Fear of persecution pushes Bangladeshi Hindus to flee to India
There is visible relief on the faces of passengers aboard the buses from Bangladesh as they are waved through into India’s Haridaspur by border guards, some heaving sighs of relief as others break down into tears over the violence and arson they have left behind.
South Asia’s largest land port was crowded on Thursday with anxious people waiting on both sides of the border between India and Bangladesh, a country thrust into uncertainty by the dramatic resignation of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina earlier in the week.
“I ran,” says Sheeba Pal*, 46, after arriving at Haridaspur, about 83km from the eastern city of Kolkata, following days of targeted attacks on members of the Hindu religious minority in the wake of the mass uprising against the prime minister.
While Pal made it out on an existing visa, her brother had to stay back because he could not obtain a new travel permit.
Killings and arson continued in Bangladesh this week even after Hasina fled to India after millions of people, led by students, thronged the streets of Dhaka in protest against her regime.
“We appreciate the interim government, but how long will it last before the radicals take over?” Pal asks.
The continued violence sparked fears among minorities, prompting authorities in India to beef up security along the border.
With train services halted and several fights cancelled, the only option for Bangladeshis looking to cross over into India legally is through the land ports.
On the Bangladesh side of the border, the mural of founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman disappeared overnight as protesters destroyed his statues across the country after the end of his daughter Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Concerns have been growing about violence targeting Hindus in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the protests, with at least one person from the minority community reported to have been killed in an arson attack. Hindus, who make up at least eight per cent of the country’s 170 million population, are considered to be loyalists of Ms Hasina’s Awami League party.
Hundreds of Hindu houses have reportedly been attacked, looted and torched and Hindu temples in Jashore, Bagerhat, Magura and Dhaka damaged as police officers across the country have gone on strike in protest against the killing of their colleagues.
Reema Das arrived in India on Thursday after travelling for nearly 48 hours through Bangladesh. The mother of two said her house in Bagerhat district was looted and part of it set ablaze by a mob on Tuesday.
“My family and I are alive because we escaped before the attack,” she told The Independent. “We took shelter at my husband’s friend’s house in the next village. My daughters and I had tourist visas so we decided to come to West Bengal and stay with my relatives till the violence ends.”
She said people with medical visas were given priority over those with tourist and business visas but they were allowed to cross over after convincing Indian immigration officials that they were in a desperate situation.
Bangladesh was plunged into a crisis in July after mass protests began against a government job reservation for relatives of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War veterans that critics said favoured people with connections to Hasina’s party.
Despite the supreme court scaling back the quota in late July, the protests quickly turned into a mass uprising against Hasina following her brutal crackdown on demonstrators, which left more than 300 people, including students and police officers, dead.
Hasina’s flight from the country didn’t stop the violence. At least 232 people have been killed since she escaped on Monday, taking the death toll in the protests to 560, according to Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he hoped “for an early return to normalcy, ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities” as he extended his best wishes to Muhammad Yunus, who was sworn in as the head of Bangladesh’s caretaker government on Thursday.
The newly appointed home ministry adviser on Friday said the interim government’s first priority would be to restore law and order.
“Yes, there is a problem because law enforcement agencies are not there,” retired brigadier General M Sakhawat Hossain told Reuters. “They have to be given confidence so that they can come back.”
Ananda Saha, 38, was visiting his relatives in Dhaka when the violence spiralled and attacks on the minorities began. He was forced to go into hiding, he says.
“I couldn’t stay for more than eight days. It was calm when I entered Bangladesh but the situation went south quickly,” he says after returning to India on Thursday. My family fears there could be “a radical Islamist takeover”, he added.
The attacks prompted Muslims in several places to guard temples and Hindu communities at night.
SM Abdullah, a 24-year-old resident of Dhaka, has been camping every night with a group of people outside the Dhakeshwari national temple since Monday to prevent mobs from entering.
“All the protesters are getting a bad name because of some individuals. I was very depressed because of the arson on the streets, so I decided to ask people to join me in protecting the temple,” he says.
“It was the most vulnerable night in decades, so we had to do something,” he says. To his surprise, several people, including women, stayed the night guarding the temple, putting their lives at stake.
India’s Border Security Force has been directed to be extra vigilant about who to allow inside the country, an officer tells The Independent.
