IDR Blog
The Chinese White Paper on Asia - Pacific Security and the Problem of Reliability
For almost two decades, China is publishing biennial white papers on security in response to western apprehensions about a ‘China threat theory’ that emphasised initially, China’s ‘peaceful rise’ and, subsequently, its balancing of ‘peace and development’. Over the last few years, these reports have taken up special themes. For...
Defence Budget 2017-18: Chugging Along
Defence was not blanked out in the budget speech this time, as it happened last year, but while announcing the allocation for defence, the finance minister avoided any mention of the previous year’s allocation. Perhaps, it was for a reason. At Rs. 2,74,114 crore, the defence budget for 2017-18, excluding defence pensions, is only six per cent...
Pakistan and the Nature of Sunni-Shia Relations for India
Sunni-Shia relations are as old as the history of Islam but they are very peculiar in nature. The sectarian relations often thrive in the presence of external enemies, undergo violent interaction in the absence of one and are subservient to forces of nationalism. The nationalist legitimacy to a sect is an important factor in Shia-Sunni...
China Pushes for Africa on Board OBOR Bandwagon
On January 8, 2017, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on what has become something of a foreign policy tradition for China — kicking off the New Year with a state visit to Africa. Since 1991, five Chinese foreign ministers have visited Africa on their first foreign trips each year. Over a course of five days this year, Wang Yi...
The Aksai Chin Blunder
One of the Nehru Government’s biggest historical blunders has been the Aksai Chin road built by China on Indian soil without Delhi noticing it. Among the several lakhs of recently released historical documents by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a couple of Information Reports dating from 1953 bring some light on the issue. Let us look...