admin-ajax (3) Courtesy: Wikipedia
28 January 2016

Gwadar and “the String of Pearls”

Is China actively building up its maritime presence in the Arabian Sea, to dominate vital sea lanes and perhaps encircle India with a chain of naval bases? There can be little doubt that China views Gwadar as a potentially useful asset. China, however, will know better than anyone that Gwadar has two considerable limitations.

24121358420_ff635df0d0_k Courtesy: flickr / Pasu Au Yeung
21 January 2016

Can India tie up with Taiwan & Tsai?

India has long sought China over Taiwan, so is it too late to rectify foreign policy? The recent election results in Taiwan have upset China as China fears it will lose control over Taiwan. Gateway House interviews noted China expert Professor Nalapat to get his take on Taiwan's new president-elect and what lies ahead for tenuous Sino-Indian-Taiwan relations.

Xi'an_erhuan_southeast Courtesy: Wikimedia
28 September 2015

Learning from China’s OBOR playbook

The ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative announced by China last year is being actively implemented at the provincial level. A recent conference in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, provided a glimpse of China’s multi-pronged strategy to harness various resources available to make OBOR a success.

800px-18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China Courtesy: 一大抄/Wikipedia
2 April 2015

Comprehensive reforms in China?

The annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing in March covered wide and significant ground, including President Xi’s vision of deepening reform and law-based governance. The meeting also emphasised environmental protection and enforcement of IPR. But the outcome of these plans remains to be seen

Under the dome_India's daughter Courtesy: YouTube
12 March 2015

India, China and censorship

In the past week two documentaries that went viral in China and India were banned. In China, a documentary about pollution. In India, a documentary about the Nirbhaya rape incident in 2012. India's decision to ban the film suggests that the government's approach to censorship is starting to look more like China's

Taiwan-China-Flag Courtesy: aiaworldwide
11 December 2014

Taiwan’s centrality in Asian geopolitics

Internal power struggles within the Chinese CCP has allowed the People's Liberation Army a greater role in setting China's foreign policy. This has significant implications for the region because the status quo between China and Taiwan needs to be maintained to ensure stability in Asia and to avoid of future conflicts.

Hong Kongers Courtesy: eurosouth-hub.net
10 October 2014

Hong Kong’s identity crisis

China’s rise as an economic power has meant that Hong Kong has lost its edge as the East’s international centre for business. This decline combined with Beijing’s efforts to cement control over the city has led to protests that have an underlying theme of Hong Kong wanting to chart its own path under the “one country two-systems” policy

japan_india_flag Courtesy: Gateway House
26 August 2014

Modi in Japan: great expectations

A lot has been written about the Modi-Abe equation and expectations are high from the upcoming Tokyo summit. Despite the bonhomie shared by the two leaders much work needs to be done on the civil nuclear deal as well as defence cooperation to arrive at a substantive and fruitful relationship