Maldives Vice President Ahmed Naseem met the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Male, Wang Lixin, and reaffirmed the archipelago’s firm support for the “One-China” policy
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.
Maldives Vice President Ahmed Naseem met the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Male, Wang Lixin, and reaffirmed the archipelago’s firm support for the “One-China” policy
Sri Lanka has now agreed to take delivery of organic fertilizer from China’s Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co Ltd, almost two months after Colombo had rejected its shipment, citing poor standards, forcing the firm to initiate arbitration proceedings
The situation at the China-India border is “generally stable” and both sides are maintaining dialogue and communication through diplomatic and military channels to ease the border situation following the standoff at eastern Ladakh, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has blacklisted three Chinese state-owned firms from participating in its key infrastructure projects, including the Kathmandu airport development project, in Nepal
China has warned its companies and nationals on Friday against "blindly" visiting Afghanistan to inspect mineral resources after multiple reports emerged of foreigners being arrested without exploration permits in several provinces
Sri Lanka has decided to pay $6.7 million in compensation to the Chinese fertilizer firm after the latter initiated an arbitration proceeding against Colombo which had earlier rejected its fertilizer consignment of 20,000 metric tonnes, citing quality issues
A batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
China has denied reports that Sino Soar Hybrid Technology Co, the Chinese firm which was awarded three power projects by the Sri Lanka government, had withdrawn from the project
Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar said India was maintaining a close vigil on Chinese asset deployments in the Indian Ocean Region, and that during the peak of tensions at the India-China border earlier last year Indian naval assets were kept battle-ready
In a significant development, the Maldives has roped in Sino Soar Hybrid Technology, the Chinese firm whose projects Sri Lanka had canceled after objection from India over security concerns, to design, supply, and install power generation plants in 12 of its 200 inhabited islands. Significantly, the archipelago officially follows the ‘India First’ policy
The RIC Grouping (Russia, India, China) demonstrates genuine multilateralism in relations to the world, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday and "China will work with Russia and India acting in the spirit of openness, solidarity, trust and cooperation, in the spirit of the RIC mechanism.
Sri Lanka has awarded the contract for developing the second phase of the East Coast Terminal (ECT) of Colombo Port to China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC)
In the wake of China’s “aggressive posture” and its attempts at “multiple transgressions along the border” last year, India is very carefully examining its options with regard to its trade and investment ties with Beijing to ensure that New Delhi’s “integrity and security remain intact”, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Wednesday
Gwadar, a southwestern port city in Pakistan, has been witnessing prolonged protest as locals staged sit-in on a key highway demanding the removal of security checkpoints, end to electricity shortage, and illegal fishing
India and China are going through “a particularly bad patch” in their relationship because Beijing has taken actions “for which they still don’t have a credible explanation”, and the Chinese leadership has to take a call on where they want to take the bilateral ties, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday