Indian Army convoy ferrying supplies to troops in Ladakh The remarks by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi on October 15 on the negotiations to resolve the military standoff in eastern Ladakh signal a cautiously optimistic estimation that there are serious proposals on the table and a breakthrough cannot be ruled out. Jaishankar …
An India-China reset is still possible
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (L) and China’s State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) met in Moscow, Sept 10, 2020 A joint statement wasn’t anticipated after the talks between the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10. In diplomatic terms, a …
India needs to adapt to the world of tomorrow
Pangong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh: snapshot from 1962 India-China war. Jawaharlal Nehru began his historic “Tryst with Destiny” speech on August 15, 1947 heralding India’s independence, which is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century, with an immortal line, “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world …
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India shouldn’t align with Five Eyes
The Five Eyes has been in the vanguard of Hong Kong protests Against the backdrop of border tensions in Ladakh, the Indian media narratives have ascribed to our foreign-policy lurch toward the Quad and the overall tilt to the US, the breakdown of mutual trust in India-China relations. Chinese statements have repeatedly expressed regret that …
Modi terminates his Weibo diplomacy
The common perception among Indian analysts, widely articulated in our media, is that the government’s options to ‘hit back’ at China for whatever has happened in eastern Ladakh during the past two months are very limited. The reported erasure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘official page’ on the Chinese social media website Weibo can only …
Mamallapuram beckons China’s Xi Jinping
Indian Army holding its biggest ever mountain combat exercise in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China in Oct 2019 The ancient port city of Mamallapuram on the Coromandel Coast in southern India where the informal summit between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may take place, is frenetic with activity. The authorities are busy laying new roads, …
The rise and rise of Bangladesh
The Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent official visit to China on July 1-6 highlights a new template in regional politics — the rise of Bangladesh as regional power. Last year Bangladesh outstripped India as the fastest growing economy in South Asia — at 7.3%. Hasina has set the compass to navigate her country to …
India-China ties moving to new level
(Spring is in the air in Argentina — Modi, Putin and Xi exchange pleasantries) The G20 in Argentina last weekend turned out to be of great significance for India-China relations. On the sidelines of the event, PM Modi and President Xi Jinping had occasion to interact thrice – one bilateral meeting and a second meeting …
Quad recedes into shade. It’s the RCEP, stupid!
(Second RCEP Summit, Singapore, Nov 14, 2018) The ill-starred quadrilateral Joint-Secretary level format of ‘Asian democracies’ – US, Japan, Australia and India – would have held its third meeting in Singapore on Wednesday. Again, there was no joint statement issued after the meeting. In fact, unlike previous occasions when the four Asian democracies issued press …
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A game changer for India-China relations
The National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is heading for China for the Special Representatives talks on November 23-25 with the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This will be the last round of talks in that format during the Modi government’s remaining term in office. The format provided a unique opportunity to cover …