Podcasts about actual control lac

What does it take to lead soldiers in the world's harshest battlefield? In this episode of In Our Defence, Major General Sudhakar Jee (Retd.) shares powerful lessons in leadership drawn from his deployments in Siachen and along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) against China. Through gripping personal anecdotes, General Jee takes host Dev Goswami through what it means to command troops in freezing altitudes, under constant threat, and in terrain that tests not just physical endurance but mental clarity. We explore the burden of leadership in high-stakes environments, how officers manage their men in the face of danger, and what India's military posture along the LAC reveals about evolving strategic priorities with respect to the border standoff with China. Tune in! Produced by Prateek Lidhoo Sound mix by Aman Pal

Last week, after over four years of tensions on the border, India and China reached a significant agreement to resume military patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in key areas, including Depsang and Demchok, in eastern Ladakh.Why now, though? What might be driving China's sudden openness to negotiate a truce? And does this development suggest that we are truly on the cusp of a détente or perhaps even a rapprochement, with China?In this episode of Geeta's World, our host, Anna Priyadarshini, and the foreign affairs editor at India Today, TV Today Network, Geeta Mohan, discuss!Listen in!Produced by Anna PriyadarshiniSound Mix by Sachin Dwivedi

India and China have reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This is expected to lead to “disengagement” and eventually a proper resolution of the tensions that had emerged along the India-China border in 2020. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that this agreement is just the “first phase”. What exactly is covered by this patrolling pact? What are the outstanding issues that remain? And what is the significance of the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in the context of this agreement? Guest: Jabin T Jacob, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shiv Nadar University. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

India and China have agreed to resume military patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, marking a step toward disengagement, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia for the BRICS Summit. PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first formal discussion since the 2020 border clashes, signalling renewed dialogue after years of military buildup on both sides.In the latest In Our Defence podcast, host Dev Goswami and defence analyst Shiv Aroor break down this diplomatic shift. Does this signal an end to the four-year standoff, or could it be a temporary lull? How significant is the timing, and can these talks lead to tangible changes on the ground? Is this really a 'breakthrough' moment for India? While Modi and Xi's recent talks may signal diplomatic progress, the hosts remain sceptical, questioning whether China's intentions are ‘trustworthy'. They explore why India focuses less on trust and more on strategic caution, with each move on the LAC grounded in military readiness rather than expectations of goodwill.The real test, the hosts suggest, lies in the details of implementation. Will there be clear timelines and phased steps, or will the process remain slow and complex? And what could a cautious, phased approach mean for long-term peace between the two countries? The hosts weigh in on what this could mean for the future of relations between the two nations.Produced by Anna PriyadarshiniSound mix by Sachin Dwivedi

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.Today is the 26th of September and here are the headlines.India and China are learnt to have made “significant progress” in narrowing their gap on pending issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. This includes exploring the contours of a possible solution that factors in their respective pre-April 2020 positions while agreeing to address existing issues in Arunachal Pradesh, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said this might imply that Indian troops, whose access to certain patrolling points along the LAC were blocked either by Chinese troops or due to the implementation of the buffer zones created in the backdrop of disengagement at specific friction points, might be close to accessing them again.THE CBI is probing the sale and disposal of biomedical waste as part of its alleged corruption case at Kolkata's R G Kar Medical College Hospital, the epicentre of a political firestorm after last month's rape and murder of a medical intern there. A little-known company, SNG Envirosolutions, could hold one key to this in the manner it grew to handle up to 70% of waste from government hospitals across the state, including at RG Kar, without owning a single waste treatment plant, in violation of its contract's terms, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed.Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has been granted bail, hours after a magistrate's court in Mumbai convicted him in a defamation case filed by Medha Somaiya, the wife of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya. Raut's sentence was also suspended for 30 days, granting him time to file an appeal. Lawyer Vivekanand Gupta, representing Medha Somaiya, said Raut was found guilty under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the magistrate court in Mazgaon. The court has sentenced Raut to 15 days imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000, Gupta said.The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) today informed the Bombay High Court that its revising committee suggested some cuts for the Kangana Ranaut film Emergency before its release. The CBFC was responding to a plea by co-producer Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, which alleged that the CBFC was “illegally” and “arbitrarily” withholding certification for the film. It is directed and co-produced by BJP MP Ranaut, who also plays the role of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.After the lawyer representing Zee Entertainment sought time to take instructions to decide whether the cuts should be made, a bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh P Pooniwalla posted further hearing for Monday, September 30.Unknown miscreants have vandalised the BAPS Hindu temple in California's Sacramento, desecrating it with a hate message, the BAPS Public Affairs said. BAPS Public Affairs said in a post on X, “Less than 10 days after the desecration of the @BAPS Mandir in New York, our Mandir in the Sacramento, CA area was desecrated last night with anti-Hindu hate. We stand united against hate with prayers for peace." Wednesday night's incident comes after the desecration of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Melville, New York, on September 17.This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by The Indian Express.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in St. Petersburg on 12 September, focusing urgently on military disengagement on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In Episode 1519 of #CutTheClutter, Editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta looks at what the shift in diplomatic relations between India and China signal for both the countries and why it is important

A brand-new airbase has been established at an incredibly high altitude of over 13,000 feet. This airbase is designed to boost our ability to respond to a more assertive China. It includes fighter aircraft, advanced radars, and upgraded drones, all aimed at improving surveillance in Ladakh. Named the Nyoma air base, it's the third such facility in Ladakh for fighter aircraft operations. There are already similar bases in Leh and Thoise. The Nyoma air base's construction has begun, and it's less than 50 kilometers away from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the border between India and China. Is this going to make a big difference? Why did India decide to build this airbase now? What series of events have led to the Indian defense establishment to finally take this decision? Will it allow us to reach more targets effectively?  Does it enhance range of striking? Will it be formidable against Chinese aggression? Listen in! Produced by Anna Priyadarshini Sound Mix by Sachin Dwivedi

India Rising: Strategic Affairs Conversations with Mohal and Kishor @mohaljoshi @veggiediplomat On December 9, around 300 PLA soldiers tried to transgress into Indian territory by crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and were met by 50 brave Indian soldiers who physically stopped them from doing so. In the ensuing brawl, the outnumbered Indian soldiers were successful in not only stopping the PLA soldiers on their tracks, but also chase them back into their territory. This episode delves into this event with whatever little information is available in public domain and tries to analyse the Chinese psyche and the Indian response. Cover tune: Hand In Hand by Nicolai Heidlas | www.nicolai-heidlas.com​ Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com​ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

A report prepared for a security conference in Delhi set off a controversy by stating that India has lost access to 26 of 65 patrolling points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since the Galwan Valley clash in April 2020. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar emphasised again that no territory has been ceded to China, while the Opposition has called for the government to clarify matters on the LAC.  Here we discuss whether the government should put out a white paper on Ladakh. Guests: Satish Dua, former Corps Commander of the Kashmir based Chinar Corps, retired as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff; Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and author of Understanding the India-China Border: The Enduring Threat of War in the High Himalayas Host: Suhasini Haidar

Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US Bureau Chief Nirmal Ghosh presents Asian perspectives of Asian domestic issues and international relations. On Dec 9 Indian and Chinese troops got into a skirmish on the border of India's northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state with China - the eastern sector of the long and in many places disputed Himalayan border. As previously in 2020, this skirmish did not involve firearms, but no less brutal hand-to-hand combat with weapons like wooden clubs embedded with nails. In this new clash there were reported injuries, but no deaths. In this episode on the volatile Himalayan border, Nirmal Ghosh hosts Dr Manoj Joshi, a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi and author of a new book Understanding the India-China Border: The Enduring Threat of War in High Himalaya; and Dr Aparna Pande, a scholar of Indian and South Asian foreign policy, and Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:08 This time, very clearly, the Chinese came up with a plan. They had an extraordinarily large number in their patrol. This was not just a patrol. But given their 2020 experience, the Indians were ready. 4:10 The significance of Tawang is not just strategic, but that the Tawang Monastery is there – one of the most sacred places for Tibetan Buddhists. 5:44 The obsession with Tawang actually begins only in the mid-1980s. The Chinese said if you want to settle the (disputes border), you must give us Tawang – and India has bluntly said that means you don't want a settlement.  6:45 The Indian Army is on Yangtse, and the Chinese are trying to push them out.  7:45 The Chinese have fobbed off Indian attempts to negotiate a settlement on the border. Overlapping claims are convenient, keeping India off balance.  10:00 A 1996 agreement between India and China prohibits using weapons in the 2-kilometre zone along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). But how long will that last? It's a matter of time before a breakdown.  12:35 Chinese actions on the border have driven India and the United States to become more closely aligned.  13:00 Broad consensus in India on China, and strong defences in the Himalayas. India dropped the ball in 2020 but learned its lesson.  14:05 The Chinese have been rapidly beefing up infrastructure in Yangtse; there is a buildup – on both sides. 15:30 At the end of the day the border issue has to be decided at the highest levels in both countries, otherwise, it will escalate. Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa'izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa'izah Sani Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Asian Insider videos: https://str.sg/wdcC --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia: https://str.sg/wuZ2 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wuJa Invisible Asia: https://str.sg/wuZn --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This!: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US Bureau Chief Nirmal Ghosh presents Asian perspectives of Asian domestic issues and international relations. On Dec 9 Indian and Chinese troops got into a skirmish on the border of India's northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state with China - the eastern sector of the long and in many places disputed Himalayan border. As previously in 2020, this skirmish did not involve firearms, but no less brutal hand-to-hand combat with weapons like wooden clubs embedded with nails. In this new clash there were reported injuries, but no deaths. In this episode on the volatile Himalayan border, Nirmal Ghosh hosts Dr Manoj Joshi, a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi and author of a new book Understanding the India-China Border: The Enduring Threat of War in High Himalaya; and Dr Aparna Pande, a scholar of Indian and South Asian foreign policy, and Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:08 This time, very clearly, the Chinese came up with a plan. They had an extraordinarily large number in their patrol. This was not just a patrol. But given their 2020 experience, the Indians were ready. 4:10 The significance of Tawang is not just strategic, but that the Tawang Monastery is there – one of the most sacred places for Tibetan Buddhists. 5:44 The obsession with Tawang actually begins only in the mid-1980s. The Chinese said if you want to settle the (disputes border), you must give us Tawang – and India has bluntly said that means you don't want a settlement.  6:45 The Indian Army is on Yangtse, and the Chinese are trying to push them out.  7:45 The Chinese have fobbed off Indian attempts to negotiate a settlement on the border. Overlapping claims are convenient, keeping India off balance.  10:00 A 1996 agreement between India and China prohibits using weapons in the 2-kilometre zone along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). But how long will that last? It's a matter of time before a breakdown.  12:35 Chinese actions on the border have driven India and the United States to become more closely aligned.  13:00 Broad consensus in India on China, and strong defences in the Himalayas. India dropped the ball in 2020 but learned its lesson.  14:05 The Chinese have been rapidly beefing up infrastructure in Yangtse; there is a buildup – on both sides. 15:30 At the end of the day the border issue has to be decided at the highest levels in both countries, otherwise, it will escalate. Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa'izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa'izah Sani Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Asian Insider videos: https://str.sg/wdcC --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia: https://str.sg/wuZ2 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wuJa Invisible Asia: https://str.sg/wuZn --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This!: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US Bureau Chief Nirmal Ghosh presents Asian perspectives of Asian domestic issues and international relations. On Dec 9 Indian and Chinese troops got into a skirmish on the border of India's northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state with China - the eastern sector of the long and in many places disputed Himalayan border. As previously in 2020, this skirmish did not involve firearms, but no less brutal hand-to-hand combat with weapons like wooden clubs embedded with nails. In this new clash there were reported injuries, but no deaths. In this episode on the volatile Himalayan border, Nirmal Ghosh hosts Dr Manoj Joshi, a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi and author of a new book Understanding the India-China Border: The Enduring Threat of War in High Himalaya; and Dr Aparna Pande, a scholar of Indian and South Asian foreign policy, and Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:08 This time, very clearly, the Chinese came up with a plan. They had an extraordinarily large number in their patrol. This was not just a patrol. But given their 2020 experience, the Indians were ready. 4:10 The significance of Tawang is not just strategic, but that the Tawang Monastery is there – one of the most sacred places for Tibetan Buddhists. 5:44 The obsession with Tawang actually begins only in the mid-1980s. The Chinese said if you want to settle the (disputes border), you must give us Tawang – and India has bluntly said that means you don't want a settlement.  6:45 The Indian Army is on Yangtse, and the Chinese are trying to push them out.  7:45 The Chinese have fobbed off Indian attempts to negotiate a settlement on the border. Overlapping claims are convenient, keeping India off balance.  10:00 A 1996 agreement between India and China prohibits using weapons in the 2-kilometre zone along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). But how long will that last? It's a matter of time before a breakdown.  12:35 Chinese actions on the border have driven India and the United States to become more closely aligned.  13:00 Broad consensus in India on China, and strong defences in the Himalayas. India dropped the ball in 2020 but learned its lesson.  14:05 The Chinese have been rapidly beefing up infrastructure in Yangtse; there is a buildup – on both sides. 15:30 At the end of the day the border issue has to be decided at the highest levels in both countries, otherwise, it will escalate. Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa'izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa'izah Sani Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Asian Insider videos: https://str.sg/wdcC --- Discover ST's special edition podcasts: The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia: https://str.sg/wuZ2 Stop Scams: https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid: https://str.sg/wuJa Invisible Asia: https://str.sg/wuZn --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE Bookmark This!: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India Rising: Strategic Affairs Conversations with Mohal and Kishor @mohaljoshi @veggiediplomat On December 9, around 300 PLA soldiers tried to transgress into Indian territory by crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and were met by 50 brave Indian soldiers who physically stopped them from doing so. In the ensuing brawl, the outnumbered Indian soldiers were successful in not only stopping the PLA soldiers on their tracks, but also chase them back into their territory. This episode delves into this event with whatever little information is available in public domain and tries to analyse the Chinese psyche and the Indian response. Cover tune: Hand In Hand by Nicolai Heidlas | https://www.nicolai-heidlas.com​ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com​ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

2022 has been a year of geopolitical conflict and tensions. If we were expecting a quieter end to the year, then we were apparently mistaken. On December 9, Chinese and Indian troops had a face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. While we don't have many details yet, it appears that a few hundred soldiers were involved in a physical scuffle, and some thirty to forty, on both sides, sustained injuries. The Indian defence minister, Rajnath Singh, told the Parliament that the Chinese People's Liberation Army troops had tried to transgress the LAC in this area and were prevented from doing so. Two days after this incident, the local commanders of the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army met to discuss the issue. Though it is unclear what, if anything, has been agreed upon to restore tranquility. The relations between India and China have been in deep freeze since May 2020, when troops of the two sides had clashed along the LAC in Ladakh. Both sides have since enhanced their military deployment and upgraded their logistical infrastructure along the LAC. Arunachal Pradesh has several points where the two sides have different perceptions of where the LAC runs, and both sides patrol up to the line they claim. Apropos the recent standoff, the Indian Ministry of Defence has noted that this has been the case in the Tawang sector since 2006. How do we understand China's posture and actions along the LAC in recent years? Is a purely bilateral framework adequate to grasp Beijing's motivations, or are larger considerations at work? And, what are India's options in dealing with Chinese activism along the LAC? In an interesting coincidence, just as the news of the recent face-off hit the headlines a couple of days ago, Carnegie India published an important paper by Mr. Vijay Gokhale titled “A Historical Evolution of China's India Policy: Lessons for India-China Relations”. While much has been written about India-China relations, most of it tends to be from the Indian perspective. We have few assessments of how Beijing has seen India and sought to deal with it. You can access Mr. Gokhale's excellent paper here, in which he traces and analyzes the arc of Chinese policy towards India from 1949 to the present day.In this special episode of Interpreting India, Vijay Gokhale joins Srinath Raghavan to discuss Mr. Gokhale's paper and the increasingly fraught relationship between India and China, in light of the recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. --Episode ContributorsVijay Gokhale is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service in January 2020 after a diplomatic career that spanned thirty-nine years. He has served as both the foreign secretary of India (from January 2018 to January 2020) and as India's ambassador to China (from January 2016 to October 2017). He has worked extensively on matters relating to the Indo-Pacific region with a special emphasis on Chinese politics and diplomacy. Mr. Gokhale is the author of three books: Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India, and most recently After Tiananmen: The Rise of China. Srinath Raghavan is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. He is also a professor of International Relations and History at Ashoka University. His primary research focus is on the contemporary and historical aspects of India's foreign and security policies. He is the author of War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years (2010), and 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh (2013), and co-authored Non-Alignment 2.0: A Foreign and Strategic Policy for India in the 21st Century (2013), India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1939 – 45 (2016), and, most recently, The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia (2018).--

