Courtesy: Uday Deb/Times of India
After the strategic digital pushback against Chinese investments and apps, India should turn its attention to the biggest Chinese domination tool – 5G. This is the mother lode that enables the efficient gathering of data, which when mined, results in product enhancement and pricing benefits to products listed in China 2025 and helps China set global standards. There is an urgency for alternate suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid relying on China.
Courtesy: Tasnim News Agency
The Quad is set to launch a satellite-based maritime security initiative to monitor illegal fishing by the Chinese maritime militia. This is long overdue. China’s ‘little blue men’ are recruited from its fishing communities but are in fact official members of a well networked and controlled defense force engaged in regional grey zone warfare.
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China’s escalating actions in the wake of the COVID-19 catastrophe is a calculated strategic diversion and risk. In the Indo-Pacific, tensions between China and the U.S., Australia, India and others are building momentum. As a geopolitical partnership, the relevance of the Quad is now proven. There are clear ways to empower it immediately, and make it a resilient grouping.
Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
At the 4 June, India-Australia, virtual summit, one of the most critical, among several agreements signed, was the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA). India has logistics support agreements with many countries. How is the MLSA with Australia any different? Given the geo-strategic maritime competition with China, this agreement is uniquely significant and could be especially beneficial for the Indian Navy.
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With more than 130 and 119 million users respectively, Chinese apps such as UC Browser and TikTok are not merely internet products, but serious content aggregators in India. But the final control of data collected by these apps resides in China, and this creates a grave risk to national security.
Courtesy: DRDO/Twitter
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s recent announcement of defence reforms is an appropriate opportunity for India to create a vibrant and profitable defence-industrial base by focusing on the procurement process, capitalising on emerging technologies and partnering with like-minded countries.
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For countries and companies reeling from the severe economic impact of COVID19, force majeure is a mighty legal tool that has not received much attention in contracts. An analysis of what it is, how it works and how it can be enforced.
Courtesy: Gateway House
The shifting geopolitics of the COVID19 crisis might be an opportune time for India to consider new strategies for managing and curtailing Pakistan’s military aggression in the future. One policy tool used effectively by other countries is the imposition of economic sanctions. India needs to devise a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach.
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COVID-19 and remote working have resulted in a surge in demand for digital intermediaries, such as Zoom. Most of these are U.S.-based, with some having servers in China, which has aggravated privacy concerns. IT companies have responded quickly by fortifying themselves internally through a range of measures, but it is now time for India’s highly accomplished tech industry to devise secure, scalable platforms with India-based servers
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Indigenous development of key Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure is critical to scaling up the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the armed forces. Home-grown cloud technology, like National Cloud Meghraj, can help in this transformation while also meeting India’s cyber-physical security demands for data exchange and data localisation