Threats to the realization of India’s potential   
   

For all of India’s many and weighty advantages and its present trajectory, a fatal stall cannot be ruled out. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, has India gone for the inherent virtue of socialism as the equal sharing of miseries to the inherent vice of capitalism as the unequal sharing of blessing? (The Japan Times)

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India’s South China Sea Warning   
   

An influential Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper has warned that ‘every means possible’ should be used to stop India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Videsh engaging in exploration projects in the South China Sea. (The Diplomat)

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Great Game in the Indian Ocean   
  
Revelations that Pakistan has invited China to build a naval base at the strategic port of Gwadar once again underlines widespread anxiety in India and beyond about Beijing's Indian Ocean objectives. (The Japan Times)

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US-India: Parallel links along China’s southern periphery  

Ups and downs in the US-India bilateral relationship and speculation about China as a factor in the Indo-US "strategic partnership" grab the headlines and dominate policy analysis. Concurrently, little noticed parallels link US and Indian efforts to strengthen their ties with Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. These states' positive responses are slowly filling a geographic gap between India and Japan. In addition, both the United States and India eye growing Chinese naval capabilities with some concern. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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The new India-Russia-Kazakh trio   
  

The relations between India and Kazakhstan, the oil-rich Central Asian state, go back to more than 2500 years and archaeological evidence corroborates the migration of Saka tribes from the present-day Kazakhstan to India’s northwest frontier. (Russia & India Report)

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Chinese capitalism: some lessons for India   
   

Chinese people support their form of capitalism simply because it has delivered and promises to deliver in the foreseeable future as well. The greatest achievement has been to lift more than 400 million people out of abject poverty in three decades through economic growth at breakneck speed. (East Asia Forum)

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Multilateralizing Chinindia   
   

The last few years have witnessed a regular stream of irritants in Sino-Indian interactions. Even bilateral trade, once regarded as the pillar of their rapprochement, has been losing its shine with a rising trade deficit in China's favor reaching US$16 billion in 2010. This deficit is expected to reach US$25 billion by 2015 with total trade at around US$100 billion. Unless the two countries explore other avenues of mutual benefit, even this modest trade target may become impossible to achieve. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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Why Central Asia matters to India   
   

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent visit to Kazakhstan is a reminder of how high stakes are in central Asia for Indian foreign policy priorities. While the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev needed legitimacy for his re-election victory that has been criticised in the western capitals, for New Delhi there are real issues in that part of the world that concern its national security and economic growth. Not surprisingly, the two main areas that were given serious consideration were the civilian nuclear cooperation pact and the situation in Afghanistan. (The Reddif News)

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The Japan-India Nuclear Agreement: Enhancing Bilateral Relations  

Japan-India relations have been improving rapidly since 2005 when the Japanese and Indian prime ministers began alternating reciprocal visits. Building on the momentum created by the establishment of the Japan-India strategic partnership two years earlier, the Japanese and Indian governments issued a joint statement on security cooperation to mark Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan in 2008. In February 2011, the two governments indicated a further strengthening of relations by signing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a major step in fostering closer economic ties. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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India in 2025: What Kind of a Superpower?  

India’s sustained economic growth, entrepreneurial society and young population have it poised to become an economic superpower within the next 15 years, argues Professor Anil K. Gupta. With its vibrant democracy and free press, the country provides an alternative to China, if it can overcome daunting challenges. But what kind of superpower will India become? (Global Asia)

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In India, Doubts Gather Over Rising Giant’s Course     
    

India's economy is going great guns. Among the world's major nations, its growth is second only to China's. Yet in recent months, the mood in the planet's most-populous democracy has soured badly—to the point where even some of India's richest people have begun to complain that things are seriously amiss.               (The Wall Street Journal)

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India looks East in search of new partners   
   

India's signing of comprehensive economic pacts with both Malaysia and Japan in the past few weeks is only the latest signal of how seriously the country is pursuing its 'Look East' policy. In a spate of recent regional engagements from Indonesia to Vietnam, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made it clear that his government's foreign-policy priority will be East and Southeast Asia, regions poised for sustained growth in the 21st century. (The Diplomatic Courier)

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What strategies might work in the Indian Ocean?   
   

The rise of India, and its future strategic direction, has excited interest in the options for developing regional economic and security cooperation in the Indian Ocean. (East Asia Forum)

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East Asia Integration – China’s Reservations on India Playing a Leading Role  

"China and India, two great nations that have gone through so many trials and tribulations, will, as always, remain vibrant, live up to the important mission bestowed by history, and work together for new glories of the Oriental civilization “ – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, 15 December 2010.  It may be a folly to treat Wen’s words as empty, intended only to please the Indian audience; instead they deserve to be taken seriously as signifying the outcome of the fundamental transformation that has taken place in the Chinese thinking on ties with India ever since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) embarked on a ‘reforms and opening up’ policy in 1978.             (South Asia Analysis Group)

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India-Japan closer economic partnership   
   
In a far-reaching strategic move, India and Japan signed the much-awaited comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) on 16 February. Under this agreement, India agreed to remove tariffs on 94 per cent of good over the next 10 years. The deal will facilitate trade growth and enable both parties to reach the target of US$25 billion worth bilateral trade by 2014 from its present US$10.3 billion. This deal has special significance. Barring a similar deal with Singapore and South Korea, this is the first trade deal India has signed with a major industrial country. (East Asia Forum)

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ASEAN looks to India for a more meaningful relationship   
  

With Russia and US joining the expanded East Asia Summit later this year in Indonesia, ASEAN is leaning towards India as a new countervailing force in the new strategic landscape of Asia. As India rises both in terms of political and economic clout, the overall expectation of ASEAN also rises. As the world's largest democracy, India needs to be more assertive and come out of its shell. (The Nation)

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What’s Next in Asia?   
   

As India and China continue their phenomenal growth on the world economic stage, the focus on these two key markets have seen a growth of Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and supporting industries moving to markets like Singapore and Hong Kong as gateways to North and South Asia. There has also been movement into newer, emerging markets like Vietnam and Indonesia where some are successfully riding the coattails of these more established markets. (PRNewswire)

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The India-Indonesia strategic and trade partnership      
   

The visit of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as Chief Guest for India’s 2011 Republic Day Celebrations, lent much needed substance to the strategic partnership initiated by the two regional neighbours during his previous visit in 2005. India has signed a preferential merchandise trade agreement with ASEAN, of which Indonesia is a key member.       (East Asia Forum)

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Will ‘Chindia’ Rule the World in 2050, or America after all?   
   

With a small tweak in assumptions and the inexorable force of compound arithmetic, Citigroup and HSBC have come up with radically different pictures of what the world will look like in 2050. (The Telegraph)

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The exceptional Asian   

This Asian nation has a rich civilization but a troubled recent past. Its cultural genius has all too often been submerged by misguided rulers and foreign intervention. Increasingly integrated into circuits of global capital, having cracked the universal code of modernity, it is rapidly ascendant as an economic super-power. Having rebuilt itself out of the ashes of mass violence, and no longer a middling backwater, this Asian country demands world recognition. The west ignores it as a competitor and global player at its own peril. Which country are we speaking about? Not India in 2011, but Japan in 1970. (International Institute for Asian Studies)

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