Showing 1 - 5 of 5
China's carrier should worry India
News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 27/04/2017
» The launch of China's second aircraft carrier this week is an important and depressing moment for India. The "Type 001A" -- likely to be named the Shandong -- will give China an edge for the first time in the carrier race with its Asian rival, a literal two-to-one advantage. After decommissioning the INS Viraat earlier this year, the Indian navy is down to a single carrier, INS Vikramaditya. Worse, the Shandong has been built at China's own giant shipyard at Dalian; Vikramaditya is merely a re-purposed 1980s-era Russian carrier formerly known as the Admiral Gorshkov.
India losing faith in free-trade deals
News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 11/04/2017
» Until fairly recently, it looked like two massive new agreements would compete to define the future of world trade. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, backed by the US, would try to move the global trade architecture toward new norms, with harmonised regulations at its centre. Meanwhile, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, backed by China, would drastically reduce remaining tariffs across a swathe of Asia and push the existing model of trade and manufacturing as far as it could go.
Trump can't kill the TPP
News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 27/01/2017
» When President Donald Trump withdrew US support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, he made it harder for American companies to compete. In the name of US labour, he compromised the interests of the American worker, for the TPP would've forced labour standards onto the trade agenda for the first time in history. Mr Trump turned his back on America's allies and handed China a giant strategic victory. What he didn't do was kill what the TPP stands for.
In the Trump era, Asia must unite
News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 24/01/2017
» Every new occupant of the White House has his -- still, unfortunately, "his" -- way of looking at the world. America's allies, friends and rivals have always adjusted to these shifts in worldview. But so far they've been relatively straightforward. Some presidents have sought to extend democratic values, others to fight grand strategic battles. The last swore not to "do stupid stuff". Adjusting to President Donald Trump won't be that easy.
Indian protectionism isn't patriotic
News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 15/12/2016
» Samuel Johnson got it wrong: Patriotism is the last refuge of the unprofitable. The Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart Online Services Pvt lost 23 billion rupees (about 12.1 billion baht) last year, and so its co-founder and executive chairman, Sachin Bansal, has suddenly morphed into a great champion of local companies. "We need to take a more India-centric approach" to regulation, he told a Bengaluru audience last week, citing Donald Trump approvingly.