“There have been instances of people trying to cross over from the porous region of the border from north Bengal or the northeast region,” the officer who asked not to be named says.
“More BSF men have been sent to those areas to secure the border as we believe more people will try to cross over illegally over the next few months.”
Bangladesh shares a 4,096km border with India, the fifth-longest in the world. A group of nearly 600 people from Bangladesh were stopped from entering at a checkpoint in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district a day after Hasina fled.
“They appealed to us and asked to be let into the country, saying they were afraid of being attacked and feared for their lives,” a BSF officer tells NDTV.
The border force, however, clarified that there was no “widespread movement” of Hindus from Bangladesh yet.
Two days later, the BSF again stopped hundreds of people from entering India through the Cooch Behar district.
Sanowar Hussain, a 46-year-old garment trader from Dhaka, reached India with just a backpack on Thursday.
It was mental distress over the uprising and its aftermath that drove him out of the country, he tells The Independent.
“Bangladeshis want peace, we don’t want the minorities or anyone to be attacked and killed. It is complete anarchy,” he says in tears.
“The country has lost a mother. They think there will be peace after this chaos, but there won’t be. The future is uncertain and scary.”
Bilateral trade resumed on Thursday with some trucks allowed to cross the border after days of uncertainty.
On Friday, traffic returned to the streets of Dhaka as Yunus urged for calm after being sworn in along with 16 members of the interim cabinet.
Overnight, residents in the capital carried sticks, iron rods and sharp weapons to guard their neighbourhoods amid reports of robberies while police remained off duty.
Communities used loudspeakers in mosques to alert people that robberies were occurring and the military shared hotline numbers for people seeking help. A Facebook post showed men and women armed with sticks guarding the streets at night.
Meanwhile, Hasina’s son, who is based in the US, said his mother would return to Bangladesh “the moment the interim government decides to hold an election”.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy told the Times of India: “My mother would have retired from politics after the current term.”
He never had any “political ambition”, he claimed, but the recent developments forced him to “get active for the sake of the party and I am at the forefront now”.
*Names changed to protect identities.
Afghan refugee breakdancer disqualified for displaying message on cape
Afghan refugee breakdancer Manizha Talash has been disqualified from the Paris Olympic Games after displaying a cape with the message “Free Afghan Women” on Friday, officials said.
Talash has been “disqualified for displaying a political slogan on her attire”, said the World DanceSport Federation.
She unveiled a light blue cape with the message written in white as she took the stage for her pre-qualifier loss to the Dutch player India Sardjoe.
On Friday, as she prepared for her battle, B-girl Talash removed her jumper to reveal a cape that said, “Free Afghan Women”. She was applauded by the crowd and her Dutch opponent, who raised her hands and cheered for the Afghan player.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regulations clearly state that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.
Following the incident, the World DanceSport Federation, which oversees the sport, said: “The Chair of the IOC Disciplinary Commission will consider the case in relation to the IOC’s Athlete Expression Guidelines.”
It is not immediately clear whether Talash faces further punishment, but she says she has made her point. “I wanted to show people what is possible,” she said.
Breaking, a street dance style that originated in 1970s New York, made its Olympic debut at the Paris Games this year. The move was aimed at attracting a younger audience to the global event.
Now in Spain, Talash fled Afghanistan in 2021 after the war-torn country fell into the hands of the Taliban. She had discovered breaking in her home country but could not pursue her dream because the hardline Islamist group has banned women from education, work, and sports, among other spheres of public life.
At the time she had to leave Afghanistan, Talash was the only female breaker at the “Superiors Crew” in Kabul.
Knowing that the Taliban would never allow her to leave her home, let alone pursue breaking, Talash decided to leave and travelled with her little brother to Spain.
Afghanistan is represented by a contingent of three women and three men, in a largely symbolic move by the International Olympic Committee. This gesture is intended as a message to the country, which, under Taliban rule, has restricted women’s and girls’ access to sports and gyms.
Both the head of Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), recognised by the IOC, and its secretary general are currently in exile.
The ongoing Paris Games mark the third Olympics in which a team of refugees is participating, with 37 athletes competing in 12 different sports, including athletics, badminton, and boxing.
The IOC has said no Taliban official has been accredited for the Games.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rejects outside aid for flood recovery
North Korea will not seek outside help to recover from floods that devastated areas near the country’s border with China, leader Kim Jong-un said as he ordered officials to bring thousands of displaced residents to the capital to provide them better care.
