The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) hosted an online webinar on China’s Engagements in South Asia: Themes, Partners and Tools to mark the launch of a new report co-edited by Constantino Xavier, Fellow, CSEP, and Jabin T. Jacob, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, and Non-Resident Fellow, CSEP.

This new report assesses how China is becoming increasingly influential beyond just trade and other economic ties with India and its neighbours. Based on eight case studies by analysts and scholars from Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, the report examines China’s growing role in a range of sectors in these four countries, including education, public diplomacy, technology, social media, civil society, party politics, religion, and governance. It is among the first systematic, case study and evidence-based analyses of China’s new themes, partners and tools of engagement in South Asia. Going beyond an India-centric perspective, the report also expands our understanding of how other South Asian democracies perceive China, as well as their specific interests and concerns.

The discussion focused on the geopolitical implications of China’s growing influence in the region, the differing threat perceptions from India and its neighbours, and the policy relevance of further research on China’s expanding footprint. Global experts commented on the report’s key findings and compared China’s influence in South Asia with other regions of the world, including in Central Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Agenda:

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm: Fireside chat between Shivshankar Menon and Constantino Xavier

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Panel discussion with Niva Yau, Mareike Ohlberg, and Selina Ho, moderated by Jabin T. Jacob, and Q&A with participants

Speakers:

Shivshankar Menon is a Distinguished Fellow at CSEP and Visiting Professor at Ashoka University. Previously, he served as the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of India (2010 – 2014) and as Foreign Secretary of India (2006 – 2009). Currently, Menon is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. He is the author of Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy (2016) and India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present (2021).

Constantino Xavier is a Fellow in Foreign Policy and Security Studies at CSEP, where he leads the Sambandh Initiative on Regional Connectivity. He is also a Non- Resident Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, in Washington DC. His research focus on India’s changing role as a regional power, and the challenges of security, connectivity and democracy across South Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Niva Yau is a Non-Resident Fellow with the China Global Hub at the Atlantic Council. Previously, she was based at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where she worked on commissioned research on China’s foreign policy, trade, and security in its western neighborhood, covering Central Asia and Afghanistan. Yau’s research focuses on China-Central Asia relations and China’s new overseas security management infrastructure and initiatives.

Mareike Ohlberg is a Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) and leads the Stockholm China Forum. She is based at GMF’s Berlin Office. Previously, Ohlberg worked as an Analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, where she focused on China’s media and digital policies as well as the Chinese Communist Party’s influence campaigns in Europe.

Selina Ho is an Assistant Professor in International Affairs, and Co-Director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She researches Chinese politics and foreign policy, with a focus on how China wields power and influence via infrastructure and water disputes in Southeast Asia and South Asia. Selina is the author of Thirsty Cities: Social Contracts and Public Goods Provision in China and India (2019) and co-author of Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia (2020).

Jabin T. Jacob is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi NCR. He is a Non-Resident Fellow at CSEP and also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. His research interests include Chinese domestic politics, China-South Asia relations, Sino-Indian border areas, Indian and Chinese worldviews, and centre-province relations in China

This virtual event will be held on Zoom, streamed online and on the record. All participants are requested to register using the link provided above.

Please contact nnayar@csep.org for general queries and twahengbam@csep.org for media inquiries.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.