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Subject: International Relations

  • Historical and cultural connections between India and Thailand

    As part of his visit to Thailand for the ninth India-Thailand joint commission meeting, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited a temple in Bangkok.

    Why in news?

    • The temple is the Royal Brahmin Office of the Thai Royal Court and is the official centre of Hinduism in Thailand.
    • It highlights the long history of cultural contacts between India and Thailand.

    Making of ‘Greater India’ in Southeast Asia

    • India and the Southeast Asia region share a long history of cultural and commercial relations.
    • The classical Sanskrit and Pali texts from India carry references of the region using various names such as Kathakosha, Suvarnabhumi (the land of god) or Suvarnadvipa (the golden island), indicating that this was a region that attracted Indian merchants.
    • Trade in spices, aromatic wood and most importantly gold is known to have flourished.
    • In more recent times, European and Indian scholars have referred to Southeast Asia as ‘Farther India’, ‘Greater India’, or ‘Hinduised or Indianized states’.

    What one mean by ‘Farther India’?

    • The first person to do an in-depth study of the process of ‘Indianisation’ in Southeast Asian countries was a French scholar named George Coedes.
    • He coined the term ‘Farther India’ to refer to those states that experienced “the civilizing activity of India’.
    • Geographically, it refers to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and the Malay states.
    • The Sanskrit, Buddhist, and Jain texts indicate that interactions between the two regions go back more than two thousand years ago, mainly through sea voyages and that trade played an important role.
    • They were also accompanied by Brahmin priests, Buddhist monks, scholars and adventurers and all of them played an important role in the transmission of Indian culture to the natives of Southeast Asia.
    • Some of the merchants and Brahmin priests married the local girls and were often employed by the local rulers.

    Limitations to Indian influence

    • Indian expansion into Southeast Asia cannot be compared to European colonization since Indians were not complete strangers to the population of Southeast Asia and had pre-existing trade relations.
    • In the early 20th century, the nationalist historians of India frequently referred to the ancient Indian kingdoms in Southeast Asia as its ‘colony’.
    • Historian RC Majumdar noted that the Hindu colonists brought with them the whole framework of their culture and civilization.
    • This was transplanted in its entirety among the people who had not emerged from their primitive barbarism.
    • More recently the colonization theory has been rejected on the ground that there is very little evidence of conquest or direct political influence in the ancient Southeast Asian kingdoms.

    Visible cultural influence

    • The first Indian kingdom to come up in Southeast Asia was Funan, which is the predecessor of modern Cambodia and Lin-yi in southern Vietnam, both of which came up in the second century CE.
    • Contemporary Southeast Asian society carries several pieces of evidence of the cultural impact of these interactions.
    • Many local languages in the region, including Thai, Malay, and Javanese contain words of Sanskrit, Pali and Dravidian origin in significant proportions.
    • The Thai language is written in script derived from Southern Indian Pallava alphabet.
    • Perhaps the most important influence of India on Southeast Asia was in the field of religion and how Shivaism, Vaishnavism, Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism and later Sinhalese Buddhism came to be practised in the region.
    • The political and administrative institutions and ideas, especially the concept of divine authority and kingship, are largely shaped by the Indian practices.
    • For example, the Thai king is considered as an incarnation of Vishnu.
    • The episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharata are regularly featured in puppet shows and theatre events.
    • In terms of architecture, monuments like Borobodur Stupa in Java, the Angkor Vat temple in Cambodia, My Son temple in Vietnam are some of the best examples of Indian influence in the region.

    India’s religious links to Thailand

    • In the early centuries of the Common Era, Thailand, which was historically known as Siam, was under the rule of the Funan Empire.
    • Following the decline of the Funan Empire in the sixth century CE, it was under the rule of the Buddhist kingdom of Dvaravati.
    • In the 10th century, the region came under Khmer rule, which is also known to have links with India.
    • A Tamil inscription found in Takua-pa testifies to trade links between the Pallava region of South India and southern Thailand.
    • A mercantile corporation of South Indians called Manikarramam had established a settlement here and built its own temple and tank, and lived as a ‘self-contained’ colony.
    • It is important to note that Brahmanism and Buddhism existed alongside each other in Thailand in the pre-Sukhothai period of the 13th century.

    Cult of Rama

    • The Ramayana known in Thailand as Ramakriti (the glory of Rama) or Ramakien (the account of Rama) — has provided an outlet of cultural expression in Thailand for both the elite and the common man.
    • Episodes from the epic are painted on the walls of Buddhist temples and enacted in dramas and ballets.
    • Although there is no archaeological evidence of the story of Rama in Thailand, certain towns in the country have legends related to Rama’s life connected with them.
    • For instance, Ayutthaya in Central Thailand, which emerged in the 10th century CE, is derived from Ayodhya, birthplace of Lord Rama.
    • Desai writes that “from the 13th century onwards, several Thai kings assumed the title Rama, which has become hereditary during the present dynasty.”

     

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  • Indian team deliberating on Ocean Diversity Pact

    A delegation from India and other member countries of the UN are in New York to deliberate on a one-of-its-kind agreement to conserve marine biodiversity in the high seas, namely the oceans that extend beyond countries’ territorial waters.

    What is the news?

    • The agreement follows a resolution by the UN General Assembly.
    • The pact is expected to be the final in a series set in motion since 2018 to draft an international legally binding instrument under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

    Why need Ocean Diversity Pact?

    (1) Deciding on rights of explorers

    • A key aspect of the agreement is deciding on the rights of companies that undertake exploration for biological resources in the high seas.
    • It is under discussion if companies have absolute rights on any discovery or extraction in these regions or should they share their gains, in terms of intellectual property and royalties with an UN-prescribed body.

    (2) Regulation for exotic items

    • The focus of mining activity in the sea has been for gas hydrates, precious metals and other fossil fuel
    • However, with advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering, several companies see potential in exotic microbes and other organisms — several of them undiscovered — that abide in the deep ocean and could be used for drugs and vaccines.

