India’s Grand Strategy in East Asia in the Era of COVID-19

Since the election of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in May 2014, India’s approach to East Asia has changed, principally in response to pressures exerted by China. The Modi government inherited an East Asia strategy that combined a push for greater diplomatic and economic linkages with the region, an effort to improve Sino-Indian relations through a mix of engagement and deterrence, and a strengthening of security ties with the United States (US) and its allies. During its first three years in office, this paper argues that the Modi government stuck with this approach but attempted to pursue it more energetically as well as to assert India’s interests more clearly and forcefully in interactions with Beijing. After the Doklam standoff in 2017, however, India was pushed to assume a more clearly competitive stance, despite concerns about the reliability of Donald J. Trump’s new administration in Washington, China’s growing belligerence towards India and the rest of the region, and the impact of COVID-19. This stance entails both internal and external balancing, and a push for greater economic self-reliance that implies some decoupling from China, but which also has implications for India’s relations with other countries in East Asia.

Deciphering the Doklam Standoff: The Context of the Contest

Geopolitical compulsions seem to be the prime mover bringing pressure upon China’s hands in terms of the location and timing of the Doklam Plateau military standoff, developing it gradually into a full-blown military conflict and turning Sino-Indian relations into a stage of long-term strategic confrontation. India’s serious objections to CPEC passing through disputed territory and its marked unwillingness to become a member of China’s One Belt One Road arrangement pose a severest jolt to Chinese strategic interests, showcasing a serious geopolitical setback to China and its political and military superiority.

FEATURES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA-INDIAN TRADE RELATIONS

The article devoted to study the trade relations between China and India,analyzing the foreign trade policy of two countries and their relationship. China -India relations also called Sino-Indian relations,refers to the bilateral relationship between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India

Mediatization of Georgian-Indian relations at the current stage

The article analyzes a particular case of the mediatization of modern socio-cultural reality through the informational and communication technologies, using the example of modern Georgian-Indian relations. The authors conducted a content analysis of two leading publications in India and Georgia: the English-language newspaper “The Times of India” and the Russian-language news agency “Sputnik Georgia”, during which had studied 30 materials from the Indian media and 43 articles from the Georgian news agency published over the period January, 2013 - February, 2019. The authors concluded that the mediatization of political and economic processes in bilateral relations had required close interaction between government and the media, since a lack of information led to a distorted perception of media communications.