A month after the 13th round of Corps Commander-level talks, which had ended in deadlock, India and China held the 23rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on November 18. According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, both sides agreed to ensure a stable ground situation and work towards resolving outstanding issues along the LAC through dialogue and discussion. China’s Foreign Ministry on its part highlighted that both sides had held candid discussions on developments in the India-China border areas.
Addressing a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) Council on November 25, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar underscored that any serious connectivity initiative must be transparent, consultative, participatory, and adhere to respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla, at an online interaction on November 24, underlined that India is reviewing its trade and investment ties with China taking into account India’s larger strategic and security interests.
Meanwhile, China accused India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat of instigating a “geopolitical confrontation” and violating strategic guidelines over his remarks that China is India’s biggest security threat. Chinese state media referred to Gen. Rawat’s comments as demonstrative of India’s “high self-esteem alienation”, highlighting that “the competition and cooperation relationship between China and India is plagued by India's ‘high self-esteem’ mentality”.
After Pakistan, China has emerged as the closest ally of the Taliban, with increasing presence and influence in Afghanistan. China has also emerged as the largest provider of humanitarian aid, in return for which it has demanded that the Taliban clampdown on the Uyghur and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) extremists who pose a challenge to China in Xinjiang.
On November 9, India hosted the National Security Chiefs of key regional countries to discuss the Afghanistan situation. The discussion was attended by the NSAs of Russia, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Pakistan and China were invited but decided not to attend. Post this dialogue, Pakistan hosted senior diplomats from the United States, China and Russia dubbed as the ‘Troika Plus’ in Islamabad to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and its implications. Afghanistan also remained the focus of discussions at the RIC (Russia-India-China) meeting held on November 26.
Despite an ongoing diplomatic tussle over a shipment of organic fertiliser from China that Colombo refused to accept citing quality issues, the Sri Lanka government awarded another major project to China for the construction of the second phase of Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal (ECT).
China-US relations remained contentious, marked by military posturing and disagreements over trade issues and Taiwan. However, there were signs of some convergence over climate change and efforts to stabilise global energy prices.
To ease bilateral tensions, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden held their first bilateral virtual meeting on November 15, 2021.President Biden conveyed that in the prevailing competitive scenario between the two countries, there should be guard rails for preventing tensions from escalating. President Xi on his part called for a return to a comprehensive China-US relationship based on mutual respect, peaceful co-existence, and win-win cooperation.
The US invited Taiwan to attend the Democracy Summit to be held on December 9-10, 2021. Chinese state media called the summit an “anti-China ideological clique” that manifests outdated authoritarianism of the US.
US-China strategic and military sparring continued in the South China Sea (SCS). The US and Japan, for the first time, held anti-submarine drills in the SCS reportedly to practise “targeting PLA Navy’s conventional submarines”. Meanwhile, continuing the trend of deepening Sino-Russian defence partnership, bombers from the two countries [Chinese H-6K and Russian Tu-95MC aircraft] concluded a joint strategic patrol over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. Chinese analysts described the joint patrol as a “warning to some countries outside the region”, and “neighbouring countries part of AUKUS and QUAD, not to stir up trouble”.
The US Department of Defence released its annual report on military and security developments involving China. The report highlighted that China is expanding its nuclear capabilities on land, sea and air, while estimating that China could have up to 700 nuclear warheads by 2027 and at least 1,000 by 2030.Expressing strong dissatisfaction at the report, China’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) asserted that the Pentagon was “disregarding facts”, “fabricating the so-called China military threat” and “making groundless accusations against China’s nuclear capability development,” while “interfering in China’s internal affairs involving Taiwan and other issues”.
China downgraded its diplomatic ties with Lithuania on November 21, after Taiwan opened a representative office in the capital city of Vilnius.
The sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held from November 8–11, 2021.CPC unanimously adopted a “historic resolution on the major achievements and experience of the party over the past 100 years”. The resolution established “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century”, and further strengthened Xi Jinping’s position as the CPC’s core leader.
