FUTURE OF CONFLICT IN THE ASIAN CONTEXT

Pic Courtesy: Wikipedia

 

Asia

 

The largest continent with 30% of land mass (17.21 Million Square miles) and 60% of the world population (4.6 Billion) spread across about 48 countries.

 

The three biggest economies of the continent (China, India, and Japan) are among the top 5 economies of the world.

 

Five Asian countries feature in the list of top 10 militaries of the world (China, India, Japan, Korea, and Turkey), and ten Asian countries feature in the top 20.

 

The continent is generally divided into 5 regions (East, Central, West, south, and southwest).

 

Conflict and War

 

“If you want peace, be prepared for war”

– Julius Caesar

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SURVEY: SHADES OF INDIAN & CHINA RELATIONS

Pic Courtesy: Hindustan times on net

 

The geopolitical landscape of Asia is undergoing a significant and irreversible shift. Two major players are India and China. Scholars, analysts, and policymakers are divided among their views regarding India and China relations. The three-point of view are:-

 

Cooperation. Some feel that a cooperative partnership will develop, much to the benefit of Asia and to the world as a whole. A few scholars have even gone so far as to suggest that China and India could eventually form an anti-U.S. / Western bloc and thus greatly shift the global balance of power.

 

Competition. However, more seem to adopt a realist approach and feel that competition of some form or the other is inevitable given the sheer size and demand for limited resources of these two nations, both of which have billion plus population. Within this group, some believe that the competition will be more of a friendly nature while others think it will be intense.

 

Confrontation. In addition to these two schools of thought, there are a growing number of individuals who believe that China is actively pursuing an aggressive and encirclement policy on India. This group views the simultaneous rise of China and India as a major challenge to regional and global stability that will require more sophisticated diplomacy.

 

Please give your opinion about the above possibilities. Which one is the most likely scenario and why (in Brief).

 

  1. Cooperation

 

  1. Healthy Competition.

 

  1. Intense Competition.

 

  1. Confrontation.

 

Your opinions and views would be of immense value.

 

 

ECONOMIC SANCTIONS: TWO-EDGED SWORD

 

 

Sanctions as more than verbal condemnation and less than the use of armed forces.

 – UN general secretary Kofi Annan

 

 

The USA has been using economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool. It has imposed economic sanctions against Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Venezuela, etc.

 

Besides other countries, the sanctions are also used against members of commercial entities and private individuals, as well as non-state actors such as terror groups, etc. affecting their participation in global trade.

 

Nonviolent Coercive Diplomacy. The sanctions in the conflict continuum fall somewhere midway between censure and armed hostilities. Sanctions are frequently used as part of nonviolent coercive diplomacy to coerce targets away from unacceptable behaviour and restrain them from behaving in those ways in the future as well.  This nonviolent nature of sanctions has made them so appealing in international relations and since the end of the cold war, they have grown very popular.

 

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