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Dear Friend,
The Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) continued to take up relevant issues and topics through digital platforms to generate informed analysis of China and East Asia. We expanded our activities and outreach as regular activities started opening up despite the Covid pandemic. The impact of the pandemic was reflected in both publications and events that discussed the crisis from multiple perspectives.
Dr. Rityusha Tiwari provided qualitative analysis of how China is managing an image war resulting from its self- representation as lovable on one hand and unreliable and duplicitous on the other during the pandemic. In a similar vein, Ms. Anurag Viswanathan reviewed China’s vaccine diplomacy in South East Asia, and its coverage in local media. Taking up another topical issue, Amb. Vijay Gokhale discussed his book Tiananmen Square: The making of a protest, providing keen insights from his lived experience in Beijing in 1989. Adding diversity to the discussions, Prof. Lo Yuet Keung gave a historical ride into the origins of Chinese tradition of filial piety that still holds much relevance in contemporary society.
There was as assorted mix of topics that were written on in the various ICS Publications. Ms. Prateeksha Tiwari provided sharp insights into the online education scenario in China during the pandemic. Prof. Adlakha took up the ever-pertinent but ever-changing issue of cross strait relations. ICS Interns also presented incisive arguments in their research blogs on topics ranging from BRICS and Nepal to shadow banking and e-commerce boom in China.
The ICS co-hosted the 9th World Peace Forum and the Third China-India Roundtable (Hybrid) with the Institute of International Relations, Tsinghua University from 2-4 July. The Theme of the joint panel was “International Security Cooperation in the Post-Pandemic Era—Upholding and Practicing Multilateralism”. Amb. Ashok Kantha, Director, ICS gave the welcome remarks from the Indian side in the first session and Mr. Ravi Bhoothalingam, Honorary Fellow, ICS was the lead speaker from India in the second session.
EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The ICS conducted four webinars this month
Dr. Rityusha Tiwari, Visiting Fellow, ICS, Assistant Editor, China Report and Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of the University of Delhi, on ‘China's Image War - A Comparative Study of Select Newspaper Coverage on The Origin of Covid-19’ on 7 July. Dr. Jabin T Jacob, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University and Adjunct Research Fellow, National Maritime Foundation, chaired the event. (SoundCloud) (YouTube)
Shri Vijay Gokhale, former Ambassador/High Commissioner to Malaysia, Germany and China, former Foreign Secretary of India and non-Resident Senior Fellow, Carnegie India, on ‘Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest’ on 14 July. Amb. Shyam Saran, Member, ICS Governing Council and former Foreign Secretary, Government of India, chaired the event. (SoundCloud) (YouTube)
Dr. Lo Yuet Keung, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore, on ‘How To Make Your Debt Count: Repaying Your Parents In Buddhist China’ on 21 July. Prof. Patricia Uberoi, Honorary Fellow and Member, ICS Governing Council Member was in chair. (SoundCloud) (YouTube)
Dr. Anurag Viswanath, Adjunct Fellow, ICS and independent writer and China Analyst, on ‘"Loveable" China in Times of Covid-19 : Intentions and Missteps’ on 28 July. Professor Alka Acharya, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, chaired the event. (SoundCloud) (YouTube)
PUBLICATIONS
This month we had seven publications in total – one Occasional Paper, one ICS Analysis, and five ICS Research Blogs.
ICS Occasional Paper
- Prateeksha Tiwari, Research Scholar, Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, on ‘COVID-19 and Online Learning in Rural China: Challenges, Impact, and Opportunities’.
ICS Analysis
- Dr. Hemant Adlakha, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, on ‘Taiwan: The First and Oldest ‘Thorn’ between China and the West’. [This is a longer version of an earlier article with the same title, published in Modern Diplomacy].
ICS Research Blogs
- Dr. Sushmita Rajwar, Assistant Professor, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi, on ‘It’s high time that BRICS should work towards Youth Empowerment’.
- Dr. Hemant Adlakha, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, on ‘Of Western Prejudice and Chinese Victimhood’. [Revised version of the article published under the title ‘Of Prejudice and Victimhood’ in Modern Diplomacy].
- Anushka Maheshwari, Research Intern, ICS, on ‘Shadow Banking and the Real Estate Bubble: Is Financial Crisis a Real Possibility in China?’.
- Raj Trikkha, Research Intern, ICS, on ‘China’s e-commerce boom: How do Indian policies compare?’.
- Shreha Gupta, Research Intern, ICS on ‘How Nepal’s Immediate Neighbour Takes Opposite Approaches to its Political Crisis’.
IN THE MEDIA
Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Professor of Social Development, Council for Social Development, New Delhi authored a piece for The Indian Express on 3 July on ‘The cost of China’s economic achievements’. Professor Alka Acharya, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, authored an op-ed for The Hindu on ‘How the Chinese Communist Party endures’ on 1 July. Prof. Ashwini Deshpande, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi was quoted in the article titled, ‘Covid’s impact, WFH has hit India’s women harder’ published by the Deccan Chronicle on 2 July and in another article titled, ‘BJP turns to coercion to limit India’s population growth’ published by the Financial Times on 15 July. Her co-authored paper was quoted in the article titled, ‘Dalit children more likely to be stunted, shows study’ published by The Times of India. Amb. Gautam Bambawale, former Ambassador to Bhutan, Pakistan and China and Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Symbiosis International University, Pune, penned a piece for the India Today on ‘The Rise and Rise of the Communist Party of China’ on 12 July.
