India’s National Security Adviser

Last month, when India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the BRICS National Security Advisers’ meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, a possibility was born anew. Is our diplomatic engagement with China, strained since the horrific June 2020 Chinese incursion into Galwan Valley that claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers, about to improve? India faces this question at a time when its relations with the United States have been thriving, with the U.S. regarding India as a useful partner to counter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. So, must India again face a crucial choice in a bipolar world?Two nations at odds but still connected My answer would be a qualified yes. Yes, because two major powers, the U.S. and China, are...

Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s participation in the sixth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. on September 21, 2024 has raised further hopes of consolidating security cooperation among the “four leading maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific”. Nevertheless, it was India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval’s trip to Russia in early September for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) NSA meeting, which included a high-profile personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that needs greater analysis. Mr. Doval also held one-on-one parleys with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which was equally significant since India is leaving no stone unturned to resolve the four-year-old military standoff with China at the Line of Actual Control (...

Tag: India’s National Security Adviser

India’s choices in a world becoming bipolar again

A re-balancing of India’s great power relations