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Harsh V Pant
Articles by Harsh V Pant

2+2 meet: Delhi and DC are seeking new opportunities

India and the US have underscored their commitment to continue to build on the momentum of recent years and not lose sight of the larger strategic picture

(From left to right) Defence minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, in Washington. (PTI)
Updated on Apr 14, 2022 06:09 PM IST

Wang visit: Beijing is not reassessing its India policy

It’s still about targeting India’s vulnerabilities — be it making common cause with Pakistan on Kashmir or with the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

Wang Yi’s visit would seem curious only to those who have no understanding of how China operates. 
Updated on Mar 29, 2022 08:09 PM IST

Delhi must review ties with Moscow

The Ukraine war shows India-Russia ties lack breadth, the Russia-China axis will grow more, and India’s relations with the West will rise. India must acknowledge these shifts to deal with the new order better

The Ukrainians are fighting back hard under President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inspiring leadership but they must be wondering if the lure of the West was a chimera that needed a more realistic appraisal (AFP)
Updated on Mar 16, 2022 08:18 PM IST

India must think of reconfiguring its ties with Russia

Through its actions in Ukraine, Russia has challenged the global order in fundamental ways and India’s foreign policy won’t be immune from its reverberations

India has been trying its best to keep Russia in good humour but the structural realities of the global order are ensuring that Russia and India are drifting apart. The foundations of the partnership are weakening by the day. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)
Published on Feb 25, 2022 06:48 PM IST

Indo-Pacific: How India is countering China

S Jaishankar’s visit to the Philippines from the Quad summit also showcased India’s willingness to more proactively shape the strategic contours of the Indo-Pacific

External affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the Philippines from the Quad summit also showcased India’s willingness to more proactively shape the strategic contours of the Indo-Pacific. (ANI)
Updated on Feb 16, 2022 07:07 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Biden is flailing. And it can affect India-US ties

America needs a strong India in the Indo-Pacific as a partner. And India, too, needs an America that can sort its internal challenges to be able to pay attention to strategic realities

This domestic vulnerability of Biden is making a hash of his foreign policy agenda. His adversaries have got the measure of him and they have found him wanting. (Bloomberg)
Updated on Feb 02, 2022 08:07 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

The US-Russia tango, and the Indo-Pacific

Stability in Russia-US ties will alleviate pressure on India at a time when the rise of China has changed the geopolitical calculus for the Indo-Pacific

Through its recent diplomatic moves, Moscow is hinting that it wants to move out of the looming shadow of China, and accommodation with the West might go a long way in realigning Russian foreign policy priorities (AP)
Updated on Jan 06, 2022 08:05 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Delhi-Dhaka: A model for the neighbourhood

The relationship has its roots in history, but both States have ensured continuous engagement, crucial for contemporary South Asian relations

Connectivity has been a vital aspect of the relations. Both States have perceived it as a means to promote mutual economic growth and counter China’s growing assertiveness (Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Dec 20, 2021 08:09 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant and Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy

Amid great power competition, what Delhi and Moscow mean to each other

As it balances China’s rise and builds a strategic partnership with the US, India would like to invest in a stable relationship with Russia

For Russia, maintaining strong ties with India is important to signal to China that Beijing is not the only game in town (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Dec 05, 2021 08:32 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Behind the facade of civility, the reality of the US-China dialogue

China sees itself as a power that has risen to become a peer of the US and wants its place under the sun, in the process unmasking its aggressive intent. The US is trying to push to retain its pre-eminent global status

In the three-and-a-half-hour summit, Biden touched upon a range of contentious issues such as human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in the western Xinjiang Province and in Tibet, Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and trade issues — all we are told in a spirit of “healthy debate” (REUTERS)
Updated on Nov 18, 2021 05:08 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

India can bridge the gulf on Afghanistan

Continuing instability in Afghanistan is a recipe for regional disaster. As a responsible stakeholder, India has to step up to the plate

Taliban fighters stand guard at an entrance gate of the Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan military hospital, Kabul, November 3, 2021 (AFP)
Updated on Nov 09, 2021 02:39 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

China’s hypersonic missile test won’t go unanswered

As power competition among major powers accelerates, arms races are likely to be the norm. New Delhi should be prepared for such eventualities.