    (3) ‘Blue Economy’ policy of India

    • The Union Cabinet approved a ‘Blue Economy’ policy for India, a nearly ₹4,000-crore programme spread over five years.
    • This among other things will develop a manned submersible vessel as well as work on bio-prospecting of deep-sea flora and fauna including microbes.
    • Studies on sustainable utilisation of deep sea bio-resources will be the main focus.

    What is UNCLOS?

    • UNCLOS is sometimes referred to as the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty.
    • It came into operation and became effective from 16th November 1982.
    • It defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.
    • It has created three new institutions on the international scene :
    1. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea,
    2. International Seabed Authority
    3. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

    Note: UNCLOS does not deal with matters of territorial disputes or to resolve issues of sovereignty, as that field is governed by rules of customary international law on the acquisition and loss of territory.

    Major conventions:

    There had been three major conferences of UNCLOS:

    1. UNCLOS I: It resulted in the successful implementation of various conventions regarding Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zones, Continental Shelf, High Seas, Fishing Rights.
    2. UNCLOS II: No agreement was reached over breadth of territorial waters.
    3. UNCLOS III: It introduced a number of provisions. The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of disputes.

    The convention set the limit of various areas, measured from a carefully defined baseline.

    These terminologies are as follows:

    (1) Baseline

    • The convention set the limit of various areas, measured from a carefully defined baseline.
    • Normally, a sea baseline follows the low-water line, but when the coastline is deeply indented, has fringing islands or is highly unstable, straight baselines may be used.

    (2) Internal waters

    • It covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline.
    • The coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters.
    • A vessel in the high seas assumes jurisdiction under the internal laws of its flag State.

    (3) Territorial waters

    • Out to 12 nautical miles (22 km, 14 miles) from the baseline, the coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource.
    • Vessels were given the Right of Innocent Passage through any territorial waters.
    • “Innocent passage” is defined by the convention as passing through waters in an expeditious and continuous manner, which is not “prejudicial to the peace, good order or the security” of the coastal state.
    • Fishing, polluting, weapons practice, and spying are not “innocent”, and submarines and other underwater vehicles are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag.
    • Nations can also temporarily suspend innocent passage in specific areas of their territorial seas, if doing so is essential for the protection of their security.

    (4) Archipelagic waters

    • The convention set the definition of “Archipelagic States”, which also defines how the state can draw its territorial borders.
    • All waters inside this baseline are designated “Archipelagic Waters”.
    • The state has sovereignty over these waters mostly to the extent it has over internal waters, but subject to existing rights including traditional fishing rights of immediately adjacent states.
    • Foreign vessels have right of innocent passage through archipelagic waters, but archipelagic states may limit innocent passage to designated sea lanes.

    (5) Contiguous zone

    • Beyond the 12-nautical-mile (22 km) limit, there is a further 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the territorial sea baseline limit, the contiguous zone.
    • Here a state can continue to enforce laws in four specific areas (customs, taxation, immigration, and pollution) if the infringement started or is about to occur within the state’s territory or territorial waters.
    • This makes the contiguous zone a hot pursuit area.

    (6) Exclusive economic zones (EEZs)

    • These extend 200 nm from the baseline.
    • Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources.
    • In casual use, the term may include the territorial sea and even the continental shelf.

    (7) Continental shelf

    • The continental shelf is defined as the natural prolongation of the land territory to the continental margin’s outer edge, or 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastal state’s baseline, whichever is greater.

    India and UNCLOS

    • As a State party to the UNCLOS, India promoted utmost respect for the UNCLOS, which established the international legal order of the seas and oceans.
    • India also supported freedom of navigation and overflight, and unimpeded commerce based on the principles of international law, reflected notably in the UNCLOS 1982.
    • India is committed to safeguarding maritime interests and strengthening security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to ensure a favorable and positive maritime environment.

     

     

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  • Lessons for India from the Taiwan standoff

    Context

    The brief visit by the United States House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan, against stern warnings issued by China, has the potential to increase the already deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and China. For those of us in India watching the events as they unfold around Taiwan, there are valuable lessons to be learnt.

    Background

    • The crisis that began with the visit of Ms. Pelosi to Taipei is still unfolding and there is little clarity today on how it will wind down.
    •  For China, its claims about a rising superpower might ring hollow if it is unable to unify its claimed territories, in particular Taiwan.
    • For the U.S., it is about re-establishing steadily-diminishing American credibility in the eyes of its friends and foes.
    • For Taiwan, it is about standing up to Chinese bullying and making its red lines clear to Beijing.
    • Lessons for India: To be fair, there is growing recognition in New Delhi that it is important to meet the challenge posed by a belligerent China, but there appears to be a lack of clarity on how to meet this challenge.
    • To that extent, the Taiwan crisis offers New Delhi three lessons, at the very least.

    Takeaways for India

    1] Articulate red lines

    • The most important lesson from the Taiwan standoff for policymakers in New Delhi is the importance of articulating red lines and sovereign positions in an unambiguous manner.
    •  New Delhi needs to unambiguously highlight the threat from China and the sources of such a threat.
    • Any absence of such clarity will be cleverly utilised by Beijing to push Indian limits, as we have already seen.
    • Stop confusing international community: Even worse, ambiguous messaging by India also confuses its friends in the international community.
    • If India does not clearly articulate that China is in illegal occupation of its territory, how can it expect its friends in the international community to support India diplomatically or otherwise?
    • In other words, India’s current policy amounts to poor messaging, and confusing to its own people as well as the larger international community, and is therefore counterproductive.

