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Tajikistan worries what comes next in Afghanistan

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Tajikistan and Afghanistan are separated by just a few yards of water, the narrow Panj River, and the two neighbors are very close to each other. Interestingly, there are no walls or fences along the borders between the northern sides.

The Taliban are not taking control of the border, where Tajikistan sees it as a threat. Taliban came to power in August 2021, and since then Tajikistan did not recognize it and instead expressed concerns about rising insurgency in Afghanistan.

But still the Taliban are seen in bordering areas near to Tajikistan and their white flags can be seen flying in the village along the river.

The border, which runs through the Pamir Mountains, is now considered as a security alert for the Tajikistan side and reportedly stationed more troops there to safeguard the border.

Tajikistan fears that instability could spread from Afghanistan to Tajikistan, and terrorist groups like Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda are finding footholds in northern Afghanistan which is a direct threat to Tajikistan’s peace and stability.

Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, said that they have encountered several attempts in recent years where the terrorist groups wanted to breach the border. Addressing the fifth Central Asian Summit in Dushanbe, Rahmon said that not long ago, Tajikistan had thwarted two such attempts, aimed at carrying out terrorist attacks in Dushanbe, the capital city and other regions.

Tajikistan supports peace and stability in the region

However, he also spoke about the region’s commitment to peace and sustainable development, and emphasized the importance of expanding trade, fostering economic relations with the neighbors and the region. He also stressed the significance of cultural and humanitarian cooperation, and the creation of a Central Asian Midia Association in order to address security challenges in the Central Asian states.

The river border – Tajikistan to the left, Afghanistan to the right

Specifically, regarding Afghanistan, Rahmon said that Tajikistan is committed to providing favorable socio-economic conditions and facilitating humanitarian aid delivery to stabilize the situation in the country.

But he reiterated his country’s concern over the increase in terrorist groups activities within Afghanistan’s borders. He also spoke about a surge in drug smuggling along the border with Afghanistan. “In 2022, we will have confiscated approximately five tons of narcotics along the Afghan border, which saw an increase of 22 percent from 2021,” the president added.

Tajikistan calls for regional unity to deal with security challenges  

Focusing on these challenges, Rahmon emphasized a need for regional cooperation and unity to meet the security challenges. This comes while a militant from Jamaat Ansarullah (Tajikistani Taliban) made an appearance in a 13:31 minute video. He appeared with an American rifle on his side, calling on his countrymen to take up arms and not be afraid of accusations such as terrorism.

In the video, he mentioned Afghanistan as a country where the Mujahideen are now governing, and also referred to the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) that is also close to seizing power in Pakistan. He also spoke about the success of Jaish al Adl in Iran.

This comes as Tajikistan special forces have recently killed three members of the Jamaat Ansarullah, after they reportedly entered into Tajikistan illegally from Afghanistan. Tajikistan forces also said they seized a large cache of weapons and ammunition.

Terrorists illegally crossed into Tajikistan

The terrorists illegally crossed the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border on the night of August 30, quoting Tajikistan’s State Security Council, local news outlets reported, adding that they entered the country through the Kevron district of Darvaz region, in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan.

AKIPress reported that Tajikistan’s counter-terrorism unit established a cordon around the location where the group was hiding and called on them to surrender.

“The terrorists did not obey the orders of the security forces and opened fire. As a result of the shootout, three members of the armed terrorist group were neutralized,” AKIPress cited a statement from the State Security Committee.

The committee said they seized five Kalashnikov assault rifles, two M-16 sniper rifles, an M-4 carbine, four pistols, 13 hand grenades, magazines for weapons and cartridges, various devices, including night vision binoculars, 30 packs of explosives, 162 detonator capsules, remote controls for explosives, $10,000 in cash, medical supplies, and body armor.

Moreover, on April 26 of this year, two members of the organization also illegally crossed the state border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan in the Dashti Yazgulyam section of Vanj district in order to commit a terrorist act. As a result of the anti-terrorist operation, the terrorists were neutralized.”

Tajikistan has tightened security in border with Afghanistan

Meanwhile, the government of Tajikistan already tightened security in its nearly 850-mile-long border with Afghanistan, and it has been closed since 2022. To maintain security, Tajikistan located 20,000 troops to the area bordering Afghanistan, this also resulted in the cut off the flow of refugees from Afghanistan. At the same time, the Taliban also stops Afghans who want to cross the border.

This comes as last month, the Taliban rejected a UN Security Council report, claiming that several terrorist groups, including IS, are present in Afghanistan and have access to weapons left by US-led foreign forces.

Neighboring Pakistan also accused Kabul for doing little to control TTP militants who have unleashed a spate of terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

Two days ago, Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar claimed that US military equipment left behind during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan had fallen into militant hands and ultimately made its way to the TTP.