China’s hypersonic capability cannot go unanswered — not just by a great power such as the US but equally by India. (AFP)
Updated on Oct 28, 2021 02:02 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant and Kartik Bommakanti

There is a change in US attitude to South Asia. India should leverage the moment

This is a transformative period in the US-India relationship. New Delhi should be more self-confident in its ability to shape the trajectory of this engagement

Wendy Sherman’s visit to South Asia last week should offer a timely corrective to some of the myths prevailing in Indian strategic thinking (PTI)
Updated on Oct 12, 2021 07:28 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Why Modi’s visit to the US matters

New Delhi has a key role in ensuring that the broader coalition of like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific is sustained

Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for USA from New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI/PIB)
Updated on Sep 22, 2021 03:16 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

For China, the challenge has just begun in Afghanistan

Conflict resolution and political problem-solving in other countries are not traits that Chinese diplomats excel at. It remains to be seen how China walks this tightrope in Afghanistan, which remains a fractured crucible of contradictory ethnic and political interests

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistan's Taliban, in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021. China’s enhanced diplomatic efforts primarily focus on securing Xinjiang against any jihadist influence, and Beijing does not seem to have any intention to involve itself in the treacherous territory of Afghanistan based on miscalculations of power and interests. (VIA REUTERS)
Updated on Sep 13, 2021 04:21 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant and Vinay Kaura

Young Indians distrust China, Pakistan; rate pandemic, economy as big challenges

The Observer Research Foundation first conceptualised the foreign policy survey last year to build on the existing strand of polling research in India. In December 2020, the poll sampled 2,037 Indians aged 18-35 from 14 cities

Representational Image. (File photo)
Updated on Aug 16, 2021 04:34 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant and Aarshi Tirkey

When two democracies talk

The United States is willing to listen and learn, India is willing to talk about its domestic evolution. The relationship has matured

Representational image. (AP)
Updated on Aug 02, 2021 06:17 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

On China, the end of delusion and persistence of stalemate

While New Delhi wants the boundary issue to be resolved first, China wants to focus on other areas of cooperation and is in no hurry to move forward on the contentious issue

The disengagement around the Pangong lake areas in February, following a series of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the standoff, was supposed to generate conditions for resolving other outstanding issues, but Beijing seems to be in no real hurry to move forward. As a consequence, problems remain unresolved in disputed areas such as Depsang, Demchok, Gogra and Hot Springs. (PTI)
Updated on Jul 20, 2021 07:18 AM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

India’s armed services must prepare for reform

In the last few years, there has been a change and a slew of defence reforms have been brought in. More than at any other time in post-Independence India, there is a commitment to change the way the Indian defence forces are organised

Indian armed forces T-90 tanks pass Rajpath, during the 72nd Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on January 26, 2021. (PTI)
Updated on Jul 06, 2021 04:15 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Is China backtracking on its wolf warrior diplomatic style?

The wolf warrior diplomatic style was perhaps suited more to the age of Donald Trump, but now that the Joe Biden administration has lowered the rhetoric on “America First”, the challenge for China is even more acute. China’s new-gen diplomats have been asked to defend the indefensible in recent years, from Beijing’s atrocities on minorities and its hyper-militaristic foreign policy to the opacity and mishandling of Covid-19.