    2] Avoid appeasement

    • Taiwan could have avoided the ongoing confrontation and the economic blockade during Chinese retaliatory military exercises around its territory by avoiding Ms. Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, or perhaps even keeping it low key.
    • Appeasement of China, Taiwan knows, is not the answer to Beijing’s aggression.
    •  India’s policy of meeting/hosting Chinese leaders while the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continue(d) to violate established territorial norms on the LAC is a deeply flawed one.
    • Unilaterally catering to Chinese sensitivities even during the standoffs between the two militaries is a mistake.
    • For instance, the parliamentary delegation visits and legislature-level dialogues between India and Taiwan have not taken place since 2017.
    • Soft-peddling of the Quad was a mistake: During the 2000s, India (as well as Australia) decided to soft-peddle the Quad in the face of strong Chinese objections.
    • It is only in the last two years or so that we have witnessed renewed enthusiasm around the Quad.
    • In retrospect, appeasing Beijing by almost abandoning the Quad was bad strategy.

    3] Economic relationship is a two way process

    • Given that the economic relationship is a two-way process and that, as a matter of fact, the trade deficit is in China’s favour, China too has a lot to lose from a damaged trade relationship with India.
    • More so, if the Taiwan example (as well as the India-China standoff in 2020) is anything to go by, trade can continue to take place despite tensions and without India making any compromises vis-à-vis its sovereign claims.
    • India for sure should do business with China, but not on China’s own terms.

    Conclusion

    The recent crisis offers valuable lessons for India in its dealing with China.

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  • A new global vision for G20

    Context

    While India has taken a clear view of the role of the G20, there is concern that the agenda, themes and focus areas which India will set for 2023 lack vision.

    What is G-20?

    • Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
    • Collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85 percent of the Gross World Product (GWP), 80 percent of world trade.
    • To tackle the problems or address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
    • In addition to it, the group also hosts separate meetings of the finance ministers and foreign ministers.
    • The G20 has no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings.

    Significance of G20 in shaping global order

    • The G20 plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
    • It recognises that global prosperity is interdependent and economic opportunities and challenges are interlinked.
    • The challenge is to craft new approaches to overcome the acute global discord.

    Why we need new model of cooperation

    • Multilateral commitments are faltering: Governance in a world that is steadily becoming more equal needs institutional innovation.
    • This is because the role of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in securing cooperation between donor and recipient country groups is losing centrality.
    •  There are now three socio-economic systems — the G7, China-Russia, and India and the others — and they will jointly set the global agenda.
    • Strategic competition: Ukraine conflict, rival finance, the expanding influence of the trade and value chains dominated by the U.S. and China, and the reluctance of developing countries to take sides in the strategic competition as they have a real choice requires fresh thinking.
    • Preventing the clash of ideas through reorientation: The primary role of the G20, which accounts for 95% of the world’s patents, 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade and 65% of the world population, needs to be reoriented to prevent a clash of ideas to the detriment of the global good.
    • The solution lies in a new conceptual model seeking agreement on an agenda limited to principles rather than long negotiated anodyne text.

    What should be on agenda when India hosts G20 in 2023

    1] Underlining the need for new framework

    • Redefining common concerns: First, the presumed equality that we are all in the same boat, recognised in the case of climate change, needs to be expanded to other areas with a global impact redefining ‘common concerns’.
    • Second, emerging economies are no longer to be considered the source of problems needing external solutions but source of solutions to shared problems.
    • Third, the BRICS provides an appropriate model for governance institutions suitable for the 21st century where a narrow group of states dominated by one power will not shape the agenda.
    • Ensuring adequate food, housing, education, health, water and sanitation and work for all should guide international cooperation.
    • Principles of common but differentiated responsibilities for improving the quality of life of all households can guide deliberations in other fora on problems that seem intractable in multilateralism based on trade and aid.

    2] Collaboration around science and technology

    •  The global agenda has been tilted towards investment, whereas science and technology are the driving force for economic diversification, sustainably urbanising the world, and ushering the hydrogen economy and new crop varieties as the answer to both human well-being and global climate change.
    •  A forum to exchange experiences on societal benefits and growth as complementary goals would lead to fresh thinking on employment and environment.

    3] Redefining digital access as universal service

    • Harnessing the potential of the digital-information-technology revolution requires redefining digital access as a “universal service” that goes beyond physical connectivity to sharing specific opportunities available.
    • For global society to reap the fruits of the new set of network technologies, open access software should be offered for more cost-effective service delivery options, good governance and sustainable development.

    4] Collaboration in space technology

    • Space is the next frontier for finding solutions to problems of natural resource management ranging from climate change-related natural disasters, supporting agricultural innovation to urban and infrastructure planning.
    • Analysing Earth observation data will require regional and international collaboration through existing centres which have massive computing capacities, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

    5] Collaboration in health sector

    • Public health has to learn from the COVID-19 fiasco with infectious diseases representing a market failure.
    • A major global challenge is the rapidly growing antimicrobial resistance which needs new antibiotics and collaboration between existing biotechnology facilities.

    6]  Avoiding strategic competition

    • Overriding priority to development suggests avoiding strategic competition.
    • Countries in the region will support building on the 1971 UNGA Declaration designating for all time the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace and non-extension into the region of rivalries and conflicts that are foreign to it.

    7] Reviving Global Financial Transaction Tax

    •  A Global Financial Transaction Tax, considered by the G20 in 2011, needs to be revived to be paid to a Green Technology Fund for Least Developed Countries.

    Conclusion

    Given the significance of G20 for the global order it should lead the way in formulating the new framework based on collaboration in areas such as science and technology, innovation and away from aid and trade.

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  • India’s response to Sri Lanka and Myanmar crises is a study in contrast

    Context

    There is a stark contrast contrast between the Indian response to the crisis in Sri Lanka and the dawning civil war in Myanmar.

