China's desire to have India as part of its ambitious Maritime Silk Route makes strategic sense for both nations. However, it would involve substantive assurances from Beijing, says Dr Rahul Mishra
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be visiting New Delhi on Sunday as a special envoy of President Xi Jinping to establish political contacts with the new Indian government amid hopes here of an upswing in bilateral ties due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's familiarity with China.
The former Chief of Army Staff said India faces the most complex threats and challenges spanning a full spectrum of possible conflict -- from nuclear to sub-conventional -- but asserted that the armed forces are ready to deal with them.
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.
In the last of a three-part series, startegic expert C Raja Mohan says that India needs a new maritime strategy and diplomacy that are at odds with many of its past normative and ideological preferences
'We have been found seriously wanting in addressing our undersea warfare capability and China's emergence is a cause for concern.'
Two missiles were fired on Tuesday and on Wednesday on high speed targets, during naval exercises being undertaken in the Arabian Sea, a Defence spokesperson said, adding that this was a significant step towards Indian Navy's transformation into a force capable of projecting power in its area of interest.
'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.
'Any future course of action towards active participation in the alliance when formed would need a lot of deliberation, long term vision and should be in our best national interests,' notes Commodore Vengalil Venugopal (retd).
Thank heavens for these images! From a mesmerizing panorama of the aurora borealis in Iceland to a beautiful image of Comet Neowise, the Royal Observatory's annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition has again produced some truly astounding images. Run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and now in its thirteenth year, the competition this year received over 4,500 entries from around the world. The competition winners will be announced on September 16 at an online award ceremony, and displayed in London's National Maritime Museum that same month. Here's our favourite images from this year's batch.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti, made the remarks while speaking at a special flag installation ceremony organised at the Security Council stakeout here on Monday. Flags of the five new incoming non-permanent members of the Security Council - India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico - were installed at the stakeout during the special ceremony.
While Indian telecom czar Sunil Mittal's Bharti did not share deal details, UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said his government and Bharti Global, will provide $500 million each.
Dynamatic Technologies, a manufacturer of precision engineering products based out of Bangalore, has signed a contract with Boeing for the manufacture of cabinets that will house critical power and mission equipment for the P8I programme manufactured by Boeing.
It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service.
As the pandemic unfolded, the India-China relationship has come under severe stress. To restore normalcy, agreements between the two countries must be respected scrupulously in their entirety. Where the Line of Actual Control is concerned, any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo is unacceptable, declares External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
In the lead up to this week Indo-US Strategic Dialogue, for which United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, will be coming to Delhi, the Indo-US defence engagement is even more intense than usual.
Built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai, the ship's construction also marks the end of the Project 15A to build Kolkata-class guided missile destroyers.
India's Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta set the cat amongst the pigeons recently when he hinted in a speech that India could not match China military force.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta, who retires from the Indian Navy at the month-end, delivered a powerful speech on 'National Security Challenges' at a conference organised by the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi on Monday. Not surprisingly, for an admiral known for speaking his mind, it was a speech marked by characteristic candour.
India and China have agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas which was a "pre-requisite" for continued growth of bilateral relations as also to enhance cooperation in key areas, including counter-terrorism, maritime security and civil nuclear energy sector.
The 'One-China' policy states that Taiwan and Tibet are part of China's mainland.
US admiral's suggestion for a revival of a strategic maritime quadrilateral with Japan, Australia and India leaves China livid, says Rajeev Sharma.
The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach involving the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy as well as diplomacy and economic measures to send out a firm and clear message to China that its misadventure in eastern Ladakh was not acceptable at all.
The PLA Air Force has conducted a combat air patrol in the South China Sea recently, which will become "a regular practice" in the future
Will have to take impairment of Rs 15,000 crore before recovering a single rupee from its arms
'Ladakh is a tiny salami-slice issue.' 'The big one for China is Arunachal Pradesh, more than 83,000 sq km.' 'Do they imagine they can grab any of this by force?' 'In the 21st century, nursing those thoughts only means you need to get your heads examined.' 'It isn't going to happen,' declares Shekhar Gupta.
'After many rudderless years, India and Japan have prime ministers with a sense of purpose and direction,' says Brahma Chellaney.
Pakistan has alleged that India was pursuing conventional, nuclear and missile development programmes which can lead to nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean and can disturb the "balance of power" in the region.
During the exercises, the Navy's Sea Harriers would operate sorties from the French carrier.
'The world does not care about the tension on our border.' 'India has to emerge as a strong economic power.' 'Respect comes when the world sees a country with a direction and leadership that has a vision,' points out Ramesh Menon.
'We use the word "historic" perhaps too much, but the prime minister's visit certainly was historic in so many ways.'
'If there is one certainty in this visit, it is that Trump does not follow a script. He is unpredictable,' highlights Ambassador B S Prakash.
The prime minister started off his remarks at the meeting in Tamil, welcoming China to the talks, which were held right after one-on-one discussions between Modi and Xi at the Taj Fisherman's Cove Hotel.
India, South Korea sign 7 agreements to boost cooperation.
'Counter-insurgency operations cannot be conducted by following inflexible SOPs.' 'It is unwise to enter jungles with a large body of troops without precise intelligence,' asserts counter-insurgency expert Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
India scripted history by successfully launching EMISAT, a military satellite, and 28 foreign nano satellites on-board its polar rocket from Sriharikota on Monday, in a complex mission which marked many a first for Indian Space Research Organisation.
The group will be in a better position to now scale up most of its segments irrespective of government policy, but the bad news others add is its growing debt.
China's behaviour in the post-pandemic geopolitical landscape which may determine the Quad's future trajectory, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
"I've spoken with Foreign (External Affairs) Minister (S) Jaishankar a number of times about this (Chinese aggressive actions). The Chinese took incredibly aggressive actions. The Indians have done their best to respond to that," Pompeo told reporters at a news conference in Washington, DC.
The statement came a day after Indian Army launched "punitive fire assaults" on Pakistani positions across LoC.
