CableMap-web Courtesy: Gateway House
5 April 2018

Version 1: China’s strategic edge in covert communications

China is steadily deploying state-of-the-art communications systems to connect its strategic and economic assets in Asia. It is then linkingthe Asian mainland to Africa, and Africa to South America. The investment spree is rapidly making Beijing a major player in global telecommunications – and ‘informationisation warfare’.

1200px-Malé_im_Landeanflug Courtesy: Wikipedia
27 February 2018

The politics of doing business in the Maldives

The recent crisis in the Maldives is a pertinent time to revisit an old case, highlighting the political uncertainties in the island nation due to growing Chinese influence and its impact on businesses and investors

15maldives-master675 Courtesy: New York Times
15 February 2018

Maldives: the Quad’s first crisis

The crisis in the Maldives is a case study of Chinese investments undermining democratic institutions in smaller countries. It poses long term threats to India’s economic and political security. And almost overnight, it has turned the Indian Ocean into the Indo-Pacific

37019468915_3c74a9c724_o Courtesy: Government of South Africa/ Flickr
25 January 2018

South Africa leads BRICS, IORA in 2018

Internal political constraints dog it currently, but if overcome, South Africa can be a good chairman to BRICS and IORA in 2018. It also has a tough balancing act to perform between two great Asian powers, China and India

Indo-Pacific Security Quad Courtesy: Indian Navy
3 January 2018

A case for the Quad’s reappearance

A noticeable feature of 2017 was China’s aggressiveness, which it deployed openly to advance its interests in the eastern rim, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. This could well be the impetus for the consolidation of a broad front of China-wary nations in 2018

2017-11 7389 Courtesy: Independent
1 January 2018

Trump’s NSS and Great Power competition

The camaraderie that Trump and Xi projected in November 2017 generated unease. At year end, Trump’s National Security Strategy did away with the multipolar niceties, but the challenges remain: for the U.S., it’s promoting rule of law while opting out of multilateral bodies. For China, it’s taking stock of how its image corresponds to reality