'China's opaque defence allocation processes are shrouded in mystery and have triggered security dilemmas among its neighbours and others,' notes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
India cannot choose its geography and devise regional strategies to dovetail into the Western Indian Ocean hypothesis conceived in the Pentagon, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Access to Sabang Port will allow the Indian Navy to dominate Malacca Strait more effectively, reports Ajai Shukla.
Last month, Trump had ordered withdrawal of troops from Syria. The then Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest.
The agenda of the talks will be to firm up a roadmap for disengagement of troops from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh, the sources said.
Wang said the two sides should follow the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and strengthen the communication and coordination on the proper handling of the border situation through the existing channels so as to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border area, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The joint statement said Jaishankar and Wang agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus reached between leaders of the two countries on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes.
There is growing acceptance of the idea in the international community that engaging the Taliban government is a far better approach than ostracising it, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
The Indian delegation at Thursday's talks is likely to be led by Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the external affairs ministry, they said.
It appears that there is some coordination between Chinese interlocutors, the Hekmatyar group, the Kabul regime and different tribal factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This indicates a long-term vision for the region, says Srikanth Kondapalli
'Analysts see BECA as a 'force multiplier' for India.' 'But China too is known to have such capabilities.' 'The military gap with China will continue to remain a fact of life, BECA notwithstanding,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
The UT has been facing a widespread power shutdown Since Sunday owing to a deadlock between the Power Development Department (PDD) employees and the administration over the latter's bid to privatise electricity in the region.
At a virtual media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said disengagement of troops is a complex process which would require mutually agreed 'reciprocal actions'.
The two sides held diplomatic talks through video conference on the border standoff in midst of fresh details emerging that China has strengthened its position in several areas in eastern Ladakh including Galwan Valley where a violent clash on June 15 left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
As many as 17 three star generals will retire before General Bajwa hangs his boots, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
India and Italy inked 15 pacts and finalised an ambitious action plan to further expand their ties following a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte that primarily focused on ramping up economic engagement.
India has conveyed its concerns to the top security and intelligence officials of the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia over the possible implications of Pakistan's links with the Taliban and various terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan for regional security and stability, people familiar with the development said.
Although the Malabar is a routine exercise which has been carried out for several years now, security experts attach a lot of traction to it in view of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, observes Rup Narayan Das.
Before migrating into the theatre command concept, it would be worthwhile to study the shortfalls experienced by the Tri Services Command in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and make good the deficiencies, suggests Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
He said both sides reaffirmed to sincerely work towards complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged top opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning "systematically" to realise the "ultimate goal" of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
As the border standoff entered the sixth month, an early resolution to the row appeared dim with close to 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops remaining deployed in the high-altitude region and showing readiness for a long-haul. There is no official word on the talks yet but sources said the agenda was to finalise a roadmap for disengagement of troops from all the friction points.
Aviation turbine fuel accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total operating cost of an Indian airline.
The decisions were mentioned in a joint statement issued by the two armies late Tuesday, a day after the sixth round of Sino-India Corps commander-level talks that lasted for 14-hours.
The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
Key to China's decision regarding Taiwan will be its leadership's assessment whether the US will come to Taiwan's defence, explains Jayadeva Ranade, the former senior RA&W officer and China expert.
The armed forces have roped in Battlefield Nursing Assistants (BFNA) to help fight the second wave of COVID-19 and have suggested that a similar model can be followed by state governments and hospitals, according to senior officials.
A salute to Commando Mudasir Ahmed Sheikh, known as Bindaas to Indian Army officers and colleagues in the J&K police, who was killed in action last week in an encounter that eliminated three terrorists in Kashmir.
The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that aid received from other countries has been distributed in different states to help deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Answering questions on the clashes near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector which resulted in injuries to both sides, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the most pressing issue for the world at present is the fight against the coronavirus.
In his remarks, Admiral Singh complimented his force for continuously maintaining 'peak combat-readiness' and 'high tempo' of operations over the past few months, they said.
The US is prepared to carry out "targeted and precise military action" in Iraq if required, President Barack Obama said on Thursday.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine on Monday that "Ukraine deeply regrets that more than 2,000 citizens of India, China, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries suffer today along with Ukrainians from Russian aggression."
The newly-formed common forum of Northeast insurgent groups based in Myanmar has posed a renewed threat to security and peace in the troubled region.
It is apparent that an easing of tensions at the border and a disengagement of troops is on the cards, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Wednesday talks took place amid a war of words between the two sides on perception of the LAC, the de-facto Sino-India border spanning a length of nearly 3,500 km.
'The Indian Navy has sufficient combat power in areas of interest to India that can quickly scale up operations if the need arises.' 'This includes all the choke points leading into the Indian Ocean as also areas within.'
Pyongyang cited the ongoing military exercise between the US and South Korea as a reason behind the move.
Both sides have completed creation of a buffer zone of three kilometres in the three friction points of Galwan Valley, Gogra and Hot Springs as part of a temporary measure aimed at reducing the possibility of any confrontation.
