AIR World Service English

It has been alleged that China has crossed the red-line in South China Sea and violated international law by encroaching upon Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The allegation is that a Chinese survey ship reached close to 60 nautical miles, the closest point to Vietnam coast. Thus, creating a stand-off and threatening economic security of Vietnam, a country suffering from a huge asymmetry with China. The Chinese vessel is further alleged to have continued to survey Vietnam’s EEZ under escort from at least four ships and was around 102 kms. South-east of Vietnam’s Phu Quy Island and 185 kms. from the beaches of the southern Vietnamese city of Phan Thiet, according to reports. A country’s EEZ typically extends up to 200 nautical miles (370 kms or 230 miles) from its coastline, providing sovereign rights to exploit any natural resources within that area, according to international convention. Countries having stakes in peace and stability in the South China Sea should ur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this week highlights the changes that are taking place in India's policy towards Riyadh and its potential benefits. Traditionally, the Haj pilgrimage and energy imports formed the basis of the relations; but in recent years both countries have been working to transform the relations beyond the transactional aspect. Prime Minister Modi's keynote address at the third ‘Future Investment Initiative’ (FII) organised by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, more commonly known as MbS, is a significant step in this direction. Also known as “Davos in the Desert”, the FII seeks to showcase the economic opportunities in the Kingdom for investments in the non-oil sectors such as non-conventional energy, knowledge economy, tourism, and entertainment towards reducing Saudi dependence upon the oil sector. These initiatives under the leadership of the Crown Prince are in sync with Prime Minister Modi's desire

The news of the death of self-claimed ISIS “Caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was received with cheer on streets of Mosul, Iraq; where the tyrant in 2014 had announced the establishment of the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’. What followed was a story of carnage, mass killings, collective rapes, street violence, vandalism, kidnapping, extortion and what not. 300,000 people of the town of Mosul itself were forced to leave the city and thousands lost their dear ones. Al-Baghdadi was the head of the terrorist organization, ISIS, which had many incarnations in the past and once controlled the long swath of territories between Syria and Iraq which was equivalent to UK in size. The ISIS of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has left many scars on the civilization of Syria. He destroyed the city of Palmyra, blew off the historic al-Nuri mosque in Mosul in 2017, where he had declared the Islamic Caliphate in 2014. It needs to be mentioned that it was the US-led war in Iraq and Syria and the courageous battl

My dear countrymen, Namaskar. On the pious festival of Deepawali, greetings to all of you. We are familiar with the lines of the Shlok- Shubham Karoti Kalyanam, Aarogyam Dhansampadaa. Shatrubudhdhi Vinashaay, Deepajyoti Namostute!! What a fine, purposeful message! The shlok says: It is Light that ushers in joy, health and prosperity into our lives, dispelling negative thought, bringing in positivity. I salute the divine flame respectfully. To make this Diwali memorable, what could be a better way than an attempt to let light spread its radiance, encouraging positivity, with a prayer to quell the feeling of animosity? These days Diwali is celebrated across many countries. And notably, it is not limited to Indian communities; even governments, citizens and social organisations wholeheartedly celebrate Diwali with gaiety and fervour. In a way, they nurture a microcosm of India at their respective places. Friends, festival tourism has its own exciting attractions. Our India, the cou

Meeting in Baku, the salubrious seaside capital of Azerbaijan, the two-day 18th summit meeting of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) concluded as a reminder to observers around the world that NAM is still alive and thriving. Right from NAM’s inception more than six decades ago, there has been no dearth of commentators in the West who were only too ready to write its obituary. But, they have repeatedly been proven wrong. The very fact that the eighteenth summit was hosted by Azerbaijan, which itself is a relatively recent entrant to the Group having joined the NAM as late as 2011, bears testimony to the fact that the movement still means something to its member-nations and its continuing relevance in a fast-changing world. There still are enough people around the world who continue to bear faith in NAM as a platform for countries of the Third World to stand and speak up in a single voice. That is their chance to make their voice heard in a world largely driven by considerations of big pow

