Suchergebnisse

Ravi Dutt Bajpai, Civilization-States of China and India—Reshaping the World Order. Bloomsbury, 2024 pp. 268, ISBN: HB 978-93-56401-98-3, eBook: 978-93-56402-00-3.

Even as Xi Jinping begins to make his personal imprint on Cross-Strait relations, he has to contend with his predecessor, Hu Jintao's policy towards Taiwan that generated a modus vivendi, acting as a precursor to a slew of trade related agreements between the two sides leading to the ECFA in 2010. On Taiwan, the 'status quo' aspect of Cross-Strait relations has assumed overwhelming consensus with calls for deeper economic engagement with the mainland. Broadly, a template with its own characteristics emerges of a selective reconciling of differences with certain accommodations of interests making the Cross-Strait relations a unique model. This article situates Cross-Strait relations during Hu Jintao's term from 2002–2012, and advances the proposition that the mechanics of an eventual integration are underway with deeper economic cooperation being the first phase of a comprehensive framework under construction. To Beijing, its behaviour on Cross-Strait issues is intrinsic to its announced process of 'peaceful development'. However, the 'relative' success of the on-going process of economic integration does not have to be interpreted as an overwhelming endorsement of the methodology adopted, since closer relations with the mainland is a deeply divisive and politically charged issue in Taiwan.

Book review on: Dafydd Fell. Government and Politics in Taiwan. Abingdon: Routledge. 2012. Jean-Marc.F. Blanchard & Hickey, Dennis, V. (Eds.). New Thinking about the Taiwan Issue – Theoretical insights into its origins, dynamics and prospects. New York: Routledge. 2012.

Three decades of economic reform have led to a comprehensive recasting of China's geostrategic priorities in its immediate periphery. China's relations with Myanmar are an instance of a bilateral relationship that has gone from strength to strength in the past two decades following internal political upheavals in the late 1980s that motivated the two countries to reach out to each other following international opprobrium. This article will explain the strategic nature of relations between Myanmar and China in the last decade and attempt to posit this equation in a South Asian context. The structure of the article includes includes four sections—the first section is a brief introduction that captures five decades of relations between Myanmar and China from 1950 to 2000; the second section examines the comprehensive nature of their bilateral relations; the third section analyses mutual perceptions; and the concluding section focuses on the impact China–Myanmar relations has on the South Asian region. There are two central arguments in this research article—the first revolves around the hypothesis that Myanmar–China relations are motivated by geo-strategic and geo-economic considerations. The second argument rests on the premise that there is no 'client dependency' in this bilateral relationship and China–Myanmar relations while 'close' and 'friendly' do have their share of concerns.

No narrative on India and Pakistan relations, as post-colonial states, is complete without taking into account the ineptitude with which the colonial power (Britain) scuttled its responsibilities almost overnight and left in its wake two countries united only by their hatred for each other and divided by every other known variable. They continue to conduct their relations with each other through the narrow prisms of suspicion, hostility, hatred, and "otherness." It could be argued that since their very coming into being was a violent event, their existence as independent entities would involve continued violence within "manageable" levels that does not succeed in breaking up the "other." Apart from three and a half wars with each other, the India-Pakistan dyad is notorious for generating "near-war" scenarios repeatedly and for a vituperative relationship characterized by a perennial streak of crisis management. Adding a new dimension is the respective internal security problems faced by the dyad that threaten to undermine the legitimacy of both. (Asian Perspect/GIGA)