Author: K. Yhome, Observer Research Foundation
China’s state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) completed construction of a natural gas pipeline from Myanmar to China on 28 May 2013 and is close to finishing an oil pipeline.
The pipeline will start delivering gas from Myanmar’s west coast in the Bay of Bengal to Kunming (the capital of China’s Yunnan province) on 1 July, while the oil pipeline will transport China’s crude shipments from the Persian Gulf and Africa when it is completed later this year. Read more…
Authors: Rohit Sinha and Geethanjali Nataraj, ORF
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Japan will do as much to invigorate the Indian growth story as it will to strengthen diplomatic relations in the Asia Pacific.
With India investing heavily in infrastructure, Japanese assistance — both technical and financial — has been of great benefit. Read more…
Author: K.V. Kesavan, ORF
The India–Japan partnership has matured into an important component of the new security and economic architecture of the Indo-Pacific region.
For a long time, the partnership was centered on economic matters such as development loans, trade and investment. Read more…
Author: Geethanjali Nataraj, ORF
The India–EU FTA has been on the anvil for a long time, with no major breakthroughs in sight. A week-long intergovernmental meeting in Delhi from 13–15 May failed to iron out differences and ensure progress towards striking a deal.
India has a lot to gain from an FTA with the EU, particularly in regard to preferential and duty-free access to the European market. Read more…
Author: Sourabh Gupta, Samuels International
During the last week of May, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid a return visit to Tokyo, in keeping with a tradition inaugurated by him and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, to exchange summit-level visits on an annual basis.
Modest progress was reached on resuming negotiations towards a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation accord.
Read more…
Authors: Vikas Kumar, APU, and Poonam Singh, NISM
In December 2012, amidst concerns over economic slowdown and policy paralysis, the Indian government introduced the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which attempts to amend the Competition Act.
The Competition Act is being amended for a third time since it was first enacted in 2002, this time addressing among other things the prohibition on abuse of dominant position. Read more…
Author: Purnendra Jain, University of Adelaide
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s four-day visit to Tokyo last week produced significant advancement in bilateral ties and was welcomed in both countries.
The consequent, rather long 34-paragraph joint statement contained no surprises or ground-breaking announcements beyond what was reported in the media prior to the trip. Read more…
Author: Ranjit Goswami, IMT Nagpur
Noam Chomsky once said that ‘reform is a change that you’re supposed to like. So as soon as you hear the word reform, you kind of reach for your wallet and see who’s lifting it’.
This statement is all the more true given that economic reform does not mean the same thing across the world. Not all countries choose to take the IMF-driven, Washington Consensus path of economic reform. China’s ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ is the clearest example of this. Read more…
Author: He Fan, CASS
Earlier this year in April, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose Russia as the destination of his first state visit. Now Li Keqiang, China’s new premier, has chosen India as the first stop of his overseas debut. Both choices echo China’s policy of building ‘new big power relations’, a phrase recently minted by the incoming leadership. Read more…
Author: Pravakar Sahoo, Delhi University
India’s current account deficit is expected to be 5 per cent of GDP this fiscal year. With the deficit still growing and FDI inflows declining (with the exception of the numbers for January 2013), the government needs to facilitate investment in the economy.
Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
Li Keqiang is today in New Delhi on his first visit to India as China’s new premier, an unprecedentedly early high-level exchange between the two great emerging Asian powers. The visit comes only a week or two after resolution of what seemed to be a stand-off between the two in the Ladakh Himalayas on the Sino–Indian border. Read more…
Author: Sourabh Gupta, Samuels International
It is remarkable the sort of anxiety that a handful of lightly armed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers and their dog can educe on a disputed frontier.
On 15 April three dozen or so such soldiers, many miles removed from reinforcement or logistical support, pitched their tents in a demonstrative assertion Read more…
Author: Ashwini K Swain, Delhi
After the global financial crisis governments were asked to support industrial activities, and eventually many states decided to restructure their industrial policy.
After all, there is a new reason for industrial policy — the problem of climate change. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The standoff between China and India in Ladakh has been resolved, at least for now.
After China set up five tents for 40 personnel 19 kilometres inside what India regards as the line of control, India set up similar tents facing them. Both lots of tents are now to be removed, but it is still unclear whether India is to remove any of the structures at Fukche and Chumar, as demanded by the Chinese. Read more…
Author: Ashima Goyal, IGIDR
India’s current account deficit (CAD) rose to a record 6.7 per cent of GDP in the last quarter of 2012.
That is clearly unsustainable. But an effective cure must address the roots of the problem, for which a correct diagnosis is essential. Read more…
