The world last week: Peace - aspiration and message
(Baonghean.vn) - China and India have accused each other of violating the border, after a three-hour clash between soldiers from both sides on September 7 near the Line of Actual Control (LAC); President Trump welcomed his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, calling it “the greatest thing” for the United States and pledging to promote world peace. Peace - that is the message with many hidden meanings that has attracted public attention in the past week.
RISK OF MISCALCALCULATION
After 45 years of peace, for the first timethe gun went offnear the Line of Actual Control (LAC) - which acts as a border between China and India in the Himalayas. Both sides have accused each other of violating an agreement to avoid firing in the sensitive border area. The latest move comes as tensions at the border show no signs of easing and the two sides are holding bilateral talks to try to de-escalate the situation.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs claimed that Chinese soldiers tried to approach an Indian outpost along the LAC and “fired a warning shot in the air”; it also insisted that the soldiers did not cross the LAC or engage in any aggressive behavior towards Chinese forces. The Chinese Ministry of External Affairs accused Indian soldiers of “illegally crossing the border” and “blatantly firing at Chinese border guards who were approaching them.”
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| Chinese troops unfurled a banner with a message to India: "You have crossed the border, go back." Photo: AP |
The incident comes just days after Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpartagree to cool tensionsafter frank and in-depth discussions. Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the Washington-based RAND Corporation, said that if reports of shots being fired into the air at the border are true, tensions between China and India are clearly escalating, despite bilateral agreements and numerous military dialogues.
Many sources even said that Chinese President Xi Jinping was unhappy and disappointed with the incident with India, in the context that he is trying to improve and change Beijing's position.
“China has always viewed India as a smaller country. A small loss on the border, even if it is symbolic and not a territorial dispute, will be a huge and unacceptable psychological blow to China’s confidence and international image.”
For nationalists like President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the border has become a prominent issue like never before. Both sides see thedisputed border areaplay an important strategic role. In particular, growing economic competition has increased territorial and geostrategic differences, in the context of China's far-reaching trade surplus with India.
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| Indian soldiers stand guard at the border with China in the Himalayas. Photo: DPA |
Military analysts say the most worrying thing is that when neither side is willing to give in and withdraw its forces first, small miscalculations in the Himalayas could lead New Delhi and Beijing into a major conflict, especially when the two countries both possess nuclear weapons.
“If diplomacy fails, talks will be fought with guns. That is the inevitable culmination of the chain of tensions that has been going on for the past four months. Things are rapidly escalating out of control unless there is a breakthrough in the negotiations.”
CONTROVERSY OF PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS
“It is a great honor to be nominated and I know it means a lot. It shows that we are always trying to make peace, not to make war” -US President Donald Trumpexpressed his delight at being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian MEP Christian Tybring-Gjedde, Chairman of the Norwegian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, for having done more to foster peace between nations than most nominees.
In particular, Mr. Trump's role as a mediator in the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In addition, a member of the Swedish Parliament, Mr. Magnus Jacobsson, also nominated President Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiations on economic and trade cooperation.
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| President Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to broker peace between nations, including a peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). |
President Trump expressed his joy and shared the news in at least 17 different tweets in less than half an hour to his nearly 87 million Twitter followers. In contrast to that joy, the news of the nomination caused a stir among Twitter users, sparking a wave of controversy. Many critics said that the White House was focusing on the Nobel Prize to divert attention from the revealing reports about President Trump's handling of the pandemic. Some comments mocked the absurdity of the nomination.
The prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize has diminished over the years, with the award's selection causing great controversy in the international community.
Opinions expressed, what has President Trump done to create peace, while he has had a negative impact on world peace such as withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change,Iran nuclear deal, launchUS-China trade war. Opponents argue that this nomination seems to have deviated from the core of the Nobel Peace Prize, which is to award deserving individuals. As a result, the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize has been gradually decreasing over the years, with the choice of the prize causing great controversy in the international community, and seemingly becoming a tool for “irrational political games”.
This is not the first time President Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Tybring-Gjedde, a right-wing member of the Norwegian Parliament, hasTrump nominationin 2018 after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore. However, Mr. Trump did not win the award that year.
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| President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA on September 8. Photo: Reuters |
President Trump has expressed his desire to receiveNobel Peace PrizeIn September 2019, President Trump challenged the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which selects the Peace Prize winners, after suggesting it could broker a peace deal in the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.
Trump said he would “get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things if they gave them out fairly, which they didn’t,” repeating his complaint when the committee awarded the Nobel Prize to former President Barack Obama at the start of his term in 2009. Obama was awarded the honor for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy” and his support for nuclear arms reduction. The three other US presidents to have won the Nobel Peace Prize are Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter.
318 individuals and organizations have been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. The list of nominees and nominators is not revealed until 50 years later. However, being nominated does not guarantee President Trump will win the prize.