However, Tajikistan is the only neighbor that has openly adopted a hostile attitude toward the Taliban since their takeover. Meanwhile, Tajikistan has been the main supporter of the anti-Taliban resistance since the 1990s. It is widely believed that Tajikistan again becomes a sanctuary for resistance leaders.

ASIA

BYD shares soar on promise of ‘5-minute EV charge’

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Shares of BYD, China’s electric vehicle (EV) champion, hit a new record high on Tuesday after its founder, Wang Chuanfu, claimed their EVs can now charge as quickly as filling a car with traditional fuel.

BYD, a rival to Tesla, saw its shares rise by over 6% in early trading in Hong Kong, reaching HK$408.80 (approximately $52.62) per share, marking an approximate gain of 85% over the last 12 months.

The company’s billionaire founder, Wang, stated on Monday that the new charging system developed by the Shenzhen group for BYD’s own EV batteries can add approximately 470 km of range in five minutes.

This claim suggests that BYD has surpassed competitors like Tesla and Mercedes-Benz in fast-charging technology, although the new system depends on several preconditions, including sufficient voltage at charging stations.

There is increasing competition among EV and battery manufacturers to establish faster charging infrastructure to help alleviate consumer concerns about the driving range and charging speed of EVs compared to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

According to Chris Liu, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at Omdia consulting, China is estimated to install approximately 460,000 new public EV chargers this year, accounting for about two-thirds of the global total, bringing cumulative units to approximately 2.1 million.

BYD’s recent share price increase comes a month after the company shook the global automotive industry by launching a free advanced autonomous driving system, dubbed “God’s Eye,” which it plans to install in its entire new car series.

These moves put further pressure on Elon Musk’s Tesla and Germany’s Volkswagen, as well as a host of domestic competitors, who have been losing market share as EV sales have exploded in China in recent years.

According to data from Automobility, a consulting firm in Shanghai, BYD already holds approximately 35% of the Chinese EV market. It has an 18% share in the pure battery EV segment and a 56% share in the plug-in hybrid segment.

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China’s AsiaInfo expands with DeepSeek-powered AI

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China’s largest telecom software infrastructure provider says that working with artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek is helping the company develop its own AI capabilities, which it will use to expand in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

AsiaInfo Technologies CTO Ouyang Ye said in an exclusive interview with Nikkei Asia that the company’s collaboration with DeepSeek began well before it rose to global prominence earlier this year with a low-cost approach to developing AI models.

Ouyang said that AsiaInfo also works closely with other top-tier Chinese large language models (LLMs) such as Alibaba Cloud’s Tongyi Qianwen and ByteDance’s Doubao, but that the rise of the open-source DeepSeek model is what facilitates and accelerates the deployment of the company’s various AI solutions.

“Our telecom infrastructure software solutions for China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom fully support DeepSeek’s model,” said Ouyang, referring to the country’s three major telecom providers. He said that his company was the first in the industry to embed and fully support DeepSeek.

According to research by AsiaInfo and Tsinghua University, DeepSeek’s model performs well in specialized technical areas such as monitoring network failures and optimizing wireless communication performance.

The CTO said that, for example, China Unicom’s Guangdong subsidiary used AsiaInfo’s DeepSeek-enhanced solutions in February to optimize service efficiency. This initiative reduced training costs by 75%, enhanced AI assistant capabilities, accelerated response times by 200%, and increased the efficiency of human-machine collaboration by 40%.

Hong Kong-based AsiaInfo, a leading telecom software infrastructure solutions provider, competes with US-based Amdocs, India’s Infosys, and Poland’s Comarch. Some network equipment makers like Huawei, HPE, Cisco, and Nokia also provide some software services.

In addition to infrastructure software, AsiaInfo also provides business and operations support systems, such as network monitoring software and customer and billing management, including processing telecom billing information for China’s 1.4 billion population.

AsiaInfo is also the largest software provider for China’s 5G private networks, serving the country’s leading energy providers and steelmakers, such as China Nuclear Group and Shougang Group, as well as miners and wind farm operators. Private networks are set up by businesses or organizations to provide on-site connectivity to facilitate services like factory automation.

Ouyang is optimistic that AsiaInfo can leverage AI to boost its overseas expansion, and that 5G private networks are expected to be a significant growth driver in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The majority of AsiaInfo’s business is in China, and going overseas is one of the company’s core strategies for growth.

“This year, the growth potential in the overseas market is quite large, especially in the fields of mines, ports, and energy, where we have more specific domain expertise,” the senior executive said.

AsiaInfo Chairman and CEO Edward Tian previously stated that the traditional telecom market and spending have slowed in 2024, but the adoption of AI and LLMs has become a key growth driver for the company as customers begin to adopt these technologies in their services.

