International and Bilateral Issues

Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, on a high-profile tour of the United States has had a slew of unprecedented honours heaped upon him by Washington. Yet he has stood firm in articulating some of China's positions on its core national interests — most significantly its insistence that the U.S. respect its “one-state policy” regarding the territories of Taiwan and Tibet.
Mr. Xi was quoted as saying he hoped that the U.S. would “truly honour” its commitments to recognising the territories as part of the People's Republic of China.

Three Iranians detained after accidentally setting off explosives in Bangkok were planning to attack Israeli diplomats, said Thailand's top policeman
The allegation came after days of strong accusations by Israel that Iran was behind the botched plot as well as two others in India and the former Soviet republic of Georgia this week.
- Iran has denied the charges.
Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists and has denied responsibility for all three bomb plots
The plot in Bangkok was discovered on Tuesday only by accident, when explosives stored in a house occupied by several Iranian men blew up by mistake.
A Bangkok court has approved arrest warrants for all three suspects, as well as an Iranian woman named Leila Rohani who rented the destroyed house.
- However, Ms. Rohani has left Thailand and is now in Tehran

In a development that is likely to take economic cooperation and people-to-people exchange to a new level, a high-level Pakistani delegation is likely to visit India next month to discuss building of pipelines from Panipat, Mathura and Bhatinda for transporting petroleum products and petrochemical by-products to Pakistan.
IOC, which made a big participation in the India Show in Lahore, has offered to lay the pipelines.
Pakistan's refining capacity meets only half of the country's domestic requirement.
- While Pakistan allowed diesel imports from India, it banned the import of petrol and other petroleum products.
- By allowing India to dock petrol and petroleum products, Pakistan's main advantage will be the savings in freight cost since several refineries in India are located close to the border

China on Thursday rejected the allegations by the former Home Secretary, G.K. Pillai, that it was providing tacit support to insurgent groups in India's northeast, saying the claims were “inconsistent with facts.”
Mr. Pillai was quoted as saying in recent media reports that India had presented evidence to China of ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) chief Paresh Barua's travels to the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, including details of his airline tickets.
Indian officials have also said some insurgent groups in the northeast were procuring arms from manufacturers in southwestern China.