Manish Chand | India Writes

India & Australia: On a strong wicket

September 5, 2014September 5, 2014 - by Manish Chand

C for Cricket, C for Commerce, C for Coking Coal, and C for Community, the 450,000-strong Indian community which is thriving in Australia. Think of India-Australia relations, and these four Cs spring readily to mind. And yes, uranium, the yellow cake, which may just end up being the show-stealer during the September 4-5 visit of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The India-Australia relations are on a strong wicket, and they are scoring high in every field. In a sign of close and warm relations, India has rolled out the red carpet for Prime Minister Abbott, who has become the first head of government to be hosted by the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi on a standalone bilateral visit.

Kyoto-Varanasi Connect: High noon for cultural diplomacy

August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 - by Manish Chand

Feeding the fish to attract good fortune. Praying in a Buddhist temple. Twinning Kyoto and Varanasi in smart city bonding. Sharing notes on stem cell research. Blending the ancient and the modern, the spiritual and the scientific, cultural diplomacy has acquired a new resonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day trip to Kyoto, a modern-day pilgrimage that kindles anew possibilities of diplomacy and the two nations coming together in pursuit of national resurgence.
Thinking Smart – this is the game of the new diplomacy that’s going to renew old friendships and forge new coalitions to uplift India and help carve a friction-free Asian century in days to come.
In Tokyo, there will be weightier subjects on the table – nuclear deal, investments, maritime security, Chinese assertiveness, the elusive Asian balance of power – but spirited cultural diplomacy in Kyoto has already softened the hearts, rekindled civilizational bonds and set the stage for transformational outcomes that will pitch India-Japan relations into a higher stratosphere.

India and Japan: The Power of Two

August 30, 2014August 30, 2014 - by Manish Chand

Metro, Bullet Trains, Buddhism, Business, Technology and Innovation. It’s a potent brew, which is made all the more heady by the common strategic intent to co-create an Asian renaissance. It takes two to tango. And India and Japan, Asia’s two vibrant democracies and leading economies, are matching their steps perfectly, and are set to take their bilateral ties to new heights during the August 30-September 3 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Japan.

The maiden voyage of Narendra Modi to Japan as the leader of the world’s largest democracy and Asia’s third largest economy, is set to usher in a 3.0 phase in India-Japan relations. The launch of Japan-India Global Partnership in the 21st Century in 2000, the elevation of the ties to the level of Global and Strategic Partnership are some recent milestones in the variegated India-Japan relations. It’s time for a phase of enhancement and acceleration, and the leaders of India and Japan make a perfect pair to shepherd the multi-faceted India-Japan ties to a higher stratosphere.

UN chief calls for dialogue between India and Pakistan

August 26, 2014September 5, 2014 - by Manish Chand

Concerned about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon has urged the two subcontinental neighbours to resolve their issues through dialogue and peace. Mr Ban’s request …

India & Vietnam: Old Friends, New Vistas

August 24, 2014August 24, 2014 - by Manish Chand

Look East. Look West. The multifarious relations between India and Vietnam are deepening by the day and are branching out in new directions. In many ways, it’s a perfect match between India’s Look East policy and Vietnam’s Look West policy as the two countries aim high to forge closer strategic, economic and energy ties in days to come. This confluence of interlinked interests will be reflected in the visit of India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Vietnam August 25-26.
Blending IT, education, Buddhism and strategy in its intricate tapestry, the relations between India and Vietnam have effortlessly blended the ancient and the modern to forge a robust contemporary partnership. In the days to come, the only way for the Delhi-Hanoi relationship is to go up, opening new vistas and opportunities for a mutually invigorating and empowering partnership.

India voices concerns over surge of terrorism in Arab world

August 21, 2014August 24, 2014 - by Manish Chand

Making a compelling case for building an enduring bridge between India and the Arab world, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has voiced deep concerns over “the rise of religious fanaticism, radical extremism and terrorism” in various parts of the region.

“Being a longstanding partner of the Arab world, we in India are also deeply concerned with the rise of fanaticism, extremism and terrorism in parts of the region,” Sushma Swaraj told journalists at the first India-Arab Media Symposium in New Delhi August 21.

“We are concerned for the stability of these countries where terrorism and fanaticism are tearing apart the fabric of societies and also concerned over the spill-over effects on regional stability,” said Swaraj, while underlining that “the fates of our two regions are intertwined in many ways.”

India-Myanmar ties: Buddha, Business and Bollywood

August 11, 2014August 11, 2014 - by Manish Chand

The “neighbours first” policy of the new government in India will again be in focus when India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj goes on her maiden visit to Myanmar August 8-9 for bilateral talks, as well as to attend ministerial meetings connected with ASEAN, East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum. Myanmar will be the first Southeast Asian country Sushma Swaraj will be visiting after trips to three important neighbours in South Asia: Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The minister’s visit will take place soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s path-breaking trip to Nepal, and underlines the centrality of immediate and extended neighbourhood in India’s foreign policy matrix.

India’s Enhanced Look East policy takes wing

August 7, 2014 - by Manish Chand

Look East. And follow the Asian Dream. Intertwining economies, interlinking destinies and creating an arc of prosperity across the region, India’s Look East Policy is cruising along on a higher trajectory. After putting India’s South Asia diplomacy in high gear, the new government in Delhi is now looking East as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj heads to Myanmar, the chair of the 10—nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the 18-nation East Asia Summit (EAS). In Myanmar, the minister will participate in India-ASEAN ministerial meeting, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) foreign ministers’ meeting and East Asia summit ministerial meeting. Put together, these separate but interlinked meetings reflect various facets of India’s Look East policy and will set the tone and tenor for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Myanmar in November for the India-ASEAN summit and EAS.

Strategic Dialogue: The 4-5-6 of India-US relations

July 29, 2014July 29, 2014 - by Manish Chand

The “defining partnership of the 21st century” is poised for a new beginning as India and the US hold their first strategic dialogue this week after the installation of a new government in New Delhi. Re-energising the relationship, which is often seen by some to have plateaued after the high of the transformational civil nuclear deal of 2008, and mapping new frontiers of engagement will be the overarching focus of India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and US Secretary of State John Kerry when they hold full-spectrum talks in New Delhi July 31.
The governments come and go, but the people of the two countries will make sure that India and the US will remain robustly engaged democracies, rejuvenating each other’s society and system with ideas, initiative and innovations, fulfilling the “extraordinary promise” of what President Obama has famously called “the defining partnership of the 21st century.”

India-Nepal ties: Mapping New Horizons

July 25, 2014July 25, 2014 - by Manish Chand

It’s a journey that could prove to be path-breaking in mapping new horizons in the age-old India-Nepal relations. In her second stand-alone visit to a neighbouring country in South Asia, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj travels to Kathmandu July 25-27, an important trip that promises to usher in a new chapter between the two fraternal neigbours bound by deep ties of geography, nature, history and culture. The visit underscores yet again the primacy of South Asia in the foreign policy calculus of the new government in New Delhi and comes nearly two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the leaders of SAARC countries for his swearing-in ceremony and a month after Mrs Sushma Swaraj visited Dhaka.