Today, with China centrally seated and located, the Global South has an intriguing road ahead. Odds of it becoming a Chinese bloc in the emerging new bipolar world are higher than we'd wish them to be, observes Shekhar Gupta.
A weaker Russia, a sobered China at a time when Xi Jinping is manoeuvring to protect his third term prospects, a reunited West, a chaotic Pakistan. This is a perfect set of strategic circumstances. It is for India now to consummate this historic opportunity, argues Shekhar Gupta.
The senior defence official, however, refrained from describing the kind of responses that the two countries would respond to their common challenges.
Biden met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan on Monday to advance cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues.
'This is still a relatively immature defense and high-tech relationship.'
Four Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and two C-17 heavy-lift aircraft have joined the 17-nation air combat exercise in Australia.
In a statement just before leaving for the US, Modi said he will conclude his visit with an address at the United Nations General Assembly focusing on the pressing global challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to combat terrorism, climate change and other important issues.
'Which will not happen.' 'Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has expressly refuted Beijing's statement that normalcy was returning to Sino-Indian relations.'
The first phase of the Malabar exercises is due to begin in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam coast on Tuesday and end on November 6. The second phase of the mega exercise is scheduled to be held from November 17 to 20 in the Arabian sea.
Biden has reiterated America's support for India's permanent membership on a reformed UNSC and its entry into the NSG during his first in-person bilateral meeting with Modi at the White House.
As the United States focuses on the Indo-Pacific, in particular the Quad, the Biden administration needs to address India's ties with Russia and its 'downward trend of democratic values and institutions', said a report by the Democratic Party of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
The PM will also meet Australian Prime Minister Scot Morrison and Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga on the same day.
The USS John Paul Jones acted like a dog marking the lamp post, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
What is being exposed is we have no real doctrine and no idea how to deal with the world, asserts Aakar Patel.
US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh also referred to the 'no limits' partnership between Moscow and Beijing and said no one believes that Russia would come running to India's defence if China breaches the Line of Actual Control.
The Australian prime minister also said that he briefed Prime Minister Modi on AUKUS - a trilateral security arrangement between Australia, the UK and the United States that was unveiled in September 2021.
The diplomat made the remarks replying to lawmakers' questions on New Delhi abstaining from several UN vote on Russian aggression against Ukraine.
President Biden underscored that the United States will 'continue to stand up for its interests and values and, together with our allies and partners, ensure the rules of the road for the 21st century advance an international system that is free, open, and fair', the White House said in a readout of the meeting.
The pressure on India to take a hostile attitude towards Russia and China was not subtle, but it was guarded, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan after Monday's 2+2 ministerial meeting in Washington, DC.
'Sullivan and Jaishankar welcomed the cooperation in recent weeks that resulted in deliveries of over USD 500 million in COVID-19 relief supplies from the US federal and state governments, US companies and private citizens across America for the people of India'
'They talk about their 2021 centenary goal, their 2035 goal, and their 2049 goal. They're accelerating. There's also been this unfortunately bashing of nationalism inside the People's Republic of China by the government'
The responsibility for peace in Ukraine now rests in the hands of the two principal belligerents, Russia and the US, and the prime victim of this great power rivalry, Ukraine, points out Nitin Desai.
India would not be seen to be anything but rude with the Pakistanis. In the big picture, who is the bigger adversary right now? Who is the bigger pain in the neck? And who is it that is keeping more than 3,000 km of our borders active, throwing our military posture and deployments into imbalance? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'The crisis has strengthened America's resolve to work towards building its relationship with India as a bulwark against Chinese aggression'
The ineptness of successive American presidents, from Bush the Younger to Joe Biden the Old, combined with the cluelessness that Americans demonstrate in foreign lands, contrasts with the Chinese leadership's seemingly singular focus on the accumulation of wealth and power, asserts T N Ninan.
"In all the meetings the Prime Minister had, beginning with US leadership, there was a suo moto recognition of the concerns that Pakistan represents as a country that has in many senses both supported and nurtured cross-border terrorism, including in Afghanistan and from Afghanistan," he said.
Addressing a symposium on the international situation and China's foreign relations in 2022, Wang said both countries have maintained communication through diplomatic and military-to-military channels.
The Americans have expended a lot of diplomatic energy to coax India into toeing their line but India has refused to buckle under pressure. As Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, India has not taken anyone's side but its own side, points out Virendra Kapoor.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the United States Congress, delivered on Thursday.
The Indian Army will not let China change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) "unilaterally" and its current deployment along the frontier was not seen before, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday, rejecting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the government's handling of the border row.
India has so many relationships, such an ability to communicate and find touch points with different countries and regions.
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The Chinese aren't after territory. Their target is our national will, morale and the sense of autonomy we feel in making our strategic choices. They are attacking India and the Modi government at their weakest point, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
India's decision to heed to Australia's request to be part of the mega naval drill comes in the midst of growing strain in ties with China over the border row in eastern Ladakh.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will arrive in New York on Sunday to participate in the high-level 77th session of the UN General Assembly, which kicks off on September 20 with the opening of the general debate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join several global leaders to pay tributes to Japan's slain former prime minister Shinzo Abe at his state funeral in Tokyo on Tuesday.
'If one puts the context of what Xi Jinping said at the UN about not wanting a 'hot or cold war with any country', one realises that his speech was quite bizarre.' 'The world does not expect such statements from China, a nation aspiring to be a superpower.
The matter came up for discussion during their wide-ranging dialogue that was aimed at expanding overall ties.
'The MEA, hopefully, made it clear that the Indian PM can't be seen in Xi Jinping's company when China has, for all intents and purposes, annexed over 1,000 sq kms of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh, and essentially that the Wuhan spirit and the Mamallapuram spirit have turned into vinegar.'
