Chushul and Depsang are not vital in this game of Chinese checkers, the Indian Ocean Region is. Keeping our maritime prowess restricted has to be a key Chinese strategic interest and it would appear that the LAC affair has helped China achieve its aim, points out Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Terming Barack Obama as an "incompetent president", 70-year old Trump claimed that the US president did not know what he was doing.
'China's military is expected to deploy full throttle its new equipment including J-20 stealth fighters, drones, medium range missile systems, surveillance and others to continue to put psychological pressure on India,' warns Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies, JNU.
The in-person talks are taking place at a time when India is locked in a tense standoff with China in eastern Ladakh and the Trump administration's growing friction with Beijing over a host of issues including trade tariff and the Chinese military's offensive manoeuvres in the South China Sea.
The joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama's first-ever summit is high on intent and ambition. Notably missing from the statement is India's refusal to be America's partner in its war against ISIS.
President Xi Jinping has called for better international communication, urging the bellicose official Chinese media and 'wolf warrior' diplomats to adopt a tone that displays openness and conveys modesty, in what observers see as a rare admission of Beijing's growing isolation exacerbated by COVID-19.
From early indications, the Modi government's foreign policy seems to be pragmatic and reciprocal, says K G Suresh.
Beijing's political risks are also escalating because of a renewed wave of public anger in many parts of Balochistan against human rights abuses by Pakistani troops deployed to crush the low-intensity insurgency in the province, the report said.
Vietnam is a key player in India's act east policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From India's perspective, a strategic partnership with Vietnam will only deepen political, economic, and security ties and be a bulwark against China, say Melissa S Hersh and Dr Ajey Lele
Defence and strategic experts on Monday said that China's posturing in the Indian Ocean will disturb stability and peace in the region.
The Bay of Bengal base will house nuclear submarines and aircraft carrier
'The numbers of troops on both sides are enormous.' 'They are about 50,000-60,000 soldiers facing each other in that sector -- that's about the total number of troops that both sides had in the 1962 War in all sectors.'
'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.
'While visits and personal meetings are useful, changes of strategic significance have occurred recently, with Beijing trying to take the lead which Modi must take note of.'
'Why has the peace been kept?' 'Basically because there is a balance.' 'Maybe they think that balance has changed.' 'People can make mistakes. People can miscalculate.' 'If that is the cause, then I think what we have done, matching their build-up, etc, it is giving a good account of ourselves in the face-offs.'
'Both Japan and China face a common challenge: How to deal with Trump.' 'The trade war with the US seems to have facilitated/hastened Abe's China visit, the first by a Japanese prime minister since 2011,' points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
A study by an international team of researchers had warned two year ago that the South Lhonak lake in Sikkim may burst in the future and significantly impact the downstream region.
The BRICS stressed on resolution of conflicts in a declaration issued after a virtual meeting of foreign ministers of the member nations of the grouping. The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Will China's new military reforms endanger Xi Jinping's rule?
'When sensitive territory goes into the hands of your enemy. he becomes more powerful in military terms.' 'Assuming the Chinese take over the Doklam Plateau they will not stop at that.' 'They will keep ingressing, and it will be easier for them to further expand their territory.' 'I feel the Chinese will vacate that area in two months after it begins to snow.'
'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).
When Vietnam's India born Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh arrives in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, he will have many areas of similar interest to discuss with his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
'Difficult issues should not be brushed under the carpet, but should be raised upfront, particularly by India. While engagement and dialogue are always welcome and desirable, there should be some tangible results. Mere signing of agreements, MoUs, joint declarations are not enough.'
Warning India against the increasing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean region, a top American military commander on Wednesday stressed on the need to sign two key agreements between India and the US for joint tracking.
The Chinese military, on the last day of its largest-ever military exercises to vent out its anger over United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, carried out island saturation attack drills in the Taiwan Straits, amid global concerns of a full-scale attack to annex the breakaway island which Beijing claims is part of its territory.
Putin said the 'policy' pursued by Modi is the main 'guarantor' of relations between the two countries.
The US wants to split Sino-India ties, says the Chinese media.
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.
Against the backdrop of growing Chinese assertion in the Asia-Pacific region, India on Thursday said it supports the "freedom of navigation" in international waters noting that any disputes or differences in the region must be resolved diplomatically.
India and China met and spoke a lot this year, but failed to produce any meaningful results.
Under the policy, the US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than the island of Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland one day.
The Australia-led search operation for the crashed Malaysian airliner has now shifted 1,100 km further north-east in the southern Indian Ocean following a "new credible lead", officials said on Friday.
'Chinese pressure on Taiwan is unlikely to ease till Beijing feels that stability is being restored in the Sino-US relationship,' says former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
The entire gamut of bilateral ties including the contentious boundary issue was discussed during a "cordial and substantive" engagement between the foreign ministers of India and China in New Delhi who met within two weeks of installation of the Narendra Modi government.
Modi is scheduled to meet over 50 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies over dinner hosted in New York on September 24.
'The Chinese navy is large and expanding both in numbers and capability by the day.' 'India too must take measures to safeguard its own interests, now and in the future.'
The trilateral AUKUS security alliance complements partnerships like Quad and there was a "very warm embrace" of the deal by India and Japan as both the countries totally understood and supported what it is seeking to achieve, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.
'Whether it is the One Belt One Road project or building relationships in the Indian Ocean Region -- supposedly our area of concern -- the Chinese are seriously outpacing us,' points out Vice-Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Beijing should remember the advice of its celebrated military strategist Sun Tzu: 'Fight not unless the position is critical.'
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