    Crisis in Myanmar

    • According to UN human rights monitors, over 2,000 people have been killed, around 14,000 are in prison, including 90 lawmakers, over 7,00,000 are refugees and half a million internally displaced.
    • Humanitarian aid to coup opponents is blocked.
    • The economy is in free fall.
    • Though the international community has not accepted the junta or its nominees as official representatives of Myanmar, it has not recognised the unity government as the legitimate successor of the pre-coup elected administration either.
    • Its armed wing, the recently-formed People’s Defence Force (PDF), exists in a shadowy limbo.
    • If it is too weak to impose significant costs on the junta, one root cause is the lack of support from neighbours.
    • As against Europe’s military support for Ukraine’s defence, no Asian country has stepped up to support the unity government and PDF.
    • Role of ASEAN:  It is ASEAN which shouldered the responsibility to mediate in Myanmar, whereas India took the initiative with Sri Lanka.
    • But ASEAN has been largely unsuccessful.
    • The five-point consensus that the junta agreed on with the regional grouping included an immediate end to violence and resumption of negotiations between the ousted administration and the Tatmadaw.
    • ASEAN’s reaction has been weak at best.
    • The US, EU, Australia and Canada announced targeted sanctions on the junta, and the EU imposed an embargo on arms sales to the country. ASEAN did not.

    India’s response and issues with it

    • The contrast between the Indian response to the crisis in Sri Lanka and the dawning civil war in Myanmar could not be starker.
    • There is no support from the India administration for Mizoram’s aid effort, and apparently there is no Indian policy vis a vis the coup either.
    • Cooperation against cross-border insurgency: Given our land and sea borders with Myanmar, and the troubled history of cross-border insurgencies between our two countries, the India’s inertia is alarming, though not entirely surprising.
    • Successive Indian administrations maintained relations with the junta in the hope that they would cooperate against cross-border Indian armed groups.
    • But these insurgencies have reduced.
    • In fact, over the 10 years of Myanmar’s partial democracy, from 2011 to 2021, cross-border support for Indian insurgents dipped sharply.
    • Direct security interest: In other words, we have a direct security interest in the restoration of our neighbour’s democracy.

    Way forward

    • Stringent sanctions: Sanctions that will starve the junta are a first step that Myanmar’s neighbours are yet to try.
    • While ASEAN has the initiative, all Myanmar’s neighbours need to unite on sanctions, especially nations such as Japan, Australia and India that are members of the Quad along with the US.
    • Myanmar ought to have topped the recent Quad summit’s agenda and it is shameful that it did not.
    • It is still not too late to call a virtual emergency meeting of Quad heads of state, along with ASEAN heads of state, to agree to stringent sanctions.

    Conclusion

    Our neighbourhood is more unstable today than it has been for decades. Four of our bordering countries are in free fall, while China’s grip comes closer to our shores by the hour. Can India afford to fiddle while wildfires ignite around us?

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  • India, Bangladesh, Pakistan: What east can teach west

    Context

    The bilateral relationship between India and Bangladesh dominated by endless contentions at the turn of the millennium has transformed into a very productive partnership.

    Contrast between India’s relations with Bangladesh and Pakistan

    • The persistence of cross-border terrorism, the conflict over Kashmir, the militarisation of the frontier, little connectivity, poor trade relations and no formal inter-governmental negotiations paint a bleak picture of the India-Pak border.
    • The inability of successive generations of Indian and Pakistani leaders to bring a closure to Partition in the west makes the talk of a “100-year war” credible.
    • The only trend that can counter this pessimism is the good news from India’s eastern frontier with Bangladesh.
    • In contrast to the talk of a 100-year war between India and Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have proclaimed a “sonali adhyay” or “golden chapter” in bilateral relations.
    • While the unresolved land and maritime territorial disputes constitute one of the main problems in India’s relations with Pakistan, their resolution with Bangladesh transformed the context of bilateral relations.
    • For both Delhi and Dhaka, the reinvention of the bilateral relationship has been one of the most significant successes of their recent foreign policies

    Rebuilding the Bangladesh-India ties after 2010

    • The work on rebuilding ties began in earnest in 2010, when Sheikh Hasina came to India after taking charge of Bangladesh as prime minister for the second time in 2009.
    • Addressing bilateral problems: Both sides embarked on an extraordinary effort to address most bilateral problems—including border settlement, river water sharing, cross-border terrorism, market access to Bangladeshi goods, and connectivity.
    • The land boundary deal got parliamentary approval in 2015 in India.
    • India also accepted the award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on settling the maritime boundary dispute between Delhi and Dhaka. 
    • Security cooperation: Cooperation on cross-border terrorism that began a couple of years earlier helped build much-needed political trust between the two national security establishments.
    • Connectivity: On the connectivity front, we have seen a substantive movement towards reopening the border that was largely shut down after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan.
    • Trans-boundary bus services, reopening of railway lines, and the revitalisation of waterways are restoring connectivity in the eastern subcontinent that was severed.
    • Bilateral trade: Bilateral trade volumes have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years touching nearly $16 billion last year.
    • Bangladesh is one of India’s top export markets.
    •  India and Bangladesh have also developed inter-connected power grids facilitating Dhaka’s purchase of power from India.
    • It currently buys about 1200 MW of power from India and an additional 1500 MW is in the pipeline.
    • Development of the northeastern India: Today the northeastern states have realised the immense benefits of deeper economic engagement with Bangladesh — none of them more important than ending the geographic isolation of the region.
    • Assam today is at the forefront of imagining a bolder agenda for deepening economic ties with Bangladesh.
    • Peace and prosperity in the region: For India, the expansive partnership with Bangladesh has significantly eased its security challenges and laid the basis for peace and prosperity in the eastern subcontinent.
    • For Bangladesh, discarding the temptation to balance India and embark on a cooperative strategy has allowed Dhaka to focus on its economic growth and lift itself in the regional and global hierarchy.

