Vivekananda International Foundation | Seeking Harmony in Diversity

Mongolia’s Buddhist Diplomacy and India’s Union of Religious and Foreign Policy

The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), along with Indian, Japanese, and Mongolian partners, hosted its third Samvad (which, in Hindi, means “dialogue”) conference in Ulaanbaatar over last Friday and the weekend. As reported in BDG’s news...

September 16 , 2019

China’s Expanding Role in Africa: An Assessment

… many in Africa support China’s economic initiatives, but there has been some amount of resistance to the latter’s aggressive business plans fueled by the belief that the Chinese are sending their workers not hiring the local population,...

November 1 , 2018

Evolution of China-Sri Lanka Relations

Over the last ten years China has been paying renewed attention to its ties with Sri Lanka. There has been a large rise in Chinese investments in various projects in Sri Lanka. Beijing has also diplomatically supported Colombo on various issues,...

September 26 , 2018

Interaction with Delegation from the Tsinghua University, Beijing

The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) hosted a delegation from Tsinghua University, Beijing, on 29 August 2018. The delegation was led by Prof. Yan, Xuetong, Dean of the Institute of International Relations, and comprised of Prof. Sun...

September 10 , 2018

Prospects for India–China Maritime Cooperation

Introduction The keynote address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered at the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 01, 2018, succinctly spelt out India’s Indo-Pacific strategy between the “shifting plates of global politics and the fault lines of history...

September 5 , 2018

Current International Order in Flux: Opportunities and Threats

Early this year, a Rand Corporation researcher wrote: “…. we find specific causal evidence that the elements of the order (International Order) were either a necessary condition or a strongly contributing variable to realising values ranging from...

August 28 , 2018

The Wanshou dialogue on the Global Security, Beijing

The Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament organised the first Wanshou Dialogue on the Global Security on 20-21 June 2018. The deliberations were divided into three sections: Sino-US Relations and the Asia-Pacific Security Situation...

July 16 , 2018

Commentary: China’s Growing Naval Footprint in Pakistan

China’s Jiwani Initiative Recently, media reports have raised the possibility of Jiwani being developed as a naval base in Pakistan by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Pakistan has six ports: Karachi, Muhammad Bin Qasim, Ormara, Gwadar,...

February 26 , 2018

Commentary: Understanding the Recent Protests in Gilgit-Baltistan

A wave of strong protests swept across Gilgit-Baltistan recently, after the Gilgit-Baltistan Council, Islamabad, announced the imposition of direct taxes under the Income Tax (Adaption) Act, 2012. The protests were jointly led by Anjuman-e-Tajiran (...

January 15 , 2018

Commentary: North Korea Takes Advantage of Flags of Convenience Regime

Amid high decibel ‘verbal exchanges’ between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over latter’s nuclear ambition, the United Nations Security Council announced on 22 December 2017 new economic sanctions against Democratic...

January 12 , 2018