Opening of Year of Culture and Art of the Peoples of China and Central Asia at the China-Central Asia Summit, Xi’an, May 18, 2023 The Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta carried a report on the eve of the China-Central Asia summit at Xi’an titled “China is changing the format of cooperation with Central Asia.” It anticipated …
China’s diplomacy on a roll in Kabul
China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) with Acting Prime Minister of Interim Government Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Kabul, March 24, 2022 Last Thursday, the Acting Foreign Minister of the Taliban interim government Amir Khan Muttaqi made a stunning remark to greet the visiting Chinese Councilor and …
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-38
Fence along Durand Line separating Pakistan & Afghanistan 38. Blowback from Afghanistan Reports of the recent period are indicative of tensions between the Taliban forces and the Pakistani military deployed on their border. On December 22, the Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi disclosed that the Taliban forces had stopped the Pakistani military from erecting …
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-34
The new railway bridge across Amur River connecting Nizhneleninskoye (Russia) with Tongjiang (China) commissioned in August, is a technology demonstrator for so-called dual-track system. 34. Central Asia hooking up to CPEC The information war is so intense nowadays that unsung melodies are often more alluring that the sung ones. The lines from English poet Shelley’s …
China’s Silk Road of Health appears in South Asia
Chinese medical workers in face masks on a deployment overseas. A virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal on July 27 becomes the third vector of Beijing’s ‘Silk Road of Health’ diplomacy in Asia. A Xinhua report on the event said China proposed that the four countries should “consolidate consensus …
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China’s BRI makes entry in post-Covid-19 era
With the rebound of the Chinese economy, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is on the march again. An Associated Press report from Beijing last Thursday said China is the first major economy to grow since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, recording a 3.2% expansion in the latest quarter following the reopening of factories and …
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US rolls out new Central Asia strategy
Every five to six years, roughly, the United States comes out with a ‘new’ Central Asia strategy. The Indian automobile industry might call it “facelift” — cosmetic changes to create an air of novelty, such as a new radiator grill, a tweak in the rear bumper, exciting colour options and so on. The document titled …
China, Myanmar to build shared future. What’s there for India?
Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Nay Pyi Taw, Jan. 18, 2020. The state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Myanmar on January 17-18, the first of its kind in nineteen years, has been a transformative event in regional politics from the perspective of China-Myanmar …
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Xi’s Nepal visit treaded softly on Indian sensitivities
Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit being received by Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Kathmandu, October 12, 2019 If anyone would have thought that in the backdrop of our “muscular diplomacy” in the recent period, there could be an anti-India bias to President Xi Jinping’s state visit to China, things didn’t happen that way. …
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Iran laments Indian apathy to cooperation
Gen. Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, met with visiting Major Gen. Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces in Beijing on Sept. 11,2019. The frank remarks to the media this week by Iran’s ambassador to India Ali Chegeni on the dismal state of his country’s relations with India …
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