Mr Kim said it would take about two to three months to rebuild homes and stabilise the areas affected by floods. Until then, his government plans to accommodate some 15,400 people — a group that includes mothers, children, older adults and disabled soldiers — at facilities in Pyongyang, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday.
KCNA said Kim made the comments during a two-day trip to the northwestern town of Uiju through Friday to meet flood victims and discuss recovery efforts. The agency gave Mr Kim its typical effusive praise, saying the visit showed his “sacred leadership” and “warm love and ennobling spirit of making devoted service for the people”.
State media reports said heavy rains in late July left 4,100 houses, 7,410 acres of agricultural fields, and numerous other public buildings, structures, roads and railways flooded in the northwestern city of Sinuiju and the neighbouring town of Uiju.
The North has not provided information on deaths, but Mr Kim was quoted blaming public officials who had neglected disaster prevention for causing “the casualty that cannot be allowed”.
Traditional allies Russia and China, as well as international aid groups, have offered to provide North Korea with relief supplies, but the North hasn’t publicly expressed a desire to receive them.
“Expressing thanks to various foreign countries and international organisations for their offer of humanitarian support, (Mr Kim) said what we regard as the best in all realms and processes of state affairs is the firm trust in the people and the way of tackling problems thoroughly based on self-reliance,” KCNA said.
Mr Kim made similar comments earlier in the week after Russian president Vladimir Putin offered help, expressing his gratitude but saying that the North has established its own rehabilitation plans and will only ask for Moscow’s assistance if later needed.
While rival South Korea has also offered to send aid supplies, it’s highly unlikely that the North would accept its offer.
Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest in years over the North’s growing nuclear ambitions and the South’s expansion of combined military exercises with the United States and Japan.
The North had also rejected South Korea’s offers for help while battling a Covid-19 outbreak in 2022.
During his recent visit to Uiju, Mr Kim repeated an accusation that South Korea exaggerated the North’s flood damages and casualties, which he decried as a “smear campaign” and a “grave provocation” against his government.
Some South Korean media reports claim that the North’s flood damages are likely worse than what state media have acknowledged and that the number of deaths could exceed 1,000.
Children among dozens dead in drone attack in Myanmar, witnesses say
Dozens of people, including families with children, have been killed in a drone attack on Rohingya people fleeing Myanmar, witnesses have reported. The Rohingya are a mostly Muslim minority facing severe persecution in the country.
The attack is reported to have occurred last Monday, in Rakhine state near the border with Bangladesh.
The strike killed a heavily pregnant woman and her two-year-old daughter, while survivors were seen identifying their dead and injured relatives at the site, which was littered with piles of bodies, according to Reuters.
Activists, a diplomat and four other witnesses confirmed the attack on families trying to cross the Myanmar border into Bangladesh. This is the worst attack on civilians in Rakhine state in recent weeks, with fierce fighting between rebels and troops of the military junta currently in control of Myanmar.
According to three witnesses present at the spot, the Arakan Army, one of several armed groups currently fighting in Myanmar, was responsible. The militia group has rejected this.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the junta seized power from a democratically elected government in 2021, with mass protests evolving into widespread armed struggle.
Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi was removed from power by the military, sentenced to house arrest, and is currently serving a 27-year prison term on various criminal convictions in a specially built annex of the main prison in the capital, Naypyidaw, (though she was reportedly recently transferred to house arrest because of the extremely hot weather).
Meanwhile, Rohingya have been fleeing Rakhine for weeks as the Arakan Army has made significant gains in the north, which is home to a large Muslim population.
On Monday, visuals of the attack posted on social media showed piles of bodies strewn across muddy ground, with suitcases and backpacks scattered around them. Three survivors reported that more than 200 people had died, and a witness to the aftermath stated he had seen at least 70 bodies.
The Independent has not verified the claims on the ground. The location of the attack site has been placed just outside the coastal Myanmar town of Maungdaw by Reuters.
One man said his wife and two-year-old daughter were injured in the attack and later died of their wounds.
He said he was standing with them on the shore when drones began attacking the crowds. The man, named as Eleyas, 35, is now in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
“I heard the deafening sound of shelling multiple times,” he said. Eleyas said he lay on the ground to protect himself and when he got up, he saw his wife and daughter critically injured and many of his other relatives dead.
