Retrospect When one talks about Silk Road it conjures up visions of traders and caravans travelling from Occident to the Orient and vice versa. There have been many versions of silk roads which have been used by both traders and invaders for ages. These silk roads connected many cultures and civilizations and these exchanges were largely mutually beneficial. For instance, along with the trade Buddhist religion spread from India to Afghanistan and then to Central Asia, and beyond to China along one of the many silk roads/routes.

Amb Ashok Kantha, India’s former Ambassador to China, led a round table session on ‘China’s Emerging Global and Regional Strategy’ at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 24 Aug 2017. India’s former Foreign Secretary Amb Kanwal Sibal, Air Marshal PS Ahluwalia (retd), Lt Gen AK Ahuja (retd), Lt Gen Ravi Sawhney (retd) and Mr. CD Sahay, among others heavyweights in India’s strategic community, participated in the discussions.

India’s Interest in Central Asia In the evolving dynamics of the global order in the twenty first century there has been a fundamental shift in International Politics from Europe to Asia, and particularly to the huge Eurasian landmass. In this changing dynamics, British geographer Halford Mackinder’s theory of geopolitics has regained a new and a powerful currency. According to Mackinder, Central Asia is the ‘pivot of history’, and the huge swathe of landmass is the “Heartlands of Eurasia”. In his view whosoever ‘controls the heartlands of Eurasia, controls the world’.

The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) on 14 Jul 2017 organised a two-part Round Table Discussion with a panel of eminent maritime security and foreign policy experts, including Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Anil Chopra (Retd), former FOC-in-C, Western and Eastern Naval Commands, Dr. Vijay Sakhuja, Director, National Maritime Foundation, Amb Rajiv Sikri, former Secretary (East), MEA, Amb Dinkar Srivastava, India’s former Ambassador to Iran, Cmde Lalit Kumar (Retd), and Mr. Saurabha Chandra, among others.