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

Credits- Getty Images Source- The Diplomat Author- Kabir Taneja At a recent business event in a major European city, a senior executive was heard to explain why his company did not do business in China. His main argument was economic: The Chinese market was crowded with competitors to midsize companies such as his. But the executive also said that he felt more comfortable doing business in democratic economies such as India, even if it takes more effort and time for projects to come to fruition. While that view may be in the minority among corporate investors, it offers one more reason why India, the world’s largest democracy and a market economy set to be the world’s fastest growing by next year, should become a global economic hub without any further delay. In fact, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now moving to realize this ambition, and the world is showing renewed interest in the India story following the change in government last year. Yet the E

Image credits- Flickr / MEA Official Source- The Diplomat Authors- Neelam Deo & Karan Pradhan Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh on June 6-7 completes his arc of reaching out to India’s neighbors in South Asia. But, for now, two exceptions remain—the Maldives, where former president Mohamed Nasheed has been imprisoned, and Pakistan. With both countries, India’s relations are at a low point. Despite these exceptions, the year-old Bharatiya Janata Party government has clearly demonstrated that India’s neighborhood foreign policy is a priority. This new focus has replaced India’s past reticence in engaging with its neighbors—a holding back that was misplaced, as is evident from the warm welcome given to Modi, both by the people and by the parliaments, in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan. With their enthusiastic responses, and the signing of numerous agreements and project deals, India’s neighbors too have made it clear that they prefer

Image source / Credits- Narendra Modi official Source- Eurasia Review Author- Dr. Sridhar Krishnaswami There has been a lot of praise and heartburn over the fashion in which Narendra Modi has charted India’s foreign policy in the last one year in office. It is natural for supporters and detractors to look at New Delhi’s track record but to argue there are serious lapses in which the current prime minister has gone about in India’s external relation could be a little disingenuous — a country’s foreign policy cannot be abruptly shifted or turned around in one year. Just ask President Barack Obama what he said on American foreign policy during his presidential campaigning in 2007-08 and what has come about some eight years down the line! It is not as if Indian foreign policy was in tatters when Modi came to office. What happened to Indian foreign policy some ten years before Modi was elected was indeed a different ball game — a then prime minister unable to steer a stead

Image Credits- MEA Official photo gallery, Government of India Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Bangladesh this weekend, where he signed, among other agreements, a resolution of the long-standing land border dispute between the two countries. Modi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signed 20 agreements and memorandums of understanding on issues as diverse as infrastructure, energy, health, and education. The two leaders additionally consulted on counter-terrorism cooperation, boosting trade, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Modi and Hasina additionally broached the sensitive issue of Teesta River water-sharing. On the security front, one of the more interesting agreements to emerge from Modi’s trip so far has been a bilateral agreement that will grant Indian cargo vessels use of the China-backed Chittagong port and Mongla port in Bangladesh. This agreement was reportedly under discussion

Image credits- Reuters Source- The Diplomat Author- Iskander Rehman Since his investiture last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has startled many observers with the hyperactive nature of his foreign policy. Inevitably, journalistic commentary tends to focus primarily on the Modi administration’s diplomatic engagement with established great powers, such as the United States, or with emerging behemoths such as China. In contrast, when India’s relations with European nations are discussed, it is almost invariably through the softer, blurrier, lens of economic and trade-related issues. There is, however, a “hard” aspect to India’s ties with certain industrialized middle powers in Europe – and all too often the strategic dimension of these relationships is overlooked. This is particularly true with regard to the French Republic. There has always been a rather unique quality to the Franco-Indian relationship. Even at the height of the Cold War, when India’s rapport

Image credits- Flickr / PMO Official gallery Source- The Diplomat Author- Rohan Joshi In his first year in office as prime minister of India, Narendra Modi has infused vitality into India’s engagement with the rest of the world. He has worked to correct the faltering trajectory of India’s relationship with the United States and has attempted to expand economic ties with China while being forthright in his appraisal about challenges in the relationship.  He has also attempted to re-engage the smaller states in India’s immediate neighborhood and has reached out to the democracies of East Asia and the West. As of May 19, 2015 Modi has visited 18 countries in an official capacity, unprecedented for any Indian Prime Minister in so short a time.  For some, it may seem surprising that Modi, whose electoral campaign focused heavily on the economy and government corruption, has dedicated as much time as he has on foreign policy matters. In reality, Modi, like previous Indi

Greek Submarine S-120 Papanikolis ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- GDK) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan-Gady Today, German Defense Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, began an official two-day visit to India with the aim of promoting stronger bilateral defense cooperation. While in New Delhi, she held talks with top Indian officials, including her Indian counterpart. Von der Leyen offered Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar German submarine technology as well as the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter, manufactured by a consortium of European defense contractors, Der Spiegel reports. “I wanted to send a clear signal that the [German] federal government will support this,” von der Leyen told Der Spiegel. The German defense minister also noted that “there is Indian interest in industry cooperation for the construction of submarines.” India accounts for almost 15 percent of global defense imports and German arms exporters are looking to pr

Image credits- Prime Minister's office, Government of India Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda Vietnamese Defense Minister Phùng Quang Thanh is in India for a three-day visit this week. On Monday, Thanh met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar. Thanh’s visit to India is intended to bolster strategic ties between India and Vietnam and comes at a time of rising tensions in the South China Sea–where Vietnam disputes the sovereignty of various islands and reefs with China. Additionally, the Indian government has framed its approach toward Vietnam in terms of its proactive “Act East” policy. Parallel to Thanh’s visit to New Delhi, Indian and Vietnamese senior diplomats held their seventh deputy ministerial-level political consultation in Hanoi. According to a statement posted on the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) website, “Gen. Thanh briefed Prime Minister Modi about defence and security related developments in the

Image source- Flickr / Credits- MEA Official gallery Source- The National Interest Author- Gordon G. Chang On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry completed a two-day trip to Beijing. The day before, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi wrapped up his three-day visit to Xian, Shanghai, and Beijing. Everyone, it seems, is going to China, implicitly acknowledging that this is indeed its century. In reality, however, the period of Chinese primacy, if it ever existed, is just about over. Neither Modi nor Kerry was in any mood to accommodate Beijing on core issues. We start with Modi. The Indian leader was happy to travel to China to pick up commitments for Chinese investment into his country, and on this score, he appeared successful. On Saturday, he inked twenty-six memos of understanding for business deals valued by his government at $22 billion.  Modi, however, was not persuaded to agree to what Beijing wanted. He did not, for instance, endorse Chinese pre