Prime Minister Modi and President Biden (File photo) An extraordinary week has passed for the Modi government’s dalliance with the Quad. Call it a defining moment, a turning point or even an inflection point — it has elements of all three. The last week saw a 2-day visit to Delhi by Japanese prime minister Fumio …
China’s signposts post-Ukraine
China’s Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a press conference for the Fifth session of China’s 13th National People’s Congress on foreign policy issues, Beijing, August 7, 2022 Traditionally, the Chinese foreign minister holds press conferences on the margins of the sessions of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People …
US plays QUAD card during Beijing Olympics
Protest against Beijing Olympics in New Delhi, Feb 4, 2022 The appalling decision by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to huddle together with his QUAD colleagues bang in the middle of the Beijing Winter Olympics may have unpleasant consequences. China sees QUAD as a US-led clique working to “contain” it. An action-reaction syndrome has once …
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US plays Tibet card as India seeks modus vivendi with China
Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya has been designated as US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Washington, Dec. 20, 2021 The cracking sound of ice breaking on the frozen lake of India-China relations will trigger a new wave of US-backed media campaign to instigate the hawks. Armed with satellite imageries made available from the US and peppered …
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Ruckus over AUKUS isn’t an edifying sight
French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and US President Joe Biden enjoy a light moment at the G7, Cornwall, UK, June 12, 2021 The diplomatic fallout from the new security agreement between the Australia, United Kingdom and the United States [AUKUS] is just about beginning. The debris will take time to clean up. Might there be …
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Blinken’s single-point agenda in Delhi – China
The overnight visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to New Delhi has been an eye-opener in many ways. It highlighted how much India has changed through the searing pain and suffering it underwent in the past one-year period and how that tumultuous period also led to a reset in the government’s calculus. A …
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Biden prepares the ground for QUAD-3
The US President Joe Biden (R) welcomes visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Washington, July 27, 2021 The US President Joe Biden’s foreign-policy team seems increasingly unsure of the ground beneath their feet. They can see that the edifice that their 78-year old chief is erecting stands on shaky ground. But they lack the presence of …
India will be front-line state in Myanmar civil war
Hakha Town in Myanmar’s Chin State bordering Mizoram was the scene of attacks on the military by rebel fighters on May 5, 2021 How some animals get to sense when earthquakes are imminent remains a mystery. Just before the great Asian tsunami on December 26, 2004, elephants in Sri Lanka moved to high ground …
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US: Indian Ocean is not India’s ocean
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones prepares to pull alongside aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (File photo) The guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones sailing past Lakshadweep Islands April 7 has thrown India’s Sinophobes into confusion. One leading daily noted it as a “rare falling out between the two partners in the Quad grouping.” …
Whither India-Russia ties?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) at press conference with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (R), Delhi, April 6, 2021 On Monday, the prominent Moscow daily Kommersant commented that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to New Delhi on April 5-6 “is not going to be easy because relations between the two countries are …