SYNOPSIS:Much attention has been paid to the ongoing tug-of-war between India and #China. The friction in the ties between the two competing Asian giants became more evident with the #Dokhlam stand-off, advent of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the military confrontation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since last year. The persistent Chinese incursions in India's north – east is also a point of concern. While India is able to resist China's advances to a degree, it struggles to keep China entirely at bay. India's international ambitions make it a natural competitor to China in the region. However, India's disproportionate economic dependence on China constrains its actions. The #diplomatic interactions between the two nations have yielded negligible results. China being an unpredictable neighbour further creates an atmosphere of mistrust in India. China's unprecedented rise also shows India a mirror regarding its own limitations to be able to protect and pursue its interests.Questions are raised about the possibility of India's rise as a potential #superpower. While India sees China as a rival, China and its military do not pay much attention to India to the point that they underestimate India's prowess. This discourse brings us to a decisive juncture that will ascertain India's capacity to be able to counter and balance out China's dominance in Asian #geopolitics. How can India develop its military, diplomatic and economic strategy to effectively balance out Chinese aggression in the Indo – Pacific, and the growing influence in India's north-western neighbourhood? What are the alternatives India has if it decides to stop relying on China economically and the possible retaliation that may arise? Either way, there are some difficult choices that India has to make. Can India really stand up to China? We believe that a balanced discussion on the matter is of paramount importance.DISCLAIMER : The participants in this event express their independent views and perspectives. Argumentative Indians does not profess to subscribe, agree or endorse the same or be in any way responsible for participants stance, words and comments.Explore More at - www.argumentativeindians.comDISCLAIMER:We invite thought leaders from across the ideological spectrum. The guests in our sessions express their independent views and opinions. Argumentative Indians does not profess to subscribe, agree or endorse the same or be in anyway responsible for the stance, words and comments of our guests.

On September 13, 2022, India and China disengaged from a fifth friction point in Eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both sides have now established five buffer zones since tensions began in April 2020, but the LAC crisis is far from over. In this episode, Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Reservation Foundation and author of “Understanding the India China Border”, explains where things stand on the border, where both countries go from here as they look to rebuild shattered trust, and what may have driven China's recent actions on the LAC that have upended decades of peace.

Antariksh Matters #1: Spying on Spy Satellites— Pranav R SatyanathIn February this year, the United States launched a nondescript satellite simply designated as NROL-87. Those who keep a close of space launches know that the NROL designation stands for national security satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office. The satellite likely entered a 284 x 425 km Sub-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.25 degrees. The NROL-87, also designated as USA 326, is suspected to be a new generation of electro-optical imaging satellite. This spy satellite, one among many operated by the US, kept to itself with nothing to bother its mission. Until now.Earlier this month, Russia launched a nondescript satellite on board a Soyuz-2.1V from the Plesetsk launch site. The secret satellite, Kosmo-2558, was launched just as NROL-87 passed above the Russian launch complex. Space watchers like Jonathan McDowell quickly predicted that Kosmos-2558 would likely reach the planar orbit of NROL-87 within 80 km of the American spy satellite’s range. The orbital behaviour of the Kosmos-2558 resembles that of an ‘inspector satellite’, which, in other words, means that Russia launched a satellite to spy on another satellite.Of course, the presence of inspector satellites in space is not a new phenomenon. Classified under the category of Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO), satellites have been launched to either inspect or potentially attack other satellites in the past. Not all RPO satellites have malign intentions. For example, in the 1990s, Canada proposed using inspector satellites to verify arms control agreements in outer space. More recently, however, RPOs have been viewed with suspicion. The sharp increase in the number of satellites being placed in orbit has made it all the more difficult to predict the purpose of satellites which may or may not have military utility. Since countries do not disclose details of the satellites they launch, the lack of transparency does little to decrease uncertainties. Policymakers and policy analysts have considered several possible solutions to the problem of transparency. Some scholars propose a pre-launch notification mechanism under which countries not only notify others of the launches of rockets and ballistic missiles that are set to take place but also provide details about the nature of the launch vehicle or ballistic missile.Pre-launch notification agreements concerning ballistic missiles have been signed in bilateral settings in the past. The United States and Russia signed such an agreement in 1988. India and Pakistan signed a similar agreement in 2005. No attempt has been made to craft similar agreements for space launch vehicles. One reason might be that providing pre-launch notifications might be because countries fear that adversary countries might take countermeasures against potential spy satellites. Such concerns were expressed as far back as 1958, as seen in the memorandum from the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) to the President of the United States.Another solution that has been proposed to avoid the risk of RPOs is to implement a keep-out zone for satellites. While such an agreement does not require a verification mechanism, countries could choose to use space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities to enforce a keep-out zone agreement. SSA capabilities have their limitations as no single national system can currently provide full coverage of Low-earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). Establishing a global SSA network is also challenging and expensive.Although RPOs have not been a problem till date, they may become a problem in the future. Analysts have already begun to take notice of the increase in RPOs in recent years. If countries wish to mitigate the risks associated with RPOs, they must start preliminary negotiations sooner rather than later.(The author would like to thank Aaron Bateman for providing access to declassified documents related to the US space progaramme.)Antariksh Matters #2: The Indian Army’s ‘Skylight’ Exercise— Aditya RamanathanIt would be unusual for readers of this newsletter to find an entry describing an exercise conducted by the Indian Army. However, there was much about the recently concluded Exercise Skylight that was unusual, and that warranted an entry in Technopolitik. What little is known about the exercise comes from scant official information and a few news stories. The Army’s official Twitter handle described it as a satellite communication exercise. It went on to add:“100% satellite communication assets were activated to ensure operational readiness of hi-tech satellite systems and exercise various contingencies.”The tweet would indicate Exercise Skylight tested all of the Army’s orbital communications (which are scattered across multiple satellites) and that these systems were tested for ‘contingencies’. What might be these contingencies? ThePrint cited an anonymous source who indicated the Army wanted to validate its ability to use space-based communications as a redundancy during wartime:“Conflict situations demand space-based communication because we are going by the assumption that the primary means of communication — terrestrial media — gets disrupted”.Of course, the Army understands the vital advantages space-based communications provide. This is especially evident in the Himalayas along the Line of Actual Control (LaC) with China, where satellites can enable tactical communication well beyond the line-of-sight. The Russia-Ukraine war also seems to loom over Exercise Skylight. The Times of India cited an anonymous source as saying the Army was carefully following the use of cyber and electronic warfare in that conflict. In particular, the Army appears to be impressed by the resilience of the SpaceX Starlink satellite internet constellation, which Ukrainian forces have been using to coordinate operations against Russia. In the coming years, the Army is expected to look to acquire easily portable satellite phones and “satellite high speed data backbone,” which would likely require a constellation of low earth orbit  (LEO) satellites link Starlink.Before it turns to LEO, the Army will be most eager to get its own communications satellite in geostationary orbit. In March, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh cleared the path for developing the GSAT-7B satellite for the Indian Army. At present, the Army shares satellites with the other services and civilian organisations. If the GSAT-7B is put into orbit by the planned date of 2025, the Army will join the Indian Navy (which already operates the GSAT-7A) and the Indian Airforce (which operates the GSAT-7C) in having its own dedicated communications satellites parked over the most suitable spot of orbital real estate.Matsyanyaaya: How can the US-India iCET Succeed?— Arjun GargeyasA couple of months ago, the United States (US) and India decided to enhance cooperation in the technology domain. President Biden and Prime Minister Modi’s meeting resulted in the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) announcement to expand the existing partnership between the two states in specific strategic technology sectors. One interesting aspect of the iCET remains the departments spearheading the initiative. Both states' National Security Councils have been responsible for driving forward outcome-oriented projects related to the iCET. The defence and national security angle behind the technology cooperation is clearly visible through this initiative. With certain technology sectors attaining a strategic status, the iCET has the ability to help the two states focus on technologies that might have a massive impact on the security and military side. These agreements, when announced can create a flutter of conversation and remain exciting on paper. But what are the actual policy implementations under the iCET which can actually translate into on ground impact for both the states? Are there areas of focus which can improve the effectiveness of the initiative itself is something to look at. A People-Centric Approach The single point of focus in the initiative should be the human capital model to achieve the desired outcomes. Technical knowledge is central to the overall development of emerging technology areas such as 5G, quantum computing and semiconductors. With human capital being the biggest strength for both India and US, the iCET will thrive if it is made individual-centric. The governments should facilitate this exchange of ideas and foster the talent pool that exists in both countries. One of the goals set by the initiative as per the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was to forge better linkages between government, academia and industry in specific technology areas. This would entail cross-border human capital movement being essential to achieving those goals. Scientists, engineers and other researchers in both countries who are involved in working on critical technologies can have access to research facilities in both countries under the initiative. The exchange of STEM researchers between universities across both countries and industrial leaders and technology entrepreneurs engaged in developing strategic tech can help translate lab-level research into potential applications. An important area in the people-centric approach are the students and academic researchers studying in each other’s universities. Although this is heavily skewed towards Indians in the US academic institutions, this initiative can introduce academic fellowships for scholars to work and contribute to specific emerging technology sectors. This would help in IP creation and dissemination across borders as well as cultivate a thriving set of scientists and engineers who can contribute to technology collaboration at the government level.Focus on Funding Specific Research ProjectsAs per the White House Press Release, the US-India iCET will involve the scientific government departments from both states. As per the press statement, the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the US, along with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) will drive forward the implementation of research projects under the initiative. The statement also mentioned that the US has agreed to join six of India’s Technology Innovation hubs. This is in the hope of spearheading over 25 projects across emerging domains such as artificial intelligence and data science. This sets the foundation for another area of focus for the success of the initiative. One of the main objectives of the iCET must be to secure funding (for research and product development) for outcome-driven projects that employ critical and emerging technologies. Enhancing technological cooperation between the two states and improving the efficiency of the initiative can be done when government bodies would indulge in funding crucial research projects on emerging technologies. The iCET must put its resources into funding and supporting specific research projects that can provide a solid output and outcome. The focus must be on emerging technology areas that have the potential to use said technology to create different applications and products to tackle some of the biggest challenges faced by both countries. Improving agriculture output, mitigating climate change effects and similar research can be prioritised for funding. Another aspect would be to identify areas of technology that might dominate in the near future and focus on them. Developing state-of-the-art quantum computer systems, and building telecommunication networks using 6G are just a few among the plethora of technology areas on which the iCET can spend its resources on. Our Reading Menu[Book] A Technological History of Cold-War India, 1947–⁠1969: Autarky and Foreign Aid by William A.T. Logan.[Article] Wargame of Drones: Remotely Piloted Aircraft and Crisis Escalation by Erik Lin-Greenberg.[Report] Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains: An Affirmative Agenda for International Cooperation by William Alan Reinsch et. al. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hightechir.substack.com

