China on Wednesday reacted strongly to the Quad Ministerial meeting that voiced serious concerns over the situation in the East and South China Sea, saying they should stop meddling in maritime affairs in its neighbourhood.
Amid its raging dispute with Japan over the sovereignty of islands in East China Sea, the Chinese military has conducted exercises with amphibious tanks practising stealth landing on the territory.
Indian and the United States navy are conducting their annual amphibious training exercise -- Habu Nag -- in the East China Sea, which is designed to enhance their bilateral interoperability, including humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
In response to the Quad ministers' joint statement, China on Tuesday said it opposes the creation of exclusive 'small cliques' and 'bloc confrontation'.
If Iran and Oman choose to charge a fee for rendering services to vessels using their territorial waters, so be it. The US is indulging in an irrationally self-destructive act, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Gwadar is viewed as a critical pearl in China's maritime strategy as it would give a permanent logistical footprint near an important choke point - the Strait of Hormuz and the oil rich Persian Gulf, explains Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
China will build its first long-term underwater observation platform in resource-rich South China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with many south-east Asian countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam airbase flew over South China Sea on late Thursday as part of operations intended to demonstrate the US commitment to freedom of navigation, the US Air Force said in a statement.
The Quad grouping has expanded cooperation in critical minerals and energy, while unveiling new measures to boost maritime surveillance and port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific. This move comes against the backdrop of China's growing military posturing in the region, with ministers reiterating strong opposition to destabilising actions and expressing serious concerns over militarisation of disputed features.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Indonesian parliament, emphasising India's commitment to development over expansionism and advocating for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. He highlighted the strong historical ties between India and Indonesia, calling for enhanced cooperation in various sectors, including defence, technology, and counter-terrorism, amidst growing concerns over regional security.
Beijing clearly intends to extend the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor to Bangladesh as part of its larger Maritime Belt and Road Initiative to boost its Indian Ocean presence.
Vietnam is an emerging regional power and a closer relationship with Hanoi is closely aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Act East Policy, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
The Beijing summit may have reduced immediate diplomatic uncertainty, but it did not resolve the deeper structural contest between the United States and China. That contest appears likely to define the coming decade, notes Varun Arya.
A new report suggests China's maritime vulnerability lies in the Strait of Hormuz, not Malacca, creating strategic competition in the Indian Ocean.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto have significantly advanced the India-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, securing crucial agreements on defence, critical minerals, and maritime security, including BrahMos missile supply and Sabang port development.
Notwithstanding the economic complementarities and the host of agreements for deepening economic relation on a host of areas, both sides share common viewpoints on the foreign policy domain and seek common grounds to serve as a counterweight to China, notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
China released a white paper against the UN-backed tribunal's verdict, insisting that Beijing has claims over the strategic region for 2,000 years.
There have been growing global concerns over China's sweeping claims of sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons.
Declaration by China of a new overlapping Air Defence Identification Zone over contested islands of Diaoyu/Senkaku besides raising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have caused reverberations in the strategic firmament of the entire Asia-Pacific region.
'After a strategic pause though, Beijing will revive its policy of slowly creeping towards acquiring sovereignty over the South China Sea.'
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will inaugurate the underground tunnel-boring work from Vikhroli to the Bandra Kurla Complex station in Mumbai on Sunday, marking the maiden use of a tunnel boring machine for the country's first bullet train project, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
The US, he said, rejects any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states' sovereignty claims over such islands).
Poland's Secretary of State, Wladyslaw T Bartoszewski, has credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with preventing Russian President Vladimir Putin from using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in late 2022, highlighting Modi's significant influence on the Russian leader.
According to www.budgetyourtrip, Asia is home to some of the world's priciest travel destinations.
Much will depend on how the protagonists use the current interlude to work proactively for the beginning of a durable settlement or, on the contrary, prepare for a new round of escalation, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
At a time when China's bullying behaviour has been evident in its actions and pronouncements, India is signalling that it is ready to emerge as a serious balancer in East Asia and Southeast Asia, says Harsh V Pant.
Beijing has been wary of Sanae Takaichi's efforts to boost Japan's military profile since taking office six months ago, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
The Chinese navy has kicked off 10-day military exercises in the disputed South China Sea amid heightened tensions in the region, especially with the United States.
India has refuted claims of payment issues hindering crude oil imports from Iran, clarifying that refiners have the flexibility to source oil from various global suppliers. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas addressed reports of a tanker rerouting to China, emphasising standard industry practices and secured oil requirements.
Successful interceptor, anti-ship, MIRV and hypersonic technology tests have strengthened India's position among a select group of advanced missile powers.
It is an unusual choice to depute a retired general for the funeral of a revered religious figure but a thoughtful one in an attempt to inject verve into the bilateral relationship and restore the equilibrium in India's West Asian policies, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil already in transit to ease soaring global crude prices, making 140 million barrels available to the market.
The war of words between China and the US heated up on Tuesday with an American Admiral defending last week's US naval ship's foray near Chinese-made artificial islands in the area while Beijing blasted the move as a "blatant provocation".
Three naval ships of China's Nanhai Fleet left a naval port in Sanya, Hainan Province on Wednesday, kicking off an annual combat drill in the South China Sea, East Indian Ocean and West Pacific, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Ever since the Quad started taking shape in 2007, China has been saying that the four-member grouping will be bound to fail. But much to the chagrin of Beijing, it picked up pace in the recent years emerging as a premier strategic group especially challenging China's assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
It was clear in Brunei at the 8th East Asia Summit that China doesn't want the South China Sea issue to even dominate the discussion, reports Sheela Bhatt, who is part of the prime minister's media contingent to the summit
Donald Trump expressed optimism about securing an agreement with Tehran to prolong a truce and restore transit through a strategic maritime chokepoint within the next week, even as he criticised political opponents and the media for what he described as their tendency to distort outcomes, even in a hypothetical scenario of complete Iranian military surrender.
Steve Bannon, a far-right figure, who has been given unprecedented power in the White House, said on his radio show in March 2016.
The top diplomats of Quad nations on Friday denounced as "inadmissible" any use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war and strongly opposed any "unilateral actions" that seek to change the status quo in the South and East China Seas, a region that has witnessed increasing Chinese military offensive.
'China's basic purpose of taking the Shaksgam Valley was access to the Indian Ocean.'
