Courtesy: Gateway House
The sister cities of Mumbai and Shanghai have a shared history, population size, and economic significance. On 29 May, a roundtable between the Shanghai Institute of International Studies and Gateway House encouraged discussion on strategies to battle COVID-19, and kick-start city economies after a lockdown. Here are some workable solutions.
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India and Latin America share similar demographics and challenges of density in the battle against COVID-19 India currently trails Latin America in the extent and volume of infection by a few weeks. Collaboration and sharing of local best practices can help both regions combat the contagion better.
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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.
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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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The launch of the U.S.’s Dragon-2 astronaut capsule by SpaceX has a resonance in India too. India’s future heavy-lift launchers, already under development, can be competitive if they are transformed to Two-Stage-To-Orbit and made reusable. The successors to Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan, developed in public-private partnerships, can result in a vast domestic launch market for India’s heavy-lift rocket capability.
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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.
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India’s e-commerce sector has shown resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a welcome outcome, and to ensure its success, strong regulatory policy in e-commerce is needed to ensure a level-playing field. This will benefit the customer and strengthen the Digital India and Make in India visions of the government. Can emerging markets look to India for a model e-commerce policy where the regulator has played a part, but not overregulated?
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India’s e-commerce sector has shown resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a welcome outcome, and to ensure its success, strong regulatory policy in e-commerce is needed to ensure a level-playing field. This will benefit the customer and strengthen the Digital India and Make in India visions of the government. Can emerging markets look to India for a model e-commerce policy where the regulator has played a part, but not overregulated?
Courtesy: Shutterstock
Globalisation has resulted in the interdependence of nations through the largely unimpeded transmission of investment capital and information, and integrated business operations. The leading beneficiaries have been the global 1%, and China. While it is too late and not possible to roll back an interconnected world order, globalization as we know it will recede, as will China’s standing in the world.