The Lowy Institute of Australia has come out with a poll on Indian views of the world that deserves commendation. For one thing, no one in India bothers to carry out such detailed surveys. It is doubly commendable because it includes both rural and urban populations and asked questions in vernacular languages as well. Read more

Among the more poorly thought out foreign policy initiatives of the Indian government, one of the mitigated disasters has been the proposed BRICS bank. The New Delhi foreign policy establishment has taken to blaming the Indian finance ministry for the idea, but the external affairs ministry had to have gone along with the idea. Read more

The newly minted president of China, Xi Jinping, speaking to a group of BRICS newswires, told them the Indian participant that he had a five-point formula for Sino-Indian relations. Read more

The Catholic Church and the Chinese government, within a 24 hour space, both finalized their leaders. The church chose and anointed Pope Francis. The party completed its leadership succession by appointing Xi Jinping as president of China, the third and last position he needed to become the new ruler of the Middle Kingdom. Read more

Officially, the world hasn’t given up on the World Trade Organisation’s Doha round of negotiations, but no one is holding their breath. It’s now entering its twelfth year and success seems even further away now than when it began. Read more

New Delhi is hosting a summit to mark the 20th anniversary of relations between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Though financial constraints led to the summit’s budget being slashed, nine heads of government still made it to Delhi. Read more

Listening to Asia-Pacific leaders and geopoliticians these days is to largely hear long musings about China and what to do about this superpower in the making. Like that song from Sound of Music, “What Do You Do About a Problem Like Maria?” the refrain of these musings is basically what does the international system do about a country the size of China. Read more

Aung San Suu Kyi made a triumphant return to India, the land of a chunk of her childhood and at one point an intellectual source for the Burmese nationalist movement that her father spearheaded. Read more

Every television panel I have been on to discuss the Chinese Communist Party Congress has asked the same thing: what are the chances of reform in China? The answer is pretty little. There will be some shifts in the economy. But nothing in the political realm. Here’s why I think it won’t. Read more

The World Bank’s Doing Business 2013 report is depressing reading. India has not risen in the global rankings, remaining the 132nd most difficult place to do business. It is a small miracle it has not fallen since in the 10 indices that determine ranking, it improved in only two of them, fell in six and stayed the same in two. Read more