Dr. Partha Mukhopadhyay, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, was quoted in the article titled, ‘Cairn Energy freezes Indian state-owned properties in Paris’ published by the Financial Times on 8 July. Dr. Sudipto Mundle, Senior Adviser, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) authored a piece on ‘Covid’s Aftershocks: Why we need wide-ranging reforms now?’ for the Mint on 16 July. He was also quoted in an article titled, ‘The five best ways to invest in India's promising future’ published by Money Week on 23 July. Dr. Happymon Jacob, Adjunct Fellow, ICS and Associate Professor, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament, Jawaharlal Nehru University, was quoted in the article titled, ‘The Political Fix: Why did Narendra Modi meet Kashmiri leaders after jailing them for months?’ published by the Scroll on 5 July and in another article titled, ‘India-Pakistan ceasefire threatened by drone attack, just as Afghanistan and China border heat up’ published by South China Morning Post on 3 July. Dr. Jacob’s National Security Conversation No. 108 titled ‘It Is Better to a Have a Political Settlement that Includes the Taliban’ was hosted by The Wire on 26 July.
Dr. Hemant Adlakha, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, authored two pieces for Modern Diplomacy on ‘As ‘Ping Pong Diplomacy’ Completes Fifty Years, ‘Diplomacy’ is Missing in the US-China Ties’ on 1 July and on ‘A Likely Biden-Xi Sit-down in Rome: G20 aka G2?’ on 18 July. Mr. Santosh Pai, Honorary Fellow, ICS, and Partner, Link Legal India Law Services, participated in The Hindu In Focus Podcast titled, ‘The battle between Big Tech in China and the Communist Party’ on 14 July. His interview was carried by Sputnik News in their article titled, ‘Indian Start-Ups Must Have 'Osmosis' With Chinese Ecosystem Despite Geopolitical Tensions – Analyst’ published on 21 July. His article titled, ‘Loans, taxis, education: what’s next in China’s tech crackdown?’ was published by The Economic Times on 29 July. Dr. Rityusha Tiwari, Visiting Fellow, ICS, Assistant Editor, China Report and Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of the University of Delhi, penned a piece for The Telangana Today on ‘100 years of Chinese Communist Party’ on 3 July.
Dr. Anurag Viswanath, Adjunct Fellow, ICS and independent writer and China Analyst shared her views on ‘Why China’s 3-Child Policy will Fail?’ in an interview by The Times of India on 23 July. Dr. Veda Vaidyanathan, Visiting Associate Fellow, ICS, wrote for a piece for The Hindu on ‘Crafting a unique partnership with Africa’ on 5 July. Dr. P.K. Anand, Visiting Associate Fellow, ICS penned a piece for The Hindu on ‘The diminishing status of the Chinese worker’ on 23 July. He also authored a piece titled ‘Beautiful China and Workers’ Malayalam for Mathrubhumi on 30 July. Mr. Nishit Kumar, ICS-HYI Fellow translated the Chinese short story 重逢 (Chongfeng) written by Taiwanese writer 吴念真 (Wu Nien-Jen) in Anuvad magazine, Issue No 184 (July-Sep 2020). Unidentified Research Scholar was quoted in The New Indian Express article titled, ‘Seminars get major chunk of MEA research grants’ published on 31 Jul 2021.
FACULTY UPDATES
Amb. Shivshankar Menon, Chairman, Advisory Board, ICS, and Former National Security Advisor, Government of India participated in a book discussion for his recently published book titled ‘India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present’ organised by Carnegie India on 8 July. Dr. Sudipto Mundle, Senior Adviser, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) participated in a panel discussion on ‘Developing Principles for Regulation of Alcoholic Beverages Sector in India’ organized by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations on 24 July. Dr. G Venkat Raman, Adjunct Fellow, ICS and Associate Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management, Indore and Dr. Ritu Agarwal, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Associate Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University were was quoted in the article titled, ‘China’s Emergence as A Tech Power’ published in Youth Ki Awaz on 2 July. The article was based on a Webinar with the same title organised by Impact and Policy Research Institute(IMPRI) on 2 June.
Dr. Veda Vaidyanathan, Visiting Associate Fellow, ICS, co-edited a volume titled ‘Handbook on Zimbabwe – China Economic Relations’ on the impact of Chinese investments in Zimbabwe’s mining & financial sector and published by Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association which was launched on 14 July. She also participated in a Webinar on ‘Taking Stock of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and reflecting on-Sino Africa & Sino Latin relations’ as part of the Political Economy Dialogue on Natural Resource Governance (PEDNRG) series organised on the same occasion. She has also launched her website which can be accessed here. Mr. Nishit Kumar, ICS-HYI Fellow penned a piece on ‘SCO turns a page in literary cooperation’ for The Shange Review, a new journal of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The ICS Website, Facebook and Twitter accounts are among the several ways you can get the latest on our publications and activities. You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter to follow our events and publications as well as browse our YouTube and SoundCloud channels.
We look forward to your participation in our events and activities in the coming days and hope for your continued support.
Please take care and stay safe and healthy.
Best regards,
Ashok K. Kantha
Director
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