Author: Manish Chand

Amid strains in ties, Modi to visit China, Xi to visit India

- by Manish Chand

Amid recent strains in relations between the two Asian giants over a host of issues, including New Delhi’s stalled membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, India and China are preparing the ground for the visits of their leaders to each other’s country this year.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit China for the 11th G20 summit of major economies in the scenic city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, on September 4-5. Mr Modi is expected to hold bilateral talks with China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit. This is the first time China is hosting the G20 summit of the world’s top economies which is expected to break “a new path” for global economic growth.
President Xi will be visiting India for the 8th BRICS summit India will host in the coastal city of Goa October 5-6.
South China Sea & NSG
Against this backdrop, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be in India on August 13 to firm up a substantive agenda for the two-way visits by the leaders of the two neighbouring countries.
The next few weeks are, therefore, going to see intense diplomatic manouevering and a possible trade-off between the two Asian neighbours to ensure that trust deficit does not sharpen between them over the NSG issue, impacting the larger relationship.

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Amid souring China ties and South China Sea churn, PM Modi to visit Vietnam

- by Manish Chand

Amid China’s hardening posture on the South China Sea ruling by an international tribunal, senior officials of India and Vietnam have held strategic talks in New Delhi to bolster their military and economic relations, which could pave the way for a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Hanoi early next month.
The volatile situation around the South China Sea in the wake of The Hague tribunal’s ruling rejecting Beijing’s “historic claims” over the disputed water body and the so-called nine-dash line figured prominently in discussions.
The discussions in New Delhi saw a striking convergence of perspectives between the two countries on the South China Sea issue.
The visit by PM Modi to Hanoi will take place at a time when the India-China relations are under strain following China’s stalling of India’s bid for the NSG membership and India denying extension of visas to three Chinese journalists working for state-run Xinhua news agency. Mr Modi’s visit to Hanoi, as and when it happens, will be closely watched in Beijing, which has resented growing proximity between New Delhi and Hanoi, and sees India as engaged in a containment game with the US, Japan, Australia and friendly ASEAN countries.

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NSG support, stronger defence ties signal a new era in India-South Africa ties

- by Manish Chand

Ending weeks of speculation, South Africa has declared support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a key takeaway for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Africa’s economic powerhouse.
Getting the support of South Africa, a non-proliferation hawk which renounced its nuclear programme decades ago, was on top of Modi’s agenda in Pretoria.
Modi’s wide-ranging talks with South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma on July 9 firmed up a substantive agenda for galvanising India-South Africa relationship across the spectrum, with special focus on collaboration in defence, value-added manufacturing and information technology. Taking a long-range view of strategic partnership, Zuma ended ambivalence by conveying his country’s support for India’s entry into the NSG, which will enable greater access for India to civil nuclear technologies.

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As PM eyes new horizons in Africa, China factor looms

- by Manish Chand

When was the last time an Indian prime minister travelled to four African countries in one stretch? It’s a tough one, and is sure to evoke a long pause, followed by silence and murmurs of can’t remember. This question has been asked with a tinge of anguish many a time in Africa circles, but with Prime Minister Narendra Modi heading to Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania early this week, it’s going to be replaced, mercifully, by what’s next.

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Modi’s Africa odyssey: Raising the Bar

- by Manish Chand

2016 is set to be the year of Africa for India’s diplomacy, with Narendra Modi heading on the first-ever four-nation tour by an Indian prime minister to the continental Africa in decades. PM Modi’s visit, preceded by President Pranab Mukherjee’s visits to Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and Namibia and Vice-President Hamid Ansari’s trips to Morocco and Tunisia, has raised the bar for India’s diplomatic outreach to Africa, and underscores the emergence of the resurgent continent as an important pole in the country’s foreign policy calculus.
The clichéd narrative of competition and rivalry between India and China in Africa is a tad overplayed as the two Asian powers have different core strengths and models of engaging Africa. India can’t possibly surpass China in terms of trade volumes in the near term, but Modi’s visit to the four African countries is meant to signal that India is raising the game and is ready to match its rhetoric with resources and core strengths to expand and transform a mutually empowering partnership with the renascent continent.

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Thailand PM’s visit to India: What’s on agenda?

- by Manish Chand

India’s Act East and Thailand’s Look West policy will be in focus as Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha travels to New Delhi this week, with maritime security and upscaling of economic partnership with the world’s fastest growing economy on top of his agenda.
The Thai leader’s visit comes less than four months after Vice-President Hamid Ansari’s visit to Bangkok, which firmed up an all-encompassing template for reinforcing India-Thailand relations with greater strategic and economic content.

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NSG roulette spinning for India: All eyes on SCO meeting in Tashkent

- by Manish Chand

The NSG roulette wheel is spinning for India, and Tashkent may be the place where New Delhi’s ambition to be a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group could inch closer to fruition. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to the Uzbek capital for the SCO summit, all eyes will be on intense diplomatic outreach the Indian leader will launch to mobilise the critical support of Russia and China to back India’s entry into the elite 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Club that controls the flow of global nuclear materials and equipment.

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