India and the World

Namaste, Ni Hao! Sitharaman’s charm offensive signals improving India-China ties

- by India Writes Network

Namaste, Ni Hao! It’s time for bonhomie and friendly gestures between India and China, who are trying to put the bitterness of the Doklam standoff behind. India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to Nathu La in Sikkim and her informal interaction with the Chinese troops across the border has been hailed in China as a warming signal for better India-China relations.

A video clip showing Ms. Sitharaman teaching the meaning of ‘namaste’ to the People’s Liberation Army soldiers has gone viral with several Chinese media groups sharing it widely as a positive gesture from the Indian side. “Do you know what ‘Namaste’ means?,” Mrs Sitharaman is seen asking in the clip to which one Chinese soldier responds saying: “Namaste means nice to meet you” before greeting her with a “Ni hao” in Chinese. Soon after the exchange of greetings, Ms. Sitharaman tweeted saying, “Acknowledged a row of Chinese soldiers from across the fence who were taking pictures on my reaching Nathu La.” Nathu La border post is around 30 km from Doklam where the two countries were engaged in a prolonged 73-day standoff.

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World leaders hail Nobel Peace Prize for ICAN

- by India Writes Network

Amid rising tensions of a nuclear threat from North Korea and the risks around the Iran nuclear deal, world leaders and peace activists have hailed the Nobel Peace Prize for the Geneva-based anti-nuclear advocacy group International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
The recognition follows the organisation’s decade long work which led to the recent signing of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

“The organisation is receiving the award for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement. “Through binding international agreements, the international community has previously adopted prohibitions against land mines, cluster munitions and biological and chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons are even more destructive, but have not yet been made the object of a similar international legal prohibition,” said Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen announcing the prize. The UN treaty adopted in July has the support of 122 countries, which also includes Iran. However, major nuclear powers like the United States and Russia have stayed away from it.

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Why India-EU summit matters: Mapping next steps

- by Manish Chand

Unfazed by Brexit, India and the European Union are set to map the next steps in their mutually enriching and empowering partnership at their 14th summit in New Delhi. The 14th summit is taking place against a mutating geopolitical and geo-economic landscape, marked by uneven global economic growth and the rise of radicalism and alt-right forces in Europe and elsewhere.
In his interaction with EU leaders, including Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to raise the bar for India-EU partnership in both economic and strategic spheres.
Besides upscaling economic and strategic partnership, the 14th summit could be a milestone in entrenching the EU’s role as a key partner in India’s ongoing nation-building projects. In days to come, one can see enhanced support of the EU for flagship schemes of national resurgence like Smart City, Skill India, Clean Ganga, Digital India and Start-up India. In particular, the EU is set to emerge as one of preferred partners in India’s quest for urban renaissance.
Moving beyond specific deliverables, the 14th summit should culminate in a big picture view of steering this strategic partnership between the vibrant multi-cultural, multi-ethnic societies of India and the European Union. With the liberal global order under attack by alt-right politics and divisive forces, India and the EU can blend their strengths to champion a new narrative for open societies and inclusive globalisation.

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ASEAN-India music festival: Sounds of the future

- by India Writes Network

In a world where border walls are becoming the norm and doors are being shut to keep ‘the others’ out, the ASEAN-India music festival is aiming to do just the opposite – making borders translucent, even irrelevant with the power of music and free flow of ideas.
The first ever edition of the unique festival being organised by India’sMinistry of External Affairs, in collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Seher, an NGO, aims to initiate a new musical dialogue to celebrate cultural diversity and foster a spirit of collaboration and ever-more connectedness between India and 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The three-day festival (Oct 6-8), to be held in New Delhi’s iconic 16th century fortress Purana Qila, is part of a series of special events being organised to commemorate 25 historic years of India’s dialogue partnership with the ASEAN, themed around ‘Shared Values, Common Destiny’.

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With China on mind, India’s Navy Chief steps up Vietnam connect

- by India Writes Network

India’s Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba is on a five-day visit to Vietnam to step up defence and security cooperation with the South Asian nation which has emerged as a pivot of India’s Act East policy.
Given the fast changing geo-strategic dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region, marked by China’s increased assertiveness in the region, the Navy Chief’s visit is being watched closely in Beijing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to Hanoi in September 2016 was transformational and placed the expanding India-Vietnam ties on a new footing. During his visit, the Indian leader pledged $500 million in Lines of Credit for a host of development and defence-related projects in the Southeast Asian nation.

