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This year marks the 15th year since India and the European Union (EU) agreed on a Strategic Partnership in 2004. Over the years, despite robust bilateral relations between individual European states and India, the EU-India relations have largely been in the area of potential rather than accomplishment. This brief evaluates the emerging security partnership by focusing on three key areas, viz. peacekeeping, nuclear issues, and maritime security. I

Nepal signed the framework agreement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with China in May 2017. Of the initial 35 projects that Nepal had proposed, the final number eventually came down to nine. Seven years later, none of the BRI projects have been completed. In 2023, the tenth year of the BRI, controversies surrounding China’s attempt to co-opt even ‘non-BRI’ projects under the framework, and Nepal’s efforts to secure more grants inst

Any suggestion of a look west policy compels a comparison with India's much-celebrated Look East policy and presents us with a paradox. India's relationship with the Gulf is much denser than with Southeast Asia. Yet the Gulf does not resonate as much as Southeast Asia in Indian Foreign Policy discourse.

This brief underlines the immense potential for increased cross-border trade, tourism, and people-to-people interactions between India and its Southeast Asian neighbours. In particular, it evaluates the importance of India–Thailand relations, emphasising the present state of the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMT-TH). Although India and Thailand share a maritime boundary along India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Th

As the PM, Kishida has upheld Abe's legacy by maintaining Japan's focus on regional security and economic resilience, while introducing initiatives to

US-Russia relations is becoming more stable post the Geneva Summit; however, frictions over certain issues shows the fragility of this relationship.

भारत को सैन्य हार्डवेयर की ख़रीद को लेकर संयुक्त राज्य अ�

As tensions simmer between New Delhi and Beijing, some have called for India to focus on developing stronger relations with Taiwan.

With the EU being India’s largest trading partner and the second-largest export destination, the economic logic of strong India-EU economic relations is self-evident. The two sides have also agreed to commence talks for a standalone investment protection pact and an accord on geographical indications

Governments across the world are reluctant to cede power to the city-capitals, but with Delhi being larger than many states in India, it needs to have a relook at its relationship with Centre

Despite India’s recent seeking of friendlier ties with Beijing, the future prospects for relations remain uncertain.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Canada this week should help rejuvenate an important relationship that has long been neglected in New Delhi. If real political differences alienated India and Canada during the Cold War, it is Delhi that has not been sufficiently attentive to the possibilities with Canada in recent years.

Capacity building is a central feature of India’s outreach to Africa. Over the last seven decades, the Indian government has provided numerous scholarships to African students through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation scheme. India has also established several technical institutes throughout the continent. However, assessments of India’s capacity-building initiatives remain limited. Th

Western democracies need to be cautious and must guard against the CCP’s ‘charm offensive’ that threatens their interests.

It is important to understand the historical background of the India-CEE relationship. At the beginning lay CEE’s interest in India’s brilliant an

The combined efforts of CEPA and IMEC will likely lead to increased trade volumes, market access, and economic growth for India and the UAE.

The geopolitics around India’s play in Chabahar and Iran’s leverages are interesting

During the Cold War, India navigated its external relations guided largely by the doctrine and practice of non-alignment. In these contemporary times, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to inaugurate a period of heightened geopolitical rivalries, with the United States and China as the principal poles. India will be differently positioned in this post-Covid “new normal” than it was in the era of the Cold War and therefore will need differe

Last fortnight's India-China joint naval exercise, however limited, may be a new opening in bilateral relations. Coupled with the politico-economic CBMs of the past years, the Shanghai naval exercise is an indication that both nations are learning to overcome the bitter past.

The relationship is more robust than ever before. But deepening ties will bring its set of challenges

The George Bush visit was a giant step forward for Indo-US relations and India was elated to be part of the Big League. Now that he has gone, the Left protests turned out to be only that much bushfire and the euphoria of the visit has evaporated somewhat, it is time to evaluate just what this winwin situation might mean.

India-Bangladesh relations got a major boost following Home Minister P Chidambaram's visit to Dhaka in July this year. The visit, described by Chidambaram as constructive, infused optimism about the resolution of some of the bilateral issues like border during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scheduled visit to India in September this year.

