Apr 16 2024 to Apr 16 2024 6:30 p.m.

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Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Discussions surrounding China and India’s relationship remain urgent and crucial due to their geopolitical significance, economic interdependence, and potential for conflict. As two of the world’s most populous nations and emerging global powers, their interactions shape regional stability and have far-reaching implications for international relations. With ongoing territorial disputes, trade tensions, and differing strategic interests, understanding and managing their relationship is vital for fostering cooperation, averting conflicts, and navigating the complexities of a rapidly changing world order. Exploring themes from his book Beyond Binaries: The World of India and China based on his writings on India, China and their often-tumultuous relationship, Shastri Ramachandaran unravels a succinct history of how ties between the two Asian neighbours have evolved over the 15 years from 2008–2022 and the internal and bilateral compulsions that shaped them. The book makes the reader aware about the strategic thinking that went into each move and counter-move by the two nations that are often at odds with each other, as they are at present. It is an attempt to deepen understanding of the recent history of Sino-Indian relations and, as the title suggests, look at India-China relations without putting it in the category of good or bad. In this session, author Shastri Ramachandran will be in conversation with Manoj Kewalramani taking the listener beyond the binaries in which perceptions of India and China, their relationship and their role on the world stage is trapped. A Q&A with the audience will follow. This is the first event in BIC’s two-part China Series.

Speakers

Shastri Ramachandaran Author & Journalist

Shastri Ramachandaran is a journalist—editor and columnist—writing on national and global affairs with special focus on Nepal, Sri Lanka and China. He has worked for 50 years in positions from Reporter to Editor with publications (in India, China and Europe). His journalism, in Indian and foreign languages, extends to magazines, journals, documentaries, radio, television, global wire services and websites in South Asia, China and Europe. Currently, he is a contributor to WION TV and WIONews.com. Newspapers he worked with include Sunday Mail, The Times of India, The Tribune, Deccan Herald, Indian Express and Newstime; Goteborg Post (Sweden) and Dagbladet Information and Politiken (Denmark). In China, he worked as Senior Consultant and Editor of China-India Dialogue, and Senior Editor & Writer with China Daily and Global Times. Over the years, he has contributed to AIR, Doordarshan, DNA, Mainstream, thewire.in, Outlook, thecitizen.in, Economic and Political Weekly and Newsclick in India; China.org and CGTN in China; and, IPS, IDN, INPS and BBC in Europe. Author of books, monographs, papers and book chapters, he is co-editor, State of Nepal; and, co-author of Media, Conflict and Peace and (monograph) Human Rights of Agricultural Labourers in Tamil Nadu. He has worked on documentaries for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Doordarshan and Star TV. He was invited as a Global Personality to Denmark’s Images of the World-2000 Festival. 

Manoj Kewalramani Chairperson, Indo-Pacific Studies Programme, Takshashila Institution

Manoj Kewalramani is Fellow-China Studies and the Chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at the Takshashila Institution. He is a Senior Associate (Non-resident), Freeman Chair in China Studies, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (U.S.), served as a Visiting Senior Fellow (Nov 2023 – Feb 2024) at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (Singapore), and is also an alumnus of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) as part of the Enhancing Regional Maritime Governance and Cooperation in the Quad chapter of the year 2022. ​His research interests range from Chinese politics, foreign policy and approaches to new technologies to addressing questions of how India can work with like-minded partners to deal with the challenges presented by China’s rise. ​Manoj is the author of Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance, which discusses China’s political, diplomatic, economic and narrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. ​Manoj’s work has been featured in several media publications, including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Nikkei Asia, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, and The Diplomat. In August 2022, he testified as an expert witness before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on China’s zero-COVID policy. ​Manoj publishes a daily newsletter translating and analyzing discourse from the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper. Prior to joining Takshashila, he spent over a decade working as a journalist in India and China, where he helped set up digital newsrooms and train young journalists.