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

Image credits- Flickr/ Narendra Modi Source- The Diplomat Author- Carl Thayer In 2015 Vietnam will become the country coordinator for relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India for a three-year term ending in 2018. This will be an important partnership because the strategic interests of both countries markedly converged in 2014 and are likely to continue on this trajectory. The new government in India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi views Vietnam as an essential partner for its Act East Policy. Modi has injected new momentum in the 2007 India-Vietnam strategic partnership. For example, President Pranab Mukherjee visited Hanoi from September 14-17 and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made an official visit to Delhi from October 27-28. At the conclusion of President Mukherjee’s state visit he issued a joint statement with his counterpart, President Truong Tan Sang. This statement declared “that cooperation in national defense wa

Indian Prime Minister meeting Israeli Prime Minister ( Image credits- Narendra Modi) Source- The National Interest Author- Jayita Sarkar The Indo-Israeli defense relationship is once again in focus following Benjamin Netanyahu's "sky is the limit" comment after meeting Narendra Modi in New York back in September—and especially after the signing of the long-delayed $144 million deal on Barak I missiles in October. Another milestone was crossed in November when New Delhi and Tel Aviv successfully tested the Barak 8 anti-missile system—a joint project developing an aerial defense system for naval vessels. Moreover, since Modi took power this summer, New Delhi has purchased a whopping $662 million worth of Israeli arms. So is the Indo-Israeli strategic relationship likely to be fundamentally different now that Modi is in power? Although Indo-Israeli ties are undoubtedly on the upswing, history suggests that Modi is not likely to have a fundamental impa

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ Author- Sujna Source- The Diplomat Author- Harsh V.Pant Last week India decided to send five planes and two ships carrying water and machinery parts to Maldives, after drinking water was cut off for more than 100,000 residents in the nation’s capital of Male due to a fire in the city’s only water sewage treatment plant. The Indian Navy’s patrol vessel INS Sukanya carried 35 tons of fresh water and two reverse osmosis plants, which can produce 20 tons of fresh water per day to meet the water crisis in Maldives. India’s large fleet tanker delivered about 900 tonnes of fresh water to the Maldivian capital, while two C-17 planes of the Indian Air Force (IAF) also delivered another 90 tonnes of potable water. Maldives, located southwest of India in the Indian Ocean, depends entirely on treated seawater as the low-lying island nation has no natural water source . Accordingly, Maldives asked for help from various countries including India, C

Image credits- Internet/Author Source- The Diplomat Author- Tim Steinecke The Indian Ministry of External Affairs recently announced that it would be postponing the third India-Africa Forum Summit, which had been scheduled to take place in New Delhi in December 2014. The main reason behind the decision appears to be the ongoing Ebola epidemic in Western Africa. Besides the more obvious risk of spreading the disease through intercontinental travel, it would have appeared indelicate for African heads of state to feast at banquets in New Delhi while the outbreak raged back in West Africa. Subsequently, the Indian government  pushed the summit to an unspecified date in early 2015 , leaving many observers to curiously await Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Africa policy, which he had been expected to reveal at the summit. The India-Africa Forum Summit is only one of four major international initiatives that court African leaders. This year had already seen two of the others: t

Boeing P8I ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ Indian Navy) Source- NDTV The Indian Navy is working towards a new fleet of aircraft and helicopters for maritime surveillance, electronic warfare and anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, its top commander has said. According to the naval chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan, it was imperative to expand its "maritime surveillance footprint to meet operational requirements" with 12 Boeing P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft, nine yet to be identified medium range maritime reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft and 12 Dornier-228 short range maritime reconnaissance (SRMR) aircraft. "The induction of these aircraft will provide the Indian Navy with the required surveillance capability in support of our operational roles," Adm. Dhowan told India Strategic magazine ( www.indiastrategic.in ) in an interview. At present, Boeing has a contract to supply eight P-8Is, six of which have been delivered on

Source- The National Interest Author- Gordon G.Chang On November 29, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif broke ground on a section of the Hazara Motorway, which will connect the outskirts of the capital city of Islamabad to China through the Karakoram Highway. The four-lane, fenced road in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province will, according to current projections, take two years to complete and cost $297 million. The groundbreaking move, China’s Xinhua News Agency proclaims, “signal[s] the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor agreement.” When the Corridor is completed at the turn of the decade, China will have effectively cut Pakistan in two. At the same time, Beijing will be able to use the Corridor’s new transportation links to faster deploy its forces to areas disputed by Pakistan and India. In early November in Beijing, Sharif signed Corridor pacts authorizing $45.6 billion in projects in his country. Of that total, $33.8 billion is al

Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda In an additional sign that relations between China and North Korea are not what they used to be, Pyongyang has not formally invited the Chinese government to attend the commemoration of Kim Jong-il’s third death anniversary. According to a report in South Korea’s Yonhap News based on a source with knowledge of the matter, no Chinese representative will be in attendance at this year’s ceremony, signaling growing distance between the two countries. “According to my knowledge, North Korea has not formally invited China to attend the third anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang,” notes Yonhap‘s diplomatic source. ”So, the Chinese government has not considered sending a delegation to the Dec. 17 ceremony in Pyongyang,” the source adds. This report comes as the U.N. Security Council looks to add the issue of human rights abuses in North Korea to its agenda. Following a vote by the United Nations General Assembly’s hum