From sports to history, Rediff reader Sabyasachi Dutta shares a selection of books for you to add to your reading list in 2020.
'An opportunity is at hand to think big and recast the India-China relationship on a new template, which would help the pursuit of our country's dream of major power status,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon arrived in Beijing on Sunday to attend a meeting of G-8 'outreach countries', becoming the first top Indian diplomat to visit China since the outbreak of the Tibet unrest. The G-5 meeting in Bejing is a multilateral consultation exercise on economic and trade issues and climate change, among others, that major developing nations wish to take up with G-8. Menon is expected to meet Chinese officials and discuss the of bilateral issues.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, while reacting to Japan's plans to step up investments in the northeastern states, told the media that China is opposed to any foreign investment in the areas where it has disputes with India.
"I will be running as a sportsman," said Ravi Shastri, cricketer and former manager of the Indian team, while talking to rediff.com about his low-key participation in the Olympic torch relay ceremony in Muscat, Oman on April 14. He refused to speak on the controversial issue of the Chinese crackdown in Tibet and the protests that have marred the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco.
Large sections of the Tibetan youth felt that even while pretending to keep the door open for a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, the Chinese were undermining his political and spiritual authority, encouraged by the silence of the Indian authorities.
'In the case of an India-Pakistan confrontation, the Chinese may undertake more than just posturing, thereby constraining us from deploying adequate forces for decisive results,' warns Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
50 years after the 1965 War, India still thinks we can have a 'limited war' when our opponent has time and again shown it does not believe in a limited war, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Fast cars, marathons, golfing and shooting - nothing stops these high-power tycoons from pursuing their passion.
Ahead of the opening of the Nathu La pass later this month, the government has finalised the list of items for trade with China from the border point between Sikkim and Tibet.
In the fourth such incursion since March, two helicopters of the People's Liberation Army of China hovered for about five minutes in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district and "could have carried out aerial photography of Indian ground troops," according to official sources in the government.
'India and China have to make concrete progress with regard to the border issue, addressing the trade deficit, and facilitating people-to-people interactions. This has to happen in the next two, three years.' China expert Tansen Sen tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com how India and China can take their relations to the next level.
Aseem Chhabra picks 10 fascinating films he watched in Macao -- a blend of Asian, independent, Hollywood projects and even a 66-years-old classic Japanese film that still stands the test of time.
The chairman of the organising committee Karma Gelek Yuthok said almost 7,000 pilgrims had returned to China, citing pressure from authorities there, the Global Times report said.
On planes, on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, Hulu, MUBI, Kanopy, film festivals... Aseem Chhabra tell us how he watched 309 films in 365 days.