Neutrality and balance — Colombo’s habitual vocabulary — have yielded little economic benefit. Ultimately, Sri Lanka slid into bankruptcy. Given this background, the land link is not merely a strategic starting point but a necessity. India’s strategic position on Sri Lanka is perennial; whether the bridge is built or not, India’s concerns remain fundamental. As an immediate neighbour and rising global power, India will not allow rivals to use Sri Lanka as a base.
If India and China choose collaboration by setting aside strategic suspicion in the climate domain, they could fundamentally reshape the trajectory of the 21st century, as they have already demonstrated individually through their pursuit of clean energy over the past decade. More importantly, such a coalition could revive the COP28 fossil-fuel phase-down pledge, which stalled at COP29 in Baku and appears to be drifting further at COP30 in Belém.
Increased industrial activity in India could generate demand for raw materials, intermediate goods, and services from countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh’s textile industry could strengthen its links with Indian manufacturing networks, while Sri Lanka may gain from expanded opportunities in tourism, logistics, and services.
ADB’s role has evolved beyond financing into shaping India’s structural transformation into a high-growth, technology-driven, and climate-conscious economy. Compared to other multilateral institutions, it offers a more agile, implementation-focused, and regionally attuned approach. As India moves toward becoming one of the world’s largest economies, this partnership will play a defining role in shaping not only India’s growth trajectory but also the broader economic future of Asia.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is in Beijing to participate in the third China-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue as the ties hit a bump following the death of nine Chinese workers working on a CPEC project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that is ruled by Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI party
With Pakistan including Chinese officials in a joint investigation into the Dasu bus blast that killed 15 people, including nine workers from China, Beijing has expressed satisfaction over the ongoing probe, according to a senior Pakistani minister
India is welcome to join the newly launched grouping of South Asian countries on Covid-19 and poverty alleviation led by China, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momin, adding that the initiative isn’t meant to exclude India
For the fourth time in less than a year, Pakistani authorities have blocked access to TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video-sharing platform, for its failure to take down "inappropriate content"
In a decision that shows the extent of Chinese influence over Pakistan, the country's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Saturday that 15 Chinese officials have been included in the ongoing investigation on the Dasu bus tragedy in which 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, were killed
China and Bangladesh have agreed to work towards the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to the Rakhine state in Myanmar and underscored the need for resuming tripartite talks on the issue, a Bangladesh government statement said
Amid the deepening crisis in the ruling party in the Maldives, President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih on Friday spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping--for the first time in recent years-- and discussed the Covid-19 and “other issues of mutual interest” in a phone call that came two days after his call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
With India expressing singular unhappiness over the fragile standoff on their border where tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides are massed on either side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), China said Thursday that it is ready to seek a "mutually acceptable solution" to the issues that require "urgent treatment" through negotiatio
China State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday asked Pakistan to investigate an explosion on a bus in which nine Chinese workers died in its mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
Asserting that a "unilateral change of status quo" was not acceptable to India, India has reiterated to China that their decades-old border dispute needs to be resolved at the earliest as it "visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner."
At least 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, were killed when a bus carrying Chinese and Pakistani construction workers fell into a ravine in the northwestern region of Pakistan, media reports say
In another outreach to Dhaka, Bangladeshi students will get priority in returning to their respective educational institutions in China when the pandemic situation will come under control
China and Pakistan are expected to sign a framework agreement for Industrial Cooperation (IC) during the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) scheduled to be held via video-link this month
China last week launched a new poverty alleviation program directed at South Asian countries which didn’t include the Maldives, Bhutan, and India
China was the top lender to Sri Lanka for the first four months of 2021, disbursing USD 514.9 million including a USD 500 million budget support loan, slightly down from a year earlier, official data shows
