A trilateral foreign minister level meeting agreed to extend China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, Islamabad, May 5, 2023 The Xi’an Declaration, issued after the First China-Central Asia Summit at Xi’an on May 18-19, takes a direct hit at the West’s interference in the region, scattering the notion in Washington and Brussels that Russia and China’s …
Continue reading “Russia, China take holistic view of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush”
French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and US President Joe Biden met in the White House, Washington, DC, Dec. 1, 2022 The state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to the United States stands out as a signpost of the alignments taking place against the backdrop of the historic churning in the world order. The two …
Continue reading “Macron’s US visit tells Europe’s alienation”
On the evening of 18 March, President Xi Jinping (R) had a video call with US President Joe Biden at the request of the latter. The Chinese stance on developments around Ukraine was initially one-dimensional, namely, there is no conceivable comparison between Ukraine and Taiwan issues, as they are fundamentally different, because Taiwan is a …
Continue reading “China sees parallel between Ukraine, Taiwan”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) met with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link on December 15, 2001 The New York Times got the story correct when its Moscow bureau watched the outcome of the videoconference between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday and assessed that the US’ two main adversaries …
Continue reading “A Sino-Russian military alliance is gratuitous (as of now)”
Quad Upgrade: US President Joe Biden plans the first-ever summit meeting with Quad counterparts from India, Japan, Australia The Axios reported Friday that President Joe Biden plans to meet his counterparts from the so-called Quad — Japan, Australia and India — later this month. Biden’s plan can potentially transform the regional alignments in Asia-Pacific. Its …
Continue reading “Biden proposes a Quad summit. This is why”
After seven long years of negotiations, China and the European Union announced on December 30 that they have reached a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). It is a hugely consequential event for the world economy and international politics. The agreement is destined to rebalance the trade and investment relationship between two of the top three …
Continue reading “China-EU deal is a reality check for India”
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) received US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L), Colombo, October 28, 2020 Third-country cooperation is highly complex, unpredictable phenomenon. Not even the closest allies can pull it off easily. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, denied that oil interests influenced policy in Iraq, but archives show that the British …
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the special meeting of the European Council, Brussels, October 1, 2020 The European Council special meeting in Brussels on 1st October had Turkey, Belarus, Russia and China on its agenda. The foreign-policy decisions of the summit — comprising the heads of state or government of all EU countries, the …
Continue reading “Europe marks distance from Indo-Pacific strategy”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa (L) held a virtual summit on September 26, 2020 The virtual summit between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa turned out to be somewhat surreal. The summit was the first of its kind Modi has had …
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) signed the statements on the “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era” and on “strengthening contemporary global strategic stability”, Moscow, June 5, 2019 The first part of the three-part essay is here. The second part is here. Discourse of shared legacies The …
Continue reading “The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes of Age — Part 3”
