New Delhi: In this month’s issue, The Economist analyses who leads “the global south, if it exists”. The report says: “The US still has more influence than any other country over the global south, but within the grouping itself China has become the most powerful member”.
It also calls India “the frontrunner” among Beijing’s emerging rivals, saying that “it worries more about a China-led Asia than an America-led world”. “As a flawed democracy with an ultra-pragmatic foreign policy, it is closer to the median worldview among the G77 than is China.”
In Foreign Policy‘s weekly ‘South Asia Brief’, Michael Kugelman, director of South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, argues that The Guardian report accusing the Indian government of orchestrating extrajudicial killings in Pakistan will give a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha elections. “It validates the ruling party’s boasts about taking a tough line on Pakistan, which play well politically in India.”
A Global Times editorial calls Modi’s remarks on China-India relations in an interview with Newsweek “thought-provoking”. It says that Modi’s interview “corrects the recent heating-up trend of India’s attitude and actions on border issues demonstrating a willingness to pragmatically resolve problems & ease bilateral relations”. Reacting to Modi’s comment on India-China border, the China’s foreign ministry said Thursday: “The boundary question does not represent the entirety of China-India relations and it should be placed appropriately in bilateral relations & managed properly”.
According to this Financial Times report by John Reed & Peter Campbell, Elon Musk’s upcoming visit to India and Tesla’s plans to start manufacturing here “will be a boost to Modi” ahead of elections.
What’s happening around the world
During the first-ever trilateral meeting with the Philippines and Japan, US President Joe Biden emphasised that the US commitments to the defence of the two countries will be “ironclad”. Read this analysis by The New York Times to understand how the developments could impact China and what are its options.
O.J. Simpson, the former American football star-turned-actor, died aged 76. Read this piece by BBC to know more about his journey, career, and imprisonment.
Also Read: ‘Less liberal, more assured & assertive’ — influential global voices on Modi’s election-eve India