Story highlights
India is revamping its defence strategy in three broad ways - processes, procurement and partnerships. It is integrating its armed forces, upgrading weapons and strengthening its military alliances
After a nine-month-long standoff, the satellite images from the banks of Pangong Tso show India and China are pulling back troops. The area has been one of the flashpoints for a long time.
In late January, the Chinese military had built multiple camps, along with the deployment of soldiers and placement of military equipment. All of these have been removed.
China has already withdrawn 150 tanks and nearly 5,000 soldiers. And more will follow but this will not end the standoff as some flashpoints still remain. And China has not really had a change of heart. It is just the change of tactics.
Posted on February 3rd, 2021
New Delhi to issue statement on the Lankan cabinet’s decision to back out on the East Terminal deal and offer the West Terminal instead as a sop.
Colombo, February 3: India-Sri Lanka relations have come under strain following Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from its written commitment to give Colombo port’s Easter Container Terminal (ECT) to India, and to offer the West Container Terminal (WCT) in lieu of it as a sop.
A disappointed Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Tuesday apparently to express India’s dismay about the breach of trust.
Sri Lanka has said that the East terminal of Colombo port will be 100% owned by it.
New Delhi:
India said on Tuesday it expected Sri Lanka to honour its agreement to allow it to operate a major port terminal following Colombo s decision to pull out of the deal.
The East terminal of Colombo port will be 100% owned and operated by the state-owned Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA), minutes of a cabinet meeting released on Tuesday said.
Sri Lanka had previously said the port would be 49% operated by India and Japan, with its port authority retaining the majority stake.
India and Japan would instead be invited to develop the nearby West terminal on a public-private partnership basis, the minutes said, without elaborating.
Posted on January 26th, 2021
Containers stacked at Sri Lanka’s Colombo port. Photo Credit: Rehman Abubakr, Wikipedia Commons
Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation (JOIN) and India’s Adani Port are among foreign and Sri Lankan companies seeking a stake in the container terminal
The Sri Lankan government has asked stakeholders in Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal (ECT) project to come up with a joint proposal to share a 49% stake in it.
The Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), Maj.Gen. (Rtd) Daya Ratnayake, said that the SLPA will have 51% stake in the company to be formed to build and run the terminal and the remaining 49% will be held by a group of foreign and local companies.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that the government would have greater clarity on the export of COVID-19 vaccines from the country within the next few weeks.