot birdie on the first play-off hold clinch his third title of the ongoing pga tour season [Music] the boston celtics reached the nba finals for the first time in 12 years after beating miami heat 100 to 96 in game 7 of the eastern conference finals they will face golden state warriors in the nba finals jason tatum won the larry bird award after being named eastern conference finals mvp that's a wrap we're leaving you with gravitas images thanks very much for watching so [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

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Keywords: china, pacific, china pacific, china in the pacific, china pacific presence, south pacific, pacific islands, china aims to expand footprints in south pacific region, china news, indo pacific region, pacific island nations, pacific islands community, asia pacific, south china, asia pacific china, china asia pacific, pacific region, south china sea dispute, south china sea, indo pacific china, indo pacific strategy, south pacific news, gravitas, gravitas live with palki

Id: AnSlanpLGYA

Length: 41min 44sec (2504 seconds)

Published: Mon May 30 2022