India and the World

Modi in Xi’an: Terracotta warriors, temple & Bollywood redefines diplomatic style

- by India Writes Network

What has set Prime Minister Modi’s China’s visit apart is that he seeks to maintain a fine balance between economics, politics, ideology, sentiment and symbolism. Modi’s choice of Xi’an as the first venue of his China visit depicts a much broader agenda of managing relations with Asia’s largest economy. Prime Minister Modi’s arrival in Xian is significant and a departure from protocol by the Chinese government. The fact that President Xi Jinping personally received Mr Modi in his hometown underscores the importance China is attaching to his visit.
The visit by the Indian prime minister to Xian is a milestone of sort. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi holding summit talks in restricted format in the ancient city of Xian, PM Modi’s interaction with people in the city, his use of Hindi in his address, the grand welcome accorded to him and the break of the protocol in hosting the Indian PM first in Xi’an – these features mark a different diplomatic style that bodes well for the future trajectory of the India-China relations.

Read More

Modi’s China visit: Can India and China think differently?

- by India Writes Network

In the times of globalization and intertwining economic interests at regional and trans-regional levels, the cooperation and crisis management has become increasingly important for a sustainable domestic as well as external economic development and environment. No one denies the role played by confidence building measures (CBMs) in maintaining peace and tranquility along the border, avoiding conflict, and thus creating a congenial atmosphere for cooperation not only at bilateral level but also at regional and multilateral organizations. CBMs signed between India and China in 1993, 1996, 2005, 2012 and latest Border Defense Cooperation Agreement of 2013 is a pointer as most of the border negotiations have been held under the aegis of these mechanisms. However, the sensitive nature of the border has also called for ‘out of the box’ resolutions, for these have fallen short of finding a solution.
From bilateralism to multilateralism

It is owing to CBMs that India and China have struck some real convergence of interests on issues such as climate change, democratization of international financial institutions through multilateral forums such as Russia-China-India Strategic Triangle, Brazil; Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS); Brazil-South Africa-India-China (BASIC); the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF); East Asian Summits (EAS); G 20 and other multilateral forums such Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Read More

Ni Hao, China: Modi visit to remap India-China ties

- by Manish Chand

Ni Hao, China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to China promises to be a captivating show, high on optics as well as substance, and is expected to coalesce diplomacy, culture, business, geopolitics and outreach to the Indian diaspora. When PM Modi touches down on the Chinese soil May 14, the Chinese people can hope to see and hear an Indian leader who has a flair for using innovative methods to connect and forge a new narrative of win-win opportunities between the two Asian giants.
Ahead of his trip, PM Modi has struck all the right notes that should endear him to the Chinese leadership and ordinary Chinese people. He has become the first Indian leader and only the second world leader to sign on to Sina Weibo – the Chinese version of microblogging platform twitter. “Hello China! Looking forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo,” said the prime minister in his first post on Sina Weibo.
A journey of a thousand miles, as a Chinese proverb says, begins with a small step. The two Asian giants have gone beyond inches and are now making rapid strides to clock MILES, what Prime Minister Modi has famously called the Millennium of Exceptional Synergy as they walk hand-in-hand in the unfolding journey of an Asian century. This is, after all, the journey of two and a half billion people and their soaring dreams.

Read More

Kamath, India’s banking star, to head BRICS Development Bank

- by India Writes Network

Nearly 10 months after the BRICS grouping of emerging economies firmed up the contours of a trailblazing multilateral bank for developing countries, India has named Kundapur Vaman Kamath as the first head of the BRICS Development

In a give-and-take, the leaders of the BRICS countries has decided at their summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July last year that the headquarters of the New Development Bank will be located in Shanghai and the first president of the bank will be an India.

The 67-year-old Kamath is the non-executive chairman of India’s second largest bank (by asset size and market capitalization), the ICICI bank and India’s third largest IT firm Infosys.

Read More

Cameron stuns pollsters, back in 10 Downing Street

- by India Writes Network

Defying sceptics, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party swept to a blockbuster victory in the UK polls, winning an outright majority in the parliament.

It was a spectacular victory by any reckoning, which stunned pundits and pollsters who had predicted a hung parliament. The Conservative Party won 331 seats in the 650-member parliament, assuring Mr Cameron a full five years in 10, Downing Street and the first majority Conservative government in decades.

‘Phir Ek Baar, Cameron Sarkar’

The victory elicited a steady stream of congratulations from world leaders. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to felicitate Mr Cameron, and he chose his favourite twitter handle to convey his warm sentiments for the British leader. Improvising on his party slogan in the May 2014 elections, Mr Modi tweeted:” As you rightly pointed out – its Phir Ek Baar, Cameron Sarkar.”

Read More

President Mukherjee in Moscow: India joins Russia in V-Day celebrations

- by India Writes Network

Amid the West’s isolation of Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, India’s President Pranab Mukherjee is in Moscow to join in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the allied victory in World War II – a trip that also reaffirms and underscores New Delhi’s solidarity with a time-tested partner that is sailing through difficult times.
Intensifying educational exchanges is high on the presidential agenda. The president is accompanied by heads of several top educational institutions, including Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Directors of IIT Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. In addition, India’s Department of Science and Technology will also sign agreements with Russian Science Foundation. The two strategic partners are expected to sign nine memorandums of understandings and eight cooperation agreements in the area of higher education alone.

Read More

Modi mantra for India-China ties: Cooperate and Compete, while keeping border peaceful

- by India Writes Network

Cooperation and competition are inextricably woven into the fabric of India-China relations. Ahead of his maiden multi-city tour of China, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a long-range view, saying India cooperates with China on the global stage, but at the same time the two countries also compete in the economic arena.

In an interview with TIME magazine, Mr Modi also underscored that the two Asian giants have “learnt from history” and have managed to maintain peace and tranquillity on their disputed border.
Mr Modi’s three-day visit to China, starting May 14, will be keenly watched not just in the two countries, but also in the region and the world. All issues will be on the table, but the prime ministerial agenda will be primarily economic and will focus on getting Chinese finance and expertise to boost the Make in India project and to bolster the manufacturing base in India. During Xi Jinping’s visit to India in September last year, China pledged to plough in $20 billion investments over the next five years, but only around $1 billion have trickled in so far. Mr Modi will, therefore, be pitching for fast-tracking Chinese investments into India.

Read More

Five Takeaways Modi should target in China

- by Srikanth Kondapalli

Many Indian prime ministers have visited abroad in pursuit of national interests, although such visits to China were few and far in between, with five PMs visiting Beijing six times in as many decades. Some of these visits – by Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Vajpayee – have been described as “breakthroughs” for recognising Tibet and Taiwan as a part of China, with no reciprocal Chinese statement that Kashmir or Arunachal Pradesh are a part of India.

With PM Modi planning to make a trip to China from May 14-16, the first time an Indian prime minister will be visiting Beijing in the first year of his first term, it is natural – as PM Modi told his Chinese interlocutors – to expect “concrete outcomes” during the visit. For this visit to be successful, India needs to seek several clarifications and positive approvals from China on a host of issues in the realm of bilateral relations and beyond.

During the visit of PM Modi to China, there will be a lot of pressure in both countries to make this visit a “breakthrough’ in the bilateral relations. Such a breakthrough is quite possible if India clearly draws the red, amber and green lines of interactions with China, without falling into the binary trap of whether China is an opportunity or a challenge.

Read More