Nayanima Basu

Five years after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, the Islamist fundamentalist group openly celebrated its return from New Delhi to Beijing, referring to it as ‘Victory Day'.

NSA Doval and Chinese FM Wang Yi have once again reiterated the need for an “early and substantial harvest of boundary delimitation and border management” even as the six border protocols lie dormant.

On September 2, 2026, Dr Lobsang Sangay, former President of the Central Tibetan Administration, visited Gateway House to speak on the future of Tibet in China and India. He shared his views on Buddhism, culture and identity, and how China is countering them through Sinicisation. He also discussed China's strategic infrastructure projects in Tibet, including dams and data centres, and the necessity for India to accelerate its Buddhist diplomacy.

Kathmandu's bid to penalise its neighbours India and China over the August 26 floods is misplaced and will only damage relations. Instead of blame-shifting, it must take charge and work with all.

China's invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1950 created the border dispute with India

India's Eurasian shift will play itself out in the upcoming BRICS Summit. This is in contrast to just four years ago, when India cultivated the West, especially the U.S., in the aftermath of the 2020 Galwan clashes. Now with the U.S.' tough tariffs and trade negotiations, India has made space to lean towards the Eurasian groupings, emphasising its long-held foreign policy principle of strategic balancing.

The world faces ongoing wars and a shifting order. In this context, India should reimagine multilateral groupings like BRICS for the future.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an hourlong bilateral meeting on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit held in New Delhi.