Another witness, 28-year-old Shamsuddin, speaking from a refugee camp, said he survived with his wife and newborn son. He described seeing many dead and reported that “some people were shouting out from the pain of their injuries”.
In another apparent attack on Monday, boats carrying fleeing Rohingya sunk in the Naf River, which separates Myanmar from Bangladesh. Witnesses and Bangladeshi media reported that dozens of people were killed.
At least 39 people were treated by Medecins Sans Frontieres(MSF) for violence-related injuries, including mortar shell and gunshot wounds, the aid organisation said. Patients described seeing people bombed while trying to find boats to cross the river, MSF said.
A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said the agency was “aware of the deaths of refugees from the capsize of two boats in the Bay of Bengal”. They said they had heard reports of civilian deaths in Maungdaw but could not confirm the numbers or circumstances.
From protests to Olympic heartbreak: Vinesh Phogat’s stellar journey
When Vinesh Phogat walked out at the Champ-de-Mars Arena this week, she was hardly a favourite to qualify for the women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling final. Though regarded as one of the finest wrestlers to emerge from India, she had much to prove given what she had endured on her way to securing a ticket to the Paris Olympics.
From protesting on the streets for months demanding legal action against India’s wrestling federation chief over sexual harassment allegations to challenging social norms by taking up a sport traditionally considered unsuitable for women, Vinesh faced a Herculean’s task.
Coming from the conservative northern state of Haryana, Vinesh and her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Phogat overcame social barriers that restricted women to their homes.
Haryana is infamous for preferring boys over girls to the extent that, according to the 2011 census, its sex ratio was 879 women for 1,000 men, way below the national average of 943.
Vinesh was aided along by her uncle Mahavir Singh Phogat, an amateur wrestler and coach who introduced her to the sport early on, as he had his daughters Geeta and Babita.
Geeta would go on to win India’s first gold medal in women’s wrestling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The coach’s pivotal role in helping his daughters and niece succeed is memorialised in the hit Bollywood film Dangal.
Vinesh started her wrestling journey just as Geeta was establishing herself on the national stage. She would go on to win three Commonwealth golds, a pair of World Championships bronze medals and an Asian Games gold. She was also crowned Asian champion in 2021.
She was on the cusp of making history as her country’s first wrestler to win an Olympic silver, and possibly gold, when fate intervened. When she was weighed on the morning of her final match on Tuesday, she came in about 100g overweight and was instantly disqualified.
“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from women’s wrestling 50kg class,” the Indian Olympic Association said.
Vinesh announced retirement from wrestling on Thursday.
The news of her disqualification evoked an outpouring of sympathy in India, with prime minister Narendra Modi describing her as a “champion among champions” on X.
Many of her compatriots hailed the wrestler as “inspiration”, as much for her fight inside the ring as outside.
Vinesh, 29, was a prominent face of last year’s protests against wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Along with fellow Olympians Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, she demonstrated on the streets of the capital Delhi to demand action against Mr Singh over sexual assault and intimidation charges, only to be manhandled by police.
They called off the protest after then federal sports minister Anurag Thakur promised a fair investigation but resumed it when Mr Singh was re-elected the federation’s chief.
The wrestlers were assaulted and detained by police when they marched to the new parliament on the day of its inauguration last May.
At the peak of protest, with her career on the line, Vinesh was asked about the source of her courage. “It’s from my mother,” she said.
She recounted her mother’s struggle as a single parent and battle with cancer. “She was about 32 when she became a widow,” Vinesh told The Indian Express.
“I feel sad thinking about it. She struggled for us. In that struggle we didn’t even realise when we grew up. A single woman, she would be taunted by others, how they treated her.
“She didn’t even know where to sit, where to get off. No one supported her. We grew up seeing her struggle. If a single woman like that, illiterate, could fight the society on her own and make us big wrestlers, then we can do it too.
“If we don’t speak out today then all the struggles of my mother would have gone to waste. I won medals, that’s all right, but if we win this battle, she will proudly say, ‘I gave birth to them’. I am proud that my mother showed so much strength and character, I guess that’s in me as well. Even my father was like that. I am also like that.”
In a public voice call on Tuesday, she told her smiling mother that she would win gold.
