Jagannath P. Panda replies: India’s prospective membership in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is a long-debated subject. New Delhi has been aspiring for the APEC membership for the last two decades. It had applied in 1997 and again in 2007. Earlier, India’s economy was not viewed as developed enough or sufficiently ingrained into the Asia-Pacific region to be included in the APEC.

Alok Deb replies: The biggest asset that Pakistan possesses is its location - a bridge towards West Asia through Iran, towards Central Asia and Russia through Afghanistan, and towards China through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Also, it shares a land border with India and has direct access to the waters of the Indian Ocean. These regions have traditionally been vital to Western strategic interests.

Prashant Kumar Singh replies: It would be wrong to presuppose that India considers China as a threat, and prefers an alliance with the United States (US) to counter this threat. India attaches highest priority to having good and friendly relations with China, and considers it as among its most important relationships. Various statements issued by the Indian leaders and the Ministry of External Affairs testify this assertion. However, at the same time, one cannot wish away the complexity of relationship between the two countries.

Ajey Lele replies: There is no official information available in the open-source about any such denial by the United States. However, few references to this effect are found in the media. The Kargil war took place during mid-1999, whereas the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) started developing the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) around 2010.

Saroj Bishoyi replies: The Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for Geo-spatial Cooperation are the three foundational agreements that the US has been insisting on India to sign to further enhance the bilateral defence and strategic relationship. The US argues that the CISMOA and BECA would enable technology transfer and seamless communication between the military systems of the two countries.