S Ananthan says the letter was sent before the party's annual meeting and focused on several issues, including the party’s potential status as a PN component member.
MIC secretary-general S Ananthan said the letter was sent after several PAS leaders, including deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, invited MIC to consider joining PN. (Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA: MIC has not sent in an application letter to Perikatan Nasional, but rather an inquiry for more information before deciding to join, says MIC secretary-general S Ananthan.
He said the letter was sent four days before the party’s annual general meeting to help it understand PN better.
“The letter focused on several issues, including the nature of the party’s potential membership, entry processes and MIC’s potential status as a PN component member,” Malaysiakini reported him as saying.
Muhyiddin said MIC’s application would be jointly decided by the PN Supreme Council when it meets soon, and all PN component parties are supportive of MIC joining the coalition in principle.
Ananthan said the letter was sent after several PAS leaders, including deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, invited MIC to meet and consider joining PN.
He said MIC asked PN to elaborate on its commitment to Indian development in terms of education, socioeconomic matters and political representation.
“We need complete information before making a decision on the party’s direction. We want to determine if MIC will be automatically received, or if there are conditions that need to be met,” he said. - FMT
The Chinese declines contrast with strong global revenue growth for major arms and military-services companies, fuelled by wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Revenues of China’s top military firms fell 10% last year. (EPA Images pic)
HONG KONG: Revenues at China’s giant military firms fell last year as corruption purges slowed arms contracts and procurement, according to a study released today by a leading conflict think tank.
The Chinese declines contrast with strong revenue growth globally for big arms and military-services companies, fuelled by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and global and regional tensions, the research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found.
“A host of corruption allegations in Chinese arms procurement led to major arms contracts being postponed or cancelled in 2024,” said Nan Tian, director of SIPRI’s military expenditure and arms production Programme.
“This deepens uncertainty around the status of China’s military modernisation efforts and when new capabilities will materialise,” Tian said.
China’s revenues down 10%, Japan’s up 40%
The People’s Liberation Army was one of the main targets of a broader corruption crackdown ordered by President Xi Jinping in 2012, reaching the upper levels of the military in 2023 when its Rocket Force was targeted.
Eight top generals were expelled from the ruling Communist Party on graft charges in October, including the country’s number two general, He Weidong.
He had served under Xi on the Central Military Commission, China’s supreme military command organisation.
Asian and Western diplomats say they are still trying to gauge the impact of the crackdown on China’s ongoing military rise and how far down it reaches through the command chain.
Revenues of China’s top military firms fell 10% last year, while those in Japan surged 40%, Germany 36% and US revenues rose 3.8%, SIPRI data shows.
Revenues of the world’s 100 largest arms firms rose 5.9% to a record US$679 billion, the report said, while China’s fall was enough to make Asia-Oceania the only region to post a revenue decline among its top arms firms.
China’s weapons revenue fell despite three decades of rising defence budgets in Beijing’s growing strategic rivalry with the US, Asia’s traditional military power, and tensions over Taiwan and the hotly disputed South China Sea.
Mid-, long-term investment, modernisation to continue
The buildup is bearing fruit as China deploys the world’s largest naval and coast guard fleets – including a potentially advanced new aircraft carrier – a host of new hypersonic missiles, nuclear weapons and air and sea drones.
Revenue fell at AVIC, China’s largest arms maker, land-systems producer Norinco and aerospace and missile manufacturer CASC, all state-owned, according to the SIPRI research.
Norinco experienced the steepest revenue decline, falling 31% to US$14 billion.
Corruption-related personnel changes at the top of Norinco and CASC sparked government reviews and project delays, while deliveries of AVIC’s military aircraft slowed, the research found.
The timeline of advanced systems for the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, which handles its growing arsenal of ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles, could be exposed, along with aerospace and cyber programmes, said SIPRI researcher Xiao Liang.
This adds to uncertainties over the PLA’s target of getting key capabilities and war-fighting readiness in place for its 100th anniversary, Liang said.
The PLA’s forerunner, Mao Zedong’s Red Army, was founded in 1927.
“However, in the medium and longer term, sustained investment in defence budgets and political commitment behind modernisation will continue, albeit with some programme delays, higher costs and tighter control of procurement,” Liang said. - FMT
Sales grew 5.9% to US$679 billion last year, driven mostly by Europe, with the Gaza backlash having little effect on Israeli weapons interest.
Increased demand for weapons in Europe was tied to the Ukraine war and Russia-related threat concerns. (EPA Images pic)
STOCKHOLM: Sales by the world’s top 100 arms makers reached a record US$679 billion last year, as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza boosted demand, researchers said Monday, but production issues hampered deliveries.
