India’s Renewed Central-Asia Focus, China’s Economic Influence & Russia’s Security Links

NEW DELHI: On ‘Talking Point’, Ambassador Asoke Mukerji, India’s Former Permanent Representative to the UN, Ex-Envoy to Kazakhstan and the diplomat who opened India’s Uzbek, Tajik, & Turkmen Missions and Ambassador Phunchok Stobdan, India’s Former Envoy to Kyrgyzstan, Ex-Joint Director in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and Author of the ‘The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas: India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance’ in analysis with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.

The panel discusses the first India-Central Asia Summit hosted virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its outcomes, India’s renewed focus on the ‘five stans’, China’s President Xi Jinping hosting the Central Asian leaders online two days earlier, Beijing’s large economic footprint, the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), President Vladimir Putin’s policies in Russia’s ‘backyard’, Moscow’s security imprint in the region, Afghanistan, connectivity, Iran and the Chabahar port, the International North-South Transport Corridor(INSTC), the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline(TAPI) pipeline and U.S. involvement in the area.