Chinese reaction to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Agriculture’s decision to cancel an organic fertiliser deal has demonstrated that China is not hesitant to take punitive action against Sri Lanka, if its interests are not fulfilled.
Xi Jinping’s New Year address implicitly underlined his intent of directing China to look inward. While this strategy to turn inward may have been triggered more by domestic exigencies than by external systemic pressure, the implications will be felt both domestically and internationally.
China’s growing military presence in Central Asia through military exercises, trainings, extending arms assistance and building military infrastructure, has an impact not only on the region but also its neighbours, especially Russia and India.
While a worrying disrepair in the political-military strand of the equation between New Delhi and Beijing prevailed through the 2010s, its economic component witnessed contrasting instances of convergence.
In order to maintain a semblance of balance in its ties with its two key strategic partners, Kazakhstan would perhaps have to leverage its geo-strategic importance for both Moscow and Beijing to navigate the new Arctic route.
With few convergences among partners, the path of the “traffic light coalition” headed by Olaf Scholz is laden with challenges, but also offers spaces for positive action. With several new faces in key positions, its success would lie in maintaining continuity, and tweaking it to accommodate necessary changes when required.
The rapid increase in the nuclear forces of China, as revealed in the 2021 Pentagon Report, is a matter of serious concern. Several countries are undertaking exercises to ascertain the strategic and security implications of the feared expansion of the Chinese nuclear stockpile.
Showing readiness to sign the SEANWFZ treaty seems to be a low-cost, high-return proposition for Beijing. It could be a calculated symbolic gesture having no bearing on the region’s precarious security situation.
Rereading Xi Jinping’s New Year Address
Xi Jinping’s New Year address implicitly underlined his intent of directing China to look inward. While this strategy to turn inward may have been triggered more by domestic exigencies than by external systemic pressure, the implications will be felt both domestically and internationally.