Pakistan’s religious minorities are at the receiving end of majoritarianism. The country is also facing falling numbers of minorities. At the time of Pakistan’s formation, the total population of minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, and Buddhists etc. was 28%. The Hindu population of then East Pakistan was around 22%. However, today, the minorities of Pakistan are less than 4%. The founding father of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had envisioned a “secular” Pakistan. But, even during his lifetime, fundamentalists rooted for a “state” religion, which finally culminated into Pakistan becoming a religious nation in 1980’s under President Zia ul Haq. The persecution against minorities has been the narrative of Pakistan for decades now. Archiac laws and fear of frivolous charges have made religious minorities extremely insecure. The United States said, it is "deeply concerned" over reports of human rights abuses and discrimination faced by people i

The second meeting of the India-US strategic forum has further deepened the bilateral ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to the US had expounded his resolve to make India a $5 trillion economy in next five years. The India-US strategic forum delegation affirmed their faith in India’s resolve to double the size of her economy. The forum which consists of top corporate CEOs and diplomats, concurred that the next five years of India would define the next 25 years of the world. Calling on the Indian Prime Minister, the forum delegation aptly endorsed the vision of Prime Minister Modi. The forum is headed by John Chambers. The delegation consisted of legendary American Cold War era Diplomat Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and over 300 CEOs of top ranking corporates. India and the US, have seen their relations qualitatively evolve in the past few decades. This was endorsed by Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goya

Negotiations for realisation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to be completed before the upcoming East Asia Summit, ASEAN Summit, and other related meetings from November 2-4. This would pave the way for formal inking of the deal in June 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the East Asia Summit and other meetings in Bangkok early next month. The RCEP too will be high on the meeting agenda. The RCEP negotiations-involving the ten-member countries of the Association of Sout-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its 6 dialogue partners: India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, and China, begun in November 2012. Several rounds of ASEAN-steered multilateral negotiations involving major Asian economies have taken place over the past seven years. The latest meeting of this mega-regional trade bloc concluded this week in Bangkok. More than 80 percent of the negotiation agreements have been completed. Reportedly, negotiati

President Ram Nath Kovind was on a two nation visit to the Philippines and Japan—both important anchors in India’s ‘Act East’ Policy. During the first leg of the tour, President Kovind visited the Philippines to commemorate the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations. This was followed by his visit to Japan to attend the accession ceremonies to the Chrysanthemum Throne by Japanese Emperor, Naruhito. Underpinned by shared values and mutuality of strategic interests, Philippines constitutes an important component of India’s ‘Act East’ Policy. Advancing a rules-based global order, India and Philippines are ‘natural partners’ in connection with upholding international law and sovereign equality of nations. India-Philippines relations, founded on South-South cooperation and strong democratic polity, gained further momentum within the framework of the Act East Policy. Qualitative depth has been added to India-Philippines relations with four new agreements signed durin

UN Day is celebrated on 24th October every year in India since 1948. India signed the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 at the San Francisco Conference as one of the 50 founding-members of the United Nations. The Charter came into effect on 24 October 1945 following its ratification by the majority of signatory countries, including the five original permanent members. At the Session of the UN General Assembly held on 31 October 1947, a resolution was adopted declaring 24 October as “United Nations Day”. The objective of this was to highlight the aims and achievements of the United Nations, in order to sustain support for the work of this universal inter-governmental organization. India became independent of British colonial rule on 15 August 1947. The adoption of this UN General Assembly resolution less than two months after India’s independence was a major opportunity for her to contribute to the objectives of the UN Day Resolution. Decolonization, a universal agenda for sustai

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina recently, for the import of bulk LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) from Bangladesh marks an important milestone in further cementing mutual ties between the two neighbours. The Indian government's move to reach an understanding with Bangladesh to primarily address the unique challenge of ensuring smooth supply of LPG to the North-eastern state of Tripura speaks volumes about growing cordiality and understanding of each other's difficulties and finding ways of effectively addressing them. In this case, the bulk import of LPG from Bangladesh to the border state of India will not only ensure year round supply of LPG but also result in substantial reduction in transportation costs and time. At present, Tripura gets LPG supplies from Guwahati via the state of Meghalaya or Silchar (287 kilometres). For the LPG tankers starting from Guwahati for thei