    Way forward

    • Consolidating the gains: Rather than regret the unfortunate dynamic on the western frontier and bemoan Pakistan’s reluctance to let the SAARC become a vehicle for regional cooperation, Delhi should focus on consolidating the “golden moment” in the east.
    • The issues that need resolution are protecting the rights of minorities, sharing the waters of more than 50 rivers, promoting cross-border investments, managing one of the longest borders in the world, facilitating trade and preventing illegal migration, countering forces of religious extremism, promoting maritime security in the Bay of Bengal, expanding defence cooperation, and mitigating climate change in the shared regional environment to name a few.
    • Solving problems and tending to the relationship must necessarily be a continuous effort rather than episodic.

    Conclusion

    Nor can Delhi and Dhaka take each other for granted and let domestic politics overwhelm the logic of bilateral cooperation. The 75th anniversary of independence offers Delhi and Dhaka a special opportunity to elevate the ambition for their bilateral partnership.

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  • China’s problem with top US senator visiting Taiwan

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, landed in Taiwan, ignoring Chinese threats and a warning by President Xi Jinping to “not play with fire”.

    Why in news?

    • Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is the highest-level visit by an American official to the island in a quarter century.
    • The senior US politician has been critical of China on multiple fronts over the decades.

    US defiance of One China Policy

    • The US has maintained a ‘One China’ policy since the 1970s, under which it recognises Taiwan as a part of China.
    • But it has unofficial ties with Taiwan as well — a strategy that is known as strategic or deliberate ambiguity.
    • Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China, threatens it frequently, and has not ruled out taking the island by military force at any time.

    Why does China have a problem with Pelosi visiting Taiwan?

    • For China, the presence of a senior American figure in Taiwan would indicate some kind of US support for Taiwan’s independence.
    • This move severely undermined China’s perception of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Brief history of China-Taiwan Tensions

    • Taiwan is an island about 160 km off the coast of southeastern China, opposite the Chinese cities of Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen.
    • It was administered by the imperial Qing dynasty, but its control passed to the Japanese in 1895.
    • After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the island passed back into Chinese hands.
    • After the communists led by Mao Zedong won the civil war in mainland China, Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the nationalist Kuomintang party, fled to Taiwan in 1949.
    • Chiang Kai-shek set up the government of the Republic of China on the island, and remained President until 1975.
    • Beijing has never recognised the existence of Taiwan as an independent political entity, arguing that it was always a Chinese province.

    Taiwanese stance

    • Taiwan says that the modern Chinese state was only formed after the revolution of 1911.
    • It was not a part of that state or of the People’s Republic of China that was established after the communist revolution.
    • While the political tensions have continued, China and Taiwan have had economic ties.
    • Many migrants from Taiwan work in China, and China has investments in Taiwan.
    • No doubt, cultural ties are indispensable.
    • In recent years, Taiwan’s government has said only the island’s 23 million people have the right to decide their future and that it will defend itself when attacked.
    • Since 2016, Taiwan has elected a party that leans towards independence.

    How does the world, and US, view Taiwan?

    • The UN does NOT recognise Taiwan as a separate country; in fact, only 13 countries around the world — mainly in South America, the Caribbean, Oceania, and the Vatican — do.
    • In June, President Biden said that the US would defend Taiwan if it was invaded, but it was clarified soon afterward but America does not support Taiwan’s independence.
    • While the US has no formal ties with Taipei, it remains Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier.

     

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  • India-Bangladesh River Disputes

    India and Bangladesh are likely to ink at least one major river agreement later this month.

    It is gauged that India has agreed to offer Bangladesh a package on river waters-related deals that will be considered a significant advancement in terms of sharing of river resources with Dhaka.

    Why in news?

    • There is a strong possibility that an agreement on the River Kushiyara that flows from Assam into Bangladesh is part of one such agreement.
    • This river got its fame in recent Assam floods.
    • Water sharing is considered a sensitive subject given the fact that it often takes political meaning.

    Rivers between India and Bangladesh

    • Overall, India and Bangladesh have 54 transboundary rivers between them, all of which are part of the drainage system of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin.
    • The Padma (the Ganga), the Jamuna (the Brahmaputra) and the Meghna (the Barak) and their tributaries are integral in maintaining food and water security in Bangladesh.
    • In most of these cases, Bangladesh is the lower riparian.
    • This causes concern in Bangladesh that India—being both the upper riparian and first to develop the water resources—can have far more disproportionate control over the rivers.
    • Compounded by the lack of transparent data regarding trans-boundary rivers, such concern can lead to a more serious conflict between the two otherwise friendly neighbours.

    Genesis of the disputes

    • The issues between India and Bangladesh regarding water resource allotment can be traced to the time Bangladesh was still East Pakistan.
    • In 1961, India began construction of the Farakka Barrage—which was to be operational by April 1975—to divert a portion of the dry-season flow and increase the navigability of Kolkata port.
    • When India began its preliminary planning for the project in 1950-51, Pakistan immediately expressed concerns over the potential effect of the project on East Pakistan.

    Moves for disputes resolution: Joint River Commission

    • Soon after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the Joint River Commission was formed between India and Bangladesh in 1972.
    • In a joint declaration issued on 16 May 1974, the PM of Bangladesh and India acknowledged the need for the flow augmentation of the Ganga in the lean season to meet the requirements of both countries.

    Often in news: Teesta River Dispute

    • The Bangladesh government has been insistent on sealing the Teesta Waters Agreement, which has eluded settlement so far.
    • Teesta River is a 315 km long river that rises in the eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Bangladesh and enters the Bay of Bengal.
    • It is a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known as Jamuna in Bangladesh), flowing through India and Bangladesh.
    • It originates in the Himalayas near Chunthang, Sikkim and flows to the south through West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
    • Originally, it continued southward to empty directly into the Padma River but around 1787 the river changed its course to flow eastward to join the Jamuna river.
    • The Teesta Barrage dam helps to provide irrigation for the plains between the upper Padma and the Jamuna.

