East Asia

About Centre

The East Asia Centre is dedicated to studying the domestic and foreign policies of the region as well as India’s multifaceted relationships with the major countries of this region. With respect to China, the Centre’s research foci are its foreign policy, domestic politics, economy, military affairs, and India’s relations with China in all its dimensions. It monitors developments in China’s autonomous and special administrative regions. The Centre also focuses on Taiwan with reference to cross-Strait relations, ties with the US, India-Taiwan relations and domestic politics. The Centre researches Japanese and Korean affairs. Its major research focus is on their domestic politics, foreign policy and comprehensive bilateral relationships with India. It follows the developments in the Korean peninsula and inter-Korean relations. The geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific is studied at the Centre too.

The Centre brings out five monthly newsletters: East Asia Military Monitor, Japan Digest, China Science and Technology, Korea Newsletter, and China Military Digest.

Deciphering China’s Submarine Deployments in the Indian Ocean Region

Indian Navy must focus fresh attention on the challenge posed by the Pakistan-China maritime nexus in the Western Indian Ocean.

A Tale of Two Disputes: China’s Irrationality and India’s Stakes

In China’s foreign policy setting, the logic of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘history’ are employed or applied selectively as is evident from its reservation on India’s oil exploration in the South China Sea and its own plans to implement the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir despite India’s reservations.

US-Japan Security Alliance: Standing the Test of Time

The revised defence guidelines have added value to the US-Japan partnership and the fundamental shift in Japanese security policy complements the US call upon Japan to shoulder greater security responsibility as a partner.

Titli Basu
May 29, 2015
Issue Brief

Prime Minister Modi’s Visit to China—The Myths and Realities

As the dust settles after the visit of Prime Minister Modi to China, it is time to take a calm and dispassionate look at where we stand in the context of Sino-Indian relations.

R. S. Kalha
May 25, 2015
IDSA Comments

Modi in China: Shift the Discourse

In today’s India, the narrow nationalism, if not paranoia, built on the burden of 1962 seems only artificial. But, can Modi and Xi move beyond this burden and change the bilateral discourse? Modi needs to be metaphysical not just pragmatic.

P. Stobdan
May 14, 2015
IDSA Comments

Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping: Different yet Same?

Modi and Xi share several similarities: their rise to the top, the popular nationalism they ride, the power they wield, and their domestic as well as foreign policy priorities.

Modi’s China Visit – Allaying Maritime Misgivings

For better operational cooperation, India and China need to go beyond rudimentary agreements on combating piracy and crime in the Western Indian Ocean. They need to work out an acceptable framework for functional collaboration and create positive momentum in favour of greater strategic interaction.

Geo-economic Significance of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

India needs to shape the nature and scope of the projects the bank will finance to support the Asian Century and its own re-emergence as one of the two centres of gravity in Asia.

Mukul Sanwal
March 30, 2015
IDSA Comments

The Chinese Dream 2015: Which Way Is It Heading?

Xi Jinping has already recognized the inevitable by stressing that China would adjust to the ‘new normal’ of lower growth and, to ensure stability, he has already cracked down on dissent and strengthened media control measures.

R. S. Kalha
January 17, 2015
IDSA Comments

Did the Chinese Model of Growth Defeat Rajapaksa?

During the Rajapaksa years, Sri Lanka experienced jobless growth, similar to the experience of many African countries where Chinese investment had increased exponentially in the last decade.