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Riding on love & courage slogan,Canadian Sikh to lead National Democrats

- by India Writes Network

At a time when the world is grappling with voices of polarization and Islamophobia, and when the ultranationalist rhetoric of several world leaders has done little to mitigate the situation, the rise of the Canadian Sikh man Jagmeet Singh on a slogan of ‘love and courage’ and a vision for an inclusive society has generated much curiosity and interest the world over. In just a span of a few years, the 38-year-old suave former lawyer has taken the Canadian political scene by storm, emerging as a strong rival to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

With his election as the leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party on October 1, securing a clear victory with nearly 54 per cent votes, racing way ahead of more experienced contenders, Mr. Singh has become the first non-white to be elected for the top job of a prominent Canadian political party. This makes his rise all the more important. A visibly jubilant Mr. Singh officially launched his campaign to contest the federal election next year. “The run for prime minister begins now,” he tweeted.

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US oil shipment opens a new chapter in Indo-US ties

- by India Writes Network

India’s quest to broad-base its energy security received a major boost after the first shipment of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil arrived at Paradip port in Orissa on October 2, following US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agreement on a strategic energy partnership in June this year. The shipment is part of a cumulative order of 3.9 million barrel placed by the Indian public sector refiner Indian Oil.
Crude oil exports from the US were banned for nearly four decades, starting from the 1973 OPEC (Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo to late 2015 when the then President Barack Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Since 2017, crude oil exports have surpassed more than one million barrels per day (BPD) on multiple occasions.
Mr. Sanjay Sudhir, joint secretary (International Cooperation) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, hailed the shipment as a “new chapter in the history of Indo-US trade” that will be able to guide price stability and energy security in India. He was present along with Ms. Katherine B Hadda, US Consul General in Hyderabad, and other officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Oil at the ceremony to welcome the cargo. “MT New Prosperity, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), of capacity 2 million barrels of crude, left US Gulf Coast on 19th August and arrived at Paradip port today. Indian Oil will process the crude at its East-Coast base refineries, located at Paradip, Haldia, Barauni and Bongaigaon,” the press release said.

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Chinese envoy’s post-Doklam formula for India-China ties: 1+1=11

- by India Writes Network

More than a month after India and China ended their embittered standoff at the Doklam plateau, followed by a defrosting meeting between the leaders of two countries in Xiamen, China’s ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui has conjured up a new formula for improving India-China ties that envisages reconciliation and proactive cooperation between the two Asian giants. In his formulation, Doklam, with its connotations of hostility and one-upmanship, should be replaced by a synchronous dance between Asia’s leading economies.
Alluding to the defining meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coastal city of Xiamen on September 5, the Chinese envoy said: They sent a clear message to the world, “reconciliation” and “cooperation”.
“We should turn the old page and start a new chapter with the same pace and direction. We should dance together,” the Chinese envoy said at the National Day celebrations to mark the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
“China is the largest trading partner of India. We have made a lot of progress at bilateral level, as well as in international and regional affairs. I am quite sure that with joint efforts, we will focus on cooperation, handle the difference properly, enhance mutual trust, and move forward our relations to a new height,” he said at the premises of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi on September 29.
The Chinese envoy’s 1+1 formula indicates an emerging thinking among China’s top political establishment about proactively partnering with India with a view to blending strengths and core competencies to realise dreams of national rejuvenation by both countries.

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Jaitley-Sinha slugfest: BJP big guns duel over state of Indian economy

- by India Writes Network

Has the Indian economy slowed down? If so, should Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetization be demonized? These are all-important questions that have sparked a war of words between two of BJP’s bigwigs.

The verbal duelling between India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and ex-Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha shows no signs of abating, with Mr. Sinha hitting back at Mr. Jaitley over his “job applicant at 80” jibe. “If I was a job applicant, he (Jaitley) would not be there in the first place,” Mr Sinha said.

What set off the political slugfest is a hard-hitting column by the former two-time Finance Minister and BJP veteran Mr. Sinha, criticizing the economic policies of the Modi government, and launching a personal attack on Mr. Jaitley’s poor handling of the economy. “I would be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the Finance Minister has made of the economy,” he wrote. “The Prime Minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His Finance Minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters.”

Responding to the article, Mr. Jaitley, speaking at the launch of India at 70, Modi at 3.5 – Capturing India’s transformation under Narendra Modi, by Bibek Debroy and Ashok Malik, took a swipe at Mr. Sinha saying, “Probably, a more appropriate title for your book would have been ‘India at 70, Modi at 3.5 and a job applicant at 80’.” Without taking names he further said he did not “have the luxury as yet of being a former Finance Minister; nor do I have the luxury of being a former Finance Minister who’s turned a columnist.” Mr. Jaitley also took a swipe at Mr. Sinha for “acting in tandem” with Congress veteran and ex-Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

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