South Asia remains one of the least integrated regions in the world despite geographical proximity and complementary economic structures. Greater regional trade, improved transport connectivity, cross-border electricity markets, digital payment systems and investment partnerships could substantially reduce external vulnerabilities.
Between 2004 and 2023, India produced roughly five million graduates every year, but graduate employment increased by only around 2.8 million annually. Even fewer obtained salaried employment. Millions are either unemployed or working below their qualifications or in the waiting room for the elusive government job.
Policy instability during the 2015-2024 likely pushed back Sri Lanka’s path towards becoming South Asia’s first High-Income Country. The 2022 financial crisis would never have happened as stable growth during the first half of 2015–2024 would have built enough buffer to weather impact of the Covid pandemic
China’s Belt and Road Initiative - which funded Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port through loans resulting in a 99-year lease to Chinese State-owned enterprise in 2017 due to Colombo’s struggle to service said loans - follows the same expansionary script.
Asserting that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China are “sacred and inviolable”, the country’s national legislature has adopted a new law on the protection and exploitation of the land border areas, which could have bearing on Beijing’s long-standing border dispute with India
China has no authority at all to get involved in choosing the next Dalai Lama, especially since the Chinese government does not believe in religion, and the succession is entirely a spiritual matter for the Tibetan people, the head of the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh has said
Indian Army has deployed Pinaka and Smerch Multiple Rocket Launcher Systems (MRLS) at forward position near the China border to counter any threat arising across on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in northeastern India
Asserting with emphasis that peace and tranquillity in the border areas is a "sine qua non" for India and China to work together, India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said New Delhi hopes that Beijing will work with it to bring a satisfactory resolution to the current issues, keeping in view each other's sensitivities and interests
A foreign policy blunder could lead to the collapse of Chinese Communist rule and severe economic turmoil for the country
A Chinese firm dealing in electrical hardware has been banned by Pakistan from participating in government bidding or tendering process for a month
Bhutan and China on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding, agreeing on the three-step roadmap for expediting the Bhutan-China boundary negotiations which started in 1984. So far, 24 rounds of negotiations have been conducted without any final agreement
Two days after India and China blamed each other for failing to make headway in talks over the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, Beijing Wednesday said it “firmly opposed” Indian Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh - in the northeast of India bordering China - last weekend
The latest round of talks between Indian and Chinese military commanders over the standoff in Ladakh broke down on Sunday, the Indian Army said, adding that that the Chinese side was not "agreeable" and "could not provide any forward-looking proposals", NDTV reported
India and China held the 13th round of Corps Commander-level talks on Sunday at Moldo. The meeting, which started around 10.30 am, ended around 7 in the evening, India's Ministry of Defence said
The second phase of the Malabar naval wargaming exercise with the four Quad members – India, US, Japan and Australia – will take place in the Bay of Bengal October 12-15
China's geopolitical aim in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region is deepening its economic ties with the region to the point where countries are drawn into its orbit by economic gravity
An India-US strategic defence coordination panel has discussed increasing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region with “like-minded partners” as security ties between the two countries steadily expand, no doubt with China - the unstated adversary - in mind
Ahead of the next round of Corps Commander level talks between India and China, which are supposed to take place in eastern Ladakh, there was a minor altercation between Indian and Chinese troops in the eastern sector of the India-China boundary, The Indian Express reported
Pakistan does not have a "China-debt" problem pertaining to loan financing from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, the county’s Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said, dismissing a recent report, critical of the CPEC, by a US-based International Development Research Lab