Two days on, retiring from the sport, she wrote: “Mother, wrestling won, I lost. Forgive me that I broke your dream, but I do not have courage and energy anymore.
“Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024, I will always be indebted to your support. Forgive me.”
Japan’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake sparks fresh concerns over megaquake
A powerful earthquake measuring magnitude 7.1 struck southwestern Japan on Thursday, triggering tsunami warnings for a number of the country’s western islands and causing mostly minor injuries.
The tremor occurred off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture at 4.42pm local time (7.42am GMT), at a depth of about 18miles (29km), according to Japan’s meteorological agency.
Officials said nine people were injured on the island of Kyushu, but the injuries were mostly minor. There were no reports of serious damage and tsunami advisories were later lifted.
Earlier Japan’s earthquake monitors said the magnitude was 6.9, before this was revised up to 7.1. Officials issued a tsunami advisory and residents in the coastal Kochi and Miyazaki prefectures are being asked to evacuate their homes as a precautionary measure until the warning is lifted.
However, the quake prompted seismologists to hold an emergency meeting in which they reassessed and raised the level of risk of major quakes associated with the Nankai Trough east of southern Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued on Thursday its first-ever warning of the risk of a huge earthquake on the country’s Pacific coast, following the quake that struck Kyushu.
Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida cancelled his plans to visit central Asia for summits with regional leaders after weather officials flagged that the risk of a major Pacific coast earthquake was higher than usual, public broadcaster NHK said.
Although the warning does not indicate such a quake will definitely happen, Japan is set to cancel Mr Kishida’s trip in order to prepare for any eventuality, but hopes to hold some of the meetings online instead, NHK added.
The visit to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia was originally scheduled to run from Friday to Monday. Mr Kishida was to have travelled to Kazakhstan on Friday, followed by a visit to Uzbekistan before heading to Mongolia for a summit on Monday.
The meteorological agency’s advisory warns of a higher probability of a huge earthquake in the Nankai trough, an ocean-floor trench running along Japan’s Pacific coast, where previous quakes have triggered enormous tsunamis.
Japan estimates at 70 per cent to 80 per cent the probability of an earthquake of magnitude 8 or 9 happening around the trough in the next 30 years, according to the infrastructure ministry.
Advisories rather than warnings are issued when the waves are not expected to exceed 1m (3.3ft), meaning they are relatively minor but still pose a risk.
Some unverified videos on social media show cars and small structures shaking with several shops sustaining damage.
NHK said Miyazaki Port reported a surge of 20 inches, the largest so far.
The Miyazaki police chief told the broadcaster that they were checking if there had been any structural damage to buildings, but that so far no damage had been reported.
The Japanese government has set up a special task force in response to the quakes, AFP reported, citing a a statement. There were no immediate signs of major damage, according to the agency.
Japan, one of the world’s most tectonically active countries, has strict building standards designed to ensure structures can withstand even the most powerful earthquakes.
The country records more earthquakes, around 1,500 every year, than any other.
In 2011 Japan recorded its biggest earthquake on record with a massive magnitude of 9.0. The quake’s epicentre was just off its northeast coast and it triggered a large tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.
The catastrophe also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan’s worst post-war disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Additional reporting by agencies
British zoologist Adam Britton jailed for sexually abusing dogs
British zoologist Adam Britton has been sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison after he admitted to sexually abusing dozens of dogs in Australia.
The 53-year-old leading British crocodile expert confessed to bestiality and a plethora of animal sexual abuse charges filed against him in Australia in September last year.
Warning that some of the details of Britton’s crimes were too graphic to be published, Chief Justice Michael Grant suggested members of the public leave the courtroom at the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
“Your depravity falls outside any ordinary human conception,” the chief justice told Britton, according to the Australian Associated Press.
The popular zoologist who has worked on BBC and National Geographic productions pleaded guilty to 56 charges relating to bestiality and animal cruelty.
The court observed that the British zoologist had filmed himself torturing the animals until almost all died. He also uploaded the videos online under pseudonyms.
Members sitting in the public gallery were seen sobbing and gasping as the details of Britton’s violence and extensive offences were being read out. At least 39 dogs, including nine puppies, died as a result of the abuse by the Charles Darwin University academic.
Britton both tortured his own dogs and managed to source other canines from unsuspecting owners from Gumtree Australia in the Darwin region.
