IDR Blog
China’s Defence Budget: Unravellingthe Mystery
China has just increased its defence expenditure for 2017 – 18 by 7 percent, claiming a slow growth due to sluggish economy. However, those following Chinese defence expenditure over the years find the official allotment of US $ 151 billion (estimated) yet another circumspect figure, a carry-on tradition by China to hide its actual defence...
Xinjiang: Relentlessly Beat and Strike Hard
Two years ago, during the ‘Two Sessions’, a senior Uygur military official declared that “terrorist attacks would not affect the overall stability of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), nor would they hinder its fast economic development, ethnic unity or religious harmony.” Major General Saimati Muhammat, a deputy...
Sri Lanka’s Fighter Selection – An Opportunity for India
In August 2016, the Sri Lankan government made the announcement that it was seeking to procure between eight and 12 combat aircraft to replace its ageing air force assets. While there has been much speculation about Sri Lanka’s choice – with the Sino-Pak JF-17 reportedly being strongly pushed by Pakistan – it is suggested that this...
Forecast 2017: India-US Strategic Partnership
The nature, intensity and direction of the US’ relations with friends, foes, partners and the marginalised countries entered a period of unprecedented uncertainty with Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential election. That Trump’s foreign policy approach would be drastically different from that of his predecessors’ was amply...
India’s Foreign Policy 2017-The Pitfalls Ahead
India’s foreign policy while focussing on India’s national interests cannot at the same time in 2017 be oblivious to China’s and Pakistan’s concerted efforts for a geopolitical and strategic diminution of India to arrest its upward rise. While India would ideally not like to be in a state of perpetual conflict with China and Pakistan...