3-4 December 2021

The 4th IFC was organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) India Office with the support of Goa University at Goa on 3-4 December 2021. The theme of this Forum was "CPC at 100 and China’s Future". The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Rana Mitter, Professor of History and Politics of Modern China & Fellow, St. Cross College, University of Oxford. Experts and participants deliberated upon themes such as National Rejuvenation: Sustaining Authoritarian Legitimacy, Power Projection in the Indo-Pacific, Cultural and Intellectual Tradition, Great Power Competition, China’s Developmental Aspirations, Decoding China’s Regional Ambitions and CPC at 100.

Ravi Bhoothalingam

Wednesday Seminar | Zoom Webinar | 8 December 2021

The Mongol empire under Genghis Khan and his successors was an early and remarkable example of globalisation, brought about by what was once considered 'only' a nomadic civilisation. At its maximum expanse, the Empire stretched from the Sea of Japan to the gates of Vienna, and from Persia in the south to the Baltic Sea in the North. But from Inner Asia also arose the "Black Death"--the bubonic plague that wiped out nearly 40% of Europe's population. Today, as we experience both the benefits and the travails of globalisation, as also live through a global pandemic, revisiting the Mongol Empire may well reveal some insights for our times.

Veda Vaidyanathan, Madhurendra Jha, Tiasangla Longkumer, Shanky Chandra

Wednesday Seminar | Zoom Webinar |15 December 2021

In collaboration with the Harvard Yenching Institute (HYI), the ICS inaugurated the Institute of Chinese Studies-Harvard Yenching Institute (ICS-HYI) Joint Scholarship for Doctoral Research in January 2014. Two scholarships for a period of five years each are awarded to selected candidates, enrolled in a doctoral Programme in Indian universities. In the first year, the selected candidate would strengthen Chinese language capabilities in India and thereafter spend one year in a Chinese university and the third year at the HYI in the United States. The recipients of the scholarship work across disciplines and are based in different universities in India. In the panel discussion, the panelists shared their journey as recipients of the prestigious fellowship and how it has helped them on their evolution and development as scholars/academics/researchers.

Shahana Thankachan

Wednesday Seminar | Zoom Webinar |22 December 2021

It is difficult to define what a “normal” state is in the current global system. One of the more accepted definitions, however, of a “normal” state is one that has the ability and freedom to fulfill all its regional and global responsibilities proportionate to its stature in the global system. As per this definition, Japan fell short of being a “normal” state in many aspects. Japan’s status of being an “abnormal” state began changing in 1991, when it started the process of its security policy “normalisation”. Among a slew of measures, one of the major policy changes introduced in this regard was the removal of the ban on arms export in 2014. The paper presented at the Wednesday Seminar uses Japan’s new arms export policy as a case study to examine the process of Japan’s “normalisation” more closely. The case study is used to test the hypothesis that Japan has normalized in status but not in behavior. The attempt is also to identify the structural and non-structural challenges facing Japan’s defence industry and its export. The paper also provides some possible solutions to overcoming the challenges facing Japan as the latest entrant in the international weapons market. The larger aim is to identify the opportunities for strengthening India-Japan defence co-operation. The two countries can greatly benefit each other through such cooperation, as India is the second-largest arms importer in the world, while the Japanese defence industry faces an existential crisis unless it can accelerate its exports substantially. Finally, the paper also briefly analyses the impact of the pandemic and domestic political instability on the process of “normalisation”.