Journal of International Studies

India appears to be playing something of a double game on the South China Sea dispute as it tries to balance its competing interests of expanding its influence in Southeast Asia without unduly upsetting China. This week Delhi’s delicate balancing act was put to the test as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to China coincided with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s trip to the Philippines. The South China Sea doesn’t appear to have figured prominently into Singh’s trip to Beijing, which focused instead of dialing back tensions along the Sino-Indo border as well as rebalancing economic ties. However, ahead of Singh’s arrival in China, Khurshid  gave a lengthy interview  to the Hong Kong-based  South China Morning Post  in which he appeared to take a more conciliatory position towards China on the issue of the South China Sea dispute. “We don't interfere” in the South China Sea dispute Khurshid told the Hong Kong daily. He added, “We do be...

Two Asian giants met in Beijing this week, with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making a reciprocal visit to Beijing. The focus of the trip was economic cooperation and plans to get China-India trade to $100 billion by 2015, although it was the border disputes – and in particular the signing of a  Border Defence Cooperation Agreement  designed to defuse tensions – that captured the public attention. What was missing from the agenda, however, was Afghanistan, a country in which Beijing and Delhi both have substantial mutual interests and where the two Asian giants could demonstrate their ability to responsibly manage the regional order. Next year has the potential to be an inflection point in Afghanistan’s modern history. The Western withdrawal of combat troops from the nation after more than a decade of conflict will leave the freshly constructed administration to find its own feet. While a residual Western force will remain, it will be focused on training and co...

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is known for his soft-spoken manner and propensity for understatement. One  recent example  is his observation, made ahead of his visit to China this week, that “India and China have historical issues and there are areas of concern.” Among the historical issues Singh was referring to are the three major military incidents between China and India: the  Sino-Indian War of 1962 , the 1967 Chola Incident, and a 1987 skirmish. In 2013, the two came close to adding a fourth to this list when a PLA platoon was found to have set up  camp 30 km south of Daulat Beg Oldi, in Ladakh, near Aksai Chin. Aksai Chin is perceived by India as an inextricable part of Jammu and Kashmir, and by China as a strategically vital bridge between Xinjiang and Tibet. China and India had signed agreements in the 1990s to establish a modus vivendi on the border in the form of the Line of Actual Control (LoAC). The 1993 agreement included  a stat...

Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, is facing mounting internal political pressure on whether India should attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo in November. His critics insist that India join with Canada in boycotting the Commonwealth meet to protest Sri Lanka’s dismal human rights record and the increasingly authoritarian leadership under President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The situation escalated last week when parties in Tamil Nadu, where voters are ethnically and linguistically aligned with Sri Lankan Tamils, unanimously passed a resolution  urging Singh to stay away from the much-anticipated meeting  in November. For his part, Singh, aware of the domestic consequences, has trodden carefully, stating in a noncommittal tone that his decision on whether to travel to Colombo would be taken in “the best interests of the people of India and Tamil Nadu.” If Singh were truly concerned about the long-term geopolitical interests o...

Just a week after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to Beijing, where he signed a  Border Defense Cooperation Agreement , China has reminded India of its other border conflict: Arunachal Pradesh.  The Hindu  reports  that China opened a new highway that links Medog, Tibet’s so-called “last isolated county,” with the rest of China. The  Global Times  called Medog  “the last roadless county in China” – it did not mention India at all. The opening of the highway is not a border provocation in the same way as the Daulat Beg Oldi incident earlier this year. The entire highway runs squarely through Chinese territory. However, in August 2013, Chinese troops  had camped out  for two days within territory that India perceives to be part of Arunachal Pradesh. Most recently, prior to Manmohan Singh’s trip to China,  two athletes  from the disputed region were given stapled visas to travel to China for a tournament. Chinese developm...

On Oct. 23, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, with the  two leaders concluding and signing  a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) aimed at maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC), which was established in 1993. The momentum leading up to this agreement was largely generated by the incursion of a Chinese platoon into Indian territory in April 2013, known as the Daulat Beg Oldi incident. The incident was one of the most serious border incidents between India and China in recent history. The  ten-article agreement  enumerates several mechanisms to reduce misunderstandings and improve communications between the two nuclear-armed states along their disputed border in Kashmir. According to  Reuters , "Under the new deal, the two sides will give notice of patrols along the ill-defined border to ensure that patrols do not "tail" each other to reduce the chance of confrontation and e...

Later this month, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will travel to Beijing. The visit will cap a year that has been full of ups and downs in India’s relations with China. The tale of three trips is representative. One in May by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, his first abroad, was intended to signal the  importance Beijing placed in the Sino-Indian relationship . But it took place in the aftermath of—and some would say was overshadowed by—a border standoff between the two countries’ militaries. In July, the Indian defense minister visited Beijing to rebuild trust and defense ties. Media coverage, however, focused on  warnings  to India issued by a PLA general, which Chinese officials had to rush to  dismiss . And Singh will be travelling from a country that is largely preoccupied domestically. When discussions do turn to China, they have focused on  concerns  about Indian capacity vis-à-vis that country, Indian politicians  accusing  the...

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared to side with ASEAN and rebuke China on the South China Sea dispute during the East Asian Summit in Brunei this week. The sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea predictably commanded much attention during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and East Asia Summits this past week. During his otherwise conciliatory speech at the latter event, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang forcefully made the case for China’s long-standing preference of trying to resolve the disputes bilaterally with only the parties directly involved. “Territorial and maritime disputes between countries in this region should be resolved by the countries concerned through friendly consultation,” Li said during the speech,  according to  state-run media outlets in China. Speaking shortly after Li at the same forum, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seemed to directly refute China’s position, although with some diplomatic subtlety. “A...

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared to side with ASEAN and rebuke China on the South China Sea dispute during the East Asian Summit in Brunei this week. The sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea predictably commanded much attention during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and East Asia Summits this past week. During his otherwise conciliatory speech at the latter event, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang forcefully made the case for China’s long-standing preference of trying to resolve the disputes bilaterally with only the parties directly involved. “Territorial and maritime disputes between countries in this region should be resolved by the countries concerned through friendly consultation,” Li said during the speech,  according to  state-run media outlets in China. Speaking shortly after Li at the same forum, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seemed to directly refute China’s position, although with some diplomatic subtlety. “A s...