The banquet hall at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai was packed to the brim with Chinese and Indian businessmen, in anticipation of the arrival of Premier Li Keqiang and his 200-strong delegation. The May 21 evening, organised jointly by India’s three top chambers of commerce, was a packed affair, in keeping with the guest from a country that is seeing seemingly boundless growth and global ascendancy. French wine, served with jumbo prawns and Indian King Alphonso mangoes was on the menu, served to Chinese businessmen from the power sector and consumer product sectors and the bolder, newer Indian entrepreneurs representing companies like Marico, Essar and Yes Bank. read more

he most visible expansion in India-China bilateral relations since the turn of the century is in the sphere of their economic and commercial engagement. This expansion coincided with their emergence as the fastest-growing economies in the world. Today, China is India’s largest goods trading partner. And for China, India is its seventh-largest export destination. Even more remarkable, this upsurge in bilateral trade and economic ties has occurred over a short span of time. read more

When India and Pakistan’s new leaders sit down to manage their faltering relationship, they will do well to take a leaf out of the India-China relationship book. When the two Asian rivals negotiated the recent military face-off in Ladakh – the most high-profile Sino-Indian border crisis since 1987, neither threatened to curtail trade and economic engagement. The prospect of a prolonged stand-off could endanger overall relations, underpinned by economic engagement, helped to defuse the military tension. read more

Washington: A rare articulation of India’s nuclear doctrine by a widely-respected former official should go a long way in fighting misperceptions and deliberate distortions of Indian policy, in both the West and the near abroad. Shyam Saran, India’s former foreign secretary and current chairman of the National Security Advisory Board, delivered an important speech in New Delhi on April 24, where he clarified some of the basics – why India went nuclear, why it tested in 1998, how it views its strategic environment, and how it will retaliate if attacked with nuclear weapons. read more