But in NSS 2025 the specific reference to the “Quad” appears less central as compared to its 2022 prominence. The document emphasized the allies assuming primary responsibility for their own region even as it identified the Indo-Pacific as a key economic and geopolitical battleground. It reiterates that alliances and strengthening partnerships “will be the bedrock of security and prosperity long into the future”
It’s heartening to see that China has resumed the pilgrimage of Indian pilgrims to the sacred Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region this year after a five-year break, and India has restarted the issuance of tourist visas to Chinese citizens suspended since 2020. Recently, several direct flights between the two countries have been restored. This development is expected to strengthen exchanges in people-to-people fields, as well as in trade, culture, and other areas.
Despite China's might and backing, Gyeltsen Norbu has lacked legitimacy and following among Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists elsewhere, and many suspect the 15th Dalai Lama appointed by Beijing will suffer the same fate. The Dalai Lama has emphasised that China must reach a resolution on the Tibetan question during his lifetime, and many fear that without his moral authority, no solution will have widespread acceptance among the Tibetan people.
In reality not much has changed, the two sides lack a clear understanding of each other and misperception, nationalism and overall strategic mistrust have become the driving force. Even after much talk of building mutual understanding, in reality the gap continues not only among the governments but also among the people. In November 2025 Prema Wangjom Thongdok, a UK-based Indian woman from Arunachal Pradesh was harassed at Shanghai airport on her way to Japan. As per reports, Chinese officials claimed that, “Arunachal is not a part of India” and that she “should apply for a Chinese passport” as she was Chinese and not Indian.
Journalism takes the centre stage in Sino-Indian relations as it builds narratives, perceptions and a repertoire of political attitudes that can recreate, reshape and reprocess the original information that journalism disseminates. This becomes even more challenging when the audience is a few billion people - considering China and India together - and their consumption of information is not just restricted to the conventional legacy media but also vibrant social media in the digital space.
Taiwan is but one piece in China’s arc of aggression that runs through the Indo-Pacific region and veers into the Himalayas for the border confrontation with India. The US sees Beijing’s policy in the region as a step towards global domination.
Like other nonaligned states in South Asia, Nepal seeks strategic space to pursue relations with China, India, and the United States on its own terms. That’s harder to do as countries fall over one another to court Kathmandu.
Strengthening military cooperation has the potential to provide strategic benefits for both of them. Due to their geostrategic importance, Bangladesh and Myanmar have become a hotspot in the western front’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Separately at a meeting of the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) led by Doval and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the US committed to expeditiously review a GE proposal to jointly produce jet engines to power jet aircraft manufactured indigenously by India, according to the White House
Indonesia sees Malaysia and Australia as key players, including Vietnam and the Philippines, in forming a stronger common cooperative platform in facing the challenges of China in the Indo-Pacific.
The tunnel will link the Asian Highway network. Through this route, goods can be moved directly across the border between India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
China’s English language publication Global Times had said these "observers" - euphemism for party apparatchiks - had warned New Delhi of “new barriers” in talks related to de-escalation if India were to go ahead with the transportation of its most advanced missile to the western side of the LAC. It was also reported that China was quite riled about widening of roads on the Indian side of the LAC for the purpose of transporting heavy equipment, including BrahMos missiles.
The implementation of this project in Eastern Ladakh and other sectors along the LAC is going to predictably rile the Chinese.
Domino effects seen in various countries at the receiving end of Beijing's political bearhug and economic penetration, from port takeovers to media influence, should warrant alarm bells in Kuala Lumpur. Policymakers here are in full awareness of this dilemma, but it takes more than political will to reimagine a new direction in Malaysia’s thinking and policy orientation.
India’s narrative against China must be reviewed and reframed and the appropriate use of India’s military capability must get accepted by the political leadership.
With the declining impact of deterrence measures, including dwindling effectiveness of confidence-building measures and a wide array of dialogue-building processes in trying to mitigate risks of conflicts, the question of a full-blown conflict stemming from the inevitability of Thucydides’ trapping would be a matter of when and where.
When the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) met in Mumbai last month, an audio clip of Sajid Mir directing the 26/11 terrorists at the Chabad House Jewish cultural centre was played to focus on the role of the terrorist under Beijing protection at the UN.
The rise of nationalist sentiments globally and in Europe, as seen in the premiership of Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Rishi Sunak in Britain, are conflating political circumstances for a global pushback against China’s actions where these countries are ready to call out China in a more forthright manner.
A forceful "unification" of Taiwan has been projected by most analysts as happening within the next five years of Xi’s new third term, as he will need this to cement a history-making legacy that will help him extend his rule for life