AsiaInfo says its software can run on servers and other hardware from different companies, including Nvidia, Huawei, and Hygon.

While leading Chinese tech companies and government agencies are adopting DeepSeek, some governments, such as Italy, Australia, Canada, and South Korea, are banning its use on official devices.

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China unveils ‘most comprehensive’ plan in 40 years to boost consumption

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China has unveiled a new plan to stimulate domestic consumption, called the “Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption,” as it grapples with weak confidence and deflationary pressures.

The 30-point plan, issued by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the General Office of the State Council, aims to “strongly promote consumption, revitalize domestic demand as a whole, and enhance spending power by increasing earnings and reducing financial burdens.”

This plan supports President Xi Jinping’s directive from late last year, instructing policymakers to focus on boosting domestic demand.

Analysts have described China’s newly announced consumption action plan as the most comprehensive policy package the country has released in over four decades to boost consumer spending.

The plan from the State Council, China’s cabinet, will focus on increasing incomes, stabilizing real estate and stock markets, improving the consumption environment, and enhancing healthcare and pension services. Through this plan, the Chinese economy seeks to transition to a consumption-driven growth model.

News of the “Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption” invigorated stock markets on Monday.

The plan announcement, made late Sunday, followed the “Two Sessions” in Beijing last week, where legislators re-emphasized consumption as a top priority.

In China, domestic spending has remained weak since the end of Covid-19 lockdowns over two years ago, as households have been cautious about spending. Consumer prices fell into deflation in February, although figures were positively impacted by the New Year holiday.

The slowdown in China’s vast real estate sector has also renewed calls from economists to bolster domestic demand.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed that retail sales rose 4% year-on-year in January and February, surpassing December’s 3.7% increase and aligning with forecasts from a Reuters poll of analysts.

In September, policymakers announced a long-awaited package to support the economy, but the measures largely focused on stock markets, disappointing investors.

The new plan, comprising eight main sections, addresses factors such as income growth, enhancing the quality-of-service consumption, improving large-scale consumption, and improving the consumption environment simultaneously.

It includes a commitment to raising the minimum wage, strengthening support for education, and establishing a subsidy system for childcare—a particularly pressing issue as China’s population has declined for three consecutive years.

Shi Lei, an economics professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said, “This is the most comprehensive directive to promote consumption since China’s reform and opening up [in the late 1970s],” adding, “According to the policy, authorities will promote the reasonable growth of employees’ incomes by increasing employment, raising the minimum wage, and accelerating the implementation of the paid annual leave system.”

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Shi noted, “In the past, policymakers often ignored income growth [when discussing ways to boost spending].” He added, “In fact, if consumers have money, they don’t need your encouragement to spend, and if they don’t have money, such encouragement won’t work.”

Lynn Song, ING’s Greater China chief economist, stated that the plan “focuses significantly on boosting household consumption capacity and willingness” and, if implemented correctly, “could help China’s economic transition towards a consumption-driven growth model.”

“The direction looks positive, but implementation is everything. It is not certain that these measures will be enough to restore consumer confidence to healthy levels,” Song wrote, also noting that the administration’s focus on boosting consumption, combined with a relatively low base last year, means that China’s consumption growth could reach a mid-single-digit growth rate in 2025.

Data released on Monday also showed that industrial production increased by 5.9% year-on-year in the first two months of 2025, slowing from 6.2% in December but exceeding analysts’ expectations of a 5.3% increase.

The new package will also promote “inbound” consumption. Beijing has granted visa-free travel to dozens of countries in the past year to revitalize inbound tourism post-pandemic.

It also highlights specific tourism sectors such as “snow and ice.” China has built several indoor ski resorts in recent years, including the world’s largest, which opened in Shanghai in September.

According to the plan, China will also broaden real estate income channels with measures to stabilize the stock market and develop more bond products suitable for individual investors.

The plan calls for exploring ways to unlock the value of homes legally owned by farmers through rental arrangements, equity participation, and cooperative models.

Notably, in addition to traditional consumption sectors such as housing and automobiles, it emphasizes emerging categories such as AI-powered products and the low-altitude economy.

It also states that new consumption sectors with high growth rates will be created by accelerating the development and application of new technologies and products such as autonomous driving, smart wearable products, ultra-high-definition video, brain-computer interfaces, robotics, and additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing.

Xu Chenggang, a senior research fellow at the Stanford University Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, said that Beijing’s shift towards consumption indicates official recognition that the economic situation is “serious.”

Zou Yunhan, a researcher at the State Information Center, also said that consumption is playing an increasingly key role in boosting economic growth, but some challenges still persist in the quest to further unleash consumer potential.

Looking ahead, Zou called for joint efforts from all sectors to ensure the full implementation and effectiveness of the action plan.

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