The Hindu | China’s ‘grey-zone’ warfare tactics against Taiwan

The story so far: Since the new Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te has assumed office, all eyes have been on the rocky start to his tenure. While China’s belligerent response to Mr. Lai’s “pro-independence” and “secessionist” statements was striking, it has now resorted to a sophisticated ploy to respond to Mr. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). This is often referred to as ‘grey-zone’ warfare, which comprises elements that frustrate Taiwan in a sustained manner. Read the full article here.

Indian Express | Chinese armed forces have been upgrading. India must keep up

As part of the reforms in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) since 2015, China has focussed on preparing for combat keeping conditions of the “Information Age” in mind. It is doing so by integrating its services, arms and systems into a joint, network-centric fighting force. The PLA Western Theater Command (WTC) has played a proactive role in securing China’s southern and southwestern borders, preparing for conventional and non-conventional warfighting, and acclimatising its personnel to the rough terrains and harsh altitudes of Xinjiang and Tibet. India is one of the principal operational directions in which the WTC is mandated to act. India needs to assess the WTC’s operational structure, training mandates and warfighting priorities, especially the theatre’s “multi-domain integrated joint operations” (MDIJO) efforts. Read the full article here.

ISDP Voices | 75 Years of China-Russia Relations: Indeed a ‘No Limits’ Partnership

On May 16, 2024, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping set a new record by concluding their 43rd meeting, marking the 75-year anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic relations. The meeting witnessed affirmation of the ‘comprehensive partnership’ and ‘strategic cooperation’ between the two sides and a reiteration of their mutual contempt for “closed-door military and political alliances” led by the West. Further, Putin and Xi discussed the future trajectory of the relationship – more tourism and better people-to-people ties, enhanced calibration and alignment of international interests, contributing to the “renovation” of global economic governance. Read the full article here.

The Times of India | In the hot seat, under Beijing’s glare

In what can be considered a tragic incident in the history of Taiwanese democracy, on May 17, members of the island nation’s parliament engaged in an intense brawl, leading to the hospitalisation of five lawmakers. This was just a couple of days before Lai Ching-te, the new Taiwanese President, assumed office on May 20. Read the full article here.

Firstpost | With Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te set to assume office, China's woes will only exacerbate

With newly elected Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te set to assume office on May 20, there is intense speculation surrounding China’s potential response to the event. In anticipation of an aggressive response, Tsai Ming-yen, Director-General of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, announced on May 1 that island authorities will be implementing measures to strengthen national critical infrastructure. Aiding the island’s overall defence posture, on April 24, United States President Joe Biden has also signed a bill to mobilise $8 billion in defence aid to the Indo-Pacific in general and Taiwan in particular. With neither the US nor China backing down on their respective positions on the Taiwan issue, these developments add fire to the already deteriorating cross-Strait dynamics. Read the full article here.

Nikkei Asia | Xi Jinping's vision of war seen in creation of 'Information Force'

The latest restructuring of China's People's Liberation Army has put a spotlight on President Xi Jinping's concept of information as a central element of modern warfare. The reorganization, unveiled on April 19, has broken up the PLA's Strategic Support Force (SSF), formed only eight years ago, into an Aerospace Force, a Cyberspace Force and a new Information Support Force (ISF). Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | Blinken’s China Visit: Has Rapprochement Run Its Course?

In the past two years, the United States and China have been riding a wave of hyper-diplomacy in a bid to turn down simmering tensions between the two sides. An already tense relationship has been repeatedly pushed to the edge by events such as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August 2022 and the “spy balloon incident” of February 2023. Read the full article here.

The Quint | How Ma-Xi's Meeting Serves the Chinese Supremo More Than the Cross-Straits Ties

In January 2024, Taiwan witnessed one of its most important presidential and parliamentary elections, with many calling it a choice between war and peace. The election results also spoke to the divided nature of political opinion. Lai Ching-Te, the candidate of the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won the presidential election, while the majority in the legislative yuan was won by the primary opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT). Read the full article here.

NDTV | A Shaky World Order: Can India Navigate A Russia-China-Iran Axis?

The world today appears to be on the verge of a cascade of conflicts. Over two years since it started, the Russia-Ukraine war does not seem to be heading towards an imminent settlement. Likewise, despite calls for a ceasefire, the Israel-Hamas conflict appears unlikely to abate anytime soon. And now, events over the past month involving Israel and Iran have demonstrated the potential for a wider regional conflict. Read the full article here.

South Asian Voices | Contemporary Dynamics of an India-Taiwan Partnership

Since India launched its Look East Policy in 1991, India and Taiwan have worked towards building a crucial bilateral partnership. On the technological front, Taiwan is a significant partner for India vis-a-vis sharing of knowledge on development of semiconductors, cybersecurity, and telecom infrastructure. On the economic front, Taiwan is becoming an important destination for Indian migrant workers looking for jobs in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors abroad. To this end, a labor migration and mobility Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on February 16 by heads of the India-Taipei Association and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center, New Delhi. The MoU is intended to make it easier for Indian workers to find jobs in the manufacturing, construction, and agriculture sectors in Taiwan, thereby mitigating Taiwan’s labor shortage and India’s surplus labor problems.  Read the full article here.