Tensions between India and China have increased in past years, leading to clashes between the two Asian giants at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Himalayas. Which factors have been driving recent escalations surrounding the LAC, and what steps have been taken to deescalate? In this episode of UI seminars, we discuss the India-China border conflict and the local and regional implications. Speakers: Shruti Pandalai, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Oscar Almén, the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) Lisa Zhang, University of Heidelberg Moderator: Henrik Chetan Aspengren, UI This seminar was hed at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs on 29 March 2022. Read more and watch the seminar here: https://www.ui.se/events/the-india-china-border-conflict-local-and-regional-implications_126521

In this episode of CPR's series on China-India relations, our host Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR) is joined by Col. Zhou Bo (Retired Senior Colonel, Chinese People's Liberation Army and Senior Fellow, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University) to share the Chinese perspective of Sino-India ties. Singh and Bo discuss the primary motivations of Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi's recent visit to India, the statements he made in Pakistan and India's apprehension of China-Pakistan relations and a possible two-front security threat. They also unpack the border conflict at Aksai Chin, the drivers behind the many crises emerging from the region and contentions over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Bo sheds light on China's concerns over India, the role of the US, the future course of relations between the two neighbours and how a de-escalation at the border could be achieved.

When the Prime Ministers of India and Japan met in Delhi last week, the talks veered towards China also. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was in India to attend the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit, held after a gap of three-and-a-half years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefed PM Kishida on the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. And he also stressed on PLA's attempts at “multiple transgression” on the LAC. Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla too said that any normalcy in the India–China relationship will depend on LAC de–escalation. While China's overseas investments have attracted enormous attention, Japan is still the leader when it comes to infrastructure in South-East Asia. According to Fitch Solutions, as of August 2021, Japan had 259 billion dollars invested in unfinished projects in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, compared with China's $157 billion. Japan is also playing an increasingly larger role in South Asia, a region where China's influence has grown rapidly. Apart from India, Japan is also focusing on countries like Bangladesh and Nepal. As The Diplomat reported, Japan already enjoys a positive image in Bangladesh thanks to millions of dollars of direct investments. Bangladesh's Matarbari deep sea port is also being developed by a Japanese consortium. As of January 2019, Japan had been the largest donor to Bangladesh, having given almost $1.8 billion in loan support in 2018. Japan is the third largest investor in the Indian economy with cumulative FDI inflows of $30.27 billion during 2000–2019'. The country contributed 7.2% to India's total FDI inflows during the same period. Meanwhile, last week's summit is sure to take the India-Japan trade ties to the next level.  After the summit, Prime Minister Modi announced that both the countries have set an investment target of five trillion yen, or about 42 billion dollars, in the next five years. Both the leaders acknowledged that the investment target of 3.5 trillion Japanese yen, announced in 2014, has been achieved. The public and private investment and financing from Japan to India in the next five years, which will amount to 5 trillion Japanese yen, will be used to finance both public and private projects of mutual interest. The new target follows and exceeds the 3.5 trillion yen in investments and financing that then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had announced for the five years between 2014 and 2019 during his 2014 visit to India.   The agreements and MoUs signed during the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit include seven JICA loans, amounting to 20,400 crore rupees. These are meant for projects in connectivity, water supply and sewerage, healthcare, horticulture, and biodiversity conservation across various states in India. JICA, or Japan International Cooperation Agency, is involved in at least 27 recent and on-going activities in India. These projects stretch across sectors such as health and medical care, transportation, power and energy, urban environment management, and agricultural and rural development, among others. In particular, the transportation projects include Phase 2 of the Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System Project, Hyderabad Outer Ring Road Project, Visakhapatnam Port Expansion Project, and Dedicated Freight Corridor Project. On March 16, a financial daily reported that JICA expects to fund $3 billion worth of projects in India in 2022-23. JICA is also financing other big infrastructure projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmadabad High Speed Rail and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. Other announcements during the summit included the Clean Energy Partnership and the Sustainable Development Initiative for the North Eastern Region of India. Japan's new investment target re-affirms the special strategic partnership between India and Japan. The latest meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries marks another step towards deepening regio

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 2/2: ClassicGregoryCopley: Pushing back the Wolf Warrior. Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs.  (Originally aired July 21, 2021) The Indian Army is on alert in the central sector after around 40 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army were seen patrolling the area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) near Barahoti area in Uttarakhand. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/china-activity-lac-uttarakhand-indian-army-alert-barahoti-1830868-2021-07-21

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 1/2: ClassicGregoryCopley: Pushing back the Wolf Warrior. Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs.  (Originally aired July 21, 2021) The Indian Army is on alert in the central sector after around 40 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army were seen patrolling the area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) near Barahoti area in Uttarakhand. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/china-activity-lac-uttarakhand-indian-army-alert-barahoti-1830868-2021-07-21

