Int’l Affairs

The basic feature of US foreign policy during the Cold War was inclusiveness — a willingness to embrace any country that opposed Communism, whatever its type of government. The US contested the Soviet system and held the line militarily, and its consistent and comprehensive approach eventually led to the Soviet Union’s implosion. After the Cold War, came the “War on …

Finally, the Iran nuclear deal is a reality now. It resolves the long-brewing crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. The West led by the US had been harbouring grave reservations about its avowed peaceful nature, accusing Iran of clandestinely seeking to make a nuclear bomb. On its part, Iran always denied these allegations insisting its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes …

A popular Chinese saying, well received by many states utters “if you want to get rich, get started by building roads”. So, recognizing this along with the fact that regional integration is an inevitable measure to meet the demands of economically globalized world, Chinese leadership rephrased the notion of Silk Road in 2013 with the announcement of ‘One Road, One …

Over the years, thanks to the nurturing of generations of leaders and peoples from all sectors of both countries, China-Pakistan friendship has flourished like a tree growing tall and strong. No matter how the circumstances in our two countries, the region and the world change, our bilateral relations have enjoyed sound and steady growth. We have always respected, understood and …

China’s President Xi Jinping came to Pakistan bearing serious cash, pledging to invest $46 billion in Pakistan’s fragile infrastructure. Much of that money will go toward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It’s a mix of roads, rails and pipelines that will connect Beijing’s infrastructure at Gwadar Port in Balochistan, just off the southern tip of the Persian Gulf, with Xinjiang …

Harbinger of Peace and Security? April 20, 2015 will be remembered as a historic day in the recent history of Pakistan. On this day, Chinese President Xi Jinping reached Islamabad on his first state visit to Pakistan. President Xi came to oversee the signing of agreements aimed at establishing a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor between Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea …

An enduring feature of international relations in contemporary times has been the high level of bilateral connections between Pakistan and China. Initially, they were strange bedfellows; one a socialist state and the other a Muslim-majority nation. Yet, driven by perceived mutual common interests they managed to achieve such close proximity that the relationship now appears to have become deep-rooted, multi-dimensional …

The Victims of Ethnic Cleansing From the slums of Kenya and refugee camps of Lebanon to the sugar plantations of the Dominican Republic and the far reaches of Myanmar, men, women and children across the world have found themselves living without citizenship rights. Rejected by their countries of birth and unwelcome everywhere else, they are called by international rights organizations …

Though imperialism is now held in disrepute, empire has been the default means of governance for most of recorded history, and the collapse of empires has always been messy business, whether in China and India from antiquity through the early 20th century or in Europe following World War I. The meltdown we see in the Arab world today, with chaos …

A Zone of Strategic Competition  “Already the world’s preeminent energy and trade interstate seaway, the Indian Ocean will matter even more in the future. One reason is that India and China, major trading partners locked in an uncomfortable embrace, are entering into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters.” Robert D. Kaplan Indian Ocean region, which according to Robert D. …