Courtesy: Japan Ministry of Defense
Japan’s recently-released defence white paper marks a significant turn in intent and policy. The country’s long focus on economic security is now blended with its defence capacity, bringing together foreign policy, intelligence, and economic, technological and industrial capacities into a “comprehensive architecture for national defence.” This is a new conception of national security in Japan.
Courtesy: Global Times
The Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held in New Delhi on May 26, highlighted both the progress and uncertainties surrounding the grouping. Significantly, it reaffirmed U.S. engagement. While the Quad has expanded its agenda and provided some concrete outcomes, the all-important Leaders’ Summit is still not visible – a worry for India’s prolonged chairship since 2024.
Courtesy: Gateway House
India’s proposal to link the digital currencies of the BRICS nations could alter how emerging economies settle trade deals. It is necessary to examine the reasoning behind such a move, its effort to reducing dollar dependence, and the benefits that accrue to India.
Courtesy: Bayerischer Rundfunk
During the week of the Munich Security Conference, Munich transformed into a temporary capital of global diplomacy. Gateway House participated and hosted a Side Event, “Multipolarity without Multilateralism: India, Europe and the Future of Global Order” on February 14. This diary captures observations from the conference and the city, reflecting on Europe’s evolving priorities and how the continent assesses its role in an increasingly fragmented world.
Courtesy: News on Air
In the shifting sands of contemporary geopolitics, terms such as ‘fluid multipolarity’, ‘multiplexity’, ‘tripolarity’, and ‘bipolarity with multipolar characteristics’ are replacing the old dogmas and orders. But what is driving the world today? How does India plan to protect its vital interests in the current age of ongoing polycrisis? The road ahead is challenging, marked by risks and uncertainty.
Courtesy: Amazon India
Rajiv Bhatia explains how this book brings together perspectives on the geostrategy, geopolitics, and geoeconomics of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Edited by Chintamani Mohapatra, it features 16 essays by experienced yet young academics. It highlights how the world changed after 2020, the ‘Age of Polycrisis’, COVID-19, conflicts in West Asia and Europe, and other global flashpoints. The book offers analysis that seeks to reposition the Indo-Pacific as vital to India’s strategic interests.
Courtesy: Themba Hadebe/AP
The G20 Summit in Johannesburg ended on a widely-shared sense of satisfaction and achievement, with the Global South’s perspective well-articulated, but divergent from some in the Global North. Now the G20's challenge is to restore its unity and credibility by working toward reconciliation with its next president, the U.S. Can India enhance its credibility and influence as a North-South bridge-builder?
Courtesy: Reuters
China’s attempt to discipline Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi’s statement on a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s security, may instead strengthen the very alliances Beijing hoped to fracture. By using symbolic economic instruments, invoking the UNSC, and amplifying nationalist messaging while avoiding mass public mobilisation, China signals displeasure without risking internal instability. Yet these same measures push Japan ever deeper into U.S.-aligned networks.
Courtesy: Gateway House
U.S. health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. called the World Economic Forum a “billionaires’ boys club” imposing totalitarian controls. Indeed, since 1971, the elite platform shaped geopolitics. But its Western-centricism kept out the concerns of the rest. This gave rise to alternative forums, which look beyond financial agendas to the perspectives shaping the Global South. Here are 45 of biggest, half of which began just two decades ago.
Courtesy: Kyodo News
The rise of Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister with firm conservative credentials, carries both symbolic weight and political controversy. Her early decisions suggest clarity of intention but also highlight the structural weaknesses and diplomatic sensitivities that will shape her tenure. To keep her ratings high, she has to stabilise her minority government at home, and manage the China, U.S. and ASEAN relationships with tact.