2017-11 7389 Courtesy: Independent
1 January 2018

Trump’s NSS and Great Power competition

The camaraderie that Trump and Xi projected in November 2017 generated unease. At year end, Trump’s National Security Strategy did away with the multipolar niceties, but the challenges remain: for the U.S., it’s promoting rule of law while opting out of multilateral bodies. For China, it’s taking stock of how its image corresponds to reality

37575409684_6289864915_o Courtesy: Flickr/WhiteHouse
17 November 2017

Trump in China: ceremonial hits, strategic misses

The visit yielded no dramatic breakthrough. But Team Xi finally got the respect and validation it desired, and deserved. Trump rightly praised China’s success in meeting its own development goals and contributing to global growth. But he is unlikely to soften his stance on jobs lost to China or the more vexing structural issues

Xi new Era Courtesy: Forex Repository
27 October 2017

Expectations from CCP’s new era of Xi

Xi Jinping, who became the first leader since China’s modernisation to have his name inscribed—during his tenure—in the Chinese Communist Party’s Constitution, will fine-tune and popularise Deng Xiaoping’s famous phrase, ‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’, to suit a new era. He has adhered to Party rules while subtly subverting long-standing traditions

Djibouti - Title Card Courtesy:
3 October 2017

Djibouti’s ‘military base’ diplomacy

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind leaves for Africa on his first foreign visit as president on October 3. His first port of call will be Djibouti, which occupies a strategic location in the Horn of Africa. The country has assumed significance for hosting multiple foreign military bases on its territory, the latest entrant being China. This infographic illustrates Djibouti’s ‘military base’ diplomacy.

37733095_303 Courtesy: Deutsche Welle
27 March 2017

All that makes ASEAN unique @ 50

This regional grouping of 10 nations, which observes its golden jubilee year in 2017, has come a long way from the Cold War era when it was founded, making a significant contribution to peace, security and prosperity. Now, its future prospects and “centrality” look uncertain amidst the region’s changing geopolitics

silk road Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
14 February 2017

Interweaving the old Cotton and Silk Routes

China’s resurrection of the ancient Silk Road is ambitious, sprawling, hegemonic. Its pre-European origins, though, lay in a criss-crossing of nameless caravan routes on which Indian cotton was traded as vigorously as Chinese silk, tangible proof of the interdependence of two ancient civilisations over two millennia

1200px-Malabar_07-2_exercise Courtesy: Wikipedia
14 February 2017

A democratic quadrilateral in Asia?

A strategic coming together of the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India was close to fruition some years ago, impelled initially by the tsunami of 2004. The spirit of the enterprise remains alive even now, and there are many merits in India joining the quad, but such an arrangement can skew existing Asian equations, jeopardising the Act East policy