President Trump will pay a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi. He would be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.
Photo: Files/AP
Relations between India and China are a dialogue between ancient civilizations with a long history of exchanges that resonates even today, a partnership between young nation states that have traversed difficult historical phases and are now preoccupied with addressing the needs of their similarly aspirational societies.
Photo: ANI
It is clear to analysts and observers of the region that after decades of depending and outsourcing its security concerns to its Western allies – primarily the US – the Gulf countries are having a rethink and coming into their own as far as international diplomacy and the security architecture of the region is concerned.
Photo: Twitter/Narendra Modi
Last year, the India government also passed a law to crack down on fugitive economic offenders who refused to get back to the country to avoid investigation by India authorities.
Photo: Zee Media
It is in this backdrop that Modi’s visits to Maldives and Sri Lanka – his first official overseas destinations in his second term as Prime Minister – is expected to herald the second chapter for Modi’s Neighbourhood First policy. Its second edition is expected to mark a shift from India’s immediate to extended neighbourhood and from disputed land borders to maritime expanse making Modi an Indo-Pacific Prime Minister.
One fundamental change in India’s policy under Modi has been to avoid directly countering China’s expanding commercial footprint inside India’s neighbouring nations. China has created an added challenge for India in that the southern country’s work with its neighbours appears diminished, even disinterested, in comparison to the high speed delivery of China’s mega projects.