Only the future will tell if Modi can leave his mark on the Ukraine crisis. Nonetheless, it is both a challenge and an opportunity for India's diplomacy, notes Rup Narayan Das.
'Although Hong Kong weathered many a storm and displayed a remarkable resilience to bounce back, the developments in the territory have raised question marks with regard to its future stability and prosperity.' A revealing excerpt from Rup Narayan Das's Hong Kong Conundrum: Pangs of Transition.
An independent Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party is anathema to China, observes Rup Narayan Das.
Rup Narayan Das reveals the towering Odisha leader's role in improving national security after the 1962 War with China.
'Leaders of the Indian community in Hong Kong had broached the idea of developing the Andaman and Nicobar islands for investment and setting up manufacturing units,' points out Rup Narayan Das.
Trump can afford to say that COVID-19 is a 'China virus', but we can't expect Modi to say that aloud while his actions may speak louder, says Rup Narayan Das.
'The India-Canada relationship has suffered benign neglect. Its full potential has not yet been realised,' says Rup Narayan Das.
'It is unrealistic to expect that security dilemmas and strategic distrust to disappear or even diminish any time soon,' says Rup Narayan Das.
India and China met and spoke a lot this year, but failed to produce any meaningful results.
If China's behaviour in the past on ticklish issues is any indication then China could eventually support India's NSG application, says Rup Narayan Das.
The greatest challenge before India is how to strike a fine balance of its relationship between its neighbour and strategic rival China, and the US.
'Difficult issues should not be brushed under the carpet, but should be raised upfront, particularly by India. While engagement and dialogue are always welcome and desirable, there should be some tangible results. Mere signing of agreements, MoUs, joint declarations are not enough.'
'Notwithstanding the physical distance, the two countries historically had a convergence of approach and outlook to many international issues.' 'The relationship between the two countries cannot develop or flourish in a vacuum. There should be initiatives at various levels -- at the level of government, Parliament and the people.'
Although the India-Japan relationship has its own driving forces in terms of robust economic ties and shared values, China is the elephant in the room in the strategic parleys between the two countries, says Rup Narayan Das.
The BRICS summit offers Modi an excellent platform to reach out to world leaders and conduct diplomacy on the very ticklish issue of reform of the world governance structure, and to exchange notes with his peers on international, regional and bilateral issues on the margins of the meeting, says Rup Narayan Das.
As the context of Panchsheel has changed, it is all the more essential that India and China need to reinvent and redefine Panchsheel for a new world order taking into account globalisation, and mutual economic interdependence. The new Panchsheel, in order to be relevant, needs to shed its binary approach of west verses the east recognising the seamlessness of global frontiers, which globalisation has brought in, says Rup Narayan Das.
The major driver of Mod's foreign policy can be gauged from his economic priorities such as creating employment opportunities for the youth bulge. Related to this is emphasis on manufacturing, and infrastructure development, which in turn raises the issue of FDI. He has already articulated his views on all these issues, says Rup Narayan Das.
'After more than 20 years of understanding, nothing much seems to have been achieved. What the two countries have been trying to do is to manage the recurrence of border incursions. The two sides must address the disease, and not the symptom of the disease,' says Rup Narayan Das.
The visit of Park Geun-Hye to India, though a symbolic one, will certainly give a further impetus to the strategic partnership between the two countries says Rup Narayan Das.
In recent years India-Japan relations have acquired rich economic content and strategic intents. Although the bilateral trade at $18 billion between the two countries is not very impressive and leaves much to be desired, the economic engagement between the two countries is both qualitatively and quantitatively noteworthy. India-Japan defence cooperation, however, has generated a lot interest among the strategic community in the context of rise of China. There has been a lot of speculation about India-Japan strategic partnership to hedge China, says Rup Narayan Das.
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