Courtesy: Penguin RandomHouse
This timely book on a controversial subject attempts to sum up the scope and ambitious scale of the BRI. It does not offer judgement nor copious detail, but shows how an infrastructure project now seems to be the basis of a China-centred global economic system
Courtesy: MEA Flickr
The key global powers are redefining their roles in the Indo-Pacific to promote national interest. China’s rise and increased activism in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region is an uncontested reality even as Asian countries worry about the new cold war in which the U.S. and China are locked. The Quadrilateral Dialogue has reemerged to prevent a unipolar Asia — these are some of the trends unfolding in this arena
Courtesy: cnn.com
The state of the American Union is both polarised and ironic. Moderated presidential messaging is needed if there is a chance to become more united and avoid perpetual acrimony
Courtesy: GMA Network
Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, is a popular, yet controversial figure in a complex country, battling a mix of challenges. In external relations, he has followed a careful balancing policy, giving primacy to China, U.S. and the ASEAN
Courtesy: Foreign Affairs
Although China does not want to usurp the United States’ position as the leader of a global order, its actual aim is nearly as consequential. As one Chinese official put it, “Being a great power means you get to do what you want, and no one can say anything about it.” In other words, China is trying to displace, rather than replace, the United States.
Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
The following remarks were given by Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, Gateway House as Distinguished Guest Lecturer at IIM Tiruchirappalli on February 3, 2019
Courtesy: MEA Flickr
The imperative for India to move away from its non-aligned posture is now, especially if it wants to be consequential in the global reordering underway. This will play out in the contention between the U.S. on one side, and China and Russia on the other.
Courtesy: Sputnik News
Speakers at the seventh Atlantic Dialogues, held in Morocco earlier this month, discussed what the challenge to western dominance and China’s expansionism meant for their political and economic future
Courtesy: MEA Flickr
Maldives president Mohamed Solih comes to India this week, fresh from his election win and with a host of good intentions. His aim is to recast the bilateral and restore balance in Maldives’ external relations after the previous president’s China-centric leanings. Such a reversal may not emerge instantly
Courtesy: Nikkei Asia
Six months after Malaysia’s parliamentary elections, its domestic affairs are still untidy. The government is combating corruption, but not bringing in constitutional reform. A successor’s name is not emerging clearly either. But Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad’s foreign relations priorities – principally, Japan and China – are in order