China 'blackmailing' India into using Huawei for its 5G infra: US lawmaker

International News

China is "blackmailing" India into using Huawei for its 5G infrastructure, an influential US Congressman alleged Tuesday, even as Beijing hoped that New Delhi will not succumb to any pressure from America.
The US has banned Huawei, the world leader in telecom equipment and the number two smartphone producer, over concerns of security, and Washington has been putting pressure on other countries to restrict the operations of the Chinese telecom firm.
The Trump administration has been asking all its allies and friends, including India, to block the entry of Huawei from using their 5G infrastructure, which is a next generation cellular technology with download speeds stated to be 10 to 100 times faster than the current 4G LTE networks.
"China is now blackmailing India into using Huawei for its 5G infrastructure they know no bounds!" Congressman Jim Banks said.The 5G networking standard is seen as critical because it can support the next generation of mobile devices in addition to new applications like driverless cars. The Chinese Communist Party "moves to strong-arming countries into exposing themselves to surveillance and espionage", he alleged.
However, China on Tuesday hoped that India would make an "independent and objective" judgement on permitting its telecom giant Huawei in 5G trials and services in the country.
According to a recent report quoting Union Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, India plans to develop its own 5G network. Senator Marsha Blackburn alleged that China, along with state-run company Huawei, is looking to push its spy embedded technology onto America and its allies.

 "We need to draw a hard line to protect our national security interests and intellectual property," she said....Read More

PM Modi to meet China's Xi Jinping at Bishkek this week: What to expect

Company News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on June 13-14. At the sidelines of the summit, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of Russia and China.
The meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is the one that will be followed very closely, given the common concerns and improving ties between the two nations after the Doklam standoff.This will be the second meeting between the two leaders after the Wuhan Summit in April 2018. Modi and Xi had also met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in December last year.
US trade protectionism likely on agendaChina on Monday said it was hoping that the two leaders would discuss their respective trade frictions with the US and reach a consensus on opposing trade protectionism during their "very important" meeting.Chinese officials hope that India, which is also facing trade frictions with the US especially over termination of its designation as a 'beneficiary developing country' under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), would join the fight against Trump's protectionist policies.
The Trump administration has imposed heavy tariffs on China and has tightened trade restrictions on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.Improving India-China ties,The meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit will be Modi's first meeting with Xi after winning the re-election last month.The India-China ties are on the upswing since the Wuhan summit. The Bishkek meet is likely to step up co-operation between the two countries further.

 The April 27-28 Wuhan summit between Modi and Xi was largely credited to have turned around the bilateral relations soured by the 73-day Doklam standoff in 2017, triggered by Chinese troops' attempt to build a road close to the Indian border in an area also claimed by Bhutan.