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1 " Unlike other nations that rose earlier in Asia, China is much harder to fit into the Western-led global order. "
― S. Jaishankar , The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World
2 " South Asia is clearly among the least integrated regions of the world and being located at the centre of the Indian Ocean, its dysfunctionality affects that larger space directly. "
3 " The ethos of the Indian Ocean is a consultative one and in the long run, it is the people-centric initiatives and projects that are likely to be more sustainable. "
4 " A 2018 study estimated that the resources drained from India by the UK alone were as much as $ 45 trillion by current value. "
5 " China’s rise is especially instructive for India. It was driving diplomatically in the late 1970s efforts to forge a united front against the USSR. This is in contrast to its reluctance to intervene, even indirectly, in the 1971 Bangladesh conflict despite being exhorted to do so by the Nixon Administration. What changed during this period was a determination to break up the cooperative strand in the ties between the US and USSR that was constricting China’s strategic space. So it utilized both the Vietnam and Afghanistan conflicts to that end. And thus created a favourable political climate for the flow of Western investments. So much so, that even when the Tiananmen incident happened, there were enough advocates abroad to mitigate the damage. Having more than achieved its strategic objectives when the USSR broke up, China altered course and made up with a Russia coming under pressure. "
6 " China’s rise is especially instructive for India. It was driving diplomatically in the late 1970s efforts to forge a united front against the USSR. This is in contrast to its reluctance to intervene, even indirectly, in the 1971 Bangladesh conflict despite being exhorted to do so by the Nixon Administration. What changed during this period was a determination to break up the cooperative strand in the ties between the US and USSR that was constricting China’s strategic space. So it utilized both the Vietnam and Afghanistan conflicts to that end. And thus created a favourable political climate for the flow of Western investments. So much so, that even when the Tiananmen incident happened, there were enough advocates abroad to mitigate the damage. Having more than achieved its strategic objectives when the USSR broke up, China altered course and made up with a Russia coming under pressure. For an Indian assessing this period, it is telling that a competitor willing to take greater risks and pursue strategic clarity not only got a decade’s head start in economic growth but also a more favourable geopolitical balance. So much again for consistency. "
7 " In the Trump vision of the world, allies have disappointed America and competitors have cheated it. India is fortunate in being neither. "
8 " It was reassuring for these nations to see how staunchly India stood by them during the corona pandemic. "
9 " Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all’ – WILL DURANT "
10 " As electoral outcomes have affirmed across continents, the trend line today points towards stronger cultural identities and more nationalist narratives. "
11 " If connectivity is not to acquire sharp strategic meaning, then there must be credible assurances that projects are not used to exert influence. "
12 " Today, there is a new geopolitical challenge – the emergence of multipolarity. "
13 " India’s world view is consultative, democratic and equitable, but must find clearer expression. "
14 " be different. "
15 " China has advocated a new type of great power relations, a Belt and Road Initiative as well as a ‘community of shared future of humankind’. "
16 " The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior’ – PLATO "
17 " While it can be asserted with some confidence that a combination of economics, technology and demographics will draw India and the West closer, the real difference would be made by politics and values. For it to succeed in good measure, India and the West must fit into each other’s scheme of the world. "
18 " India’s multi-faith society is also an enormous contribution to global stability. In fact, that is what acts as a firewall preventing the spread of fundamentalism and radicalism from India’s West to its East. "
19 " The key to a more settled Sino-Indian relationship is a greater acceptance by both countries of multipolarity and mutuality, building on a larger foundation of global rebalancing. "
20 " Asia is being shaped largely by the outlook of the US, the power of China, the weight of Russia, the collectivism of ASEAN, the volatility of the Middle East and the rise of India. "