    What is the dispute about?

    • The point of contention between India and Bangladesh is mainly the lean season flow in the Teesta draining into Bangladesh.
    • The river covers nearly the entire floodplains of Sikkim while draining 2,800 sq km of Bangladesh, governing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
    • For West Bengal, Teesta is equally important, considered the lifeline of half-a-dozen districts in North Bengal.
    • Bangladesh has sought an “equitable” distribution of Teesta waters from India, on the lines of the Ganga Water Treaty of 1996, but to no avail.
    • The failure to ink a deal had its fallout on the country’s politics, putting the ruling party of PM Sheikh Hasina in a spot.

    Q.The hydrological linkages between India and Bangladesh are a product of geography and a matter of shared history. Discuss this statement in line with the Teesta water sharing dispute.

    The deal

    • Following a half-hearted deal in 1983, when a nearly equal division of water was proposed, the countries hit a roadblock. The transient agreement could not be implemented.
    • Talks resumed after the Awami League returned to power in 2008 and the former Indian PM Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka in 2011.
    • In 2015, PM Modi’s visit to Dhaka generated more ebullient lines: deliberations were underway involving all the stakeholders to conclude the agreement as soon as possible.

    Issues from the Indian side

    • It remains an unfinished project and one of the key stakeholders — West Bengal CM is yet to endorse the deal.
    • Her objection is connected to “global warming. Many of the glaciers on the Teesta basin have retreated.
    • The importance of the flow and the seasonal variation of this river is felt during the lean season (from October to April/May) as the average flow is about 500 million cubic metres (MCM) per month.
    • The CM opposed an arrangement in 2011, by which India would get 42.5% and Bangladesh 37.5% of the water during the lean season, and the plan was shelved.

    Why does this deal matters?

    • India and Bangladesh have resolved border problems through the Land Boundary Agreement of 2015.
    • However, both nations have locked horns over the sharing of multiple rivers that define the borders and impact lives and livelihoods on both sides.

     

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  • India-UK Relations

    Context

    • The year 2022 is significant for both India and the UK as our country commemorates the 75th anniversary of its Independence and the two celebrate 75 years of bilateral ties.
    • India-UK relations were elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021, based on a shared commitment towards democracy, fundamental freedoms and multilateralism.

    Background of the India-UK ties

    • Partnership: The historical legacy has its own imprint on the relationship. But what is truly remarkable is the broad range of partnerships that have evolved between the two countries, transcending trade, investment and strategic affairs.
    • Close ties: This broader partnership between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies has its foundations on three critical aspects: education, common law system and the increasingly influential role and impact of the Indian diaspora in the UK.
    • Shared values: The India-UK partnership is based on shared values, respect for the rule of law and common law, and institutional integrity protected by democratic institutions in the both the countries.

    What progress has been made in the India-UK relationship?

    1.Economic: During 2019-20, trade between the two countries stood at US$ 15.45 billion with the balance in favor of India. Between April 2021-February 2022, Indian exports to the UK stood at US$ 9.4 billion (2.5% of India’s exports). The imports in the corresponding period were US$ 6.59 billion (1.2% of India’s imports). There is a scope for significant improvement. Both countries expect that the bilateral trade can reach US$ 100 billion by 2030.

    2.Defense and Security: India and the UK signed the Defence and International Security Partnership (DISP) in November 2015. It provides a strategic roadmap and direction to the evolving India-UK Defence Relations. At present some 70 companies in the UK supply goods for aircraft and related equipment besides supporting platforms like the Jaguar, Mirage and Kiran aircraft.

    3.Indian Diaspora: Around 1.5 million people of Indian origin live in Britain. Indian diaspora are making significant contributions to the British Society. This includes 15 Members of Parliament, three members in Cabinet, and two in high office as Finance and Home Ministers.

    4.Education: The UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) was launched in 2005. A new ‘UKEIRI Mobility Programme: Study in India’ was also launched in 2019. Under this Britain’s universities collaborate with Indian partners and send UK students to India.

    5.Health: The successful partnership between Oxford University, AstraZeneca and SII on COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated the potential of Indian and UK expertise working together to solve international challenges. The two sides are also working on pandemic preparedness, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), digital health, Ayurveda and alternative medicines, as well as health worker mobility.

    What is the significance of India-UK Relationship?

    1.Regional and global issues of mutual interest: A healthy relationship between the two is imperative for enhancing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Afghanistan, UNSC, G20 and Commonwealth. For instance, India welcomed the UK’s accession in the Indo-Pacific Ocean’s Initiative under the Maritime Security pillar.

    2.Tackling Climate Change: The cooperation between them can be helpful to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and in implementing the Glasgow Climate Pact. For instance, the countries have agreed to work for early operationalisation of the Global Green Grids-One Sun One World One Grid Initiative (OSOWOG) under ISA. They are also working on the IRIS platform under CDRI which was jointly launched by India and UK at COP26.

    3.Supporting 3rd World Countries: Through the Global Innovation Partnership, India and UK have agreed to co-finance up to £ 75 million to support the transfer and scale up of climate smart sustainable innovations to third countries. The novel GIP Fund created under this Partnership will also aim to raise additional £ 100 million from the market to support Indian innovations.

    3.Strategic Considerations: India can engage with the UK to counter China’s rise in the Indian Ocean Region. The UK on other hand can use India as an alternative destination to China and its companies can invest in India as part of China plus one strategy. It is the business strategy to avoid investing only in China and diversify business into other countries.