Asian Insider Ep 80: The troubled and volatile relationship between India and China 30:06 mins Synopsis: Each month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the week's global talking points with expert guests. In this episode, Nirmal Ghosh hosts two guests. Nirupama Rao based in Bangalore, was India's former Foreign Secretary, former Ambassador to Peru and China and former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Washington DC-based Jeff Smith is a research fellow at the Asian Studies Center and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. 0:00 Highlights of conversation (click/tap above): 2:03 The kind of thinking necessary to overcome the disputes on the India-China border 6:23 US Pentagon's annual report mentions military security and development involving China's construction activities on this border to press its claim at the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  11:18 China has taken some of India's territory over the past nine years - what is India's security and foreign policy establishment on this? 20:59 No reason not to assume that the LAC in the eastern sector of boundary will not come alive in the months to come, due to lack of trust and mutual sensitivity between the two countries 25:25 With the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) sharing concerns over China's growing power and gaining some traction, is this destined to be a dangerous bilateral situation for both countries? Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim & Fa'izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim & Fa'izah Sani Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/Ju4h  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Asian Insider videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnK3VE4BKduMSOntUoS6ALNp21jMmgfBX --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider Podcast: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaN ST Sports Talk Podcast: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures Podcast: https://str.sg/JWad Bookmark This! Podcast: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko Podcast: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsider See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Asian Insider Ep 80: The troubled and volatile relationship between India and China 30:06 mins Synopsis: Each month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the week's global talking points with expert guests. In this episode, Nirmal Ghosh hosts two guests. Nirupama Rao based in Bangalore, was India's former Foreign Secretary, former Ambassador to Peru and China and former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Washington DC-based Jeff Smith is a research fellow at the Asian Studies Center and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. 0:00 Highlights of conversation (click/tap above): 2:03 The kind of thinking necessary to overcome the disputes on the India-China border 6:23 US Pentagon's annual report mentions military security and development involving China's construction activities on this border to press its claim at the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  11:18 China has taken some of India's territory over the past nine years - what is India's security and foreign policy establishment on this? 20:59 No reason not to assume that the LAC in the eastern sector of boundary will not come alive in the months to come, due to lack of trust and mutual sensitivity between the two countries 25:25 With the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) sharing concerns over China's growing power and gaining some traction, is this destined to be a dangerous bilateral situation for both countries? Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim & Fa'izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim & Fa'izah Sani Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/Ju4h  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Asian Insider videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnK3VE4BKduMSOntUoS6ALNp21jMmgfBX --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider Podcast: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaN ST Sports Talk Podcast: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures Podcast: https://str.sg/JWad Bookmark This! Podcast: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko Podcast: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsider See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Asian Insider Ep 80: The troubled and volatile relationship between India and China 30:06 mins Synopsis: Each month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the week's global talking points with expert guests. In this episode, Nirmal Ghosh hosts two guests. Nirupama Rao based in Bangalore, was India's former Foreign Secretary, former Ambassador to Peru and China and former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Washington DC-based Jeff Smith is a research fellow at the Asian Studies Center and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. 0:00 Highlights of conversation (click/tap above): 2:03 The kind of thinking necessary to overcome the disputes on the India-China border 6:23 US Pentagon's annual report mentions military security and development involving China's construction activities on this border to press its claim at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) 11:18 China has taken some of India's territory over the past nine years - what is India's security and foreign policy establishment on this? 20:59 No reason not to assume that the LAC in the eastern sector of boundary will not come alive in the months to come, due to lack of trust and mutual sensitivity between the two countries 25:25 With the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) sharing concerns over China's growing power and gaining some traction, is this destined to be a dangerous bilateral situation for both countries? Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim & Fa'izah Sani Edited by: Hadyu Rahim & Fa'izah Sani Subscribe to the Asian Insider Podcast channel and rate us on your favourite audio apps: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/Ju4h Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Asian Insider videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnK3VE4BKduMSOntUoS6ALNp21jMmgfBX --- Discover more ST podcast series: Asian Insider Podcast: https://str.sg/JWa7 Green Pulse Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaf Health Check Podcast: https://str.sg/JWaN ST Sports Talk Podcast: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures Podcast: https://str.sg/JWad Bookmark This! Podcast: https://str.sg/JWas Lunch With Sumiko Podcast: https://str.sg/J6hQ Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Indian and Chinese troops disengage from Patrolling Point (PP) 17A near Gogra Post, the two sides have followed the template for disengagements from previous points since last year. However, the details of a temporary no-patrol zone differs from location to location. What is a ‘no-patrolling' or ‘buffer' zone along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, and what is its importance in the current scenario?

Photo: Chinese embassy in Ireland tweeted this picture, from Aesop's Fables.  Screen grab. 2/2   Now surrounding the wolf warrior..  Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs.     The Indian Army is on alert in the central sector after around 40 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army were seen patrolling the area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) near Barahoti area in Uttarakhand. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/china-activity-lac-uttarakhand-indian-army-alert-barahoti-1830868-2021-07-21

The border crisis with China in eastern Ladakh that began in early May 2020 is nowhere near resolution after one year of tensions, even if the stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has faded from newspaper front pages amid India's coronavirus crisis. In this episode, we look at the LAC situation one year on, and ask what it means for relations with China and the broader security challenges it poses for India. What is the state of play now at the LAC? How has the past year and the Ladakh crisis changed how the Indian Armed Forces approach guarding the frontiers and deployments along the border? What are the demands on India's resources? Is India ready to face a two-front challenge as the LAC turns "live" and a deepening China-Pakistan relationship? What options does India have as it seeks to mitigate the two-front threat? Guest: Sushant Singh, Senior Fellow, Centre For Policy Research, New Delhi

China and India announced an agreement to disengage from Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Lt Gen (Dr) Prakash Menon and Manoj Kewalramani join Suyash Desai to talk about the ongoing disengagement process and the future of Sino-Indian relations.Check out Manoj's Eye on China newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/a24b5bbcb4b2/eye-on-china-chinese-views-on-lac-tensions-the-longer-telegram-vaccine-diplomacy-davos-speech-tech-self-reliance-plas-modernisation-goals?e=f4f433d85bYou can follow Lt. Gen. Dr. Prakash on twitter: @prakashmenon51(https://twitter.com/prakashmenon51)You can follow Manoj on twitter: @theChinaDude(https://twitter.com/theChinaDude)You can follow Suyash on twitter: @Suyash_Desai(https://twitter.com/Suyash_Desai)You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

In this episode, we discuss the disengagement plan between India and China and ask if it helps or hurts India's long-term security interests with regard to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Does the plan mean a full restoration of peace and the status quo? Where does this leave the unresolved points of discord along the LAC? Why is one of those points, the Depsang plains, the most significant for India's security interests? Host: Ananth Krishnan, China correspondent, The Hindu Guest: Sushant Singh, Senior Fellow, Centre For Policy Research, New Delhi

India and China on Thursday announced an agreement to disengage from Pangong Lake, which has been at the heart of the recent tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Speaking in Parliament, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said both sides will cease their forward deployments both on the north and south banks of the lake in a phased, coordinated, and verified manner, and return to their permanent bases. On Wednesday, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) similarly announced an agreement “to start synchronised and organised disengagement”. Both have agreed to a temporary moratorium on patrolling in the disputed areas north and south of the lake and have already begun withdrawing armoured elements and tanks. In this episode, we examine the details behind this disengagement plan. What does this agreement mean for the recent tensions along the LAC? Where does this leave other points of discord that remain unresolved? What are the next steps, and where do India and China go from here? Guests: Dinakar Peri and Vijaita Singh, Correspondents for The Hindu Host: Ananth Krishnan

In a major breakthrough in talks to resolve the standoff between Indian and Chinese armed forces at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, China's Defence Ministry and Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 10 and 11 February respectively announced that Indian and Chinese troops on the southern and northern shores of Pangong Tso lake have begun a phased, coordinated and verified disengagement. The consensus was reached during the ninth round of previously held military commander-level talks. According to the agreement, both forces will move back to their traditional bases on the north bank of Pangong Tso. Significantly, both sides will stop patrolling to the extent of their respective claims in the area. The development comes after months of stand-offs between India and China at the LAC, during which a violent face-off last year between the two sides at the Galwan Valley led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese troops.The last standoff between the two Asian giants was in late August 2020 when India occupied certain peaks on the south bank, which were previously unoccupied by either side. Does this disengagement mean an end to the hostile environment in relations between the two countries? or is it just another addition to a long list of landmark standoffs that are yet to be negotiated?Producer and Host: Himmat ShaligramGuest:Former Army Commander Lieutenant General AK Singh, also served as the Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and PuducherryandManoj Joshi, senior journalist and a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation Editor: Shelly Walia Music: Big Bang FuzzListen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur

The crisis along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020 and the biggest loss of life of Indian soldiers on the China border since 1967 have put a large question mark on the future of India China relations. Subramanian Swamy discusses his new book, Himalayan Challenge: India, China and the Quest for Peace, in which he offers an intervention in this on-going debate on the future of relations and suggests a new way of engaging China — one that will involve, in his view, reassessing many of India's fundamental positions on issues such as Tibet and the boundary. Swamy also discusses his long association with China, going back to his time at Harvard University in the 1960s, and his visits there in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he met with then leader Deng Xiaoping and helped push the post-1962 normalisation of relations. Host: Ananth Krishnan, China Correspondent, The Hindu Want to get more from The Hindu on books? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here (Newsletter Subscription) Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

In this episode, we look back on India's major foreign policy challenges in 2020, and what the next year holds in store. In the world of diplomacy too, COVID-19 was the biggest story, heightening tensions among some nations, most notably evident in the deteriorating U.S.-China relationship, while emerging as an opportunity for others who have offered medical assistance and are now pledging support in the distribution of vaccines. We look at India's outreach to the neighbourhood on the COVID-19 front, as well as how a crisis with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh dominated attention in 2020. Looking ahead to next year, we examine how India will likely deal with the China question and an emerging two-front scenario with Pakistan, continuing challenges in the immediate neighbourhood where China's presence is looming large, and the future of relations with a new administration in Washington and why the Quad will likely play an increasing role in the region. Guests: Suhasini Haidar: Diplomatic Affairs Editor and National Editor, The Hindu Dinakar Peri: Defence Correspondent, The Hindu Meera Srinivasan: The Hindu's Colombo correspondent covering Sri Lanka and the Maldives

