Strategic thinkers have maintained that geography play a key role in determining a nation's aspirations, goals and behaviour. Taking cue, the author in this paper has delved on China's geography and the courses that this factor might play in China's march towards big power goals in the coming days. Click here to read full paper
Leading a four-member delegation, Mr. YI Peng, founder President of the Pangoal Institution, a Bejing-based non-governmental think tank, visited the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 20 Sep 2016 for an interaction, targeted at exploring potentials for expanding economic cooperation between China and India, especially in the private sectors.
Leading a five-member delegation of the ‘China Association for International Friendly Contact’ (CAIFC), Mr. Liu Hanwu, Director, Asian Affairs and Standing Counsel Member of the CAIFC, visited the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 08 Sep 2016 for an interaction that broadly hinged on potentials for improving ties between China and India, especially around cultural and historical legacies.
The VIF held an internal Round Table Discussion on 12 August 2016, necessitated largely by the fact that China-Pakistan axis, which has remained India’s Achilles heel for long, has begun to manifest in recent years in ways that are increasingly detrimental not only to India’s security but also to the region’s security as a whole.
A delegation of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), led by its President Prof. Ji Zhiye, including Mr. Han Liqun and Mr. Hu Shisheng, among others, visited the VIF on 5 August 2016 for an interaction on India-China relations and the way forward.
The VIF held an internal discussion on the current trends in the Chinese economy on 21 July 2016. The discussion was held in two parts; part one of the discussion ‘Slowdown of the Chinese Economy: Implications for India’ was led by Dr. Arvind Virmani, former Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance (India) and Executive Director, IMF (International Monetary Fund), while Amb Ashok K Kantha, India’s former Ambassador to China and Distinguished Fellow, VIF, analysed the ‘New Normal in China’s Economy: Implications for India’.
The VIF organised a Seminar on ‘India-China Maritime Cooperation’ in collaboration with a few Chinese think tanks namely, Naval Research Institute of PLAN, the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS) and the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy Of Social Sciences (CASS) on 16 and 17 May 2016.
A Home Run of Military Modernisation At the dawn of Year 2016, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) officially promulgated the commencement of the final phase of restructuring of its apex setup for management of national defence as well as its highest organisation for the exercise of military command and control over its 2.3 million strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Click here to read full paper
China and the Indian Ocean Region China has been incessantly increasing its footprint in the Indian Ocean in the past decade by undertaking port infrastructure projects, managing and running ports, gaining port access for naval platforms, acquiring military bases and conducting naval exercises with countries in the region.
I. A DONE DEAL Soon after the PPP formed the government in 2008, President Asif Zardari put forward a very ambitious proposal costing around $60 billion for around 70 mega projects to Pakistan's Western donors who had formed the Friends 1 of Pakistan group.