China defends its construction of a dam on the Brahmaputra river in Tibet, addressing concerns from India and Bangladesh about its potential impact on water flow and the environment.
In Arunachal Pradesh, 10 people have killed in landslides and floods related incidents as incessant monsoon rains lashed the state.
The United States announced a 25 per cent tariff on India as the White House released an expansive list of duties that Washington, DC will impose on exports from countries around the world.
The Galwan clash occurred six months after the Doklam disengagement and two high-profile meetings. India should not be caught by surprise once again, asserts former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
In the talks, China emphasised that the two sides should proceed from the fundamental interests of China, India and adhere to the strategic height and long-term perspective of China-India relations, the readout said.
'The logic every one of our neighbours must realise is that working with India will give you benefits, and not working with India has a cost.'
Instead, Chinese Premier and Xi's confidant Li Qiang will take part in the summit to be held on July 6-7 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to take part.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will travel to Beijing for a two-day trip beginning Sunday, marking the second high-profile visit from India to China in less than one-and-a-half months. The visit comes amidst ongoing border tensions and follows a recent disengagement pact between the two countries in eastern Ladakh. The Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism meeting will focus on the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains. The decision to revive this bilateral mechanism was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan in October.
The formulations in the declaration in reference to terrorism is going to be to our "satisfaction", Dammu Ravi, secretary (economic relations) in the external affairs ministry said on Monday.
Amidst ongoing efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov stated that Moscow is "prepared to sit in a trilateral format" for peace talks. Alipov also expressed optimism about the current US administration's approach to the conflict, suggesting a willingness to engage in dialogue. He highlighted the importance of a peaceful resolution while emphasizing that Russia is prepared to continue the war if necessary. Alipov stated that Russia does not expect anything specific from India in terms of mediation and highlighted the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
The 21-month-long Emergency also saw the government amend the Constitution several times, including to keep the elections to the offices of President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Speaker beyond the scrutiny of courts and insert the words 'socialist', 'secular' and 'integrity' in the Preamble.
'A less tense US-China relationship would make Beijing less likely to provoke India -- including on the border -- in retaliation for its close defence ties with the US.'
Why can't the Indian government propose to the Chinese a corridor circumambulating the Holy Mountain where people from both sides could perform the yatra again? asks Claude Arpi.
A total of 750 pilgrims have been selected through a computerised draw for the upcoming Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet, marking the resumption of the pilgrimage after a five-year gap. The Yatra's resumption is seen as an attempt to normalize India-China relations, which were strained by the eastern Ladakh border standoff. The pilgrimage will begin in June and continue until August, with pilgrims traveling in five batches via the Lipulekh route and ten batches via the Nathu La route. The selection process was deemed "fair, computer-generated, random, gender-balanced" by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which organized the pilgrimage.
India and China on Wednesday held 'constructive' and 'forward-looking' diplomatic talks to resolve the over four-year border standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh but there was clear no indication of any breakthrough.
With Beijing remaining intransigent on the withdrawal of additional troops deployed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) since the deadly border clash in 2020 in eastern Ladakh, India's bilateral ties with China remained frozen in 2023 with no forward movement on the horizon despite several rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
'Tibet remains a prickly issue between the giant Asian nations. China still claims more than 80,000 sq kilometres of Indian territory in the Northeast. Why? Just because Beijing refuses to acknowledge the McMahon line which separates India and Tibet, and this, simply because the 1914 Agreement delineating the border was signed by the then government of independent Tibet with India's then foreign secretary (Sir Henry McMahon),' says Claude Arpi.
China supplied more than $20 billion worth of arms to Pakistan. These include 20 J-10CE and JF-17 Block III fighter aircraft, Wing Loong drones, frigates, submarines, Hongqi HQ-9P surface-to-air missiles, 240 PL-15E air-to-air missiles, LY-80 air defence systems, ZDK early warning aircraft and other weapons.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday credited the breakthrough agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control to the military which worked in 'very very unimaginable' conditions and deft diplomacy.
'Unsurprisingly, Trump shared Modi's podcast with Fridman on his Truth account.' 'The intentions of Trump, a transactional president, are never easy to tell.' 'We will know in the next fortnight if and when he unfolds reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods, whether Modi's flattering words made any significant difference to Trump's compass,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India will look at disengagement and de-escalation of the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after restoration of the status quo of April 2020, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday, a day after New Delhi announced striking an agreement with Beijing to end the over four-year border row in the region.
Relations between India and China have been in an 'abnormal state' since the 2020 Galwan clash and it is a 'possibly longer than medium-term issue', External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in New York.
The two sides had started coordinated patrols in the first week of the month after completing disengagement in both Demchok and Depsang in the last week of October.
A leading expert predicts that the incoming Trump administration will likely continue its pro-India policies, including the Indo-Pacific strategy and Quad, but highlights potential challenges such as trade disagreements, immigration issues, and a possible quid pro quo for technology sharing. The expert also notes that the Trump 2.0 administration may prioritize great power politics over strategic altruism, potentially impacting human rights and religious freedom concerns.
Condolences have poured in from across the globe, including from the United States, Canada and Sri Lanka following the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Asked about the recent meeting between Modi and Xi, and if Russia had any role in it, Alipov said, "We have not played any role in it, but we are happy that it took place in Kazan... We wholeheartedly welcome the meeting."
After the 1962 War with China, there was a demand to forge greater defence cooperation between India and the West. One such voice was that of Sudhir Ghosh, a distinguished MP, to tie up strategic cooperation with the USA immediately after the Chinese attack on India, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
In their first structured bilateral talks in nearly five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday agreed that India and China can have a 'peaceful and stable' relationship by displaying maturity and mutual respect and endorsed the pact on the resolution of the dragging eastern Ladakh border row.
The Tata Group is one of the very few Indian MNCs which has carved out a niche in China's highly competitive market, notes Rup Narayan Das.
During the meeting, it was reiterated that "restoration of peace and tranquillity, and respect for the LAC are the essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations", it said.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
'It showed me that this man had courage. He makes his own decisions, but he also trusted me enough in that moment to walk with me into the crowd,' Modi tells Lex Fridman on his podcast.
'My understanding is that by the time President Xi Jinping came for the Chennai summit [2019], he had already instructed his army to undertake the action in Galwan in the summer of 2020.'
'The border deal offers a hedge for India against Trump's unpredictability when it comes to his approach to competition with China.'
On Thursday, Putin also said that he was in touch with India, Brazil and China on the Ukraine conflict.
If Beijing succeeds in this multipronged effort to challenge the current dominant power, it will have not just economic but political and security consequences. There is no let-up in the South China Sea nor any de-escalation moves on the India-China border. This portends to ominous signalling from Beijing, observes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the 2008 Mumbai terror attack marked a turning point in relations with Pakistan when Indians collectively felt that such behaviour from a neighbouring country could no longer be tolerated. Speaking at Charotar University of Science and Technology, Jaishankar acknowledged India's transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade, while Pakistan has remained unchanged, continuing with what he termed as its "bad habits."
'The lesson Beijing would have learned is that there is, cost-benefit wise, no better option than to keep the Pakistan military supplied with its most advanced armaments, certain that in hostilities with India these would be used for maximum effect.'
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