China's fresh provocations and its propaganda for 2021
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In 2020, Chinese President- Xi Jinping, told the United Nations General Assembly 'the past cannot be changed, but the future can be shaped'
With the beginning of a new year, people look for opportunities, new beginnings, and a fresh chance at life.
To do so, a change in the previous approach and leaving behind old baggage is required. However, China continues to adhere to its old means of provocations.
In 2020, Chinese President- Xi Jinping, told the United Nations General Assembly ''the past cannot be changed, but the future can be shaped.''
But an Indonesian fisherman recently found what is believed to be a Chinese submarine drone in waters on a strategic maritime route from the South China Sea to Australia.
According to Indonesian media, the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) was found on December 20 near Selayar Island in South Sulawesi. It was later handed over to the police and then transferred to the Indonesian military.
Observers have said the drone appears to be a Chinese Sea Wing (or Haiyi) UUV. The underwater glider is publically described as collecting data including seawater temperature, salinity, turbidity, and oxygen levels.
Experts say- China was trying to map future submarine routes to Australia
In 2019, China conducted ocean surveys to the north of Papua New Guinea and in 2020, it was near Australia's Christmas Island.
It is a new year and China is back to its old ways. It is now trying to map a new submarine route to Australia's northernmost city, Darwin.
Reports say- the drone was on a route from the South China Sea, a region that has seen enough and more Chinese aggression.
Forget mending old ways, In 2021, China seems to be taking its aggression one step further.
Beijing on Thursday completed the track-laying work for a railway line linking the cities of Lhasa and Nyingchi in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.
According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, it would play a key role in safeguarding stability in the border areas. The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
In the past, China called Arunachal, South Tibet.
Some people in China's Yunnan province spent the night guarding bat caves, which may hold the key to understanding the origins of the Wuhan virus.
China does not want the world to get access to these caves. So, it has hired people to block experts and journalists from entering them.
This year, China will also continue to block all possible probes on the Wuhan virus.
China offered to pay non-state actors in Afghanistan to attack American soldiers, a recent report by Axios has stated.
The report further says the interest in Afghanistan stems in part from Beijing's desire to prevent Chinese Muslim separatist groups from using the country as a base.
If this report is confirmed, it would mean-- that going forward we would see a shift in Chinese strategy. One that will go well beyond biological warfare. More on the lines of what we see in Pakistan, sponsoring terror attacks.
So, this is what it comes down to. It is a new year, but the same old China.
Beijing will not just behave in the same old fashion but maybe worse, a bigger threat to the world...
It is important to know all this on the very first evening of a brand new year so that people know what's in store in 2021 and also so that they don't behave like China.
2021 is a new beginning, make the most of it. Leave old habits behind and change with the time because those who don't end up only with a new calendar, not new fortunes.