An MoU on sharing hydrological information of the Brahmaputra River by China to India and another pact on amendment of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include non-Basmati rice were signed after the Modi-Xi talks in the eastern Chinese port city.
Bangladesh is in turmoil, which is not good news for India, which shares a porous 4000 km border with it. There is a danger of fundamentalism growing there, and India has to move in to reset its ties with the new dispensation before China and Pakistan make capital out of it, alerts Ramesh Menon.
'Till today, we don't know what PM Modi discussed with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, but we have been told that the relations have been reset.' 'We have no evidence from China to show that anything has changed, even though India had made several gestures in preparation for Wuhan,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The Modi government's lurch toward America has not brought it any dividends so far. The Western world is simply not in a position to make big investments in India... India needs to take a leap of faith vis-a-vis China.'
'India stands to gain immensely by forging a developmental partnership with China.' 'While through sustained strategic communication there is scope to steadily expand the commonality of interests between the two countries.' 'This is also a practical way to ensure that differences do not get over-magnified and become disputes,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
'At the informal summit, the two leaders will have heart-to-heart discussions on overarching issues and try to build mutual trust'
'If, as appears to be the case, India is on way to 'mending fences' with China, and China is equally desirous to 'reset' the relationship, this could be a self-reflexive moment in India's positioning vis-a-vis not just the Dalai Lama, but also the Tibetan issue and China as a whole,' points out China expert Alka Acharya.
A genuine attempt was made to reset relations in a positive way, signalling a stepping back from the brink of conflict, much to the relief of the world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The world is watching carefully. The choices India makes today have consequences beyond its borders.'
'One lesson to emerge out of the Modi-Putin summit is that India can be more self-confident that it possesses inherent strengths to leverage its interlocutors to influence Pakistani policies,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Nepal witnessed political turbulence in 2022 that dramatically turned rivals into allies and throned former guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' as the prime minister for a third time, as Kathmandu made efforts to balance ties with immediate neighbours India and China with high-profile talks and visits.
Lieutenant General Wei Fenghe's, China's new defence minister's, first guest of honour could be his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman.
India and China achieved a major milestone this year when their bilateral trade crossed the landmark figure of $100 billion but it did not generate any fanfare in both capitals as the two Asian giants are going through a "particularly bad patch" in their relations due to a set of actions by Beijing in violation of agreements that led to the military standoff in eastern Ladakh. Starting with a modest $1.83 billion in 2001, the bilateral trade crossed $100 billion-mark in the first 11 months this year, a significant milestone for which the two countries carried out campaigns to boost trade and build it as a major stakeholder to improve the relations between two nations, whose ties otherwise remained frosty over the festering boundary dispute and strategic rivalry. According to last month's data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC), the India-China bilateral trade totalled $114.263 billion, up 46.4 per cent year-on-year from January to November 2021.
Doval's visit was 'part of regular high-level engagements between India and China', an Indian Embassy press release in Beijing said.
Trump can afford to say that COVID-19 is a 'China virus', but we can't expect Modi to say that aloud while his actions may speak louder, says Rup Narayan Das.
The US election campaign has provided plenty of ammunition for the CCP to make its case that its political system is superior.
TV replays showed that Ashwin had waited to let Buttler move out of the crease before removing the bails.
'There are reports of political dissent mounting on Xi Jinping's handling of the Wuhan fallout.'
The exercise 'Hand-in-Hand' between the armies of the two countries will take place within next 4-5 months in China.
'We are beginning to see that the rest of the world will not simply accept the domination of one power'
'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'
The effort made to define the larger picture by focussing on history and the wish not turn differences into disputes and conflicts is welcome. In the obtaining circumstances today, nothing more could have been possible, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India is a time for the two countries to get away from the haze of rhetoric and stale euphoria, says Sana Hashmi.
If the Taliban have proved one thing over these two decades, it is that they are way smarter than their big brother, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Against the backdrop of the standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh, the White House press secy said the United States was closely monitoring the current situation and supports its peaceful resolution.
'Clearly, the warming of ties can be a 'win-win' for India and China,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The government's August 5 decision has impacted India-China relations, but it is not very significant or very different. Things like this have happened in the past.'
'As China rises and India grows to reclaim their earlier positions on the world stage as two of the largest economies and most important countries, there will indeed be some contention between these two powers.' 'There will also be plenty of space and room for cooperation amongst the two of us.' 'As our economic size increases to match the fact that we are the two most populous nations on earth, it will be all the more important for us to keep the interests of our peoples as well as those of the rest of the world in mind.' 'We shall have to grow together rather than as separate and disparate entities,' points out Ambassador Gautam Bambawale -- who served as India's ambassador to China -- in the 7th annual lecture of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents on March 1, 2019.
China is in no hurry to disengage at the border and the region and international community is moving on. The spectre of a long haul in Ladakh haunts India, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'2019 is just a year away and Modi can do with some peace and tranquility on the external front.' 'There are risks, of course, but isn't Modi a risk taker?' asks Ambassador B S Prakash.
'If a 'two-front war' develops, Iron Brother may only turn out to be a drag on the PLA, since Pakistan is in no position to wage a war with India,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The challenge before the two countries is to turn the peak into a plateau and enter an irreversible phase of cooperation,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The former president will have two funerals -- a state funeral at the National Cathedral and a local funeral at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston.
We see none of the euphoric build-up customary to India's encounter with US presidents in recent times. This gives Modi wriggle room to work on the much-needed reset of India-US ties.
'By crudely dragging the topic into the bazaar to flog it for momentary pleasure, we turned it into a dead carcass by the time Modi even got back from Xiamen,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Although Suu Kyi has won an overwhelming victory, it is not going to be easy to translate this victory into political gains.
'We are witnessing a spectacle of breathtakingly creative diplomacy at work, riveted on the firm foundations of the country's strategic autonomy,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
