42nd ASEAN Summit

ASEAN must change or face irrelevance

ASEAN remains ill-equipped to handle the fallout from the tensions in the South China Sea or the potentiality of a full-blown Taiwanese conflict.

Strategic significance of the 6th Indian Ocean Conference in Bangladesh

Against this backdrop, India has been promoting the idea of ‘net security provider’ in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). 

China's ethnocide and the transborder implications of the Uyghur Muslim unrest

Following the attack on a mosque in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 8, 2021, ISK confirmed the recruitment and mobilization of Uyghur fighters. This was the first time that the alliance between IS-K and Uyghurs was affirmed by IS-K on media platforms.

India making rapid strides in military modernisation - but still far to go

But New Delhi must not be complacent, because a lot more needs to be done in acquisitions and modernisation to match the much larger and more sophisticated Chinese arsenal and to raise India’s politico-diplomatic assertiveness against Beijing's muscle-flexing.

More on Indo Pacific - China Watch

China’s role in Sri Lanka and implications for India

To gain a strong foothold in Sri Lanka, China used the political weakness of the Rajapaksa family to sustain its corrupt and authoritarian regime by funding its electoral campaign in order to gain a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region to marginalize India and other Western countries. especially US influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Lengthening arm of Chinese 'police state'! US cracks down on Chinese overseas 'police stations'

Safeguards Defenders, a Spain-based human rights NGO that first drew attention to the Chinese overseas “police stations” last year, listed operations in 30 countries in North and South Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia (but not in India or other South Asian countries).

Is China’s global influence on the wane?

China has blocked several times attempts to designate Pakistan-based operatives behind attacks on India as global terrorists, which would place them under international sanctions.

Why Japan is edging closer to Bangladesh and India in the region

Viewing Bangladesh and other areas to the south as a single economic zone, Japan will build Bengal-Northeast India industrial value chain concept in cooperation with India and Bangladesh to foster the growth of the entire region.

China's military modernization and warfare strategy: Will 2024 be a watershed year for the Indo-Pacific and global geopolitics?

Keeping the warfare history and strategic culture of China in the Indo-Pacific region in perspective,  chances are high that there could be more short-term military clashes in the near future with India which will be more intense by nature, especially before India’s general elections in 2024, in order to influence India's political landscape and change the politico-and security architecture of the Indo-Pacific region. 

India's strategic border development in the north and northeast was long overdue

Whatever has been achieved by BRO in 2022 and early 2023 is very substantial and has raised Beijing's ire much more. For India, it is imperative to continue the momentum of its long overdue building of strategic infrastructure, because a lot more needs to be done to match PLA’s buildup and deployment.

Japanese PM's visit to New Delhi: Advancing the goals of a free and open Indo-Pacific in South Asia

India and Japan are already cooperating on the Bay of Bengal infrastructure development through their strong regional cooperation. Among these initiatives are the construction of LNG infrastructure in Sri Lanka, the building of pipelines and electrification in Myanmar, and the improvement of Bangladesh's road network.

AUKUS nuclear submarine pact: Implications for Indo-Pacific

This agreement has profound geo-strategic implications against the backdrop of the US-China maritime battle in the Indo-Pacific region. It will not only add fuel to the fire of their strategic competition but also result in the growing militarization of the strategic region amid the Taiwan crisis.

China's growing peacemaker role and value-free approach give it global heft

Unlike the US and Western countries, or even Myanmar's fellow members of the ASEAN, Beijing has refused to condemn the military junta enabling it to play a role in diplomacy with Bangladesh on the Rohingya and with the internal insurgencies.

Is China engineering a new world order?

As Beijing midwives a multipolar world as an alternative to the world order dominated by the US, there are many issues that stand in the way. They include simmering border disputes with India and its aggressive behaviour along the Line of Actual Control, its claims on the Japanese islands of Senkaku, and the dispute over the Spratly Islands that involve the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei.  Above all is its menacing posture towards Taiwan.

AUKUS is strong regional insurance against Indo-Pacific domination by China

AUKUS remains a symbol of a clear message to Beijing, and regional players, as a powerful deterrence to step up militarily if necessary; and remains a crucially needed counterbalancing measure that will bring assurances and guarantee that the West’s pivot and readiness to maintain its Indo-Pacific presence are here to stay.

Is Japan's move towards militarisation beneficial for the region?

Instead of relying solely on the West and strengthening military preparations against Beijing, Japan should play its own diplomatic role as China's neighbor in de-escalating regional tensions, creating a different atmosphere in the Indo-Pacific region. 

Firefight-phobic PLA purchases advanced maces. How much longer will India manage disputed borders ‘bulletlessly’?

The CPC-PLA combo’s very smart use of bullet-less border management agreements, incursions/transgressions, and building villages along the LAC is continuing because the Indian Army is following bullet-less methods initiated by the Chinese even after losing 20 soldiers including a colonel by PLA’s brutal and barbaric attack in June 2020.

The free world should not succumb to Beijing’s Taiwan blackmail

The rest of the democratic world and the alliance of free nations need to stand in solidarity with Taiwan now more than ever, as Taiwan remains the last bastion against the growing autocratic forces, even surpassing Ukraine in terms of criticality and the costs at stake.

Hard power replacing soft power: China’s spy balloon marks a new phase of big-power confrontation

The balloon incident is a brazen willingness by Beijing to flex its power outside its region, and to challenge the US at its continental base, magnifying its continuous attempts to expand its influence across the world through intelligence efforts targeting businesses, universities and other institutions.

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