Amb. Rajiv Bhatia, former Ambassador/High Commissioner to Myanmar, Mexico, Kenya, South Africa and Lesothos; Dr. Veda Vaidyanathan, Associate, Harvard University Asia Center; Prof. Renu Modi, Professor & Director, Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai.

Wednesday Seminar | Zoom Webinar | 6 April 2022

India-Africa engagement can be better studied and appreciated if it is assessed in the larger context of the unfolding changes in Africa and the continent’s growing relations with the international community, especially China. How has China been able to craft a formidable, multi-dimensional relationship with Africa within three decades? What are its key features? This seminar attempted to assess reactions to China's engagement with Africa from within the continent and beyond. Another objective was to examine the nature of competition, if any, between China and India in Africa. The eventual goal was to highlight suitable takeaways for consideration by those who are responsible for framing and implementing India's Africa policy.

Dr. Pankaj K. Jha, Professor, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University; Mr. Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation; Ms. Surbhi Moudgil, Research Associate, Institute of Chinese Studies.

Wednesday Seminar | Zoom Webinar | 13 April 2022

China’s sweeping claims of sovereignty over extensive areas of the South China Sea (SCS) and non-adherence of the UN Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has far-reaching implications which stretch beyond the region. International law reflects the global distribution of power and defending a rules-based order against China’s bid for hegemony in the SCS is critical for upholding international law. The criticality of Southeast Asian countries in upholding the rules-based order has been highlighted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under various initiatives. The webinar discussed recent developments pertaining to the SCS to understand the Chinese presence and how this affects its relations with other stakeholders in the region and the implications for the rules-based order.

Prof. Hans van de Ven, Author & Professor of Modern Chinese History, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Cambridge.

V.P. Dutt Memorial Lecture | Zoom Webinar |20 April 2022

Japan accepted the allied demand for unconditional surrender on 15 August 1945. Rather than focusing on just Japan and the United States of America (USA) or seeing Japan’s surrender as the definite end of the Second World War, in this special lecture, Hans van de Ven examined the complex politics of surrender as various parties in China, Indonesia, and India negotiated this crucial event. He argued that while the surrender signified the definite end of European imperialism, it also saw the beginning of struggles for dominance of forces in each country that had grown strong and had begun to compete with each other during the Second World War in each of these three countries.

Amb. Nirupama Rao, former Foreign Secretary, Government of India.

Wednesday Seminar | Zoom Webinar |27 April 2022

Amb. Nirupama Rao’s book ‘The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China 1949 to 1962’ (Penguin Random House India, 2021) is a history of the diplomacy between India and China during a crucial period of their early nationhood. This year we mark sixty years of the brief but bitter conflict between India and China, fought in the high Himalayas, across terrain that is the most forbidding in the world. Public memory of the war is hazy and often incomplete with numerous stereotypes and an insufficient ‘capture’ of what happened in that eventful year. A new generation of Indians, particularly millennials, have had no exposure to what happened in 1962. Given the current state of India’s relations with China, and the added complications in that relationship, telling the story of the years between 1949 and 1962 in India-China ties is of relevance to the understanding of the disputes between these two nations. A more in-depth understanding of the Tibet factor in the complex relationship is also relevant to the study of diplomacy between India and China. Drawing from her deeply researched book which delves into primary archival resources, Ambassador Rao discussed the complex nature of India-China relations.