With the region finding itself in the middle of a flux of shifting priorities and alignments once again, there is a need for making better use of this evolving situation to uplift the region out of poverty and reinvigorate the regional forum of SAARC.
This was stressed by experts during a webinar on ‘Dynamics of bilateral relations amongst the South Asian states: A new order in the making?’. The webinar had been organised by the Institute of Regional Studies to discuss the emerging geopolitical and geostrategic scenarios in the South Asian region.
Chinese expert Dr Hu Shisheng said that the US is waging a cold war against China in which India is playing the role of a proxy.
All efforts are aimed towards isolating Beijing from the rest of the world, he said, accusing the Trump administration in Washington of conniving to alienate the Communist Party from the Chinese citizens through propaganda.
The existing scenario, followed by the Sino-Indian border clash epitomizes the two striking strategic orders in the making in the region where China is at one side, and the US and its allies on the other.
Dr Hu went on to add that the future of bilateral relations with New Delhi will remain unstable as both China and India have failed to deal with the border issue in a mutually agreed manner.
Dr Khadga KC from Nepal explained that his country has always followed a ‘one-China policy’. Being a landlocked country, Nepal relies heavily on India for trade and transit. But it has faced terrible blockades at the hands of New Delhi.
While Kathmandu always tries to downsize its asymmetric interdependence with New Delhi, the transit treaty with China in 2016 gave it access to four seaports and three dry ports, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2020.
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