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Dear Friend,
In the month of February, the ICS continued to lead informed academic and policy-oriented interventions on a range of issues related to China and East Asia. In addition to our regular Wednesday Seminars, we also had a series of delegation visits from China.
EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
We started the month of February with the book release and discussion of ICS Adjunct Fellow Dr. Debasish Chaudhuri’s Xinjiang and the Chinese State: Violence in the Reform Era. Amb. Rajiv Sikri was in the Chair and Amb. Vinod C. Khanna, Emeritus Fellow, ICS and Dr. T. G. Suresh, Associate Professor, Center for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University were the panelists and you can catch the event on both YouTube and SoundCloud. Amb. Khanna also reviewed the book for The Wire.
We had an important discussion at the ICS Wednesday Seminar by Amitabh Mathur, Advisor to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India on Tibetan Affairs on 'China's Engagement with the Buddhist World and the Challenges Posed' (YouTube and SoundCloud). The next Wednesday Seminar was on Mountain Warfare and the Indian Army: Towards an Effective Deterrence Capability based on ICS Adjunct Fellow Col. Gautam Das’ recent book (YouTube and SoundCloud).
The ICS also hosted Special Lectures by Dr. Shailaja Fennell, Director of Research at Cambridge Central Asia Forum and a University Lecturer in Development Studies, and a Fellow of Jesus College at the University of Cambridge on the The Challenge of Sustainable Cities: the Nature of Rural-Urban Transitions and Implications for Inclusion in China and India (YouTube and SoundCloud) and by Dr. Hemant Adhlakha, Honorary Fellow, the Institute of Chinese Studies on India Becoming a Threat in Chinese Imagination (YouTube).
The ICS also organized two Scholar-in-Residence programmes at the University of Mumbai and the Savitribai Phule Pune University in February. The second event organized at the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, was followed up by a joint national conference titled, India-China Relations: Exploring the Evolving Strategic Dimensions. ICS Assistant Director, Dr. Aravind Yelery, Fellow, Dr. Jabin T. Jacob and Research Associate, Dr. P. K. Anand were part of the events in Pune.
PUBLICATIONS
The ICS journal, China Report published its first issue of this year in February with a special focus on Hong Kong’s Identity, Intellectual History and Culture, guest edited by prominent political psychologist Shih Chih-yu. The issue is online here.
Research Assistant Sanglipong Lemtur presented his findings on the challenges of an ageing and elderly population in China with emphasis on the city of Shanghai in an ICS Working Paper on Challenges for Elderly Care in China: A Literature Review. He examines the pattern of demographic transformation in Shanghai, and the types of services available for the aged and the government preparedness to handle its ageing population.
IN THE MEDIA
ICS Faculty and associate were busy in the media with Assistant Director Arvind Yelery appearing on CGTN’s Dialogue with Yang Rui and Amb. Shyam Saran, Member ICS Governing Council addressing the implications of the domestic political crisis of Maldives on India and China’s naval power in the region, i.e. Enter the Dragon in India Today.
ICS Faculty also addressed the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party proposal of removing a limitation clause on the presidency and vice presidency to two five-year terms from country’s constitution. ICS Fellow Dr. Jacob wrote a piece The ‘Emperor’ Has Feet of Clay: Decoding the Xi Jinping Era for News18 and discussed the implications of such announcement for India on Bloomberg and Rajya Sabha TV. Former Director Alka Acharya also presented her thoughts on the issue in both English Media The Print, rediff.com and Lok Sabha TV and Hindi Media platform of LiveHindustan.com.
FACULTY UPDATES
I was invited by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to address delegates in the Open House Discussion on India-China Trade and Investment Relations. I also delivered a lecture on China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Nature, Implications and India’s Response as part of India Habitat Center and Society for Policy Studies ‘Changing Asia Series’ (the full transcript can be read here).
Assistant Director Dr. Yelery participated in a roundtable organised by Beijing Municipal UNESCO Clubs Association on “Asian Consensus or Scalability: Drawing lessons from Davos” and spoke on ‘Asia amidst Investment volatilities’. In an interaction at Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), he also gave a talk on ‘Overrated Politics and underrated markets of Asia’.
Dr. Madhurima Nundy was a speaker in a Panel on 'Public Good' and the Health Sector PPPs on a workshop on Redefining the “Public Good”: Exploring the Conceptual Contours of Public Good in the Context of “Public-Private Partnership” in the delivery of Public Services organised by School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, JNU at TISS Mumbai. She also delivered a lecture at East Asian Studies Department, Delhi University on the subject of transformation and commercialisation of the health sector in China.
Dr. Jacob, meanwhile, was a panelist at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue 2018 organized by the Indian Navy in partnership with the National Maritime Foundation in late February. He spoke on connectivity models in the Indo-Pacific highlighting the key economic features of Chinese infrastructure projects as well as their political and strategic objectives.
The ICS Website and following us on Facebook and on Twitter are among the several ways you can get the latest on our publications and activities. You can also sign up to receive the latest information of our events and publications as well as browse our YouTube and SoundCloud channels.
I look forward to seeing you at more of our events.
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