The figure was 5.9% higher than the year before, and, over the 2015-2024 period, revenues for the top 100 arms makers have risen 26% according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
“Last year global arms revenues reached the highest level ever recorded by SIPRI as producers capitalised on high demand,” Lorenzo Scarazzato, researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said in a statement.
Jade Guiberteau Ricard, a researcher for the same programme, explained to AFP that “it’s mostly driven by Europe,” although “all areas have increased except for Asia and Oceania”.
Ricard said the increased demand in Europe was tied to the war in Ukraine and “the threat perception of Russia by European states”.
According to SIPRI, demand from Ukraine as well as from countries militarily supporting it and which need to replenish stockpiles helped drive demand.
Ricard added that many European countries are also now looking to expand and modernise their own militaries, “which will present a new source of demand”.
Supply woes
The United States is home to 39 of the world’s top 100 arms makers, including the top three: Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) and Northrop Grumman.
US arms makers saw their combined revenues rise 3.8% to reach US$334 billion in 2024, nearly half of the world’s total.
At the same time, the authors of the report noted that budget overruns and delays plague several key US-led programmes, like the F-35 fighter jet and the Columbia-class submarine.
The 26 of the top 100 arms maker which are based in Europe saw aggregate revenues grow by 13% to US$151 billion.
Czech company Czechoslovak Group saw revenue spike by 193% – the sharpest increase of all the top 100 – reaching US$3.6 billion.
The company benefitted from the Czech Ammunition Initiative which provides artillery shells for Ukraine.
But European arms makers are also facing difficulties in responding to the increased demand, with SIPRI noting that sourcing materials looks to become more challenging.
The authors noted that Airbus and France’s Safran sourced half of their titanium from Russia before 2022 and have had to find new suppliers.
Chinese export restrictions on critical minerals have led companies – such as France’s Thales and Germany’s Rheinmetall – to warn of higher costs as they restructure supply chains.
Two Russian arms makers are also among the top 100, Rostec and United Shipbuilding Corporation, and they saw combined revenue rise by 23% to US$31.2 billion, despite a shortfall of components due to international sanctions, as domestic demand more than compensated for falling exports.
The report also noted that the Russian arms industry is struggling to find enough skilled labour “to support the projected rates of production needed to sustain Russia’s war aims”.
Israeli weapons still popular
The Asia and Oceania region was the only region to see the overall revenues of the 23 companies based there go down – their combined revenues dropped 1.2% to US$130 billion.
But the authors stressed that the picture across Asia was varied and the overall drop was the result of by a larger drop among Chinese arms makers.
“A host of corruption allegations in Chinese arms procurement led to major arms contracts being postponed or cancelled in 2024,” Nan Tian, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said in a statement.
Tian added that the drop deepened “uncertainty” around China’s efforts to modernise its military.
In contrast, Japanese and South Korean weapons makers saw their revenues increase, also driven by European demand.
Meanwhile, nine of the top 100 arms companies were based in the Middle East, with combined revenues of US$31 billion.
The three Israeli arms companies in the ranking accounted for more than half of that, as their combined revenues grew by 16% to US$16.2 billion.
SIPRI researcher Zubaida Karim noted in a statement that “the growing backlash over Israel’s actions in Gaza seems to have had little impact on interest in Israeli weapons”. - FMT
The prime minister aims to remove 'unnecessary regulation' after the government’s £26 billion revenue-raising initiative.
British PM Keir Starmer faced pressure from within as Labour lagged behind Reform UK amid policy U-turns and public finance concerns. (File pic)
MANCHESTER: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set out on Monday his economic vision for the rest of the Labour government’s parliamentary term in a speech that builds on last week’s budget, his office said.
He will present the “broader mission” of his government’s drive to boost economic growth, Downing Street said, following finance minister Rachel Reeves’ budget last week, which raised £26 billion (US$34.41 billion) of taxes.
Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party trails behind the right-wing Reform UK in opinion polls. The next national election is due to be held by mid-2029 at the latest.
Despite winning a historic landslide election last year, Starmer is under pressure from his own lawmakers to regain the initiative after a tough first year in charge, marked by U-turns over key policies and continued angst over the public finances.
Starmer will talk aboutemoving “unnecessary regulation”, his office said.
“Rooting out excessive costs in every corner of the economy is an essential step to lower the cost of living for good, as well as promoting more dynamic markets for business,” Starmer will say, according to excerpts of his speech published by Downing Street.
His speech will also focus on helping more people into work – by raising access to apprenticeships and training, and removing barriers to employment for people who have been “written off” because of neurodivergence, disability or mental health problems. - FMT
