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Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan, China and Afghanistan hold summit in Kabul to boost cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Top diplomats from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are meeting on Wednesday in Kabul for a trilateral summit aimed at boosting political, regional and economic cooperation, officials said. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were received by Taliban officials on arrival in the Afghan capital, according to separate statements issued by Islamabad and Beijing. Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said the talks, hosted by Kabul, will include 'comprehensive discussions' on a wide range of issues, including political, economic and regional cooperation. According to Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dar's discussions at the meeting would focus on expanding trade, improving regional connectivity and strengthening joint efforts against terrorism. The last round of the dialogue took place in May in Beijing. The latest development comes more than a month after Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban's government in Afghanistan. While no country, except from Russian, has offered formal recognition, the Taliban have engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Gazette
8 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
China snaps up Russian oil as Indian demand drops following Trump tariffs
HONG KONG — Chinese refineries have placed new orders for Russian crude that will be shipped from ports that typically supply India, as demand from the South Asian country for Moscow's crude slips following US President Trump's tariffs. At least 15 cargoes of Russian oil have been secured by Chinese refineries for October and November delivery, analysts said. China and India emerged as the top buyers of Russian oil following Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which prompted Western countries to shun its exports. Trump in July threatened to impose secondary tariffs on goods from countries importing Russian oil to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, he announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian exports to the US, on top of another 25% levy, for its Russian oil and gas imports. That led to the country sharply cutting down on its purchases. As of last week, China's state-owned and large private refiners had purchased around 13 cargoes of western Russian crude for October delivery and at least two cargoes for November, said Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler, which tracks commodities and shipping 15 cargoes of oil, each typically ranging from 700,000 to 1 million barrels, will be loaded from Russia's Arctic and Black Sea ports – supplies that usually go to India instead of China, given its distance, Xu said the buying reflected an 'opportunistic' move, with the price of Russian oil remaining at least $3 per barrel cheaper than Middle Eastern alternatives.'As for whether China will continue buying, I personally believe that right now is still a very good opportunity, because over in India, Trump is still pressing hard on them,' she Friday, following his landmark meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump told Fox News that he was not immediately considering retaliatory tariffs on China over its purchase of Russian oil, but suggested he may do so 'in two weeks or three weeks.''Taking advantage of this opportunity while prices are low, I think more refineries will probably consider buying more, within a week or two,' Xu said, referring to Chinese year, India imported $53 billion worth of petroleum and crude oils from Russia, according to data aggregated by the United Nations. Before the recent cuts, Russian supplies accounted for 36% of Indian market, making the country its largest source of crude, according to Vortexa, an energy data has also increased imports of discounted Russian oil since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia provides 13.5% of China's crude imports, according to Vortexa. Last year, China imported $62.6 billion worth of Russian petroleum and crude, the UN data said China is unlikely to make up for the shortfall in India's purchases of Russian oil, as India buys around 1.7 million barrels per day from Russia, while China purchases only about 1.2 million barrels of seaborne Russian oil per day.'If India keeps holding off on buying, that's going to be a real problem for Russia – China just can't take on all of India's volume by itself,' she said. - CNN
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Modi receives Beijing's top diplomat as India-China tensions ease amid US trade war
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received China's top diplomat on Tuesday, as the Asian powers resumed disputed border talks after years of tensions. The neighbors and the world's two most populous countries have been locked in a standoff triggered by deadly clashes along their Himalayan border, known as the Line of Actual Control, in 2020. Tens of thousands of troops, tanks, and artillery have since been deployed on both sides of the LAC, with both countries building new roads, bunkers, and airstrips in the high-altitude area. Despite multiple rounds of military and diplomatic engagements, friction points remained, with India restricting Chinese investments, banning dozens of Chinese apps, and scrutinizing trade ties, as it deepened relations with Beijing's rivals — the US, Japan, and Australia. But a recent disruption caused earlier this month by US President Donald Trump's trade war, in which he unexpectedly hiked the total duty on Indian exports to 50 percent, has created an opening for the Asian powers to seek to repair ties. Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, arrived in New Delhi for a three-day visit on Monday. Ahead of meeting Modi, he held talks with his counterpart, S. Jaishankar, who told him in his welcome speech that after a 'difficult period' in bilateral relations, the 'two nations now seek to move ahead.' Jaishankar said the visit would cover economic and trade issues, including cross-border trade, as well as people-to-people contacts. Wang also met India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, for the 24th round of talks to discuss de-escalation of border tensions, and said he was ready to work with India 'to build more consensus and identify the direction, the specific goals of the boundary consultations going forward, and create more conditions for the improvement and further growth' of bilateral relations. A thaw between India and China began last year, when Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first bilateral meeting in five years at a summit of BRICS nations in Russia's Kazan. They are expected to meet again later this month as Modi will visit China for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This will be the Indian prime minister's first official trip to China in over six years. 'Both are moving gradually to try and normalize a relationship. If you go back to October last year when Prime Minister Modi met President Xi Jinping, you saw the beginnings of some sort of an effort toward normalization,' Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Program and a China studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution, told Arab News. But after years of freeze, the change was not likely to happen immediately. Kewalramani expected that as the two countries resumed talks, they would be followed by more engagements at the levels of commerce, finance and industry and technology ministers. 'We can start to build on areas where there are commonalities and where are shared interests that would inject some sort of stability not only in the relationship but also in the geopolitics of the region,' he said. 'One can argue that the disruption that Donald Trump has caused has led to some degree of urgency, but I don't think you're going to see an overnight change in the relationship. I think what you are going to see is a slow, cautious, calibrated effort by both sides to try and arrive at some sort of a new equilibrium.'