This newsletter is really a weekly public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration courtesy the good folks at Ad-Auris. If you have any feedback, please send it to us.India Policy Watch: Rajan-Acharya on PSB ReformsInsights on burning policy issues in India— RSJRaghuram Rajan and Viral Acharya have a new paper titled, Indian Banks: A Time To Reform?, that looks at a comprehensive set of reforms that will enable public sector banks to drive the Indian economic growth engine instead of being a drag they currently are. Rajan and Acharya have held leadership roles at the RBI and know a thing or two about issues relating to the banking sector. Here’s a nice summary of the recommendations by the BloombergQuint.So, what to make of them? There are 4 points we’d like to raise:Is this the time? Rajan and Acharya argue maintaining status quo is untenable. The huge strain on government finances now shifts the Overton window for much-needed reforms of the public sector banking system. This is their hope. In my view, shifting the status quo at this time carries the risk of falling off the brink. There’s a fog of uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic, the state of our public finances and the nature and length of recovery. More than any immediate reform we need some stability, however precarious, at this moment.What about the empire? The paper reiterates the need for a systemic solution to the bad loan problem. The idea for a nationalised and a private “bad bank” is revived along with a strict time-bound process for bankruptcy procedure. The recent books by Urjit Patel (who succeeded Rajan) and Acharya have outlined in great detail how there’s no incentive for anyone in the political economy or in the banking sector to implement the IBC process. Everyone is happy kicking the can down the road. Any attempt at enforcing strict insolvency guidelines is met with resistance. Patel named the relevant chapter in his book ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. And this resistance to change was the state of affairs before the pandemic. So, to expect a serious reckoning by the government now is out of question. In fact, we seem to be going the other direction. The suspension of IBC is to be extended by another quarter and the restructuring proposal by Kamath committee leaves the discretion with the bank on triggering default procedure. We will have to learn to live with elevated levels of NPAs and banking system stress especially in public sector banks (PSBs).Who will implement them? There are proposals to improve the performance of PSBs through greater operational freedom, performance-linked bank financing plans and winding down the Department of Financial Services (hah!). While these are good intentions, operationalising them in a system that has bloated cost structure, unionisation and relatively lax performance management culture won’t be easy. There are suggestions that are akin to the Kamath committee on giving loans based on cash flow and liquidity position of the companies instead of their assets. More aggressive norms for provisioning for bad loans and making sure the promoters have skin in the game in long-term infrastructure projects are also suggested. There are other suggestions to manage banking system risks better that have been around for some time. But implementing them will mean standing up to the ‘empire’. Is stake sale the panacea? Finally, we have the issue of the ownership structure of banks. The paper proposes bringing the stake of the government below 50 per cent (state-linked banks) and gradual privatisation of select PSBs. While this step to create a distance between it and the everyday operations of the bank is necessary, this alone won’t address the governance issues of the PSBs. There’s an entire superstructure (the ‘empire’) that manages and lives off the PSBs that includes unions, bureaucrats, various oversight committees and temporal political interests. This influences everything from recruitment, performance management, promotions, disbursement guidelines to risk management practices. This won’t change overnight merely because the government stake is below 50 per cent.The paper brings together all the extant issues relating to banking reforms in India. In that sense it is a valuable compendium of ideas – most old, some new. The key question remains: what’s the political will to take up these reforms now? The authors are aware of this too:“While we have put together a variety of suggestions, many of these have been discussed in the past. Many concern public sector banks and their governance. Is there any reason to be more confident they will be implemented now?”And they bring up the issue of incentive. What’s in it either for the bureaucracy or the government (either this or any in future) to take up these urgent reforms? As they write in conclusion:“The government obtains enormous power from directing bank lending. Sometimes this power is exercised to advance public goals such as financial inclusion or infrastructure finance, sometimes it is used to offer patronage to, or exercise control over, industrialists. The government also has potential access to an enormous amount of sensitive information through its state ownership – for instance, the identity of purchasers of electoral bonds is known only to the State Bank of India. The government can oblige party members by appointing favorites to positions in public sector banks, including on their boards – and once there, some of these appointees use their influence to direct bank loans to favored parties. Parliamentarians of all parties are not immune to the lure of public sector banks – the banks are often asked to arrange the logistics for their fact-finding committee meetings in enjoyable locales across the country. And Finance Ministry bureaucrats are reluctant to let go of the power that allows a young joint secretary to order the chairpersons of national banks around.”Just reading that passage is kind of depressing. Besides the above, the ordinary citizen isn’t exercised by the deteriorating condition of public sector banking in India. It will never be an issue in any election. Rajan and Acharya believe the pandemic and the enormous resource constraints it will place on the government will make it difficult to recapitalise the banks. This in turn will curb credit flow and impede growth in the economy. “With government deficits and debt levels reaching enormous levels, there simply are not enough budgetary resources to recapitalize banks. An encumbered, under-capitalized public sector banking system will not lend well, which will be a huge tax on growth, as it has been for the last six years. More worrisome, without reform the banks will cumulate further losses. Status quo is simply not an option.”“It is important that the government use the urgency of the moment to draw key players together to develop a reasonable reform path; it should be comprehensive and not just a one-off “tick-the-box” exercise dealing with a thin sliver of issues. It should then reach a consensus with concerned players such as unions and political parties, and then embark on the reforms.”We aren’t as sanguine as they are. The political capital that will need to be spent (or invested) in implementing the reforms they have suggested in this paper is enormous. While this government and the PM enjoy unprecedented goodwill and support, this is a bet that might just be too big even for it. The PM has shown an appetite for ‘bold’ steps. But they tend to be one-off events. A deeper and deliberate structural reform of this kind that will take years to implement will be a genuine bold measure. One can only hope he take that step. A Framework a Week: Nine Competing Visions of EqualityTools for thinking public policy— Pranay KotasthaneAssume the Indian government plans to distribute ₹50,000 crores to 50 crore Indians this year, how would it go about doing this equitably? The intuitively obvious solution is to divide the sum equally — ₹1000 to everyone. Simple, isn’t it? Think again. Isn’t it unfair to the nearly 80 crore people left out of this distribution in the first place? Even amongst the chosen 50 crore Indians, isn’t equal division unfair to some who need this money more than others? Isn’t it unfair to the socially disadvantaged groups who might not even have access to prove their identity?This is what Deborah Stone calls the paradox of distribution in her textbook Policy Paradox:“equality often means inequality, and equal treatment often means unequal treatment. The same distribution may look equal or unequal, depending on where you focus.”This is a key insight. Stone lays out a useful framework for thinking about what equality means. She lists nine ways in which one can use equity language to distribute, often in ways that you would consider to be unequal. Each of these ways equalises along one dimension and can be considered as being ‘unequal’ on another. These nine ways are split along three dimensions — who gets something, what gets distributed, and how is the distribution done. (Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox, Page 47)Way 1 deals with membership. It’s easy to say that things should be divided equally amongst all but who constitutes this all is a tricky question. Citizenship, for example, is a membership criterion that is exclusive by nature. Way 2 deals with merit. It argues that the more deserving should be rewarded for their accomplishment. Hence, any distribution problem should also be resolved by identifying achievement or aptitude.Way 3 is a claim that resources should be allocated based on ranked subgroups. For example, employees in all organisations are paid according to rank. Equally ranked get equal pay, unequally ranked get unequal payouts.Way 4 is a claim for group-based distribution. Caste-based reservation is an example of this kind of equality.Way 5 expands the boundaries of the item. If the government were to distribute the Rs 50000 crore only to those Indians who haven’t received their rations from the public distribution system in the last one month, the boundary of the item being distributed changes from only cash to a basket comprising of cash and food.Way 6 is a claim on distribution according to the value that the recipients ascribe to that item.Ways 7, 8, and 9 are about equalising the process. Way 7 talks about distribution based on fair competition between all players. Way 8 talks about distributing based on a lottery so that chances are equalised. Way 9 calls for a vote to decide who gets what.This categorisation into nine definitions of equality is useful for a policy analyst. There’s no right answer on which of these is the best method, of course. What can be said is that Way 1 (equal slices amongst all members) and Way 8 (lottery) are intuitively powerful and are used by policymakers when they can't find better reasons to justify their decisions.So the lesson for a policy analyst is that faced with a distributive problem, look at these definitions of equality and pick one that seems the fairest. It’s easy to say that inequality is a problem. It’s far more difficult to answer what being equal means.World Policy Watch: Tool To Change Social NormsInsights on burning policy issues in India—RSJShould courts be framing social policies? This question is the subtext of a number of articles that have appeared since the death of US Supreme Court (SC) associate justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg (RBG) last week. The Trump administration is moving with speed to get a conservative judge confirmed by the Senate before the elections in November. The Republicans control the senate and nominating a judge of their ideological persuasion now will decisively swing the 9-member SC bench to a 6-3 ‘conservative’ majority. Why has nominating a judge to the highest court turned into such a contentious political issue? Not so long back judges would get nominated with overwhelming majority from the Senate. RBG won her confirmation with a 96-3 majority. Justice Antonin Scalia who was on the other end of the ideological divide won his nomination 98-0. The days of such bipartisanship are over. Why? All About IncentivesLike everything in life, it is about incentives. First, the lifelong tenure of a judge means they have the ability to influence decisions for a long period of time. As the ideological divide has gotten sharper, both Democrats and Republicans are keen on nominating more ‘extreme’ judges. Second, there’s an incentive to nominate relatively younger judges who will sit at the SC for a long time and influence decisions. This has meant nominating less experienced jurists who are ideologically ‘pure’. This riles up the other side. Lastly, an increase in the number of judgments that are decided by the slenderest of margins (5-4) works as a feedback loop to the parties. It feeds into their anxieties of what’s at stake and they have greater motivation to nominate more extreme candidates.At the heart of these debates is a deeper question about the larger role the SC has taken over the years in legislating social issues in the US. The two most famous examples, of course, are Roe vs Wade and Brown vs Board of Education. Courts have turned into lawmakers is how it appears. Seen from here in India, US is a litigious country. As far back as 1835, Tocqueville had noted ‘sooner or later, every major dispute in the US ends up in courtroom.’ So, it is no surprise when women, minorities and other under-represented sections started contesting the social norms handed down to them, the matters reached courts for resolution. The Conservative AnxietyThe conservative preference is for any social change to be gradual. Societal change is shaped through the many eddies of debates and protests that resist the flow of the mainstream. As they gain wider acceptance, they begin changing the course of flow of social norms. This could be painstakingly slow, but it makes change acceptable and sustainable. For the conservatives, the role of the judges is to apply laws, not to create them. Going beyond this brief becomes judicial activism. So, the original conservative view was all issues of public or social policy should be discussed and debated by the legislative and executive branches of the state that represents the society. Courts resolve disputes following the written down law while sending back any ambiguities to the legislative arm for approval. There is a lot of merit in this argument. It is difficult to imagine how a single complainant with a specific grievance in a combative judicial process be the basis for drafting a norm for the society. Isn’t there a risk of the courts overlooking the true costs and benefits to the society while judging a single case? Would the second order impact of their decision be visible to them? Should we allow the judges to bring in their personal values into issues of constitutional merits? And let’s not pretend judges are above this. ‘Judicial activism’ is unavoidable if we let courts decide on such issues. In fact, the current debate in the US about nominations is an implicit acceptance that judges insert their personal code into judgments. When you consider the adversarial nature of many historic social judgments (both in the US and India) and the costs such a process extracts in polarising the society further, it becomes clear litigation is a blunt instrument to carve out social change. Courts shouldn’t pre-empt social and political debates. The Liberal ActivismThe liberal position, as it has evolved over time, is marked with suspicion of the society reforming itself. The classical liberal approach to this problem was to accelerate the process of change in the society. This was to be achieved through a combined political, social and cultural assault on the bastions of conservatism in the society. This led to the portrait of a liberal as a perpetual activist in a constant state of mobilisation to upend existing norms. The liberal belief that society must change from within was no different from the conservative stance. The difference was on the need to induce change through proactive measures and on the speed of change. This need for speed eventually led the liberals to the courts. To the liberals, this wasn’t difficult to justify. The law isn’t ever ‘value neutral’. Like Sahir Ludhianvi once wrote (Chitralekha, 1964):“Yeh paap hai kya, yeh punya hai kya, reeton pe dharm ki moharein hai,Har yug mein badalte dharmon ko kaise aadarsh banaoge?” What’s right or wrong has always been a compilation of enforceable values. This is a forever changing or evolving construct. Since people use these values in their daily lives, the courts can define their boundaries of ‘reasonableness’. A couple of other reasons nudged the liberal position closer to supporting judicial activism. First, it became clear that there can be no regime where every issue of public policy can be resolved through the executive or legislative arms of the state. How representative is the legislature anyway? Or, how compromised? This centralised policymaking unit that changes every few years in a democratic process can’t be expected to draft policies that will be considered the final word and stand the test of time. Also, there are common laws that precede the state and changing them requires blunt force of law itself. Second, as the legislative environment turned more partisan and dysfunctional, the drafting of laws became more imprecise or vague to accommodate political bargains. This has meant a constant need for interpreting or divining the legislative intent of laws. This act of precise interpretation and proofreading has turned judges into lawmakers by default. Lastly, the liberals who are often blamed for nominating activist judges argue this is a matter of perspective. Only when the issue at hand goes against the conservative agenda, it is considered judicial activism. Not otherwise. The Perils Of (Any Kind Of) CentralisationBased on evidence it can be argued the conservatives have lost the argument. The courts are at front and centre of social policymaking today. The many historic judgments that cleave the US society are evidence of it. The legislative arms of the state representing the society aren’t drafting these laws. But here’s the irony. The conservatives have co-opted the liberal model. With a few strokes of good fortune, the single-minded agenda of turning the US SC bench into conservative majority has been fruitful. The peril of pushing social change into the cabins of a powerful, centralised and an autonomous institution is clear to the liberals now when the shoe is on the other foot. A blunt instrument doesn’t look blunt till it is in the hands of your adversary. The path of wresting back control to the society will be long and arduous.  Matsyanyaaya: COVID-19 Warrants Long Overdue Doctrinal Shifts in Military PlanningBig fish eating small fish = Foreign Policy in action— Pranay KotasthaneLt Gen Prakash Menon and I have a new paper out in the inaugural edition of the Indian Public Policy Review journal.We argue that the economic shock of COVID-19 makes the current method of defence budgeting redundant. When the GDP itself is set to reduce, defence expenditure demands as a percentage of GDP is less feasible. On the other hand, the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh has demonstrated again that managing China, not just Pakistan, should be the focus of India’s military planning. To overcome these two challenges, a few incremental budget cuts, postponing of capital acquisition plans, and forgoing of salaries for a day would be insufficient. Instead, we argue that it’s imperative to address the mismatches between India’s political objectives and the kind of force structure put in place to meet those objectives. We identify four such mismatches.Derived from these mismatches, we propose six doctrinal shifts — a paradigm of employable power, a structure for integrated theatre commands, conversion of manpower to human capital investment, organisational changes to build firepower, and a shift in focus to the seas and new domains.Do read and let us know what you think. HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Article] Excerpts from Charles Tilly classic Misreading, then Rereading, Nineteenth-Century Social Change.[Article] The P.J. Nayak committee (2014) report on Banking reforms. It has a lot of points that remain relevant.[Paper] A must-read paper on equality and fairness by Christina Starmans, Mark Sheskin and Paul Bloom. Money quote: “humans naturally favour fair distributions, not equal ones, and that when fairness and equality clash, people prefer fair inequality over unfair equality”.[Article] Looking beyond reservations for equality. That’s all for this weekend. Read and share. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

