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Dear Friend,
On 31st March, I had the privilege of taking over as Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. My distinguished predecessor, Prof. Alka Acharya has returned to the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University after five years at the helm of ICS.
With a fine group of researchers, ICS is deepening and strengthening its agenda and role as a multi-disciplinary think-tank working on China and East Asia from an Indian perspective, as a catalyst and connector to promote such studies in India, and as a track-2 interlocutor between India and one of the most dynamic regions of the world.
Events and Activities
In March, we hosted an international conference on India, China and the Emergence of Post-war Post-colonial Asia, 1945-50 organized by Dr. Madhavi Thampi which had the participation of several leading scholars along with younger historians.
A high-level delegation from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, led by its President, Prof. Nguyen Quang Thuan, visited us in April to discuss the regional security and economic environment as well as several ideas for advancing cooperation and joint research.
The 3rd Meeting of the Joint Study Group of the BCIM Economic Corridor was also held in Kolkata in April, with ICS anchoring it as the lead organization in India.
Prof. Sui Xinmin, Dean, School of Politics & Law and Director, Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Zhongyuan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, Henan, presented his work on the state of India-China relations with a focus on maritime issues. ICS also collaborated with partners in Chennai and Mumbai on events hosting him.
ICS faculty attended several conferences in India and China over this period. I delivered talks at events in Delhi, Mumbai, Wellington and Singapore. Dr. Aravind Yelery, Assistant Director represented ICS at the Boao Forum for Asia of which we are a founding member and academic partner while ICS Fellow Dr. Jabin T. Jacob and Associate Fellow, Dr. Tshering Chonzom Bhutia attended a conference on China’s Belt and Road Initiative at the China West Normal University in Nanchong, Sichuan.
The ICS Wednesday Seminars and Special Lectures covered a wide range of topics which are detailed on our website.
Publications and in the Media
ICS faculty wrote and were cited frequently in the Indian and international media.
ICS Advisory Board Chairman and former NSA, Mr. Shivshankar Menon was interviewed on Asianet News about his new book, Choices. He also wrote in The Wire on China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Former ICS Chairperson, Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty released a co-authored volume, Exploring Emergent Global Thresholds Towards 2030 in April.
ICS Emeritus Fellow, Mr. Kishan S. Rana tackled the crucial issues of transforming and restructuring our foreign policy establishment in the Business Standard while our new Governing Council Member and former Foreign Secretary, Mr. Shyam Saran wrote in Hindustan Times about how India can play a leading global role on the basis of its democracy and pluralism.
Other publications included those on China’s National People’s Congress by Prof. Mohanty, China’s North Korea debate by Dr. Hemant Adlakha, and Dr. Bhutia’s work on the politics surrounding the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.
Dr. Jacob both wrote for the East Asia Forum on the Dalai Lama’s Tawang visit as well as participated in a discussion on the subject on Rajya Sabha TV. He also wrote for Catch News about the China factor overshadowing the visit of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India.
The ICS maintains a very active blog with contributions from a wide variety of China observers and I would welcome you to read the many interesting articles and also contribute to the forum.
New Initiatives
ICS commenced a unique collaboration with the Business Standard in India and the Di Yi Caijing, China’s top business newspaper, to regularly publish op-ed pieces by Indian and Chinese economists in each other’s newspapers. The first of these on China’s structural transformation in the manufacturing sector was published in the Business Standard in March while the first Indian piece by ICS Honorary Fellow Mr. Ravi Bhoothalingam on the synergies between the Make in India and Made in China campaigns in Chinese appeared in April. All these articles are also available on the ICS Blog.
Based on the feedback from many of you, we are diversifying our Wednesday Seminars to include more activities like roundtable discussions and also holding them at centrally-located venues like ICWA and IIC. There will be more Special Lectures and shortly, we will launch an ICS Lecture Series. We look forward to seeing you at these and other regular ICS events.
We have announced our flagship event, All India Conference on China Studies (AICCS), which will be held this year at Goa on 13-14 December in partnership with Goa University. We have called for papers and details are available on our website. We hope to see many of you at Goa.
You will find much more on our website. Do follow us on Faceboook and Twitter and contact us at info@icsin.org to receive the latest information on our events and publications. I take this moment to thank you for your support to the ICS and hope we will continue to receive such support and encouragement in the future.
Warm regards,
Ashok K. Kantha
Director
Institute of Chinese Studies
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