https://www.scmp.com/rss/324766/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com At a time when most of the major players in the world and region have either supported or ignored India’s recent actions relating to the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, China has stayed true to form by backing Pakistan. Beijing has now formally asked for “closed consultations” in the UN Security Council to discuss India’s decision to revoke the state’s special status after Pakistan, a long-term ally of China, wrote to Poland, the current council president, about the issue. The matter will... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3023168/why-china-may-want-play-down-its-reaction-indias-actions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3023168/why-china-may-want-play-down-its-reaction-indias-actions?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Aug 2019 00:30:15 +0000 The Indian and Chinese militaries have resumed their annual interaction, with an Indian Army team arriving in Chengdu this week for the “Hand in Hand” exercise. This is the seventh exercise, but its import lies in its being the first after Doklam. Although as such exercises go, these are very small, particularly given the sizes of the two militaries, their tokenism is of importance. They suggest we may now be closer to the thaw that was spreading till Doklam put a freeze on relations. The two... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2177907/could-china-and-india-turn-their-post-doklam-thaw-spring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2177907/could-china-and-india-turn-their-post-doklam-thaw-spring?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Dec 2018 03:22:05 +0000 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s president, Xi Jinping, are meeting once again, this time at Wuhan. The shadow of the Doklam stand-off is now subsumed by the larger shadow of the looming trade war and the threatened rollback of globalisation.  US President Donald Trump has fired the first shot with sanctions targeting US$100 billion of Chinese imports. If not checked, the consequent economic bloodshed might result in the collapse of the globalisation arrangements that set off the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2143794/will-wuhan-parley-see-china-and-india-join-hands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2143794/will-wuhan-parley-see-china-and-india-join-hands?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Apr 2018 09:00:23 +0000 The Maldives is one of the world’s most geographically dispersed countries, as well as the smallest Asian country by both land area and population, with around 428,000 inhabitants. But it is the geography of the Maldives that makes it important in the increasingly contested Arabian Sea part of the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is spread over 1,192 coral islands – with an average elevation of about 1.5m – grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls spanning more than 90,000 sq km, making it a nation of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2134327/indias-dilemma-maldives-it-time-deal-chinese-influence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2134327/indias-dilemma-maldives-it-time-deal-chinese-influence?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2018 02:45:45 +0000 What is commonly referred to as the “border dispute” between India and China manifests itself in two distinct and separate areas of contention. One is Aksai Chin, a virtually uninhabited high-altitude desert expanse of about 37,000 square kilometres. The other is what is now the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, a diversely populated hill region with a population of around 1.4 million people spread out over 84,000 square kilometres, much of which China claims as Lower Tibet. Aksai Chin lies... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2124528/why-india-and-chinas-border-disputes-are-so-difficult?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2124528/why-india-and-chinas-border-disputes-are-so-difficult?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Dec 2017 02:02:26 +0000 Last month US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson dropped by New Delhi during a five-nation hop that included Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and Switzerland. A month earlier, Tillerson had visited China to lay the groundwork for US President Donald Trump’s visit to China this week. China-US ties have been strained by Trump’s criticism of China’s trade practices and by demands that Beijing do more to rein in North Korea. A visit by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross preceded Tillerson’s visit, during... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2118381/opinion-india-not-about-play-us-game-rivalry-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2118381/opinion-india-not-about-play-us-game-rivalry-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Nov 2017 07:45:17 +0000 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan evidently had a good trip to India last week. In recent months there has been a determined effort by Japan, and its many friends resident in India, to bring these two Asian giants closer and close ranks against the third and increasingly assertive Asian giant. The Doklam crisis gave Japan a great opportunity to win goodwill in India and it seized the opportunity with both hands by becoming only one two countries, alongside the United States, that openly... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2112275/why-india-wants-avoid-having-choose-between-china-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2112275/why-india-wants-avoid-having-choose-between-china-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Sep 2017 11:02:19 +0000 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are about to meet again, this time at the BRICS summit in Xiamen. It will hopefully be a better meeting than their last one – on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg in July – which didn’t exactly exude good vibes. While the Indian side was at pains to explain that the two leaders met and spoke about important matters of mutual interest, the Chinese side administered a snub, saying nothing more than handshakes and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2109409/fast-growing-economies-are-fast-becoming-new-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2109409/fast-growing-economies-are-fast-becoming-new-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Sep 2017 03:18:56 +0000 The Sino-Indian border is 4,056 km long, and for the most part it straddles the Himalayan crest and goes over desolate areas. Not a shot has been fired across the border since 1967, when the armies of China and India fought a short but brutal war at Nathula, very near the area of the present standoff. Both countries have large concentrations of troops, often eyeball to eyeball, all along the border. The problem is that not only is the border not demarcated, even the lines of actual control are... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2101797/opinion-chinas-border-row-india-points-mutual-distrust?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2101797/opinion-chinas-border-row-india-points-mutual-distrust?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jul 2017 06:03:38 +0000