Ban On Chinese Telecom Parts..

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Just connect all the headlines

Is there something burning ??..........

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The government’s move to tightly regulate overseas suppliers of telecom gear, especially the Chinese, due to security concerns Smartphones

The department of telecom (DoT) has scaled down its demand that telcos operate and maintain networks on their own, and instead allowed foreign equipment providers to do so provided they are strictly monitored by security agencies.

Two officials who attended Friday’s meeting between senior executives of telecom firms and the government said as a compromise, it was decided that equipment suppliers must register with DoT, agree to monitoring by security agencies, and obtain clearance to operate from the home ministry.

Insistence on phone firms operating and maintaining their own networks would have affected all mobile service providers, which have outsourced such work to overseas companies.

Furthermore, the government wants Chinese gearmakers to be barred from all but eight states-Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh. This is being vehemently opposed by mobile firms benefitting from cut-rate Chinese products.

“We have agreed that security norms for the sector need to be tighter. After consultations with the industry, the government will issue fresh security-related guidelines. There is no fixed time frame, but we are looking at a four-week schedule,” telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura told ET.

The government and the telecom industry have agreed to sort out the issue of Chinese vendors’ participation after more consultations among the agencies involved in national security.

The networks of India’s largest phone firms-Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone, Tata Tele and Idea-are being managed by either Sweden’s Ericsson, Finland-based Nokia Siemens or Paris-headquartered Alcatel-Lucent. Reliance has outsourced its GSM network management to China’s Huawei while Loop Telecom has tied up with another Chinese firm, ZTE, for its GSM rollout across India.

All operators also agreed to carry out extensive security testing of all new equipment and submit self-certifications.

Fears of infiltration of networks

The move comes as the home ministry fears that some vendors may infiltrate telecom networks through remote login facilities and Trojan horses to attack them from overseas.

A government panel, which included representatives from the Intelligence Bureau and the defence ministry, recently allowed state-owned BSNL to place orders with Huawei for only the southern states. The telecom department has told BSNL that networks provided by Huawei could go live only after all security audits are done.

A senior executive at one of the Chinese companies said on the condition of anonymity that Western rivals are responsible for raising the security scare as they are unable to compete on price.

A telecom industry official said the government could not push for a ban on Chinese gear in 20 states as many telcos pointed out that buying equipment from Western suppliers could make their businesses unviable.

“A section of the industry also pointed out that security concerns regarding Chinese vendors were being hyped up by Western equipment companies as they find it difficult to compete on price,” said an executive who attended the meeting.

The government also asked mobile service providers to consider if SIM cards can be made locally and to avoid using just a single equipment supplier

Edited August 31, 2009 by FEVIN-RAJ

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Several Chinese incursions in past few months: Indian Army

New Delhi, Aug 31 (Inditop.com) There have been several border violations by Chinese troops in the past few months, including an incursion by a helicopter, but they are of not much concern as they are largely inadvertent, Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said Monday.

“There have been several violations and one incursion by a Chinese helicopter in past few months. It could have happened due to a navigational error but that does not justify it. It was taken up at the border personnel meet,” Kapoor told reporters here. The general Monday assumed office as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee on the retirement of Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.

The army chief also said that the absence of a well-defined border with China also results in incursions.

“When intrusions take place, they are taken up at the regular border personnel meets which happen on an ongoing basis. We also go up to the Line of Actual Control as we perceive it to be. It (the situation) is not as concerning as the number of infiltrations are similar to the last year,” said Kapoor.

However, Kapoor denied any firing incident along the India-China border.

The new Indian Navy chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma, asserted its capability to counter the growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean region.

“Each nation pursues its own interests by its presence in international waters. The Indian Navy has the sense of confidence that it can protect India’s maritime interests,” Verma maintained

http://www.inditop.com/india/several-chinese-incursions-in-past-few-months-indian-army

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More Chinese Navy in Indian Ocean, US OK, India not

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=More+Chinese+Navy+in+Indian+Ocean,+US+OK,+India+not&artid=mH349SspFOU=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=&SEO=Chinese%20Navy%20,%20Indian%20Ocean

NEW DELHI: A clear disconnect has emerged in the military views of India and the US, with a top American military commander saying Washington is comfortable with the increased presence of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean, a suggestion that New Delhi bristles at.

This apart, Admiral Timothy J. Keating, who heads the Hawaii-based US Pacific Command, said he would like China to come aboard - as an observer and later as a participant - in the annual India-US Malabar naval war games that occasionally take on a trilateral hue. India is hardly expected to root for this.

And, the US would be comfortable with the Chinese Navy acquiring berthing facilities in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, a move that India has been vehemently opposing, Keating, ho was on a two-day visit here, told reporters Thursday.

Keating also felt the broader India-US military-military contact could be considerably ramped if New Delhi signs three rather controversial pacts, one of them on providing mutual logistics support, that have been pending for long. India has often said it is uncomfortable with the language of the pacts and that they would have to be reworked.

"It's not a question of us versus them. There's lots of room in the Indian Ocean for various players," Keating contended.

"We are not in favour of splitting the Indian Ocean into sphere but are talking in terms of cooperating and collaborating and sharing best practices," he maintained.

Keating also welcomed the increased participation of the Chinese Navy in the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden at a time when India has been expressing growing concern over this, viewing it as Beijing's muscling into New Delhi's backyard.

In floating the Indian Ocean Naval Seminar (IONS) last year, India aimed to crate a regional grouping stretching from the eastern coast of Africa to Australia. The US and China were specifically excluded on the ground they were not Indian Ocean littoral states.

