Quad pushes back on Chinese coercion, no compromise on Indo-Pacific security
External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's candid admission that China was discussed at the Melbourne Quad meeting in the neighbourhood context indicates that the democratic group has started to mature into a launchpad for long term strategic and economic partnerships. While the Quad summit in Japan is expected to take place after the Australian general elections in May 2022, the push back of the group to deliberate barbs of China on the group shows that none of the participating nations are going to take Beijing lying down. This is in sharp contrast to 2007 Malabar naval exercises, when China sent demarches to participating Quad nations plus Singapore virtually asking whether the target of the Bay of Bengal war was Beijing. Facing protests from then UPA government ally, the CPM, and the China sympathizers in India, the 2008 exercises was scaled down to a bilateral level in the Arabian Sea. After 13 years, the 2020 and the 2021 Malabar exercises were between Quad navies and that too in the Bay of Bengal and the Philippine Sea with carrier battle groups participating in advanced manoeuvres. The 2022 Malabar will be no different with the complexity of the naval war game increasing by the year. At the Quad summit, the four countries acknowledged the centrality of Asean countries to the larger Indo-Pacific strategy and presented the democratic grouping as an alternative to authoritarian China for close economic and security partnerships. With EAM Jaishankar in the Philippines today, it is quite evident that the Quad is engaging the Asean countries with Djakarta and Manila, the keys to Indo-Pacific security. Just as the Biden administration has approved the sale of F-15 EX fighters to Indonesia, India is ready to equip Djakarta with supersonic BrahMos anti-ship cruise missiles. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan virtually control all the ingress routes to the South China Sea and present a deterrent to the increasingly aggressive and rapidly growing Chinese PLA Navy. Indonesia is also buying 42 Rafale F-4 fighters from France and is on its way to becoming the most powerful Air Force in south-east Asia.
India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, says Modi
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
COP26: What climate summit means for one woman in Bangladesh
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Why China's climate policy matters to us all
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Deliver on promises, developing world tells rich at climate talks
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.