Ajit Balakrishnan on how to arrest a worldwide decline.
India and China on Monday ended their standoff in Dokalam by withdrawing their troops from the area, just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China to attend the BRICS summit next week.
China's parliament on Thursday adopted the 14th Five-Year Plan, the mega blueprint containing billions of dollars worth of projects, including the controversial hydropower project on the Brahmaputra river in Tibet close to the Arunachal Pradesh border over which India has raised concerns.
The papers said India is using the Dalai Lama as a "diplomatic tool" against China for its "vice like veto" against India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
Over the next three - six months, UBS believes earnings will be the main driver for EM equities outperformance.
India provides an intrinsic and important link between the developing and the developed world, and maintains a distinct relationship with the United States and China on individual basis, says External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
The MEA said that the Chinese side has conveyed to India on several occasions that it was only undertaking run-of-the-river hydropower projects, which do not involve diversion of the waters of the Brahmaputra.
If you are serious about countering the Chinese threat, then the best weapon is investing in real freedom, plurality, elections and democracy. Unfortunately, it isn't an approach all Indians currently seem to agree on, asserts Shyam G Menon.
Modi also said the people of India felt proud that President Xi has twice received him out of the capital.
India abstained on the procedural vote taken in the Security Council ahead of a meeting to discuss the tense situation on the Ukraine border.
Mukherjee's family and relatives paid their last respects clad in PPE kits while conforming to COVID-19 safeguards.
The prime minister and the Chinese president walked along the banks of East Lake and also took a boat ride together as they decided to step up their personal rapport.
The heightened state of alert was only relaxed after Wang met his Jaishankar in Moscow on Friday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, a second source said.
Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The mighty Brahmaputra, one of the longest rivers in the world passes through China, India and Bangladesh and has several tributaries and sub-tributaries.
"If I was the foreign minister, I would have had contact with them. I would have gone out of my way and told my intelligence agency to make a contact quietly," former external affairs minister Natwar Singh said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, during a media briefing in Beijing, said that China's position on the border related issues is clear and consistent. "We have been following the important consensus reached by the two leaders and strictly observing the agreements between the two countries," he said, apparently referring to the directions of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their two informal summits, asking the militaries of the two countries to take more confidence building measures to maintain peace and tranquillity along the borders.
'The big power struggle in faraway Europe erupted at a most critical juncture when India has been increasingly sceptical about American policies and statesmanship,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'China would want to take a tougher stance against India forming those strategic partnerships and prevent Quad from becoming a military alliance.'
He stressed the need for strengthening mutual trust and confidence while seeking solutions to outstanding issues.
China on Thursday tried to play down the continuing border standoff at Chumar coinciding with the visit of President Xi Jinping to India, saying the incident has been "effectively controlled and managed".
Shah is in Arunachal Pradesh to attend the 34th Statehood Day function and launch a number of projects related to industry and roads, officials said.
India on Thursday blamed China's actions of amassing a large number of troops close to the border and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) last year for the continuing military standoff in eastern Ladakh, and asserted that these acts were in violation of Sino-India bilateral agreements.
'India has to prepare for future warfare where kinetic use of force at the border will be limited. War will take place in the realms beyond the border.'
The government on Wednesday said any attempt by China to set up a hydropower station on the Brahmaputra river will act as an encroachment on the entitled rights of lower riparian states like India and Bangladesh and adversely affect the availability of water in its basin during the lean season.
'The pressure to work together is even greater than before, because the Chinese have launched a full-court press on the border, in the region, and globally to advance their geopolitical agenda.'
'Half of China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, which are among the most populous countries in the world, are dependent on the rivers and glaciers of the Himalayas for sustenance.'
'The immediate attempt by China is to get its way and gain territory through small steps without having a full-scale war.'
'India knows very well that China will not be at a disadvantage in any China-India military operations along the border area'
The prestigious event was originally scheduled to be held from May 16-24 but was postponed to August 15-23 before finally rescheduling it in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
'Both have a very nationalistic view of foreign policy.' 'They think they are shrewd and clever diplomats.'
The Chinese media has accused India of using the Dalai Lama card to deal with China's growing economic and political influence in South Asia and warned New Delhi of "severe consequences" if it hosted the Tibetan spiritual leader in a "disputed" area in Arunachal Pradesh.
More than India's alignment with the Quad, India's defence cooperation and partnership with the USA is of critical importance, notes Rup Narayan Das.
The Taliban's rise will see an increase in infiltration on India's western border and terrorist groups in Pakistan will get funding from the Taliban, warns Brigadier Rajamani Kannan (retd).
On Day 2 of the summit, Modi and Xi held a fresh round of one-on-one discussion at the Taj Fisherman's Cove Hotel.
In fact, given the current tensions and massed troops on both sides, there is a danger that the LAC will become more like the Line of Control with Pakistan, a heavily fortified and strongly defended border where weapon fire exchanges regularly occur. Indeed, Stratfor Worldview research has listed a sharp increase in new Chinese facilities along the LAC in 2019-20.
Lu said China will take 'further action' to safeguard its sovereignty.
Through the past 18-month period, peace has prevailed in the disputed border regions, which was immensely helpful in the difficult situation that the country was passing through, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
'This novel format of diplomacy -- the informal summit -- will not only facilitate bilateral communication and reduce miscalculations at the very top level of the two governments, but possibly open the space for China and India to speak in one voice on various issues of mutual concern,' note Feng Renjie and Ding Kun Lei
