China Secretly Subverting India -- And Making a Play in South America

While America plays games with hope and change, the Chinese are not wasting any time exerting their influence.

China has been active in supplying weapons and support to insurgents in northeast India, according to press reports from India and Britain.

For the past two years, China has been indirectly pressuring India by supplying arms and weapons to insurgent groups, the Times of India reported Oct. 31.

Jane's said the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a rebel group in Myanmar, acts as the middleman between Chinese arms manufacturers and insurgent groups in northeast India, with most weapons routed through China’s Yunnan Province. The weapons are then sent by land to Myanmar, and from there to the Indian border at Tamu, opposite Manipur.

Suspicions among Indian security services are based on the fact that no markings were found on Chinese-made weapons.

U.S. intelligence agencies said similar unmarked weapons have been founded in Iraq and were traced to a Chinese manufacturer.

And a little closer to home:

What do you get for renouncing Taiwan and embracing Beijing instead? If you take Costa Rica as a guide, it wins you not only a shiny new national sports stadium but also a visit from Hu Jintao.

The Chinese president touched down in the Central American nation last night, straight from the G20 economic summit in Washington. He brings with him plans for a free trade deal between the nations, planned to come into force by 2010.

Beijing has already promised nearly £50m, plus the loan of its finest engineers, to build a 45,000-seat national sports stadium in place of the previous crumbling 1920s version, now demolished.

And we're going to trust Hilary Clinton to address these concerns?