Written by Shah Suraj Bharat
After Myanmar announced its COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan, analysts warned that Beijing would take advantage of these measures and push through infrastructure projects under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), which falls under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Read MoreWritten by Gaurav Sen
Nuclear weapons rather than serving as deterrence or moving the conflict below the threshold of conventional war, have instead only brought further instability to South Asia. If India and Pakistan do not practice restraint, then fear of war will feed into South Asia's economic milieu, as investors and tourists flee potential hostilities.
Read MoreWritten by Mateusz Chatys
Considering the scale and scope of Chinese actions in the South China Sea, as well as the previous arrangements with ASEAN regarding how to resolve maritime disputes, the 36th ASEAN summit did not bring strong opposition to Beijing’s recent conduct.
Read MoreWritten by Paras Ratna
Recent escalation with India highlights the fact that, for many, China has long abandoned the “peaceful rise” approach. In fact, China’s external relations can be seen to have come a full circle from Deng Xiaoping’s “hide your strength” to Xi Jinping’s “strive for achievement”
Read MoreWritten by Akriti Vasudeva
The ongoing standoff underscores the unraveling of the logic that has undergirded India-China ties since the late 1980s and early 1990s—i.e. if the two sides kept the border dispute divorced from the broader relationship, they could build stability and cooperation, which would in turn help resolve boundary issues.
Read MoreWritten by Suyash Desai
Since 2013, the tempo of the People’s Liberation Army’s single and joint services exercises in Tibet have increased. The PLA has also started performing high altitude night-time military exercises and focused war-gaming in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region.
Read MoreWritten by Uday Bakhshi
The political instability of the last few months has alienated Malaysia’s public. Meanwhile the governing Perikatan Nasional is increasingly viewed as illegitimate, and concerns over corruption at the heart of Malaysia’s government are once again rising.
Read MoreWritten by Yatharth Kachiar
The recently signed deal gives Abdullah Abdullah, a Tajik, authority to head the the peace process in Afghanistan. Ashraf Ghani retains his post as president but Abdullah has the authority to appoint fifty per cent of new cabinet, including key ministries.
Read MoreWritten by Tridivesh Singh Maini
Even in the midst of the pandemic, countries have been in talks regarding trade. The UK is seeking to sign an FTA, not just with the US, but also with Japan, so as to buttress the bilateral economic relationship and gain entry to the 11 member Comprehensive Partnership for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Read MoreWritten by Indrajit Roy
In the past 12 months, India’s parliament, the Lok Sabha, adopted a number of laws delivering on the electoral promises made by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. But their approach to governing has worrying parallels.
Read MoreWritten by Megha Pardhi
India’s development cooperation initiatives reveal New Delhi’s priorities. Although the largest number of projects financed through lines of credit are in Africa, the total amount allocated is highest in India's neighbourhood of South Asia.
Read MoreWritten by Francis C. Domingo
The Philippines has been collaborating with the US to strengthen its response to cyber threats but the current government under Rodrigo Duterte decided to distance itself from Washington and work with China and Russia.
Read MoreWritten by Rohan Khattar Singh
China is currently operating as an external occupying force in Ladakh and the ties between the Han Chinese and Ladakh proper are (with close examination of the facts), non-existent in terms of the region’s history, ethnicity, religion and language.
Read MoreWritten by Chetan Rana
India, like many other states in the region, has been reluctant to pursue a balancing strategy against China due to the stark asymmetry in capabilities. After Galwan however this strategy has failed and India should look to new partners in the face of Beijing’s assertiveness.
Read MoreWritten by Jay Maniyar
China-Japan relations are caught between the spread of COVID-19 and rising tensions in the East China Sea on the one hand, but growing trade and economic relations on the other. It remains to be seen whether the relationship between these two rivals worsens or improves.
Read MoreWritten by Aayush Mohanty
Xi Jinping’s demand for total loyalty from the government’s bureaucracy has overruled decades of collective leadership, which previously afforded some flexibility toward policies and encouraged pragmatism over rigidity.
Read MoreWritten by Vengalil Venugopal
The US Navy’s shipbuilding plan has capped the fleet size at 355 ships by 2034. China’s own naval expansion however has progressed at pace. By 2030, Beijing could field a fleet of 450 surface ships and 110 submarines, localised entirely in the Indo-Pacific.
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