Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

The President Nicolas Maduro  ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Cancilleria Del Ecuador) Source- The Diplomat Author- Shannon Tiezzi Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that China has provided a new loan of $5 billion to Venezuela. Maduro said the loan would be used to “finance development,” but did not provide details. Venezuela, already in a precarious economic situation, has been hit especially hard by the dramatic drop in oil prices that began last year. Data from Venezuela’s oil minister suggests that Venezuelan oil prices have fallen almost 50 percent since last year – from $97 a barrel in April 2014 to $50 a barrel today. Maduro visited China in January 2015, making no secret of the fact that he hoped to secure a fresh infusion of funding to shore up Venezuela’s struggling economy. Since 2007, China has provided over $50 billion in loans to Venezuela in so-called oil-for-loan deals. That means the loan is repaid in the form of oil a

Image credits- MEA Official photos Source- The Diplomat Author- Darshana M. Baruah As China continues to draw attention to the South China Sea with its land reclamation and creation of artificial islands, it is also important to look at Chinese activities in the not-so-contentious but strategically important Indian Ocean Region. Beijing, with the help of economic and commercial initiatives, is mapping out a web of influence by increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean. As I argued in a previous article published by The Diplomat, access to and control of the islands in the Indian Ocean is crucial for Beijing to secure its strategic interests in the region. There are two reasons for China’s expansion into the Indian Ocean. First, some of these islands — such as Kyaukpyu — can prove to be China’s answer to its Malacca Dilemma, strengthening its energy security by reducing its dependence on the Strait of Malacca. Second, an increasing presence in the Indian Ocean

PLAN Type 52 B destroyer Guangzhou ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Boleslav1)  Source- The Diplomat Author- Michael Carl Hass In a recent article in The Washington Quarterly, two well-respected scholars of Chinese military affairs seek to debunk the idea that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been designing its modernization drive and strategic planning around the concept of “counter-intervention,” which refers to the ability to force an outside power to stand off from the Chinese mainland and its immediate periphery during a conflict. Their assessment is based on a meticulous review of Chinese military texts, which the great majority of Western defense analysts will find difficult to dispute and which imbues their work with an air of scholarly authority, even where their judgments stray beyond what is warranted by their careful review of the language involved. The article has made quite a splash, with The Diplomat’s Franz-Stefan Gady going so far as

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Henry Le  Source- The Diplomat Author- Lucio Blanco Pitlo III The celebrated revival of the Silk Road would seem to herald the return of China’s charm offensive, winning over neighbors and other countries in the region through increased trade incentives and transport connectivity. If developing a sound soft power strategy is the mark of a rising world power, does this mean China is on its way? Certainly, in the wake of recent episodes of differences and disputes, the initiative should be seen as a welcome development. Nonetheless, some countries along the envisioned route remain wary and skeptical of the real intentions behind this offering, as well as the possible unfavorable conditions that may be attached to it. In addition, while Beijing tends to highlight its economic credentials, the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter, SREB/MSR) has strategic, political and security implications that pa

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Kremlin Archives Source- The Diplomat Author- Artyom Lukin In 1904 the founder of geopolitics Sir Halford Mackinder famously pronounced the end of “the Columbian epoch” – that of the dominance of the Western sea power – and the advent of the age of land power, in which the Heartland of Eurasia, or “the pivot area,” would hold the key to the world domination. The pivot area largely corresponded to the territory of the then Russian Empire – occupying central and northern Eurasia. Mackinder’s main concern was that a rapidly industrializing and expansionist Tsarist Russia could successfully challenge the West’s sea-power-based primacy, taking advantage of the Heartland’s geostrategic centrality and harnessing the huge potentialities of Inner Eurasia’s vast landmass. In actuality, Russia was never able to pull off such a feat – neither under the Tsar, nor in its Soviet reincarnation. It seems even less capable of achieving it now,

Image credits- Flickr / MEA Official Source- The Diplomat Author- Kabir Taneja On January 18, a Reuters reported claimed that Sri Lanka’s now former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had expelled the station chief of India’s intelligence agency in Colombo after accusing him of working against his government and supporting the opposition. India denied the claim, but the report serves as an example of Rajapaksa’s thorny attitude towards New Delhi, irrespective of the face presented by public diplomacy. The docking last September of a Chinese naval submarine in Colombo turned heads in New Delhi, just as the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was still getting up to speed. The event underlined the magnitude of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka under Rajapaksa, despite assurances from Beijing that the docking was a routine stopover to re-stock on supplies before heading to the Gulf of Aden to participate in anti-piracy operations. A month later in October,

Indian troops under UN flag in Congo ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Attribution- Julien Harneis ) Source- The Diplomat Author- Pushan Das As the conflict in South Sudan crosses the one year mark, China is preparing its first deployment of combat troops in UN peacekeeping operations, reflecting the change in the country’s policy of non-interference based on principles set down by Premier Zhou Enlai at the 1955 Bangdung Peace Conference. But what exactly does this deployment of 700 combat troops to South Sudan mean – is it an example of China using its military to safeguard its commercial interests in the region? And does it also open up a new front in the country’s rivalry with India, which has been one of the major security providers operating under the UN flag on the African continent? With both countries becoming ever more dependent on African resources to drive their growing economies, India and China’s interests in peace and stability for trade are very high –