Courtesy: Technology Times
Cyberattacks from Pakistan-based hacker groups targeting India have increased. The stepped-up cyber activity comes in the backdrop of Islamabad's new cyber security policy and expanded digital cooperation with China. India must bolster its existing abilities in cyber forensics and regulations to counter the enhanced Pakistani threat.
Courtesy: Xinhua
China has followed Sun Tzu’s strategy of focussing on alliances - building its own and weakening those of its adversaries. Beijing’s carefully nurtured formations in West and Central Asia are part of this global power projection, especially with Pakistan, Iran and now, the Taliban, through projects like the Belt and Road Initiative. India must recalibrate its China policy and push for concerted regional responses to emerge as a balancing force against it.
Courtesy: Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies
China is a clear winner in the physical connectivity stakes in the Bay of Bengal, and there's a reason a why: Its projects are connected to one another, from rail to road to port. While India also has some successful cross-border road and rail infrastructure projects, they are often an extension of an existing railway line or highway, not specific to the connectivity needs of the region. India can win by focussing instead on building infrastructure to maximise the vast maritime potential of the Bay of Bengal, especially the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that give India access to critical sea channels and trade routes.
Courtesy: G20
The Oct 30-31 G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome took several important steps to accelerate economic recovery and health security. In the absence of several Eurasian leaders, India played a significant role especially on climate and energy. The G20 will now acquire greater salience in India's foreign policy, as it readies to lead the grouping in 2023.
Courtesy: Shutterstock
The notion of “peaceful reunification” of China with Taiwan has been a geopolitical fiction that has been now shredded by Beijing’s talk of taking Taiwan by force. Should Taiwan go under and much of Asia fall to Chinese hegemony, India’s interests will be as threatened as America’s, or perhaps even more.
Courtesy: Reuters
ASEAN summits often tend to be routine affairs with long joint communiques. But the 26th October Summit had interesting dimensions. ASEAN had to balance Indo-Pacific rivalries, suspend Myanmar from attending, and expedite trade services agreements. As it seeks to expand its global engagement, ASEAN must remember to remain an area of solace and stability for its members.
Courtesy: Twitter |@GatewayHouseIND
On October 21, the Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla inaugurated the CCCS-Gateway House conference on "Leveraging China's Economy". In his keynote address, he traced the India-China trade imbalance, explained that the disturbed border changed equilibrium and noted that the "ability of India and China to work together will determine the Asian century".
Courtesy: Gateway House
On 25 October 2021, Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Gateway House presented his remarks at the Technical Session 1 on ‘Post-Covid Economic Recovery and Restoring Growth Momentum in BIMSTEC’ of the International Symposium on “BIMSTEC: A Vehicle for Growth and Development”.
Courtesy: Diu Vanza Darji Samaj UK
Five hundred years before the ‘string of pearls’ or strategic naval bases surfaced as part of China’s global dominance plan, Imperial Portugal was a naval power which tried to impose its hegemony over vast swathes of the Indian Ocean. What informed this grand vision of a 16th-century Portuguese seaborne empire?
Courtesy: Shutterstock
The Bay of Bengal is a natural bridge between South and South-East Asia, which New Delhi seeks to optimise. But progress on India's Act East policy has been slow, creating a space for China's Belt and Road Initiative to step into. While India cannot match China’s cheque-book diplomacy, it can use its start-up industry to pursue a combination of physical, technological and financial projects to improve regional connectivity.