Category : Premium

NEW DELHI: As the seven member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical & Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) ready for the fifth summit in Sri Lanka in August, the major takeaway of a free trade area (FTA) appears elusive. Discussions over the last 15 years have got nowhere, and under the present Indian […]Read More

Date: May 31, 2020 Place: A non-descript restaurant in Karol Bagh, Delhi Two Pakistan High Commission staffers working in the visa section of the mission approach a man sitting alone on a table in a corner of the mid-sized restaurant. This is their first meeting with the man they think is a soldier in the […]Read More

NEW DELHI: Though the fighting in Gaza is yet to come up in the UN General Assembly, many countries have spelt out their stand among them China. Addressing the Security Council via video link, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced a four-point programme to tackle the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, thereby underscoring China’s willingness to embrace a […]Read More

NEW DELHI: The recent statement by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the Kingdom desires “good relations with Iran” has showcased just how much the desert Kingdom could be on the cusp of change. Apart from seeking compromises with its arch-rival Iran in West Asia, Riyadh’s bid to open talks with its once feuding […]Read More

NEW DELHI: In about four months from now, India faces a potentially crippling shortage of Helium gas due to falling levels of production in the United States. India imports around ₹55,000 crore ($733 million) of Helium from the U.S. every year for use in rockets and nuclear reactors to MRI scans and electronics. In fact, […]Read More

TAIPEI: Hong Kong is different from cities in mainland China because it still has elections. Therefore, in the logic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hong Kong is implementing ‘one country, two systems’. China sees Hong Kong’s current governance model as a sharp contrast to the undemocratic colonial style governance under the British Empire. But […]Read More

NEW DELHI: Reports about China’s plan to build a super dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo, rivalling even the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze river, have a sense of inevitability. Typically, it would seem, giant projects in China are planned and carried out with little public discussion or debate and the results are there for […]Read More

NEW DELHI: By taking military action in 2020, China has clearly indicated that she does not desire a stable, balanced, forward looking relationship with India and that she is willing to use military coercion to resolve her disputes with India. All earlier bilateral agreements aimed at maintaining peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas have […]Read More

NEW DELHI: The opening lines in MIT’s prestigious journal ‘Technology Review’ (Feb 21, 2021) are about a massive landslide in south China’s Hunan province in June last year that swept away houses and cattle. There was minimal or no loss of human lives in this area of 33 villages, all because of a constellation of […]Read More

NEW DELHI: India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ is creating ripples on foreign shores as it has in our near and extended neighbourhood. And as India extends the geographic reach of its vaccine diplomacy—from immediate neighbours like Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives to countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America—China is scrambling to play catch-up. Over 55 […]Read More