The two incidents in India and Pakistan over the course of a week have shown that the coverage of terrorism by the Chinese media ecosystem largely reinforces the state’s foreign policy narratives and preferences for alignment in South Asia. Pakistan emerges as a clear preference for the public, which is reinforced by commentators and opinion makers on non-state news media platforms.
CPEC 2.0 is expected to serve as a major leverage tool for China to access Afghanistan’s untapped natural resources and enhance connectivity to Pakistan and Central Asia. However, for Afghanistan, the initiative may be more of a challenge than an opportunity. Countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives have already faced severe economic consequences from poorly structured Chinese-funded projects.
China's rise has, in the consensus view of most international relations scholars, fundamentally changed South Asia. The old, India-centric region is gone. Pakistan has tied its future to Beijing, seeing China as its ultimate guarantor. Bangladesh has played a smart game, using Chinese money for national development while maintaining its "friendship-to-all" foreign policy. The Teesta project shows Dhaka's new confidence in following its own national interest. For India, the challenge is immense, as it must now compete for influence in its own backyard.
India's increased naval exercises, combined with its Indo-Pacific ambitions and Western partnerships, indicate a shift from coastal defense to regional management. For smaller coastal states, such patterns can readily translate into worry, not from an impending threat, but from an inferred sense of power. When a major power operates near contested or shared spaces, the neighbors are obligated to interpret purpose through action.
China said on Tuesday that the current situation on the border areas with India was "stable" as it confirmed that the 14th round of Corps Commander-level talks to discuss the disengagement process in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh will be held on Wednesday
China has removed People’s Bank of Sri Lanka, a state-owned bank, from its blacklist where it was placed after failing to pay a Chinese firm for a fertilizer deal
India will continue to take up with China the return of over 23,000 stranded Indian students, besides a large number of Indian workers and their families, who are currently stranded in India for the last two years due to travel restrictions imposed by Beijing because of the Covid-19 pandemic
It may be an irony but China’s aggression has pushed India to expedite long overdue military replacements and urgent purchases, writes Col Anil Bhat (retd) for South Asia Monitor
India is looking forward to a "constructive" dialogue with China to resolve issues in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh, sources in the security establishment said on Monday ahead of the 14th round of military talks between the two sides on the 20-month border row
In a veiled reference to India, China has said “no third party” can derail its strong ties with Sri Lanka, hours after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded his visit to Colombo
Sri Lanka and the Maldives, two of China’s close developmental partners in South Asia, have sought debt restructuring when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded his five-nation tour that included the two South Asia countries
Sea cucumber farming is slowly becoming popular in the northern part of Sri Lanka where over 600 fishermen are currently involved in the lucrative trade
Security analysts are baffled how an agreement between ISRO and Oppo India has been signed as it greatly increases the security risk for India
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the Pakistan-China Business Investment Forum to fast-track project approvals and investment proposals from Chinese investors
Sri Lanka has been looking to Chinese tourists, considered the world’s largest spending tourists, to revive its struggling tourism industry as Sri Lankan officials and airlines hold discussions with leading Chinese group tour operators
A week after a group of Indian parliamentarians, including a minister in the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended a dinner reception hosted by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi expressed “concern” over their participation and asked them in separate letters to “refrain from providing support to the ‘Tibetan independence’ forces”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives early January, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian confirmed, as Beijing seeks to enhance its influence in the region, considered as India's backyard
The Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka visit to the Northern region of Sri Lanka, during which he travelled to Jaffna and Mannar and the northernmost point of the island at Point Pedro, has raised curiosity, and concern
China never accepts deadlines on resolving disputes; in the decades to come it's going to be a hostile coexistence for India and China, write Pradeep S. Mehta and Sandra George for South Asia Monitor
