Action against China can be on the economic front and/or military front. Action on the economic front primarily means to stop all imports from China to the extent possible, writes Vinod Aggarwal for South Asia Monitor
Can South Asia Build a Microfinance System That Protects the Poor?
Samurdhi’s community-based banking system provides a foundation in Sri Lanka through savings, member participation and livelihood support. Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank offers useful lessons in lending without conventional collateral, organising small borrower groups and placing women at the centre of financial participation.
Divided Growth in South Asia: Need for Regional Economic Architecture
The October 2026 IMF WEO projections show that South Asia's growth prospects do not follow a uniform pattern. These differences are not a reason to abandon regional cooperation, but rather a basis for strengthening more inclusive and productive integration mechanisms.
India's 'Refining Superpower': Key Role in Energy Security Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty
India may not match the United States or China in total refining capacity, but its sophisticated refining infrastructure, crude-processing flexibility, and export capability give it an important place in the global energy system.
South Asia’s Development Finance Dilemma: Debt, FDI and the Search for Productive Capital
Remittances have become an unusually large source of external finance for South Asia. But a development model in which workers migrate because domestic employment is inadequate, and then send income home to support domestic consumption, cannot indefinitely substitute for creating productive employment at home.
More on Geoeconomics, Trade and Development
Nepal Army procures essential medical equipment from China
A wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines carrying 18.84 tons of medical equipment arrived in the capital from Guangzhou of China, on Tuesday morning
Chinese company donates PPEs, other equipment to Maldives
China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), on Thursday, donated PPEs and other protective equipment to several Maldivian institutions involved in efforts to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Maldives
Indian forces accuse Chinese troops of blocking patrols
Indian armed forces have accused the Chinese People's Liberation Army of blocking patrols and unnecessarily erecting tents and deploying forces at Sikkim and Ladakh inside Indian territory on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the two countries
Xi offers Hasina Chinese experts to fight COVID-19
Chinese President Xi Jinping has offered Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a team of coronavirus experts as COVID-19 cases and death toll from the disease continue to surge in Bangladesh
Chinese power scams under CPEC cause loss of $630mn to Pak
In an effort to explore the causes for the steep cost of electricity in Pakistan, the Imran Khan government has unearthed a scam of over $630 million involving power projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
Pompeo hailed for asking China to release Tibetan holy monk
Tibet's self-declared government-in-exile President Lobsang Sangay on Tuesday thanked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for making a strong call to China for the release of the second-highest holy monk, the Panchen Lama
Trump threatens to pull top funder US out of WHO over China
Accusing the World Health Organisation of “alarming lack of independence from” China, US President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and end its financing if it did not institute reforms within a month and end its subservience
274 students brought back from China
As many as 274 Pakistani students stranded in the Chinese city of Wuhan arrived at Islamabad International Airport (IIA) on a special flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday
PLA muscle-flexing part of exercise to shape the environment in China’s favour
A major aim of China’s aggressive actions is to derail demands at the United Nations for independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. This has led to muscle-flexing all over, writes Lt Gen P. C. Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
'Wuhan Diary' releases in India in ebook format
The much-talked-about 'Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City' by well-known Chinese literary writer Fang Fang, has released in India in the ebook format
China rejects India’s objection to dam in Gilgit-Baltistan
China on Friday rejected India’s objection to the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam in the Gilgit-Baltistan region - whose sovereignty is contested by India - saying that the economic cooperation between China and Pakistan was aimed at promoting development and improving the well-being of the local population
Time to strengthen Quad to counter China’s influence
There is a geopolitical dimension to the COVID-19 tsunami that continues to leave in its wake thousands of deaths across the world
China offers to restart development work in Sri Lanka
Chinese President Xi Jinping is suggesting that China and Sri Lanka gradually resume practical cooperation in various fields, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported
Pakistan's WAPDA signs Rs442b deal with Power China-FWO
An agreement worth Rs442 billion with a joint venture of Power China and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was signed on Wednesday for the construction of a diversion system, main dam, access bridge and 21-megawatt Tangir hydroelectric power project
