Diplomacy

Tillerson seeks stronger India ties,no tolerance for Pak terror havens

- by India Writes Network

Setting the tone of his maiden official visit to New Delhi, US Secretary of State Rex Tillersonhad expressed last week the US administration’s determination to “dramatically deepen ways” to build an ambitious strategic partnership with Indianot just specific to South Asia but also including the Indo-Pacific, with an eye on China’s rising assertiveness in the region.
In New Delhi on a 36-hour visit, Mr. Tillerson reaffirmed his country’s support for India’s rise as a regional power and providing further assistance in advancing India’s military mordernisation by equipping it with best technologies.

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With Xi at helm, China unveils new pro-reform leadership

- by India Writes Network

Ending months of speculation, China unveiled its top leadership on October 25, with President Xi Jinping emerging as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, and five new members inducted into the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s apex decision-making body.With the world watching closely, the 64-year-old Xi Jinping presented members of the seven-member PSC to hordes of international and Chinese journalists at the imposing Great Hall of the People.
For Xi Jinping, it’s the crowning moment of his decades-old career as his philosophy christened “Xi Jinping Thought” was enshrined in the party constitution at the end of the week-long National Congress on October 24, elevating him to the pantheon of party legends Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.The new team chosen by Xi Jinping includes seasoned party veterans with extensive experience in governance and managing reforms, which signal the president’s commitment to fast-tracking structural transformation of the economy and curbing corruption in public life.

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Xi Jinping joins Mao pantheon: What it means for China & world

- by Manish Chand

It’s the Xi Jinping Moment as China’s Communist Party elevated and exalted the 64-year-old princeling with the common touch to the pantheon of the party immortals, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, making him the most powerful Chinese leader in decades. On a cold winter morning in Beijing on October 24, the Xi Jinping Thought shone the path to realising the Chinese Dream as the week-long Party Congress concluded by enshrining the 64-year-old leader’s philosophy into the Chinese constitution, and setting him up for a prolonged stay in power, much beyond 2022 when his second term ends.
More than 2,000 delegates gathered in the majestic Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s iconic Tiananmen Square and unanimously voted to incorporate “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era” in the constitution on the final day of the week-long 19th Party Congress, a twice-a-decade meeting of the party’s ruling oligarchy.
Xi Jinping, who had inspired and enthralled the party elite and the nation with his three-and-a-half hour speech on the opening day of the congress, exuded quiet authority and poise as he spoke about “great strength and vitality,” of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the 21st century.
Xi Jinping Thought will now be on a par with Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory as a “guide to action” and revitalisation of the CPC and the Chinese nation. It will be now mandatory learning for Chinese students from primary schools through to universities.
This ceremonial elevation of Xi Jinping in the CPC pantheon will have significant ramifications for the world as it deals with the most powerful Chinese leader in decades, who has his own vision of making China a global power, which could bring him in conflict with other power centres.

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Amid churn in Indo-Pacific, US plays India versus China game

- by India Writes Network

Ahead of his maiden visit to India, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has projected the US as the reliable partner India needs, positioning New Delhi and Washington as two “two bookends of stability” in the Indo-Pacific region which is being challenged by China’s “irresponsible” rise.

Courting India ahead of his first official visit to New Delhi next week, Mr Tillerson projected an upbeat trajectory of the India-US relations that have been on an upswing ever since President Donald Trump assumed office earlier this year. In a defining foreign policy speech at an American think tank, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mr. Tillerson said that the US is “determined to dramatically deepen ways” to build an “ambitious partnership” with India, particularly with an eye on the Indo-Pacific region and China, which will have “far-reaching implications for the next 100 years.”
Going by Mr Tillerson’s comments, it would appear that the US is pushing for a renewed China containment strategy, with India as a key balancer against China’s assertiveness. Should India offer to be part of this strategy? Opinion is divided among India’s strategic establishment. Meera Shankar, India’s former ambassador to the US, has struck a note of caution. “It’s a culmination of the trend of strengthening strategic partnerships in the region by the US to balance China,” Mrs Shankar told India Writes Network. “A stronger India will ipso facto act as a balancer, without getting into overt containment strategy,” she said. The US should help to bolster India’s rise and capabilities, she said.

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Diwali light for India-US relations: Trump lauds Modi & India, Indian-Americans

- by India Writes Network

Is it Diwali time for India-US relations? Clearly, there is a lot to cheer about, and the reassuring Diwali message from US President Donald Trump should light up the spirit of his “friend,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a gesture reaffirming his commitment to deepening India-US relations, the flamboyant American president, along with his daughter Ivanka, celebrated the Hindu festival of lights – Diwali – at the White House. The Diwali bash was attended by many prominent Indian-Americans in the Trump administration, including Nikki Haley (US Ambassador to the UN), Seema Verma (Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and Ajit Pai (Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission). A video of the Diwali celebrations at White House was posted on the president’s Facebook page.
In hosting the Diwali celebrations at the White House, Mr Trump was continuing the tradition followed by his predecessors. But given the upswing in India-US relations during the first few months of his administration, despite initial apprehensions about policy volatility, there is a lot to cheer about how this vital relationship is shaping up.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US in June and his first meeting with Trump had set an ambitious, multi-layered agenda for upscaling India-US relations across the spectrum.

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New era will see China closer to centre of world: Xi Jinping

- by India Writes Network

Unveiling his vision of a Sino-centric world order at the twice-in-a-decade leadership shuffle, Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to build China into “a great modern socialist country” by the middle of this century and exhorted the Chinese people to fructify the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

“This is an era that will see China move closer to the centre of the world and make more contributions to humankind,” he said at the inaugural session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on October 18.

The 19th National Congress of the CPC is poised to be the biggest political shake-up in China’s recent history, and looks set to elevate and consolidate Xi’s status as one of the most powerful leaders of China.

Holding the tenets of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era aloft, Mr Xi reiterated the need to “work tirelessly to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation” even as he cautioned against “mechanically copying the political systems of other countries.”

Addressing over 2000 delegates in the majestic Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Mr Xi said: “We will unite the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and lead them to a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in the drive to secure the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.”

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