As India faces China's challenge over the ground situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), we discuss whether a maritime coalition in the Indo-Pacific, the Quadrilateral, comprising India, the U.S., Japan and Australia, an effective counter? Guests: Tanvi Madan, director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and author of Fateful Triangle: How China Shaped U.S.-India Relations during the Cold War; Ashok Kantha, director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, and former Ambassador to China. Host: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu You can now find The Hindu's podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

On June 30, the third round of Corps Commander–level talks between India and China was held, aimed at defusing the more-than-two-months-long tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While much of the attention has been focussed on Galwan Valley, where a clash on June 15 marked the worst violence since 1967, a tense stand-off remains under way at Pangong Tso (lake), where China has erected structures and remains present between Finger 4 and Finger 8 areas on India's side of the LAC. What is the situation currently at Pangong Tso? What are the prospects of a resolution? What is behind the tensions there, and what is the way forward for restoring the status quo and maintaining peace on the LAC? Guest: Colonel S. Dinny (retd.), former commanding officer of an infantry battalion at Pangong Tso (2015-2017)

In a major escalation in the ongoing stand-off between India and China on the border, one Commanding Officer and two jawans of the Indian Army lost their lives during a violent faceoff with Chinese troops in the Galwan area of Eastern Ladakh on Monday night. These are the first combat deaths on the disputed boundary since 1975. After 45 years of relative peace, does this new clash mark a troubling new chapter on the Line of Actual Control (LAC)? What is the status of the more than month long stand-off on the LAC? What are the prospects of a return to status quo? Host: Ananth Krishnan, China Correspondent, The Hindu Guest: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor and Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu

In this episode, Dr. Happymon Jacob speaks with Lt. Gen. Deependra Singh Hooda, former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian army's Northern Command, on the India-China standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). They discuss the current state of the standoff, the larger Chinese rationale behind these unprecedented attacks, and the strategic importance of the region where the standoff is taking place. The discussion also covers the potential military options India has to respond to China and offers an assessment of the balance of forces between the two sides.

In episode 44 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR speaks with Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary and Senior Fellow, CPR. In the last few weeks, a crisis has been brewing on our borders between India and China over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Late last week, in an unprecedented move, top Generals from both countries met to seek a resolution to the crisis. The discussions have opened up the prospects of a second phase of dialogues. Against the backdrop of these dialogues, we explore the dynamics of India-China relations, the nature of this particular border dispute and the immediate and long-term implications this may have on India-China ties. Saran, who is an expert on China, sheds light on the history of border disputes with China despite the LAC, the growing asymmetry of power between the two countries and calls for constraining Chinese aggression by cultivating strong ties with countries like the US. He also highlights that it is important to continue engaging on issues that may be mutually beneficial while at the same time confronting China where Indian interests are being threatened.

India and China are holding Lieutenant General level talks on 6 June in a bid to de-escalate the tensions between the countries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.There have been a couple of fistfights, injured soldiers and an ongoing standoff between the Indian Army and People's Liberation Army at 14,000 feet at Galwan Valley in East Ladakh over boundary differences.The build up at the border has been triggered by what defence experts say Chinese 'transgression' over the disputed border between the countries, with the PLA pitching tents, bringing troops over in thousands, while on the Indian side, anti-Chinese sentiments have flared up again on social media with a call to go swadeshi and boycott Chinese goods.Relations between the two nations have seen its ups and downs since the Sino-Indian war of 1962 but not a single bullet has been fired across the border since 1975.Will the current tensions escalate or will diplomacy champion once again? Tune in to The Big Story for more!Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha Editor: Jaskirat Singh Bawa Music: Big Bang FuzzReferences: Pandemic or Revenge: What's Behind China's LAC Intrusion? Listen to The Big Story podcast on:Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast we focus on China's defence budget as well as other defence developments from across the Asia-Pacific while our team of experts look at the latest special forces news following the vSOFIC event.News-round (00:35)Three UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ships could be mothballed for longer than originally planned in order to reduce defence expenditure in 2020.Spain has released operational, technical and logistics requirements for its Light Vehicle for Special Operations, to replace variants of the Nissan ML6. In Brazil, these are difficult times for Embraer. Despite making progress on key military programmes, the Brazilian company has suffered a 17% year-on-year drop in sales in the first quarter of this year for its defence and security business. In Britain, a US senator weighed into the Huawei 5G debate earlier this week, warning that American personnel could be put at risk on British territory. News Focus:Air Editor Tim Martin discusses details about Bell's first delivery of its 505 Jet Ranger X to Montenegro. The news comes after the Montenegro Air Force placed a €3.3 million order for two helicopters.Land Reporter Flavia Camargos Pereira catches up on Canada's attempts to enhance the protection of its ground troops. The Canadian Department of National Defence has confirmed initial delivery of the Armoured Combat Support Vehicle (ACSV) for this year. Deep Dive – News from the Asia Pacific (14:20)Gordon Arthur is on the line for the monthly brief on developments in defence procurement in South-East Asia.Tensions are escalating along the Sino-Indian border as Chinese troops intruded up to 3km across what Indian views as its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in May, setting up tents and digging in.On the naval front, the Indian Navy is looking at new multirole/ASW helicopters, and the procurement of MH-60R aircraft has now progressed to an FMS contract being awarded to Sikorsky parent company Lockheed Martin.China has released its yearly defence budget, revealing an increase of its expenditure by 6.6%. The new upcoming budget of $179 billion has been defined necessary to prepare for future combat, by the country's general secretary.Panel discussion - Special Forces Operations (36:49)VP content Tony Skinner hosts a conversation among SOF experts to get an insight on the virtual SOFIC event where US Special Operations Command leadership explained current challenges and requirements for the Special Forces. Music and sound mixing by Fred Prest

India's increased capability to patrol up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) coupled with an increasingly assertive Chinese posture is fuelling new tensions along the border, according to former senior Indian officials. Indian and Chinese troops have been involved in as many as four incidents along the LAC in recent weeks. On Monday, Chinese state media said the People's Liberation Army was “tightening control” in one of the flashpoint areas in the western sector Galwan Valley, after it accused India of “unilaterally” changing the status quo with “illegal construction”. A build-up has also been reported in Demchok in Ladakh. In this podcast we discuss these developments and the underlying tensions. Also read: News analysis | Behind new incidents, a changed dynamic along India-China border Interview by Ananth Krishnan Guest: Zorawar Daulet Singh is a historian and strategic affairs scholar based in New Delhi. He is an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies and a co-founder of The Northcap University. Books include India China Relations: The Border Issue and Beyond, and Power and Diplomacy: India's Foreign Policies during the Cold War.