Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that Ukraine has suffered from Russian aggression, making countries adjacent to Russia quite nervous. NATO member Poland has announced that it is necessary to update next year’s military expenses and expand its military scale to strengthen its defense ability. The Polish Army will expand from 143,500 soldiers to 300,000. The Polish government said it plans to focus on the defensive ability of its capital, Warsaw. The military expenses for next year were increased from the 2.5 percent of GDP proposed in October last year, to 3 percent, and may increase more if necessary. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak pointed out that this will be a framework to have one of NATO’s strongest armies. He also said, “The evil empire is trying to be reborn (and come) through our eastern frontier.” Poland intends to raise funds from the bonds or interest of the Central Bank of Poland and other banks. Since the E.U. stipulates that the budget overspending cannot exceed 3 percent, Poland is negotiating with the EU not to include military spending in the budget deficit.

Source: LTN, March 5, 2022
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3849139

Global Times recently reported that, according to Indian media, the Indian government may soon resort to swapping rupees for trade with Russian rubles, bypassing Western sanctions to avoid disruptions to India-Russia trade. Since the end of 2021, Russian and Indian defense export payments have been made in rubles and rupees, abandoning the use of U.S. dollars. To ensure Russia maintains fertilizer supplies to India amid sanctions, the Indian government and banking sources revealed there is a plan for Russian banks and companies to open Indian rupee accounts in some state-owned banks for trade settlement as part of the barter system. Russian economic experts pointed out that Russia is still evading sanctions through some friendly neighbors. Russia’s trade and capital flows will turn east again. Global Times also reported that, as one of the world’s leading arms exporters, the new round of U.S. sanctions may hugely impact Russian military enterprises on their export of weapons systems. India may have to swallow the “bitter fruit” produced by the U.S. and the West’s sanctions against Russia. Russia has been India’s largest arms supplier since the 1970s. Although the United States has been courting India in recent years to provide India with American-style equipment, more than 60 percent of India’s weapons and equipment comes from Russia and India’s authorized defense industry production chain basically comes from Russia. Senior Indian government officials said that the Indian army currently has sufficient reserves of Russian-made ammunitions and weapons’ spare parts. However, India’s orders for weapons worth about US$8 billion from Russia will face uncertainty. Since Russia was kicked out of the SWIFT system by the United States and the West, payments for arms transactions between the two countries will be seriously affected. In addition, the weapons projects jointly developed and produced by India and Russia may also be hit hard.

Source: Global Times, March 4, 2022
https://finance.huanqiu.com/article/473CosONcMc
https://mil.huanqiu.com/article/4730vkchnhV

Hong Kong’s popular new online media, HK01 Network,  recently reported that the Matisse Museum in northern France has announced the cancellation of its loan of 280 works to the UCCA (Center for Contemporary Art) in Beijing. The Museum cited “the geopolitical crisis triggered by Russia’s declaration of war on Ukraine” and “China’s Relations with Russia.” The exhibition was originally scheduled to open in Beijing on March 26 and was to move to the UCCA pavilion in Shanghai next. UCCA suspended the exhibitions until further notice as the loan program has been cancelled. The Henri Matisse exhibition, originally scheduled to open in Beijing on the 26th of this month, is the largest solo exhibition in China by the French painter. Henri Matisse (1869-1954), is known as one of the masters of modern art. Matisse, together with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, brought great changes to the arts in the early 20th century. So far, China has not condemned Russia for invading Ukraine. China was one of the 35 countries abstaining in the UN General Assembly’s vote on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Western intelligence revealed that senior Chinese officials have asked senior Russian officials to delay its invasion of Ukraine until after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing this year. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the allegations.

Source: HK01, March 4, 2022
https://bit.ly/3Kjs5wH