Maritime, defence ties, ‘building on vaccine goodwill’: Decoding Jaishankar’s tours to Uganda & Mozambique

Author : Pia Krishnankutty 

Source : Zee Business

(This article mainly articulates on the different analysis and views including our faculty, Dr. Neha Sinha)

It’s an unorthodox experience to watch a foreign minister standing on a moving train in a foreign country, holding a bus handle and conducting a press conference. More so, when that train was manufactured in his own country. 

Dr Neha Sinha, Senior Assistant Professor at Amity University and former researcher on Africa affairs at Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), says air connectivity and the banking sector are areas where India and African states can cooperate better.

“There should be more direct flights between Indian cities and those in Mozambique and Uganda. Very often, you have to fly to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and then travel to these other African states. It would also be helpful if we can set up more Indian banks in Mozambique to streamline businesses there,” she said.

To Read the full article, head to : https://theprint.in/diplomacy/maritime-defence-ties-global-south-cooperation-decoding-jaishankars-tours-to-uganda-mozambique/1546503/

Dr. Neha Sinha is a Senior Assistant Professor in Amity Institute of International Studies

Lankan Crisis: Jingoism to Jeopardy?

Go home Gota”

“Go home Jokers”

“You messed with the wrong generation”

These are few of the slogans on placards wielded by young protesters in Mirihana in front of the Sri Lankan President’s private residence. Even a cursory glance on the opinion pages of different Lankan newspapers would tell one in chorus that the country is going through a politico-economic transition. The people of Sri Lanka are clearly going through hard times, and optimism is hard to come by.  Continuous power cut for more than 11 hours, long queue for diesel at pumps and for money at ATMs, scarcity of papers as exams are being cancelled for the students, severe shortage of essential commodities like rice, dal, milk powder, cooking gas, medicines etc. are causing unbearable suffering to the people of Sri Lanka. Power cut is the most serious one as manufacturing and service sector along with common households are dependent on it. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) announced a 13-hour daily power cut from March 31. The CEB Chairman said, “When God gives rain and CPC (Ceylon Petroleum Corporation) gives fuel, CFB can give power.”

Read full article at: KIIPS 

How the Quest for Autonomy Drives India’s Foreign Policy

Even as India grows unmistakably stronger ties with the United States and its allies, both bilaterally and multilaterally, it continues to vehemently oppose any pressure to pick sides in the emerging geopolitical scenario. 

While India moved closer to the United States and the broader West to counteract China’s rise as a proximate power in Asia, it has also been resolute in its intention to practice strategic autonomy. 

Full Article at: Indiatimes

Washington’s China Policy And The Quest To Shape The Strategic Environment

 While delivering a foreign policy speech recently at the George Washington University, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken minced no words in calling out China’s domestic and international behaviour. The timing is relevant, as the Ukraine crisis rattles the strategic frame of reference for the United States and its European partners. 

President Biden’s official trip to key Asian partners, the in-person Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit in Tokyo and now this China policy speech adds up to Washington attesting its resolve to deal with the China challenge front and square, in concert with like minded partners. 

Full Article at: Indiatimes

The New Geometry of India’s Foreign Policy

India’s foreign policy is undergoing a new test of choices and partners in the international system. Such a dilemma of autonomy and engagement is not new in the history of India’s dealings with the world. However, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, and the deep divisions it has created in the international community, stir up new questions about India’s foreign policy. Like a circle, is India’s multi-alignment a recycled version of its Cold War era non-alignment? Like a square, are India’s strategic orientations guided by the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) partnership with the United States, Japan, and Australia in the Indo-Pacific? Do the new shifts in the European security order, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and India’s abstention at the United Nations, create new grounds for an augmented triangle of Russia, India, and China? 

Full Article at: The Diplomat