He encouraged others online to commit similar offences and shared advice on carrying out bestiality, according to the agreed facts of the case read out in court.
Justice Grant remarked: “Your sheer and unalloyed pleasure is sickeningly evident from the recorded material.”
Britton has also been sentenced for possessing and transmitting “the worst category” of child sexual abuse material.
Britton did not visibly react to the sentencing remarks by Justice Grant as he stood in the dock in a black suit and grey shirt.
In his sentencing, Justice Grant said Britton was banned from owning any mammal species of animal, or having them on his property, for the duration of his natural life.
The court recorded Britton’s offences to have begun in 2014 until his arrest in April 2022. They first came to light when a video of his offences reached the Northern Territory animal welfare authorities anonymously.
Outside the court where hearing was underway, animal right advocates labelled Britton as a “zoosadist” and said he deserved the death penalty. Capital punishment has been outlawed throughout Australia since 1985.
Britton has also pleaded guilty to four counts of accessing and transmitting child abuse material.
“I was talking with someone else about why I love to hurt dogs,” he wrote in a secret chat group. “I wasn’t sure at first, but now I live for it. I can’t stop myself hurting dogs.
“I was sadistic as a child to animals, but I had repressed it. In the last few years I let it out again, and now I can’t stop. I don’t want to.” He added a smiley.
Britton’s lawyer – who has sought to remain anonymous due to the threats they have been receiving for representing Britton – presented a recent sentencing hearing with a fresh report on the zoologist’s “paraphilia”, a psychological term to describe a condition characterised by intense sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviours involving atypical objects, situations, or individuals.
How China’s discovery of a major gas field will affect South China Sea
China has found a major gas field in the South China Sea, a discovery that could significantly influence the region’s complex geopolitical landscape.
This new find, described as the world’s first “ultra-shallow gas field in ultra-deep waters”, is estimated to contain more than 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas, according to China’s state media.
The announcement was made by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in June, and the discovery has now been officially reviewed and registered by state authorities.
While the exact location of Lingshui 36-1 has not been disclosed, it is reportedly situated in waters southeast of Hainan, China’s southernmost island province, according to CNOOC. It has an average water depth of around 1,500m.
“The main gas-bearing play is the Ledong Formation of Quaternary, with an average burial depth of 210m,” CNOOC said in June. “The field has been tested to produce over 10mcm/day of open flow natural gas.”
The discovery adds to China’s already substantial reserves of gas in the South China Sea, which, together with other offshore fields, have now surpassed the trillion-cubic-metres mark.
However, the South China Sea, known for its rich deposits of hydrocarbons, has also been a focal point of intense territorial disputes involving several countries.
China’s claim to almost the entirety of the South China Sea, demarcated by the so-called “nine-dash line”, overlaps those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
Disputes and tensions often rise over each other’s oil and gas exploration and development attempts in the contested waters. The discovery of such a large gas field could potentially exacerbate existing tensions and complicate diplomatic relations among these nations.
The South China Sea is still underexplored because of these territorial disputes. Most discovered oil and gas fields are in uncontested areas, close to the shorelines. Approximately 3.6 billion barrels of petroleum and other liquids and 40.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in proved and probable reserves are in the South China Sea, according to Rystad, an independent research and business intelligence company.
The South China Sea is a crucial maritime region, not only for its economic resources but also for its strategic significance. The area is a major shipping route, with a significant portion of global trade passing through its waters. The new discovery by China could further assert its dominance in the region, potentially heightening friction with neighbouring countries who also have competing claims.
Vietnam and the Philippines, in particular, have been vocal in their opposition to China’s expansive claims and have engaged in their own exploratory activities in the disputed waters.
The presence of such a substantial gas field could lead to increased scrutiny and confrontations over resource exploitation and maritime boundaries.
Aside from the geopolitical ramifications, the discovery of Lingshui 36-1 also raises questions about environmental management and economic impact. The extraction of gas from ultra-deep waters presents significant technical challenges and environmental risks.
While shallow gas is abundant in the seabed, its precarious position makes it highly susceptible to dispersion caused by ocean currents. The formation of a commercially viable oil and gas field under such conditions was previously deemed impossible by experts.
How China plans to manage these challenges while ensuring environmental protection will be closely watched by the international community.