The fading of Sino-optimism seen in African countries and the emergence of new western initiatives in counter to BRI are ample reasons for China to re

The 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN relations was marked by the reiteration of the mutually beneficial relationship that both enjoy. Is this a shadow

India deftly used the BRICS summit to end the standoff with China in Bhutan, but challenges remain for bilateral relations

China and Russia both seek closer ties with the Taliban in Kabul, even as they have refrained from fully recognising the regime. This brief explores China’s and Russia’s converging interests in Afghanistan, and argues that their primary concern is a shared existential threat of terrorism from Afghanistan. Beijing and Moscow regard Afghanistan as a potential source of trans-regional instability, and they are adopting a pragmatic approa

The revival of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran that was negotiated by China is a major diplomacy victory for the latter

New Delhi must sharply raise its preparedness to deal with a Beijing that seems bent on aggression

China needs to strategically reconsider its calculations in South Asia amidst the ongoing shift in the region.

Chinese influence in Africa is high on the global agenda, as China within just a few decades has become a key political and economic power in the continent. Indeed, its emergence as a dominant economic and political actor might be the most important development in Africa since the end of the Cold War. This paper analyses China's economic and political relations with Africa beginning in the 1990s. It argues that the concern is not that China has e

Lai Ching-te’s poll victory did not sit well with China, as it engages in military intimidation by conducting exercises around Taiwan

Given the past Sino-Russian relations the longevity of their entente is moot. Clearly, India is not entirely without options in this geopolitical competition, the only problem is to get New Delhi to play the game.

Despite our hopes, China India relations are unlikely to see any dramatic upturn. China wants an all or none political relationship with India. This means that India must send the Dalai Lama away even though India has repeatedly and loudly pronounced that it has accepted Tibet to be an integral part of China.

Incidents of sudden disappearance of celebrities have been common in China. But Qin Gang’s case is special. Not only has he disappeared but his public records are also being erased.

Noted China scholar Dr John Lee pointed out that Beijing viewed the improvement in the relations between India and other countries in Southeast Asia as an intrusion into the traditional sphere of the influence of China.

To draw lines on the map along the ancient trade routes of China and to claim that they marked an exclusive zone of trade and dense economic relationship centering around and led by China will beg a number of questions. Does it mean that countries within the zone will sever their trade and economic relations with countries outside the zone?

Mr. Arun Shourie, former Union minister and author, thinks that it was time for the India to develop and project itself in consonance with how it wants to be perceived by the world. He said this while delivering lecture on 'Sino-India Relations: The Changing Landscape' at ORF Kolkata.

China sees its primary focus as on neutralising the US- Japan challenge on its eastern seaboard. To that end, maintaining an even keel in its relationship with India makes good sense.

Sino-Indian relations will feature both competition and cooperation. How we fare depends on the policy choices we make and the skill with which we employ them.

Bilateral relations between China and Bangladesh will strengthen further once the road and rail links are established between the two countries through Myanmar. The prospects for the road-rail links have brightened after Myanmar cleared the transit facility, the Chinese envoy for Bangladesh has said.

In case of India, a long-term trend of relocation of industries (EVs as well as others) from China is seen as a foregone conclusion by a section of Ch

Tibet is where India and China meet. It is through Tibet that China manages its relations with India, using the boundary dispute to keep New Delhi off-balance. India is also where the most revered Tibetan, the 14th Dalai Lama lives in exile. Having failed to negotiate his return, there is now a two-pronged effort by China to deal with the consequences of the Dalai Lama’s passing and his possible reincarnation outside Tibet: to m

Both internal and external challenges have propelled China to adopt measures to ensure the economic and social growth of the Chinese society, and in t

There is a growing acknowledgment that the China-funded projects are not economically viable in the long term but African nations still view China in

Mohamed Muizzu is helping Beijing expand its presence in the Indian Ocean

India might be deceiving itself by believing China will limit itself to "grey-zone operations" along the Sino-Indian border, avoiding all-out war. Thi

Military modernisation was the fourth and last of Deng Xiaoping’s ‘Four Modernisations’. Even before the third modernisation got underway—that of science and technology—China began using commercial technologies to advance its military capabilities. This strategy has gained salience since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 and made it the state’s key goal to transform the PLA into a “world-class military”. Military-Civil Fusi