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"The successful launch of the GSLV-MK 2 marks a milestone for the Nation's Rocket Program" by Yang Kai and Qu Jing:

http://www.bjreview.com.cn/world/txt/2014-02/10/content_595651_2.htm

In this somewhat complementary article soon after India’s GLSV-MK2 launch, China has provided a short overview of the development of this country’s space program from their perspective.

The final frontier of outer space is yet to be transformed into a battlefield. If the present shaping up of the geopolitics of the world is taken into perspective, the next two decades will witness a global arms race, culminating in a sophisticated weapon system being put into the orbit.

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China since mid-1990s actively pursued a strategy rooted in spin-in, as a result China’s defence economy started to reap benefits from microelectronics, space systems, material sciences, semi-conductors, propulsion, missiles, information technology and computer aided manufacturing. While China in 2012 continues to lag behind in high technology sector and is decades away from carrying-out path-breaking discoveries in field of natural science and engineering, however it is fast closing the gap with developed countries through indigenous innovation.

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The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to New Delhi as the chief guest for the 65th Republic Day celebrations in January 2014 apparently sent a clear signal of the importance of Japan to India in the context of changing power dynamics in Asia-Pacific. Notably, for the first time Japanese Prime Minister was a chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations.

The threat of external aggression no longer continues to be the only source of destabilisation, collapse or degradation of a state system. Rather, in the post-Cold War period, political instability, legitimacy crisis and violent conflicts within a state has given rise to the concept of internal security (IS).

India’s Look East Policy, which was initiated in the early 1990s, has led to key changes in its foreign policy strategies towards East and Southeast Asia. Similarly even with China, India’s relations have witnessed remarkable advancements, particularly in the economic arenas.

Within the canopy of a redefined “new great power relations”, primarily between the US and China, there appears to be a few obvious limitations to America’s strategic hedging against China in Asia. The limitations of America’s direct intervention in matters relating to China’s assertiveness in Asia came to the fore on two separate occasions in a matter of less than a month, towards the end of 2013.

Many intellectuals and scholars studying the Af-Pak region have talked about the multiple dimensions of this region. Numerous articles, books and monographs pertaining to this region are being published on a frequent basis across the globe. Also, a lot of aid in the form of money and weapons from many diplomatic missions has flooded Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. However, rather than arriving at a possible solution to the problem being faced by this region, the complexity of the issues has increased further.

The Syrian conflict which began two years ago has taken many dramatic turns in recent months. The chemical attacks that claimed over a thousand deaths in the city of Ghouta, Syria in August 2013 shocked the world by horrific footages. President Obama decided to strike Syria even unilaterally after what was defined by White House as the Syrian regime crossing the ‘redline’, but decided to go ahead with the approval of the US  Congress. Russia, then came forward with a plan to bring Syria’s chemical weapons under international supervision and later to dismantle them.

It is no secret that the Chinese government has been involved in cyber spying and cyber attacks over the past many years. China’s capabilities are only growing exponentially as it sees cyber warfare as a potent weapon in its armor. In 2012, after elaborate efforts by the US computer security firm Mandiant, it was established that the majority of cyber attacks on US corporations and government agencies are emanating out of a specific building on the outskirts of Shanghai.