Modern Diplomacy | Cross-Straits Relations have become more Dynamic and Volatile – Here are Four Reasons Why

Contemporary China-Taiwan cross-Straits relations have become a significant defining feature of regional security and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and are an equally important bone of contention in the US-China relationship. However, trends from this past decade indicate that cross-Straits dynamics are being shaped not just by unpredictable trigger events, but by four persistent and fundamental factors – political changes brought about by the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2016, a strengthening sense of social identity in the Taiwanese population, increasing proximity between Taiwan and the US, and increasing Chinese power and assertiveness under Xi Jinping. Read the full article here.

Moneycontrol | Thinking through a Taiwan conflict – How can countries like India respond?

In the past few years, the China-Taiwan cross-Straits relationship has witnessed rising tensions. There now exist fundamental faultlines in the cross-Straits relationship, which may create an escalatory ladder leading to an eventual conflict scenario. Such a scenario shall endanger the interests of not just parties directly involved, such as the US, China and Taiwan, but also other countries around the world. In this regard, what are the politico-legal options available to concerned States at multilateral forums like the United Nations to voice their interests in the event of a conflict? A three-part solution may provide some answers. Read the full article here.

Firstpost | Implications of Chinese fishing boats in Taiwan’s ‘prohibited’ waters

Any plans China and Taiwan had for Valentine’s Day were derailed when, on 14 February, 2024, a Chinese fishing boat with four fishermen on board capsized near the Kinmen Islands, leading to the deaths of two of the fishermen. The incident occurred when the fishing boat became embroiled in a high-speed chase to evade patrol vessel CP-1051 of the 12th Patrol District of the Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration’s (TGCA) Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu branch. The chase reportedly lasted only five minutes but has highlighted the structural lack of meaningful communication in cross-Straits relations on basic issues such as fishing rights. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | India Has Good Reason to Be Concerned About China’s Maritime Research Vessels

In September 2019, the Indian Navy drove away the Shiyan 1, a Chinese research vessel that had been caught operating without authorization in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This move was undertaken in line with Article 246 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which prohibits any country from conducting marine scientific research in the EEZ of a coastal state without consent. It also stipulates that such consent should be ideally granted in “normal circumstances.” But given the context – China’s research activities in the South China Sea, as well as the larger Chinese strategy of military-civil fusion, which has blurred the line between the scientific and military-related activities of its vessels – the circumstances were hardly normal. Read the full article here.

The Quint | Taiwan Polls 2024: Amid Cross-Strait Jigsaw, the Impact of US-China Tensions

Amidst a host of elections around the world in 2024, the island of Taiwan is all geared up for its own presidential election and for members of its parliament, the legislative yuan. As the popular vote takes place today, on 13 January, it has – Lai Ching-Te, the current Vice-President of Taiwan and the candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Hou Yu-ih, incumbent mayor of New Taipei and candidate of the Kuomintang Party (KMT), and Ko Wen-Je, former mayor of Taipei and candidate of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as contenders. Read the full article here.

The Hindu | What does China’s 2024 economic policy look like?

The 2023 Chinese Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), an annual meeting mechanism of the Communist Party where the economic direction of the nation for the upcoming year is deliberated and agreed upon by key stakeholders, recently concluded on December 12, and the readout from the meeting stresses a stability-oriented pathway for the Chinese economy in 2024. Overall, the line of action seems pretty clear, at least from the CEWC deliberations - moving away from export-led to domestic demand-led growth, expanding high-quality production process, achieving self-reliance in critical tech but collaborating with trade partners as necessary, and ensuring financial discipline alongside stability of funds and liquidity. Needless to say, many of these goals have been repeated in the past few years, but some of them require intense structural reform, including by means of abandoning long-held beliefs and practices of the Chinese party-state. Read the full article here.

Bharat Shakti | Drones Unleashed: China’s PLA Masters Swarming Techniques For Military Dominance

Technological reforms in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have ushered in an era of integration of weapons systems with new technologies and modular capabilities. Doctrinally, too, the PLA is adapting to new, collaborative and multi-domain techniques for fighting wars. One of the techniques that the PLA is now increasingly working with is drone swarming, which encompasses synchronisation and coordinated operation of multiple drones for the purpose of achieving a single objective. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | What’s in the New Amendments to China’s State Secrets Law?

At the sixth session of the Standing Committee of China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, last month, a draft amendment to the State Secrets Law was submitted for review and deliberation. Given the pervasive securitization of information in China today, the submission is considered timely in expanding the purview of “secrecy work” — that is, the task of protecting state secrets — in China. Read the full article here.

Moneycontrol | China’s expanding military drone ecosystem is a menace for the likes of Taiwan and India

The recently concluded Sixth Chinese Helicopter Exposition, held in the Tianjin municipality of Northeastern China, put up a huge show of airpower with over 350 aircraft and air defence systems manufacturers from around 20 countries participating. At this expo, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army ground forces unveiled the latest addition to their drone arsenal, the KVD-002, manufactured by the Aerospace CH UAV Company. Read the full article here.

Moneycontrol | What China’s missing officials tell us about its politics

The sudden vanishing of China’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu has sparked speculations about factional infighting and political instability. For many, this, along with the broader crackdown in the military and the abrupt removal of Foreign Minister Qin Gang, are indicative of warring factions undermining Xi’s authority. However, given the developments over the past decade and the exalted position that Xi enjoys, this is likely a misreading of the situation. Read the full article here.