China-India Cooperation Is Taking Root

March 16 (EIRNS)—Despite Western analysts' disbelief that China and India can work together to become economically stronger, and provide security to make the region safer, more and more Chinese and Indian officials are identifying each other as good partners and good neighbors.

Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington on March 15, India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told the American geopoliticians that the relationship between India and China has improved significantly in the last two decades. "We have a broad spectrum, multidimensional relationship that covers many areas; which is not just focused on the boundary question." She also pointed out that "the rise of China and the rise of India has become an object of world attention. I think, in both the countries, we see a competitive edge but we also see a greater degree of collaboration between the two countries."

In Beijing, responding to the Indian Foreign Secretary's statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that China today is ready to work with India as "good partners" and "good neighbors" to resolve pending issues like the border dispute. Qin Gang said "the two countries have maintained high-level contacts and cooperation and exchanges in various fields and made significant progress." "Both the countries are committed to bilateral, good neighborly, and friendly relations on issues facing the 21st Century for common prosperity," he added.

China and Russia Strengthen Anti-Drug Cooperation

March 14 (EIRNS)—China and Russia agreed March 12 to strengthen cooperation in combatting drug trafficking. The agreement was reached during a meeting between Viktor Ivanov, head of Russia's drug control agency, and Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui. It is within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Ivanov and Li also called for the international community to crack down on drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan.

British Issue Assassination Threat Against Thai Crown Prince

Mar. 19 (EIRNS)—Given the British history of killing foreign leaders who oppose the Empire, the assassination threat issued by The Economist this week against Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, should therefore be considered both real and active.

In an unsigned article in its March 18 issue, The Economist reviews the current upheaval on the streets of Bangkok, as hundreds of thousands of Thais are demanding the resignation of the current government—headed by a Prime Minister and a Treasury Minister who were both born and educated in London—and immediate new elections, which would certainly result in a return to office by the supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But the problem, says The Economist, is that the 82-year-old King, the longest-reigning and richest monarch in the world, is dying, and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn has made clear that he will not be a servant to the British Crown and its interests in Thailand. The article retails a series of slanders about the Crown Prince—that he has a "salacious" private life, and "ties to the criminal underworld," and is "widely loathed and feared" in Thailand.

But the Empire's real concern is that the Crown Prince has ties to the deposed Thaksin: "One reason why Prince Vajiralongkorn is distrusted in military circles is his past association with Mr. Thaksin, who was ousted by a military coup in 2006.... That may have been the real reason for the coup, which appeared to have the blessing of Prem Tinsulanonda, the chairman of the Privy Council and thus the King's chief adviser. The fact that Mr. Thaksin, who is living in exile in Dubai, is still in contact with the prince, is deeply troubling for those same royalists."

The Empire's journal calls on London's Thai assets to do whatever is necessary to change the succession to a Princess whom they consider more passive. Then the threat: "Life in exile in Europe might suit the prince, who would not want for money or diversions. Inevitably there are other, bloodier, predictions of how he might be removed from the succession. This might explain why soldiers in his personal guard are not allowed to wear guns in his presence."

China Sees Its Space Program Pushing It to New Height

March 17 (EIRNS)—Lt. Gen. Zhang Jianqi, deputy chief of the General Armament Department of China's People's Liberation Army and director of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, said in an interview that, "As an industry, the return on investment of the space program is pretty good. In other countries, the ratios are around 1 to 8, or 9. In China, this ratio is even higher. Many discoveries made during space programs have become part of our daily life." He was speaking to China's GlobalTimes.

Last year, China sent a multi-astronaut craft into orbit and the crew performed a space-walk. The next major manned mission goals include dockings, long-term space habitation, and a space station.

Zhang added: "Beside the economic returns, the program is also important for national unity. The US and the USSR fiercely competed in space over who would be the first into space, who would be the first on the Moon, and so on. The space race was used to unite society. The return on national unity is immeasurable."

"China's research institutes have been lagging behind for some time," he noted, "and our space programs have helped them a lot with research. To be honest, the funding to them is still limited, but a good research infrastructure has been built. That is the basis for China's development."