India-China relations: trade with one hand, feud with the other 

On the night of 15 June 2020, in freezing temperatures, Chinese troops, armed with homemade weapons, including iron rods studded with spikes and wooden clubs wrapped with barbed wire, ambushed a battalion of Indian soldiers in the high altitude Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh, India’s northern-most territory. The attack left 20 Indian soldiers dead andContinue reading “India-China relations: trade with one hand, feud with the other “

A war over Taiwan would be pyrrhic to either side 

Taiwan can heave a sigh of relief. China has ended its wargames in the Taiwan Strait that many speculated were a rehearsal to an actual invasion of Taiwan. But this relief is albeit temporary, as China has sworn that it is ready to “use all necessary means to reunify” the self-governed island with the mainland. Continue reading “A war over Taiwan would be pyrrhic to either side “

Patience will bring windfall: A poem

Can we reckon there is hope in good  That despite the pitfalls it is understood  as we struggle with woes that we should  bravely bear the torch and resist the crude  Life is not about how much success we attain  True success is in evil spurned and done in vain  Our achievements should not beContinue reading “Patience will bring windfall: A poem”

China could debilitate vulnerable Taiwan with sanctions 

Taiwan is under siege. Taiwan on Saturday, 6 August 2022, said it noted a number of Chinese aircraft and naval ships conducting military drills around the Taiwan Strait, and claimed it could be a possible simulated attack against the island.  Taiwan’s ministry of defence reported some of the Chinese aircraft and vessels had crossed the sensitive median lineContinue reading “China could debilitate vulnerable Taiwan with sanctions “

The joys of giving, and gratitude: A poem

Seldom do we realise that there is immense joy in giving  That in such sharing we find the truest meaning of living  Those that have and selfishly only seek what they are entitled  should bear witness to the magnanimity of those who have a little  They that give, however, should not expect any returns forContinue reading “The joys of giving, and gratitude: A poem”

Pelosi’s visit upholds Taiwan’s independence and democracy, but puts it at risk 

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has undertaken to commit her country’s “crucial” solidarity with Taiwan, in a meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen. At a press conference in Taipei on Wednesday, 3 August 2022, Pelosi raised questions about Beijing’s full-throated excoriation of the US leader’s visit to Taiwan, a self-governed democracy that autocratic China aversContinue reading “Pelosi’s visit upholds Taiwan’s independence and democracy, but puts it at risk “

China’s claims of sovereignty are a garb for illegitimate territoriality 

China’s Ministry of Defence, on Wednesday, 20 July 2022, fulminated against the US for taking “security risks” and disrupting the stability of the Taiwan Strait when the latter plied a guided-missile destroyer through the waterway earlier last week.  Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command, said, in a statement, that China hadContinue reading “China’s claims of sovereignty are a garb for illegitimate territoriality “

China, US jostle for influence in the Indo-Pacific, and to establish world order 

As the US and China compete for influence in the Indo-Pacific region, that has become the theatre of US-China emulation, China on Monday, 11 July 2022, supplicated Southeast Asian nations to avoid being used as “chess pieces in major power rivalries”.  China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, addressing the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariatContinue reading “China, US jostle for influence in the Indo-Pacific, and to establish world order “

Is China planning to take Taiwan by 2027? 

China on Monday, 11 July 2022, warned the US and Taiwan that there would be “dark clouds or even ferocious storms” if the one-China principle, that it upholds, on how it perceives self-governed Taiwan, is abandoned, and blamed Washington of seeking to sabotage the policy.  China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking at the Association ofContinue reading “Is China planning to take Taiwan by 2027? “