'The Indian version is that the two top diplomats merely exchanged pleasantries, while the Pakistani side characterised the encounter as an 'informal dialogue'.' 'The truth, as always in such piquant situations, is somewhere in between.' 'It stands to reason that ice has been broken,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pentagon has sought direct dialogue between India and China 'free of any coercive aspects'.
Why did the Chinese military take over the lab in Wuhan in end January? Did something go wrong? Claude Arpi glances at the mystery surrounding the origin of the coronavirus.
'We should not minimise the seriousness of Chinese encroachments because their perception is different.' 'Nor should we fall into the trap of accepting so-called 'buffer zones' in areas of overlapping claims. We cannot have buffer zones in our own territory,' asserts Ambassador Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary.
The time is ripe to extend the confrontation with the Chinese to the maritime domain, says former RA&W officer Krishan Varma.
'China might soon have to seriously consider whether it prefers an Indo-US hyphenation to a Sino-Indian one.'
'After many rudderless years, India and Japan have prime ministers with a sense of purpose and direction,' says Brahma Chellaney.
Hosted by Singapore, the exercise was held on land at the now renamed "RSS Singapura - Changi Naval Base" and at a sea phase in the South China Sea.
The aircraft flew out from the airbase in the French port city of Bordeaux and will cover a distance of nearly 7,000 km with air-to-air refuelling and a single stop in the United Arab Emirates before arriving at Ambala airbase on Wednesday, officials said.
It seems China is ready to cooperate with India in the central Asian region through the SCO framework, the reasons for which are manifold, says Sana Hashmi.
'India-US defence pacts are seen by many analysts as a subtle move to jointly contain China's growing militarism, especially in the strategic Indian Ocean Region.'
'By the time he came out after nearly five hours, he had a one-to-one conversation with the President, a delegation-level meeting, a reception, a dinner, a tour of the White House and a joint statement of a kind none of his predecessors ever had,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for a relook at the entire ambit of Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Underlining that a closer and stronger bilateral strategic partnership is indispensable for advancing peace in the world, India and Japan on Sunday decided to promote economic and social development and engage with other nations to address regional challenges and promote peaceful resolution of disputes.
India has become the 37th country to join the list of Strategic Trade Authorization-1 category, the only South Asian nation.
'The military aim in a future conflict, if it can't be avoided, should be to cause maximum damage to the adversary's war waging capability and capture limited amount of territory as a bargaining counter,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Israel is a final and critical step in the normalisation of relations between the two countries.
Students who have received admission to foreign universities are struggling with unexpected delays, additional living costs and scarcity of vaccine supplies.
Unless each attack drone can be neutralised, India will be literally deploying elephants to stamp out ants -- and the ants may still survive! points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'We are confident that the US manufacturing industry will be able to take advantage of the US-India Investment Initiative to effectively support our goals of assisting in the development of three Indian cities -- Ajmer, Vishakhapatnam and Allahabad -- where the United States will be the lead partner,' Senators Warner and Cornyn told Obama.
Prime Manmohan Singh on Thursday sought Chinese investments in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors in India and called for market access in China for Indian IT and Pharmaceutical firms.
Sitharaman has completed just 19 days as defence minister and is also pre-occupied with the Gujarat assembly election, notes Ajai Shukla.
'There is no Buddha or Gandhi among countries, existing for the service of others; they all exist for the good of themselves.' 'For each country, its own interests should be paramount, and it is futile and churlish to expect China to be an exception to this rule,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and long-time China-watcher.
Issuing the fresh SoP, the apex court said for the first time in the Registry, '1881' helpline number will remain functional from 10 am to 5 pm under supervision of senior officers to provide instant solutions to query of advocate and litigants about e-filing and other issues relating to judicial functions.
India and Japan on Friday sought a peaceful solution to the territorial disputes in the strategic South China Sea, saying parties involved in the matter must not resort to "threat or use of force", in remarks that could anger China which is opposed to any outside interference.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent address to a joint session of Congress, top Republican senator John McCain had moved an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act which if passed would have recognised India as a global strategic and defence partner.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said resumption of talks with Pakistan was to "try and turn the course of history" and to bring an end to terrorism, but made it clear that the neighbouring country would be judged by its commitment on terrorism.
Globally, the estimated average financial loss from cyber incidents was $2.7 million, a 34-per cent increase over 2013.
She said there was no bigger global challenge than "state-sponsored" and "state-protected terrorism, asserting those supporting terror networks must be made to pay the cost.
'Modi's first foreign trip at the very outset of his second term as PM reinforces a growing impression that this regional tour underscores a shift in emphasis in India's foreign policy that was traditionally focused on the northern tier of countries to the Indian Ocean rim,' explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Nitin A Gokhale, Co-founder, BharatShakti.in and long-time Rediff.com contributor, remembers a most unusual politician.
United States President Barack Obama will have a tight schedule during his three-day visit starting January 25, as he will hold talks with top leadership in New Delhi on ways to make progress on key issues like defence and civil nuclear agreement and attend the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest, among other engagements.
India pacer Mohammed Shami on Wednesday got a temporary relief from Kolkata Police to join his Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Daredevils following a three-hour interrogation in Kolkata.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a democratically elected leader who received a massive mandate of 71% of votes, and he owes nothing to Delhi or Washington for staging his political comeback, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pompeo will travel to India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea from June 24 to 30. His four-nation is aimed at deepening US partnerships in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
'The one aspect which no Indian military thinker would wish to see emerge is a LoC type of posture at the LAC.' 'The LoC is manned for 750 km and terrorist infiltration has led to the creation of a virtual fortress along its entire length.' 'Something mirroring this at the LAC is going to be expensive although deployment everywhere is not warranted there.' 'However, given the complete trust deficit, there appear few alternatives,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
On a day when the sixth anniversary of Mumbai attack was being observed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation leaders that India feels the 'endless pain' of lost lives and urged the eight- nation grouping to combat terrorism unitedly.
Barely a week after Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan broke the deadlock and decided to re-engage, the two countries were back to a blame game over ceasefire violations with both sides lodging protest with each other.
'There will be much for President Trump and Prime Minister Modi to discuss including growing Chinese military cooperation with Pakistan, which heralds a new attempt by China and Pakistan to neutralise India's influence in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood,' notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy.
This is a moment when the leaders at the Centre and states must show true leadership for the sake of the country. And it is the top political leaders, not attorney generals or bureaucrats, who should be sitting together and settling this thorny issue of compensation, says Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India.
