Rajiv Bhatia_Image Courtesy: Gateway House
12 November 2020

India-SCO: New Platform, Common Ground

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India will host the 19th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government on 30 November 2020. This will be the first meeting of the grouping’s second highest organ, hosted by India. The significance of the event lies in the timing – India’s relations with two fellow memberstates, China and Pakistan, are at an exceptionally low ebb; yet the clear message from the SCO Secretariat and other member-states is: India’s presence in the SCO is highly beneficial to the latter and should be fully leveraged to strengthen it as an important and upcoming intergovernmental organisation. This necessitates a fresh appraisal of options for India.

QUAD Courtesy: Shutterstock/Gateway House
18 June 2020

Quad, China and the Indo-Pacific churn

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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.

shutterstock_1046468212 Courtesy: Shutterstock
10 June 2020

Germany’s E.U. ‘COVID-19’ Presidency 2020

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In July 2020, Germany takes over as President of the European Union. It’s a fraught time to lead the union which has been slow to react to COVID-19 and needs a new direction. With the pandemic, the U.S.- China stand-off, and a global economic crisis – Chancellor, Angela Merkel has her work cut out.

42555677410_4bbbd59769_c Courtesy: MEA/Flickr
27 February 2020

BIMSTEC or SAARC?

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South Asia’s speedy economic development depends on the level of integration between countries in the region. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) have lost their momentum. But both platforms have their uses and can be revived creatively

kcmodi0312_0 Courtesy: Flickr/MEA
28 November 2019

Assessing the 35th ASEAN Summit

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The 35th summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations, held in Bangkok early in November, showed that a shifting geostrategic landscape notwithstanding, “ASEAN centrality” in the region is a top priority with members. It also served as a backdrop for three summits that ASEAN held on November 4 with China, U.S. and India

48645255438_77e7265a4b_c Courtesy: TICAD7/Flickr
3 October 2019

TICAD 7’s agenda: engaging private enterprise

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The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development was a departure from earlier editions of it. Japan, which is changing tack as a competitor to China in Africa, held back from publicising the number of heads of state present to prevent any comparisons with other such forums and made no further commitments on Overseas Development Assistance. The accent, instead, was on increasing Japanese private sector engagement

shutterstock_1457421710 (1) Courtesy: Shutterstock
26 September 2019

Quad in the Indo-Pacific

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The foreign ministers of the Quad countries meet for the first time in New York today even as the Indo-Pacific has turned into a keenly contested geopolitical arena. Some countries are offering to play a mediatory role while other triangular equations are also undergoing change. An analysis of some of the relationships at work here