Introduction North Korea has been under the dictatorial regime of the Kim dynasty since the end of the Second World War. Currently under Kim Jong-un, it is considered a pariah state which pays no heed to democratic values, prioritises military build-up at the cost of starving its citizens, has a closed Stalinist economy, and has […]
On 06 August 2017, the foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China met in Manila, The Philippines, and adopted the “Framework of the code of conduct (CoC) in the South China Sea (SCS)”. The framework is meant to lead eventually to the CoC comprising a set of rules outlining certain […]
This is part two of a three-part series on China’s naval power (PART 2: OPERATIONAL LEVEL) As introduced in Part 1, so far, most analyses of China’s naval power worldwide have examined the PLA Navy’s existing and projected force-levels, and its associated hardware inductions and technological progression, with little emphasis on the ‘intangibles’ of […]
On 16 August 2017, the Indian built Water Jet Fast Patrol Vessel ‘CGS Valiant’ was commissioned by the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth at Port Louis Mauritius. This was the third ship supplied by an Indian Defence shipyard to be commissioned in the National Coast Guard (NCG) of Mauritius.[1] Speaking on this occasion, […]
On 16 August 2017, the Indian built Water Jet Fast Patrol Vessel ‘CGS Valiant’ was commissioned by the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth at Port Louis Mauritius. This was the third ship supplied by an Indian Defence shipyard to be commissioned in the National Coast Guard (NCG) of Mauritius.[1]Speaking on this occasion, the Mauritius […]
The second week of July 2017 saw an event that can only be described as a ‘mammoth moment’ taking place, as a trillion ton iceberg broke off from western Antarctica. The size of the iceberg has been pegged at more than three times the size of the greater London area. Scientists who had been monitoring […]
“In a dim, distant, unrecorded age We had met, thou and I, – When my speech became entangled in thine And my life in thy life” This prose by Rabindranath Tagore in his celebrated poem ‘To Java’ written in Bengali captures the essence of forgotten relations between India and Indonesia, subtly referring to […]
The high-level United Nations (UN) conference to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) was held at UN Headquarters, New York from 5 to 9 June 2017. The event was specially convened to build international momentum for the implementation of SDG 14 and coincided with the World Oceans Day, celebrated every […]
The Asia Africa Growth Corridor is an initiative of India and Japan, the stated objective of which is improving economic connectivity between Asia and Africa through industrial networks and capacity building measures. The origin of the idea can be traced back to the November 2016 Joint Statement issued by India and Japan during Prime Minister […]