    Challenges in India-UK relations

    1.BREXIT

    • Impact on Diaspora– Many members of Indian Diaspora in Britain had voted against BREXIT because it is likely that Indian IT Professional in Britain will face tough competition when UK will open up its border for more skilled migration.
    • Impact on Indian Companies in UK– A hard Brexit would inevitably impact more than 800 Indian companies in UK in crucial sectors of British economy Indian. But data has shown that companies are increasing investments in the UK and creating many thousands of new jobs. This demonstrates that, Brexit or no Brexit, India supports Britain.
    • Impact on India-EU Relations –With €72.5 billion worth of India-EU trade and €19.4 billion of India UK trade at stake, all partners needed to think through this issue carefully in the business and commercial context. Brexit seems to be a challenge to the India EU strategic partnership but India would need to learn to manage its relations with the EU without UK
    • Impact on Trade–Forging a Free Trade Agreement with India will not be a priority for UK as it leaves EU. Instead, Britain would initially focus on tackling existing barriers to trade. But India should grab the opportunity to fill the trade gap in UK, post-Brexit.

    2.Visas and Immigration

    • Illegal Migration: There are more than 1 lakh illegal Indian immigrants in UK. Britain has started putting pressure on Indian government to ensure that Indians who have no right to remain in UK be sent back to India
    • Latest Measures: On the other hand, a white paper on post-Brexit visas and immigration strategy has been unveiled. It is expected to benefit Indian students and professionals, with a focus on skills rather than country of origin. An annual cap of 20,700 on the number of skilled work visas issued will also be removed.

    3.Terrorism

    • In the context of Brexit, unlike the United States’ contemporary view, India continues to be hyphenated with Pakistan in London’s outlook.
    • India states the fact that bilateral relations went beyond the economic realm to issues such as security and terrorism were not being heeded in Britain, despite continuous efforts by India over the past decades.

    4.Totalization agreement

    • The UK government has also made it mandatory for people to pay a health care surcharge as part of their immigration application.
    • When employees are there for a short term as part of their work, it is important that they get to keep their hard-earned money rather than giving UK thousands of pounds of free money as social security taxes.
    • Therefore, it is important for UK and India to sign the totalization agreement at the earliest.
    • The totalization agreement with the UK would have exempted Indian professionals who are working for a certain period of time in the UK from paying those social security taxes if they are paying such taxes in India.

    Way forward

    • The historical baggage also needs to be addressed cooperatively to diminish the possibility of hindrance in future cooperation.
    • The India-United Kingdom are dynamic democracies and the world’s leading economies with impressive advancements in human resources, manufacturing, innovation, research, education, space, defence, green technologies, and clean energy, among other areas.
    • This relationship can be utilized for the betterment of the fields and more collaborations should be undertaken.

    Conclusion

    • As we celebrate the historic collaboration between the UK and India in producing the Covishield vaccine, and look forward to the much-awaited signing of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement, we should not lose sight of the tremendous power that transnational university-wide collaborations can leverage in the accord. Education, research and knowledge partnership ought to become the centre-piece of the India-UK relationship at 75, as we move forward.

    Mains question

    Q.Analyse India-UK bilateral relations with scope of upscaling and challenges they need to overcome .

     

  • India-EU Relations

    Context

    • While India celebrates its 75th year of Independence, it also celebrates 60 years of diplomatic relations with the European Union (EU).
    • A cooperation agreement signed in 1994 took the bilateral relationship beyond trade and economic cooperation.

    Definition

    • Relations between the European Union and the Republic of India are currently defined by the 1994 EU–India Cooperation Agreement. The EU is a significant trade partner for India and the two sides have been attempting to negotiate a free trade deal since 2007.

    Common roadmap and shared vision

    • The road map highlights engagement across five domains: foreign policy and security cooperation; trade and economy; sustainable modernisation partnership; global governance; and people-to-people relations.

     

    Brief history

    • India-EU relations date to the early 1960s, with India being amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community.
    • At the 5th India-EU Summit at The Hague in 2004, the relationship was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’.
    • The two sides adopted a Joint Action Plan in 2005 (which was reviewed in 2008) that provided for strengthening dialogue and consultation mechanisms in the political and economic spheres, enhancing trade and investment, and bringing peoples and cultures together.

    What is strategic partnership?

    • A ‘strategic partnership’, as the term suggests, involves a shared understanding between the two or more states involved on the nature of threats in the environment and the place of their collective power in helping mitigate the threats.

    Why they are important?

    • As the world’s two largest democracies, the EU and India share a commitment to protecting and promoting human rights, a rules-based global order, effective multilateralism, sustainable development and open trade.

    Significance

    [A] Political Partnership

    • The Joint Political Statement signed in 1993, opened the way for annual ministerial meetings and a broad political dialogue.
    • The Cooperation Agreement signed in 1994 took the bilateral relationship beyond trade and economic cooperation.
    • A multi-tiered institutional architecture of cooperation has since been created, presided over by the India-EU Summit since 2000.
    • Today EU stands as a major reference for India’s legislative process in the field of Data security and privacy.

    [B] Economic Ties

    • Bilateral trade: The EU is India’s largest trading partner, while India is the EU’s 9th largest trading partner. It is the second-largest destination for Indian exports after the United States.
    • Investment: The EU’s share in foreign investment inflows to India has more than doubled from 8% to 18% in the last decade. This makes the EU an important foreign investor in India.
    • Preferential treatment: India is the benefactor of the unilateral preferential tariffs under the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP).
    • Energy: Both sides have finalised civil nuclear cooperation agreement after 13 years of negotiations called as the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). It involves collaboration in the civil nuclear energy sector.
    • Development cooperation: Over €150 million worth of projects by EU are currently ongoing in India. European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing loans for Lucknow, Bangalore, and Pune Metro Projects.

    [C] Defence & Security

    • EU and India have instituted several mechanisms for greater cooperation on pressing security challenges like counterterrorism, maritime security, and nuclear non-proliferation.
    • Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region in New Delhi (IFC-IOR) has recently been linked-up with the Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa (MSC-HOA) established by the EU Naval Force (NAVFOR).

