The SCO summit at Tianjin in China, followed by a spectacular military display in Beijing, signal a resolve to contest the vagaries of the Trump Administration and tweak the global and regional orders.
As the 14th Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday on July 6, all eyes are on his expected announcement on his reincarnation. He, himself, stated that the 15th Dalai Lama would be found in the ‘free world’. China, which ‘liberated’ Tibet in 1951 with a military invasion, on the other hand, declared its intention to select the next Dalai Lama through a ‘golden urn’ lottery process.
As a ceasefire was announced between India and Pakistan on May 10, pertinent questions are being raised about why China did not take the initiative to bring both nations to the table.
India’s military strikes as part of Operation Sindoor on nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) – in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 – have also placed China and its responses to the escalation in focus. Lin Jian, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, described the Indian strikes as “regrettable”. Beijing called on India and Pakistan “to avoid worsening the situation” and “remain calm and exercise restraint”.
SRIKANTH KONDAPALLI The China-US self-destructive and high-intensity tariff war is an opportunity for India to restructure its industrial and financial markets and intensify high grade trade liberalisation arrangements with advanced economies. Ever since the April 2 ‘Liberation Day’ surprise imposition…
Any deep understanding between the US and Russia will erode China’s influence at the high table. Rapid global developments following US President Donald Trump’s phone call to his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin, Vice President J D Vance’s critique at the Munich Security Conference and the US-Russia talks at Riyadh on resolving the Ukraine conflict, sans Ukrainian representation – have all been eroding the edifice built assiduously by China since President Nixon’s visit in 1972. The quick strategic transformation underway and the cataclysmic change it is unleashing is worrying Beijing, given its carefully crafted policies of keeping the US-Russia differences intact through multipolarity and global governance initiatives.