Looking East Is Helping India

The “look-east” policy launched by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1992 is maturing. Diplomatic and political linkages built up with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a dialogue partner, as part of platforms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Summit and ASEAN Defence Ministers’ (plus) Meeting provide the Modi government […]

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Egypt Wants A New Suez Canal

The canal project evokes memories of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the wildly popular colonel who led the 1952 overthrow of Egypt’s monarchy. Nasser nationalized the canal in 1956, ending nearly a century of control by the Europeans who financed and built it. Taking the canal galvanized the Egyptian public, even more so after it resulted […]

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Embracing Deng

Honoured as the chief architect behind the reform and opening-up policy, Deng has been acknowledged as the core of the second generation of central leadership that led China out of chaotic political movements and into unprecedented prosperity. Read Here – Global Times

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That Loud, Hissing Sound…

Expectations that India’s prime minister would revolutionize a troubled economy overnight were wildly overblown. But three months on, even some Modi skeptics may be wondering if they have been too easy on the great modernizer from Gujarat. Since taking office, Modi has scuttled a global trade deal, sidestepped much-needed subsidy cuts, and refrained from letting […]

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Why Would Little Sri Lanka Matter To Japan?

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is slated to visit Sri Lanka soon. Abe will undoubtedly express his appreciation for Sri Lanka’s past assistance to Japan, but a more important task will be to convey Japan’s strong concern over China’s strategic muscle-flexing. He will be trying to pour a bit of cold water on the island-nation’s […]

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Can India And China Be Friends?

China has lots of capital, and India needs to build a huge amount of infrastructure. But, as ever, something that seems simple on the surface is made considerably murkier due to politics. Of the many contested land borders the People’s Republic of China had when established in 1949, many of the remaining ones are with […]

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A Fresh Asian Brew

There’s a natural fit between the two putative partners: Japan’s technological prowess and wealth complements India’s size, and a New Delhi-Tokyo duet would stretch China’s power across two widely separated fronts (and more if the partnership can be complemented by the United States, Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia, something that Japan would like to see) while […]

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Sweet Spot For Southeast Asia

China’s growing assertiveness with Japan and the U.S. is helping bring a level of attention to Southeast Asia unseen since the Vietnam War, ushering billions of dollars of investment, wider access to trade and stepped-up military assistance. Read Here – Bloomberg

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“China Won’t Like It”

“China won’t like it.” That has been a consistent refrain of the UPA government and the Congress party in shaping India‘s recent foreign policy. New Delhi‘s self-induced fear of provoking China has restricted the pursuit of beneficial engagement with other major powers and Asian neighbours. India’s self-denial is hardly consistent with its proclamations on “strategic […]

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