President Xi Jinping virtually addressed the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Glasgow. He presented a three-pronged strategy with emphasis on “upholding multilateralism”, “focusing on concrete action plans”, and “accelerating the green transition”.
Addressing a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) Council on November 25, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar underscored that any serious connectivity initiative must be transparent, consultative, participatory, and adhere to respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla, at an online interaction on November 24, underlined that India is reviewing its trade and investment ties with China taking into account India’s larger strategic and security interests.
Meanwhile, China accused India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat of instigating a “geopolitical confrontation” and violating strategic guidelines over his remarks that China is India’s biggest security threat. Chinese state media referred to Gen. Rawat’s comments as demonstrative of India’s “high self-esteem alienation”, highlighting that “the competition and cooperation relationship between China and India is plagued by India's ‘high self-esteem’ mentality”.
After Pakistan, China has emerged as the closest ally of the Taliban, with increasing presence and influence in Afghanistan. China has also emerged as the largest provider of humanitarian aid, in return for which it has demanded that the Taliban clampdown on the Uyghur and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) extremists who pose a challenge to China in Xinjiang.
On November 9, India hosted the National Security Chiefs of key regional countries to discuss the Afghanistan situation. The discussion was attended by the NSAs of Russia, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Pakistan and China were invited but decided not to attend. Post this dialogue, Pakistan hosted senior diplomats from the United States, China and Russia dubbed as the ‘Troika Plus’ in Islamabad to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and its implications. Afghanistan also remained the focus of discussions at the RIC (Russia-India-China) meeting held on November 26.
Despite an ongoing diplomatic tussle over a shipment of organic fertiliser from China that Colombo refused to accept citing quality issues, the Sri Lanka government awarded another major project to China for the construction of the second phase of Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal (ECT).
China-US relations remained contentious, marked by military posturing and disagreements over trade issues and Taiwan. However, there were signs of some convergence over climate change and efforts to stabilise global energy prices.
To ease bilateral tensions, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden held their first bilateral virtual meeting on November 15, 2021.President Biden conveyed that in the prevailing competitive scenario between the two countries, there should be guard rails for preventing tensions from escalating. President Xi on his part called for a return to a comprehensive China-US relationship based on mutual respect, peaceful co-existence, and win-win cooperation.
The US invited Taiwan to attend the Democracy Summit to be held on December 9-10, 2021. Chinese state media called the summit an “anti-China ideological clique” that manifests outdated authoritarianism of the US.
US-China strategic and military sparring continued in the South China Sea (SCS). The US and Japan, for the first time, held anti-submarine drills in the SCS reportedly to practise “targeting PLA Navy’s conventional submarines”. Meanwhile, continuing the trend of deepening Sino-Russian defence partnership, bombers from the two countries [Chinese H-6K and Russian Tu-95MC aircraft] concluded a joint strategic patrol over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. Chinese analysts described the joint patrol as a “warning to some countries outside the region”, and “neighbouring countries part of AUKUS and QUAD, not to stir up trouble”.
The US Department of Defence released its annual report on military and security developments involving China. The report highlighted that China is expanding its nuclear capabilities on land, sea and air, while estimating that China could have up to 700 nuclear warheads by 2027 and at least 1,000 by 2030.Expressing strong dissatisfaction at the report, China’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) asserted that the Pentagon was “disregarding facts”, “fabricating the so-called China military threat” and “making groundless accusations against China’s nuclear capability development,” while “interfering in China’s internal affairs involving Taiwan and other issues”.
China downgraded its diplomatic ties with Lithuania on November 21, after Taiwan opened a representative office in the capital city of Vilnius.
The sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held from November 8–11, 2021.CPC unanimously adopted a “historic resolution on the major achievements and experience of the party over the past 100 years”. The resolution established “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century”, and further strengthened Xi Jinping’s position as the CPC’s core leader.
President Xi Jinping virtually addressed the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Glasgow. He presented a three-pronged strategy with emphasis on “upholding multilateralism”, “focusing on concrete action plans”, and “accelerating the green transition”.
