Xinhua recently reported that Iran just launched a satellite rocket from its national space center. Reports indicated that the rocket could be used as a means to send a satellite around 250 kilograms into its orbit. The Iranian government explained that Iran itself had fully developed this rocket. The United States, along with other Western countries, has long suspected that Iran was developing missile technologies that can carry nuclear warheads – under the name of making peaceful satellite rockets. The United Nations banned Iran from building such ballistic missiles. On the same day, the U.S. Senate passed a House bill which accused Iran and North Korea of developing ballistic missiles and asked the U.S. government to impose additional sanctions on these two countries. Iran responded by saying it will take whatever steps necessary to deal with this pressure from the U.S. Ever since U.S. President Trump came into power, the U.S. has been pressing Iran using ballistic missiles as the excuse. Iran has been defending its right to develop rocket technology.

Source: Xinhua, July 29, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-07/29/c_129666596.htm

On July 28, VOA published an article in which it stated that there are indications that China is softening its position against India over the recent stand-off at the China India border. On July 28, Xi Jinping met with representatives from BRICS (an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Ajit Doval, India’s security advisor was among those representatives. According to China’s official media, Ajit Doval was said to be the person that ordered the Indian troops to the border. Per the media from the West, he is considered to be the most influential political figure next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the official press statement following the meeting, there was no mention of the military stand-off in the Doklam region. On July 25, Xinhua published an analytical article on its English website which praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his active promotion of India’s foreign policy reform and stressed that, “China-India cooperation helps promote open global trade and counter protectionism.” The Times of India said on July 27 that the Chinese government obviously thinks that India is an important market for China and that military conflicts between the two should be avoided. The article also mentioned that, at the press conference, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeared to avoid harsh words towards India except that China still insists that India must withdraw its troops from the border. The VOA article went on to quote an interview with Jeff Smith, a scholar at the American Foreign Policy Council, who told VOA that China has used so many aggressive words on the issue that it has pushed itself into a dead-end. He said it will be very difficult for China to back down from its position gracefully. “China is unlikely to gain from the border standoff with India as the road it was building in the Sikkim sector’s Doklam area leads to nowhere and the move would push India closer to the U.S. and Japan.” The article further quoted the speech that Jeff Smith gave during a forum held in Washington D.C. on July 27.

Source: Voice of America, July 28, 2017
https://www.voachinese.com/a/xi-jingping-meets-india-nsa-advisor-20170728/content/article/3963602.html