Speaking about the Malabar exercises, Keating said the US had "no objection" to China coming on board.

China had created a major ruckus when the trilateral version of the war games - also involving Australia, Japan and Singapore - were conducted in the Bay of Bengal in 2007 against the usual exercise area off India's west coast.

This apart, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which was supporting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government at the time, had staged a series of demonstrations during the exercise but they were conducted nonetheless.

The Left had later parted ways with the government over the India-US civilian nuclear deal.

As for the three military pacts, one of these is Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) that enables cashless transactions for fuel and other non-lethal supplies that are balanced at the end of the year.

India says agreeing to this would be tantamount to granting the US navy and air force berthing and landing facilities in India.

This apart there is CISMOA (Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement) and the End-User Agreement.

The first would have the Indian military reconfiguring their communications frequencies to make them compatible with the US grid. While there are some advantages to this, particularly during disaster relief operations and war games, the downside would be compromising India's security setup.

As for the End-User Agreement, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta is on record as terming this as restrictive.

Under the agreement, India would have to certify that the US military hardware it purchases would not be used in combat.

Thus, even though India has already deployed the troop carrier INS Jalashwa it has purchased from the US, the End-User Agreement for this is yet to be inked.

The End-User Agreement has also not been signed for the eight Boeing P8I Orion long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft that are being purchased for the Indian Navy.

The three pacts were high on the agenda during Defence Minister A.K. Antony's visit to the US earlier this year and there was considerable speculation that they would be signed. This did not happen as India felt it was being tied down too much in return for too little.

During his visit here, Keating held discussions with his Indian counterpart, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon

Edited August 31, 2009 by FEVIN-RAJ

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China’s help to Sri Lanka: A jolt to India

Apr 27 (China Military News cited from merinews) — Beijing’s decision of supporting the Lankan government in eliminating the LTTE from its very root can not be viewed as an isolated issue as the Reds have also helped the island nation earlier. In 2008, China sold huge sophisticated weapons to Colombo.

AS CHINA announced that it would support the Sri Lankan government in carrying out their operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, the pressure mounted on the Indian administration. Such a decision by the most powerful neighbour of India also underlines the possibility of the increasing Chinese power in the Indian Ocean.

Beijing’s decision of supporting the Rajapaksa government in eliminating the LTTE from its very root cannot be viewed as an isolated issue, as the Reds have also helped the island nation earlier. In 2008, China sold huge sophisticated weapons to its new partner Colombo and also gave an aid of more than five times of $1 billion. Presently, China is the largest donor to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Air Force is bedecked by the Chinese Jian-7 fighter jets, anti-aircraft guns and JY-11 3D air surveillance radars, which have played a major role in getting success against the LTTE rebels in recent days.

China started helping the Lankan government after the Unites States stopped sending aids to Colombo for breaching the human rights. Beijing is also influencing its decade old ally - Pakistan for providing military assistance to Lanka. The Pakistani air force also trained their Sri Lankan counterparts in precision-guided attacks.

According to Brahma Chellaney, the strategic affairs expert, China is trying to influence the Lankan government for its importance in the Indian Ocean so that the communists can make international passageway for trade and oil in future.

The Chinese engineers are presently working for a billion-dollar port in the country’s southeast, Hambantota. This would be the latest Chinese strategy to control vital maritime communication between the Indian and Pacific Oceans by assembling the listening posts, special naval arrangements and access to ports. A big highway, two power plants and a new port in the hometown of Lankan president are also under construction by some Chinese engineering companies.

New Delhi’s reluctance over the issues of Lanka helps China to increase its influence in the island nation. The continuous protest in Tamil Nadu against the Lankan government over the killing of LTTE rebels has crippled the Indian government to take a strong stand. Cashing in on the issue, China continues to aggressively pursue its strategic interests in the Indian Ocean rim.

http://www.china-defense-mashup.com/?p=3375

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‘China a major player in Sri Lanka war’

London, May 2 (IANS) The Sri Lankan government has been able to disregard international concern over its civil war with Tamils because of financial and military backing by China, a senior former Indian intelligence official was quoted saying Saturday.

The Times newspaper said China has replaced Japan as Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign donor giving the island-nation nearly a billion US dollars last year.

By comparison, the US gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain 1.25 million pounds.

“That’s why Sri Lanka has been so dismissive of international criticism,” B. Raman of the Chennai Centre for China Studies, a former additional secretary in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency.

“It knows it can rely on support from China,” he added.

The Times said strategic experts believe a billion dollar commercial port that the Chinese are building in the southern Sri Lankan town of Hambantota will eventually become a base for its navy.

“Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the [port construction] plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West,” the paper reported.

“China has cultivated ties with Sri Lanka for decades and became its biggest arms supplier in the 1990s, when India and Western governments refused to sell weapons to Colombo for use in the civil war. Beijing appears to have increased arms sales significantly to Sri Lanka since 2007, when the US suspended military aid over human rights issues,” it paper said.

The Times said many US and Indian military planners regard the port as part of a “string of pearls” strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Myanmar.

The strategy was outlined in a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher J. Pehrson, of the Pentagon’s Air Staff, in 2006, and again in a report by the US Joint Forces Command in November.

Stepping in after India’s insistence on selling only defensive weapons to Sri Lanka, the Chinese gave six F7 fighter aircraft to Sri Lanka last year - apparently free of charge.

The paper quoted unnamed Indian security sources as saying China has encouraged Pakistan to sell weapons to Sri Lanka and to train Sri Lankan pilots to fly the Chinese fighters

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/china-a-major-player-in-sri-lanka-war_100187453.html