28912263963_0b75893744_h Courtesy: MEA/ Flickr
14 February 2017

Indo-Pacific: a scenario of possibilities

The Indo-Pacific region is home to some of the largest and most rapidly growing economies as also powerful military forces. Nuclear threats, international terrorism and climate change are some of the issues that define the region. Uncertainty dogs relations among the four nations in the top league—U.S., China, India and Japan—but what is emerging is a hawkish, policy stance from the U.S. as opposed to an isolationist outlook apprehended earlier

28909667344_cad7ec10cc_k Courtesy: MEA/flickr
4 January 2017

Acting East: what does 2017 hold in store?

The year 2017 may change some equations in the East Asian region. Will the near parity that the U.S. and China currently share turn into a keener contest? Will strained relations between India and China persist? Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president casts the spotlight squarely on these inter-state relationships

New Triangle2 Courtesy: Gateway House
10 November 2016

A new Asian triangle?

Aung San Suu Kyi paid high-profile visits to both Japan and India recently; economic cooperation would have been high on her agenda. But what could also emerge from such overtures is a diplomatic threesome

Modi in Vietnam Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs/Flickr
12 September 2016

India-Vietnam: setting a new benchmark

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to Vietnam had both heads of state announcing an upgrade of their ‘Strategic Partnership’ into a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’. This added term captures the importance both sides have vested in the need to deepen the relationship and the prospect for future cooperation.

INS_Vikramaditya_in_Baltic_Sea Courtesy: Wikipedia
6 September 2016

India’s ocean strategy crystallises

India's policy towards the Indian Ocean has begun to take a clear, coherent form with the signing of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the United States, an important bilateral visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister Modi, and an ambitious future being laid out by Foreign Secretary Jaishankar

Court_EPA_potd-china_3274301b-large_trans++pJliwavx4coWFCaEkEsb3kvxIt-lGGWCWqwLa_RXJU8 Courtesy: EPA
1 September 2016

The Case of the South China Sea

The implementation of the award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, on the interpretation of the UNCLOS in a case that pitted the Philippines against China in a dispute over the South China Sea is going to be a test for the primacy of international law. This speech was originally made at Christ University, Bengaluru on 27 September, as part of a 'National Seminar on the Formulation of Treaties'.