The real change, then, is not merely that Chinese media sounded friendlier towards India. It is that they assigned India a different place in the story. New Delhi appeared as a complex but consequential partner, whose strategic autonomy and cooperation matter to China's imagining of a changing world order.
Pakistan, for its part, will have to recognise that the old assumption of an immutable treaty operating independently of the broader India-Pakistan relationship has become untenable. Islamabad cannot expect the water relationship to remain insulated indefinitely from terrorism
Hopes for Sino-Indian relations centre on a cautious diplomatic thaw, institutionalised border stability and renewed high-level engagement. Indian negotiators and defence planners are well aware that “trust must be verified”. While the activation of these eight points provides valuable channels to prevent an accidental kinetic clash on the ground, the real test of China’s sincerity will not be the joint statements signed in Beijing, but whether it ceases infrastructure build-ups and respects the historical patrolling rights of Indian troops along the LAC.
By removing the ‘Indo’ prefix from Indo-Pacific the US implicitly acknowledges that it no longer unilaterally defines the eastern strategic landscape. Regional organisations like BRICS continue to redefine the lexicon of ‘rules-based order’ to insulate themselves from western domination.
Unless Kashmir moves towards democratic governance - and New Delhi is able to reach some kind of modus vivendi over it with Islamabad - it will remain vulnerable to extremist influences and spillovers from the notorious AfPak terror sanctuaries, writes Tarun Basu for South Asia Monitor
The US will realize its strategic blunder of surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban after the entire Af-Pak-Iran region comes under Chinese influence, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
Hamstrung by the shortage of digitally skilled hands, Japan needs to rope in digital talents from India that constitutes one of the biggest digital talent pools, writes S. Majumder for South Asia Monitor
India has to reflect on its own conduct vis-à-vis smaller neighbors including Sri Lanka to have some idea of why country after country it had counted as friends are leaning towards China, writes M.R. Narayan Swamy for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh cannot solve the Rohingya crisis alone; the international community should come forward in implementing the promised humanitarian actions and work in coordination with Bangladesh to find a durable solution to the festering problem, writes Shaikh Abdur Rahman for South Asia Monitor
This pandemic has awakened us up to the reality that no nation is safe, whether powerful or weak, when nature unleashes its fury. However, it also presents an opportunity where no citizen of any nation is weak if they are determined to live in a better and cleaner environment, writes Dr. Prachi Aggarwal for South Asia Monitor
Pakistanis call Karachi 'Mini Bangladesh'. There are about 132 Bengali colonies in and around Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, writes Rakib Al Hasan for South Asia Monitor
Although the Taliban has captured at least 33 district centers in the last two months, they have no capacity, manpower, and resources to run big cities. They had tried in the past and failed miserably, writes Shraddha Nand Bhatnagar for South Asia Monitor
If GCC countries other than UAE -- like Saudi Arabia and Oman -- can emerge as important cricketing venues, their soft power appeal is likely to further get strengthened, especially vis-à-vis South Asia, writes Tridivesh Singh Maini for South Asia Monitor
The government needs to decentralize health administration by empowering local health infrastructure for a fair distribution of vaccine doses so that they penetrate hard-to-reach groups, write Abhinav Mehrotra and Dr. Biswanath Gupta for South Asia Monitor
Whether the Taliban will accept Karzai, a man with considerable charisma, distinctive and much written about capes and lambskin hat, is still not clear. But he has struck a highly conciliatory note, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
While South Asia has to grapple with deep-seated inequalities and vulnerabilities, the pandemic also provides an opportunity to find a path towards a more equitable and robust recovery, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
The P 305 tragedy ought to be the catalyst for radical reforms in India's offshore support sector, writes Commander Anand B Kulkarni (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The implications are straightforward: With rising levels of carbon dioxide in the future, there will be stronger rains with potentially destructive outcomes in the South Asian region, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
India needs to deter China through a combination of its military prowess, discerning diplomatic action, and devising ways to become economically self-reliant with investment partnerships and collaborations with like-minded nations, writes Indu Saxena for South Asia Monitor
