India and Japan on Thursday agreed to enhance military exercises and defence cooperation as the two countries emphasised that the bilateral special strategic and global partnership plays a crucial role in ensuring a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific, amidst China's aggressive behaviour in the region.
India as the G20 host has a 'unique role' to play in bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine due to its 'longstanding historical' ties to Russia, the United States has said, expressing hope to work closely with New Delhi to find a way to stop the conflict.
Kurt Campbell, the White House Asia Coordinator, said that in his view India is the most important bilateral relationship for the United States in the 21st century.
China realises that its maritime strength will give it the strategic leverage it needs to emerge as the regional hegemon and a potential superpower, says Harsh V Pant.
The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a tense border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5, 2020, when a violent clash between the two sides erupted in the Pangong lake area.
The shipping business is like the heaving sea -- it's up and down, observes Shyam G Menon.
Heading G20 will give India a foreign affairs year like it has never had in history. You can trust Narendra Modi to exploit this to India's benefit. And, of course, to his own in his election year, explains Shekhar Gupta.
The annual threat assessment of the US Intelligence Community released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) also said that the 'expanded military posture by both India and China along the disputed border elevates the risk of armed confrontation between two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for US intervention'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his counterparts from Australia and Japan on Friday attended the first in-person meeting of Quad leaders hosted by US President Joe Biden during which they plan to discuss issues like climate change, Covid-19 pandemic and challenges in the Indo Pacific, amidst China's growing military presence in the strategic region.
The US "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is bound to be a failed strategy, Wang said in the comments posted by the Chinese foreign ministry on its website.
"On the border issue, China always maintains that we should follow through on treaties and agreements we signed and we jointly uphold peace and tranquility at the border region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said while responding to Jaishankar's remarks.
'Our record and our actions and stances is fairly clear and by criticising it repeatedly, it doesn't make us less credible'
The country's m-cap is now 4.3x India's, whose m-cap grew just 17 per cent to $2.5 trillion in CY20 -- 2.4 per cent of the global m-cap.. Ashley Coutinho reports.
Biden welcomed Prime Minister Modi at the Summit and said "it is wonderful to see you again in person".
As US President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations, including India, to enhance trade, economic and investment opportunities, China, which sees the pact as a threat to its dominance in the region, went on the offensive against it, promising more opening up, while the official media here termed it as "economic Nato".
The remarks of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki came ahead of the 14th round of military-level talks between India and China on the 20-month row in eastern Ladakh.
The 2+2 was attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and their Indian counterparts S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh respectively.
Four-nation grouping Quad on Tuesday launched a major new initiative for the Indo-Pacific that allows the partner countries to fully monitor the waters on their shores and help ensure peace and stability in the region, a move that comes amid China's increasingly intimidatory behaviour.
The highly-anticipated summit, which began early Tuesday, is the third engagement between Xi, 68, and Biden, 78, since February.
While the two leaders have met earlier when Biden was the Vice President of the country, this is for the first time that Biden will be meeting Modi after he became the 46th president of the US in January.
China, the Ukraine crisis and Quad will dominate the discussions, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
With his eye on next year's Party Congress, Xi Jinping is using the CCP's centenary celebrations to publicise the benefits for China from its leadership, and boost his image and contribution to China's rise, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Joe Biden at the White House on Friday in his first bilateral meeting with the US president during which the two leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of priority issues, including combating Covid-19, climate change, economic cooperation as well as Afghanistan.
His comments came in the midst of the disengagement process between Indian and Chinese armies in Pangong Tso areas in eastern Ladakh where the two sides have been locked in a nine-month standoff.
India, Australia, Japan and the US on Friday pledged to work together for ensuring peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific and the world, as top leaders of the Quad grouping announced a slew of new initiatives to take on common challenges, amidst muscle flexing by an assertive China in the strategic region.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described India and America as "natural partners" as he held the first in-person meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House during which they decided to further cement the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed global issues of common interest, including threats to democracy and the Indo-Pacific.
We do not know, because there has been no discussion, no transparency and most likely no real thinking on this matter at our end, observes Aakar Patel.
Quad leaders are also planning to roll out vaccine deliverables and announce a series of measures in the field of healthcare and infrastructure sector, officials in Washington, DC said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Washington, DC, ahead of the first in-person Quad meeting to be hosted by US President Joe Biden and discussed a broad range of issues of bilateral, regional and global importance, including the Indo-Pacific.
Rajan said in order to export, one needs to be able to import things that go into those exports as cheaply as it can.
India will be the most consequential partner for the US in the Indo-Pacific this century, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday ahead of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the two countries next week. Esper on Tuesday told a Washington audience that he and the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be travelling to New Delhi next week for the 2+2 ministerial with their respective Indian counterparts Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
'Seen in the context of world turmoil in face of the pandemic and the Chinese 'miracle' of being the only country in the world to control it, this is not merely a 'Sputnik' moment, but a 'Sputnik Plus' moment,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
It is difficult to recall an Indian minister in modern times pushing back at the US publicly, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The border stand-off and the uncertainties that come with it should be a wake-up call on what makes for real rather than illusory power,' observes T N Ninan.
He said India's problems are at home and "we have to first tackle our own problems."
'While many Chinese policy makers dismiss the political, economic and technological component of US-India relations, they express caution on the defence-related ties which also happens to be a major driver in US-India relations,' explains China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
'India's preference today seems to be to exploit the deepening chill in relations with China to breathe new life into its meandering partnership with the US,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The USS John Paul Jones acted like a dog marking the lamp post, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a bitter standoff at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for over eight weeks since May 5.
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