    [D] Climate Change

    • EU and India also underline their highest political commitment to the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC despite US withdrawing from the same.
    • India-EU Clean Energy and Climate Partnership was agreed at the 2016 Summit – to promote access to and disseminate clean energy and climate friendly technologies and encourage R&D.
    • Energy cooperation is now ongoing on a broad range of energy issues, like smart grids, energy efficiency, offshore wind and solar infrastructure, and research and innovation.
    • EU and India also cooperate closely on the Clean Ganga initiative and deal with other water-related challenges in coordinated manner.

    [E] Research and Development

    • India-EU Science & Technology Steering Committee meets annually to review scientific cooperation.
    • Both have official mechanisms in fields such as Digital Communications, 5G technology, Biotechnology, artificial intelligence etc.
    • ISRO has a long-standing cooperation with the European Union, since 1970s. It has contributed towards the EU’s satellite navigation system Galileo.

    Future scope

    • Trade figures and Investments: Bilateral trade between the two surpassed $116 billion in 2021-22. The EU is India’s second largest trading partner after the U.S., and the second largest destination for Indian exports.
    • Job creation: There are 6,000 European companies in the country that directly and indirectly create 6.7 million jobs.
    • Green strategic partnership: between India and Denmark aims to address climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, and the India-Nordic Summit focused on green technologies and industry transformation that are vital for sustainable and inclusive growth.
    • Energy security: Energy serves as an important aspect of the relationship between India and the EU. Given the impacts of climate change, this aspect has become extremely crucial today. Both entities have been pursuing cooperation for the joint development of clean energy.
    • Political cooperation: India and the EU may benefit from increasing cooperation in the resolution of issues such as terrorism and radicalization, cyber-security, coordinating on certain key and relevant aspects of foreign policy, and other humanitarian issues.
    • International support: It is crucial that Europe recognize India as a partner for peace that is committed to human rights, both regionally and internationally.

    Challenges before them

    • Deadlock over BTIA: The negotiations for a Broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) were held between 2007 to 2013 but have remained dormant/suspended since then.
    • Export hurdles: Indian demands for ‘Data secure’ status (important for India’s IT sector) to ease norms on temporary movement of skilled workers, relaxation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS), etc. stands largely ignored.
    • Trade imbalance: This heavily leans towards China. India accounts for only 1.9% of EU total trade in goods in 2019, well behind China (13.8%).
    • Brexit altercations: In the longer term of balancing of global powers, a smaller Europe without the key military and economic force UK, is much weaker in the wake of an ambitious China and an increasingly protectionist US.
    • EU primarily remains a trade bloc: This has resulted in a lack of substantive agreements on matters such as regional security and connectivity.
    • Undue references to sovereign concerns: The European Parliament was critical of both the Indian government’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
    • China’s influence: EU’s affinity lies with China. This is because of its high dependence on the Chinese market. It is a major partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
    • Ukrainian war: EAM S. Jaishankar’s witty reply about EU’s oil import from Russia has not been welcomed across the EU. It still expects India to criticize Russia.

    EU’s interests in India

    • Reducing dependence on China: It is necessary for both sides as it is making them highly vulnerable to Chinese aggression.
    • Western lobby: EU acknowledges its supply chain’s vulnerability, the risk posed by overdependence on China, and the need to strengthen the global community of democracies.
    • Healthcare: The on-going pandemic has shown the need for cooperation in global health. India and the EU have called for a reform of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
    • Perception of India as a huge market: EU still largely perceives India as huge market rather than a partner.
    • Promotion of multilateralism: Both sides are facing issues related to US-China trade war and uncertainty of the US’ policies. They have common interest in avoiding a bipolarised world and developing a rules-based order.

    India’s stakes in EU

    • Global leadership vacuum: Retreat of the U.S. from global leadership has provided opportunities for EU- India cooperation and trilateral dialogues with countries in the Middle Fast, Central Asia, and Africa.
    • Chinese Aggression: China’s increasing presence in Eurasia and South Asia is creating similar security, political and economic concerns for Europe and India.
    • Fall of the conventional global order: Trade war, crumbling WTO and break down of TPP etc. has made EU understand the economic importance of India.
    • BREXIT: Brexit is pushing India to look for new ‘gateways’ to Europe, as its traditional partner leaves the union. A renewed trade and political cooperation are the need of the hour.
    • Conformity over Indo-Pacific: The Indo-Pacific is the main conduit for global trade and energy flows. Rule-based Indo-pacific is of everyone’s interest with EU no exception.

    Way forward

    • A close bilateral relation between India and the EU has far-reaching economic, political and strategic implications on the crisis-driven international order.
    • Both sides should realise this potential and must further the growth of the bilateral ties with a strong political will.
    • As highlighted by EU strategy on India 2018, India-EU should take their relations beyond “trade lens”, recognizing their important geopolitical, strategic convergences.
    • India can pursue EU countries to engage in Indo-pacific narrative, geo-economically if not from security prism.

    Mains question

    What do you understand by the term strategic partnership? India and EU are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations trace their journey with significance and challenges in their ties.

     

    B2BASICS

    About European Union (EU)

    • The EU is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
    • The union and EU citizenship were established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993.
    • The EU grew out of a desire to strengthen international economic and political co-operation on the European continent in the wake of World War II.
    • It has often been described as a sui generis political entity (without precedent or comparison) with the characteristics of either a federation or confederation.
    • The eurozone consists of all countries that use the euro as official currency. All EU members pledge to convert to the euro, but only 19 have done so as of 2022.

    Members of the EU

    • Through successive enlargements, the European Union has grown from the six founding states (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) to 27 members.
    • This entails a partial delegation of sovereignty to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions, a practice often referred to as “pooling of sovereignty“.
    • In the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum, the UK voted to leave the EU. The UK officially left the EU in 2020

     

    Mains question

    What do you understand by the term strategic partnership? India and EU are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations trace their journey with significance and challenges in their ties.

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