India targeted some forward posts and ‘terrorist launch pads’ in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, after Pakistan violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control. Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said, several Pakistani soldiers and terrorists were killed during retaliatory strikes by Indian forces. Pakistani has been violating the ceasefire, especially after the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir. Islamabad has miserably failed to engage the international community on the Kashmir issue and is thus resorting to ceasefire violations and infiltration bids into Indian territory. But, its attempts are being successfully thwarted by the Indian security forces. Meanwhile, the Financial Action Task Force, FATF, at its plenary in Paris has unanimously decided to continue keeping Pakistan in its ‘grey list’, till February 2020. It has thus given Pakistan 4 more months to take swift, strong and effective measures to deal with terror financing and money laundering by terrorists and

India and Pakistan, amid the bilateral tensions, took a decision to open the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for the pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Durbar Sahib that is located in Narowal district in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Kartarpur Sahib is the Shrine of revered Sikh Guru Nanak Dev ji, the founder of Sikhism. Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji preached at Kartarpur Sahib for eighteen years. It is also his final resting place. The opening is planned in November to coincide with the 550th birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru. In November last year, the Indian government cleared the construction of a four lane corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur District to the International Border. There are around 173 Sikh Shrines in Pakistan. Sikh pilgrims from India have access to only few of them as agreed under the 1974 bilateral protocol agreed between India and Pakistan that allows pilgrims to visit religious shrines located in each other’s territory. Earlier, the Sikh pilgrims could have ‘darsh

Azerbaijan will be hosting the 18th NAM Summit next week at a time when the Non-Aligned Movement does not attract global attention that it once did. It is not that non-alignment has lost its relevance. The indifference towards it is due to the global shift in power that has given rise to a new constellation in international relations. The world is witnessing a new geo-political paradigm—the end of the Atlantic era and the advent of the Asian century. In fact, the 21st century has become what one expert calls “a G-Zero world” which has seen proliferation of regional and global organizations. The underlying message of the ‘G-Zero world’ is that no single country or grouping has the political, economic and strategic leverage to drive a truly international agenda. A few years ago, India’s top strategic experts unveiled a document called ‘Non-Alignment 2.O’ which said that the adherence to the basic tenets of non-alignment would make India a leading player on world stage and preserve its s

India and the Netherlands have long historical relations going back to the 17th century. In 1947 after India’s Independence, official relations were established between both countries. The economic relations grew steadily in the 1970s and 1980s; but really took off after the liberalisation of the Indian economy in the 1990s. There has been a growing intensification of the bilateral relations at the political, economic, and socio-cultural levels which is evident by the scaling up of the political relations on both sides by the high profile visits’. In 2006 Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende visited India. There have been three visits at the Prime Ministerial level in the last four years between both countries. In May 2018, the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte lead the largest business delegation to India that signalled the growing economic engagement between both countries. The Dutch royal couple King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima were on a 5 day visit to India. This wa

US President Donald Trump’s decision on imposing sanctions on Turkey has rocked the ever-turbulent Middle East. Coming days after his decision to withdraw American forces from Syria who were deployed in support of the Kurds, the US President reacted angrily to the Turkish decision to invade northern Syria to create a buffer zone without the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkish President Recce Tayyip Erdogan sees SDF as a ‘terrorist group’ for its ties with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in his country. By going after the Syrian Kurds, he is trying to limit the influence of the Kurdish nationalists within Turkey. President Trump’s sudden decision to pull out of Syria in the name of letting others ‘figure the situation out' was perceived as a betrayal of the Kurds—both in Syria and Iraq—who were the main force behind the military defeat of the ISIS. While the ‘total defeat’ of the extremist Syria ISIS was announced in March 2019, there are fears that remnants

Indian Vice President Mr. M Venkaiah Naidu visited the Comoros and Sierra Leone in a bid to further deepen ties with the African continent. As a maritime neighbour, India is ready to share the experience of its progress with the people of Comoros. India desires to become a prominent development partner of Comoros. Vice President Naidu held talks with President Azali Assoumani. The two leaders discussed many exciting opportunities. They agreed on expanding the bilateral economic engagements in health, renewable energy, Information Technology, and maritime security among others. A MoU on Defence Cooperation was signed. Important agreements on Health and Culture were also made. India and Comoros decided to exempt each other from Visa requirement for the holders of diplomatic and official passport for short visits. India also extended cooperation in the form of a Line of Credit of US $ 41.6 million for setting up of 18 MW Power Plant in Moroni and proposals for setting up of