It was Xi who wanted to project China as a superpower-in-the-making by moving away from Deng Xiaoping’s “hide-and-bide” strategy of keeping a low international profile. This meant China reacting strongly against perceived violations of its core interests, resulting in a dip in ties with many countries, some of which wanted to keep China in good humour. And now it seems that while Xi’s diplomats have delivered, Chinese diplomacy has suffered seriously. (REUTERS)
Updated on Jun 13, 2021 07:50 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

As India-US ties confront new realities, Jaishankar’s visit is critical

Though the situation on the ground seems to be stabilising gradually, the long-term challenge of vaccinating a huge population still looms large. It’s natural, therefore, that a lot of focus during this visit is on health-related bilateral engagement

Minister S Jaishankar. (File photo)
Updated on May 26, 2021 03:00 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Can India and the EU operationalise their natural partnership?

With the EU being India’s largest trading partner and the second-largest export destination, the economic logic of strong India-EU economic relations is self-evident. The two sides have also agreed to commence talks for a standalone investment protection pact and an accord on geographical indications

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends during the 15th India-EU (virtual) summit via video conferencing, in New Delhi on July 15,2020. (File photo)
Updated on May 12, 2021 04:39 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Vaccine Maitri is a pragmatic response to the pandemic

From supplying hydroxychloroquine to more than 100 nations to providing 64 million doses of vaccines to more than 80 nations, India’s imprint on global health has been substantive. And as the Gulf nations got hit hard as a result of several nations banning food exports and declining oil demand, India ensured uninterrupted supply of food and essential items.

USA, Sep 22 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other officials during the Howdy Modi event at NRG Stadium in Houston on Sunday. (ANI Photo)
Published on Apr 28, 2021 05:59 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

A tale of two visits and a shift in Indian foreign policy

Last week India hosted two important visitors – Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, and the US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry. These were routine visits, one to lay the groundwork for a potential Russian presidential visit to India and the other to assess Indian intentions on climate

US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry (L) and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. (File photo)
Updated on Apr 14, 2021 07:12 AM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

China’s hostility, India’s resilience shaped Quad

Just as without Chinese belligerence, a substantive Quad would have remained a distant dream, without a pro-active India, this grouping would not have been able to move so far, so fast. As a new geopolitical order takes shape in the Indo-Pacific, India and China will continue to be at the centre of this emerging order. And New Delhi would do well to remember that the game has only just begun.

Indo-Pacific would have remained a concept in think-tank reports had it not been for the Chinese belligerence AP (AP)
Published on Mar 19, 2021 09:24 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

New Delhi’s new regional calculus

India is giving peace a chance from a position of strength, after showing it can adequately defend its interests when challenged

The single-most important geopolitical development of the last few months has been India making it clear to Beijing and to the world that it is possible to resist Chinese aggression successfully (ANI)
Published on Mar 08, 2021 08:13 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Biden’s foreign policy lacks strategic clarity

The US is stuck in the Cold War-era thinking on Russia and lacks a road-map on China. Partners will be concerned

US President Joe Biden’s first foreign policy speech was certainly in tune with the changing domestic political dynamic in the country. But its lack of a strategic vision will be concerning to America’s partners (AP)
Updated on Feb 11, 2021 06:33 AM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

The Delhi-Beijing battle in South Asia

China’s influence has grown, but contrary to conventional narrative, it is not necessarily ‘winning’. India has retained its focus

By standing up militarily to China on the Himalayan borders, India also made it possible for smaller nations at the receiving end of Chinese aggression to envision the possibility that subservience to China is not the only option(ANI)
Updated on Jan 06, 2021 06:13 AM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

Moscow must come to terms with India’s security imperatives

As India reconfigures its China policy with the Indo-Pacific at its core, India-Russia ties won’t be able to escape this strategic reality

The year is ending with Lavrov once again accusing the West of adopting an “aggressive and devious” policy to engage India “in anti-China games”.(AP)
Updated on Dec 13, 2020 08:39 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant

The ball is in China’s court, writes Harsh V Pant

With its strong response across spheres, India has shown that it has options and a willingness to exercise them

China’s rise and its attendant consequences was the central determinant of Indian foreign policy even before the border crisis of this year.(AFP)
Updated on Nov 23, 2020 07:53 PM IST
ByHarsh V Pant
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