EVENTS

2022 is particularly important for China’s domestic and foreign policies; this is the year in which Xi expects to renew his second term of office, which also signals the beginning of his unlimited terms of leadership. Xi is the man that aims to make China great again by delivering on the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. In the last two years, there has been much turmoil both domestically and externally with the COVID-19 pandemic as well as increased tensions with neighbours and the West. In this background, speakers in the current panel propose the framework of ontological security to understand China’s posturing on the issues of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent policy response of the party state; and the India-China border dispute since 2020.

About the Speakers

Rityusha Mani Tiwary teaches in the Department of Political Science, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi and is a Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She holds a Ph.D. in Chinese Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The current focus of her research includes unpacking the interplay of power and hegemony in East Asia and China’s role in shaping regionalism therein. She is interested in the questions of leadership, hegemony and power in South Asia and East Asia with an emphasis on strategic thought in China and India. Her other research interests include studying gender, peace and conflict. She has been the Assistant Editor of China Report: A Journal of East Asian Studies since 2016.

Wenjing Gao is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Carleton University, Ottawa. She is currently working on her dissertation under the supervision of Professor Jeremy Paltiel. Through a case study of Belt and Road Initiatives, in the context of interminable border disputes and the rise of China, her thesis aims to explore India’s rationale in dealing with China. Her areas of research interests include Indian foreign policy, Indian politics, nationalism, identity formation and critical International Relations Theory. She has successfully completed candidacy exams in the fields of Comparative Politics and International Relations Theory. Wenjing obtained her MA in Politics and International Relations from Mahatma Gandhi University (India). She is originally from Qingdao.

About the Discussant

Manoj Kewalramani is the chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme and a China studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution, a leading Indian public policy education center. His research interests include Chinese politics, foreign policy, approaches to new technologies, and addressing questions of how India can work with like-minded partners to deal with the challenges presented by China's rise. Manoj is the author of Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance (Bloomsbury India, 2021), which discusses China’s political, diplomatic, economic, and narrative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He also writes a weekly newsletter, Eye on China, which tracks developments in China from an Indian perspective, and a daily newsletter analyzing news coverage and discourse in the People's Daily.

About the Chair

Kishan S Rana is currently Emeritus Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi and Professor Emeritus, DiploFoundation. He has served in the Indian Foreign Service from 1960 to 1995 as Ambassador/High Commissioner to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany. He is Archives By-Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. Ambassador Rana is a prolific writer and he has written & edited eleven books on diplomatic studies (two translated in Chinese, one in Farsi), 300 articles and book reviews in various journals and newspaper columns. He has also lectured at many foreign ministries, and for several years at LSE, London, Diplomatic Academy Vienna, and Foreign Affairs University Beijing China.

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