The battle against militants fighting for separation of China's volatile Xinjiang province, bordering PoK and Afghanistan, is getting "tougher, fiercer and crueler than ever" due to the revival of pan-Islamic extremist groups, top Chinese leaders from the province said.
China's intended role for AIIB is not so different from the existing Western lenders like the World Bank.
Nawaz Sharif may have permitted the trial of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists for the Pathankot attack. But this fell apart because of General Raheel Shareef's keenness to make Kulbhushan Jadhav the centerpiece of global attention. Ambassador G Parthasarthy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, reveals the Pakistan army chief's gambit against India.
Modi's visit to some developed countries such as the US, Japan, China and Australia were sprinkled with humongous investment figures. But do we have the wherewithal to absorb such big investments?
A list of all the foreign visits taken up by PM Narendra Modi this year and their outcomes.
'Both Modi and Xi know that if all that there is to show for Modi's visit -- barely eight months after Xi's India trip -- is a repeat of the same old declarations, there will be a terrible sense of letdown in the public mood resulting in future summits losing credibility. Only the possibility of new ground being broken can justify Modi's trip at this time,' says B S Raghavan.
'There is a remarkable link between the eating of beef (or at the very least, tolerating the eating of beef) and India being a superpower.' 'In India, whenever an empire was strong, religion took a back seat.' 'Alternatively, whenever religion asserted itself, the main empire of India crumbled...'
'As the first leaders of their respective countries born after Indian Independence and the Chinese Liberation, Modi and Xi would be expected to have the ability to overcome the traditional mindsets and the hierarchical nature of their official/bureaucratic establishments,' say Alka Acharya and Jabin T Jacob.
'Implementation of the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative is as much a test for the Modi government to direct its bureaucratic processes, as it is of US commitment,' says Lieutenant General Anil Chait (retd).
Four major political takeaways from Narendra Modi's much-anticipated trip to China
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to China with a bagful of initiatives, but not all seems to have been fulfilled given China's reluctance to go the whole hog with him
'We are completely engaged in fighting poverty; alas, our neighbour Pakistan seems only engaged in fighting us.'
'The US wants Modi to succeed because we want India to succeed. For our part, when India thinks of its partners in the world, we want it to think of the US first. That means positioning our country as the preferred provider of the key inputs that can help to propel India's rise.' 'The meeting between Modi and Obama is, and must be, an opportunity for true strategic dialogue -- not a scripted exchange of talking points, but an open discussion of the big questions. What kind of world do we want to live in? What are our true priorities? And most importantly, why does this partnership still matter?'
'China might soon have to seriously consider whether it prefers an Indo-US hyphenation to a Sino-Indian one.'
'President Obama will make a historic visit to India in January, becoming the first US head of State to attend India's Republic Day and the only sitting US president to visit India twice.' 'There's little doubt the relationship has been re-energised, with renewed enthusiasm to take our partnership to the next level.'
The India that needs strategic alliances, defence cooperation and engaging meaningfully with neighbouring countries is quietly moving ahead with confidence, says Tarun Vijay
By refusing permission for the proposed ship-breaking facility, India can send a categorical message to the foreign ship owning countries that they should keep their own waste and recycle
'Building on the potential for closer ties is the changing narrative in each country about the other. The Chinese narrative on India has become significantly more positive over the past few years,' says Walter Andersen and Zhong Zhenming.
Aziz Haniffa, who has covered every Indian Prime Minister's visit to the US since Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, gives us a peek into what's happening in Washington, DC on the eve of the Modi-Trump summit.
India and China on Wednesday signed in all nine agreements, including the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement and one on strengthening cooperation on trans-border rivers, after restricted and delegation-level talks that lasted over two hours as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Li Keqiang met for the second time this year for talks which the Indian leader described as "fruitful and productive".
With facts and figures, the CAG report has highlighted how Gujarat was far from a role model for states across India, and that the progress made in this province in western India in improving agriculture, education, healthcare and empowerment of women and children, was not exactly creditable, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
'What we have heard from the Sri Lankans is their desire to have a foreign policy that allows Sri Lanka to best advance its own interests rather than a foreign policy that relied solely on one relationship.' 'We think this is an attitude that makes a lot of sense. India and Sri Lanka have many areas of shared interests, and it's certainly welcomed by us to see that deepening of those ties.'
Is Devyani Khobragade's arrest connected to India detaining an anti-piracy ship owned by a US security firm, asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Starting as a maker of hydraulic pumps, the Bengaluru-based company graduated to components for automakers like BMW and Audi, and then Airbus and Boeing
'The intrusion in Chumar, during and beyond the Chinese president's visit, is unprecedented and has qualitatively changed the tone of the India-China relationship,' says Jayadeva Ranade, a member of the National Security Advisory Board.
Companies world over have to confront unprecedented factors that can cause losses.
'Pakistan is convinced that the Modi government has -- given its image and political compulsions -- no choice but to act in the case of another terror attack.'
Outlining seven principles of engagement for closer cooperation between India and China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the two countries should show sensitivity to each other's interests and sovereignty and move quickly to resolve the boundary issue.
'It is in the interest of both sides that the visit of the US President is seen as being successful. Both sides have invested considerable political capital in it. This rapid exchange of visits and the decisions taken have to be justified, beyond the symbolism, which is no doubt important in itself. This opportunity to impart a fresh momentum to ties should not be missed,' says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.
Once again an Indian prime minister has realised that with Pakistan and China, things will not move as he wishes.
Jaitley said the Opposition has been using the zero hour to raise the issue for 'getting footage on TV'.
'The Modi-Xi and Modi-Obama meetings, with an interval of just 12 days, are juxtaposed superbly at a crucial point in the prime minister's life. Can Modi carve out a win-win situation with the superpower and the emerging superpower at the same time?'
'It is a pattern of behaviour of the Chinese that whenever a Chinese leader visits India or an Indian leader visits China, some incidents take place.' 'When Modi visits China, we should look out for some similar demonstration by the Chinese.'
The developments in Af-Pak region, particularly the fall out of Pak political paralysis, would make President Xi Jinping's task a little more complicated, says Colonel R Hariharan.
Following is the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the Central Party School in Beijing on Thursday:
The last seven Indian sailors held hostage by Somali pirates were released October 30. Chirag Bahri, Indian coordinator for the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme that aids piracy survivors and their families, speaks to Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com on how the near-impossible was achieved.
A sensational interview on India-China ties, with the man most qualified to answer.
In his penultimate State of the Union address, Barack Obama said that the economy is improving.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday addressed the first joint sitting of Parliament as mandatorily required under the Constitution after the general elections. The address is the political, economic and foreign policy road map of the Narendra Modi government and covers virtually all crucial areas.
This is the joint statement issued by the ministry of external affairs on the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
