Why did it take five months of violence to appoint Col Sanjebam who lives in the heart of Imphal even while projecting the worst is over? Why was this done without Manipur Police asking for such an appointment? Why was he posted to the police department, not as a military advisor to the Chief Minister?
The question is whether Bhutan can ward off the Chinese pressure, given the dynamics of South Asia, chances of which don’t appear bright.
Indian media may do any amount of spin doctoring, including claiming that the bilateral meeting was requested by the Chinese side, but the noteworthy issue is that none of the two Chinese statements mention disengagement and de-escalation.
The Major General-level talks (initially described as confidence building) apparently aim for a conducive atmosphere when Modi comes face to face with Xi at Johannesburg for the BRICS summit August 22-24.
The latest round of military-to-military talks was orchestrated to time with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the BRICS Summit in South Africa on August 22-24 and the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, which Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to attend.
The Pakistan-US-UK ties remain strong. Pakistan’s removal from the FATF’s ‘grey list’ and recent $3 billion IMF loan to Pakistan had an obvious nod from the US.
India needs to develop a more muscular political, diplomatic and military policy against China, military muscularity being contingent on political will. With clear designs on Indian territory, China cares two hoots about military-to-military cooperation.
The forthcoming SCO Defence Ministers' Meet at New Delhi on April 27-28, followed by the SCO Foreign Ministers Meet in Goa on May 5, and the G20 Summit in September 2023 in New Delhi will have participation by China, where ample scope for bilateral meetings exists. It is high time the Indian defence minister, foreign minister, and prime…
But the elaborate plan of the Pakistani military hierarchy to engineer “strategic depth” in Afghanistan has backfired badly. Shehbaz Sharif is in a pitiable position – a wobbly zebra kowtowing to the army; Imran Khan continuing to stoke political problems; pockets are empty; energy crisis is aggravating; and snakes bred to attain strategic…
With the Communists back in power in Kathmandu, China will be able to push its own agenda, as well as that of Pakistan, in Nepal. It has cross-border ramifications for India at the tactical level, as well as larger ones at the strategic level when seen in concert with Chinese moves in Bhutan and Myanmar.
