Neha Kohli

Over the past few years, West Asia’s disenchantment with its traditional economic and security partners in the West has increased. This has coincided with the region looking eastwards for new partners and China’s interest in looking and connecting westwards in the same vein. Energy security, new markets and avenues for investment in growing economies have driven China to look at and engage with more closely with the region. China’s vision of the Land Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road projects and the vast potential for trade along these economic highways is shared by many countries in West Asia and that is making for a stronger relationship. China is slowly, but surely, playing a larger diplomatic role here also, both bilaterally and multilaterally. This article examines China’s political, diplomatic, military and economic engagement with the West Asian region in 2014. It also provides an overview of trade and energy ties. The article highlights China’s deepening relations with Iran, and Israel in particular, as there was considerable interaction with these countries in the year.

This is a chapter published in 'West Asia in Transition', a task force report jointly published by IDSA and Delhi Policy Group, edited by Arundhati Ghose. It profiles Indians in the Gulf and discusses remittances and indigenisation policies. it further documents the impact this temporary employment-centric migration has had in India: increasing consumerism, local economy and higher education being geared to sustain and promote migration in larger numbers, increasing conservatism among the local population, etc. It also recommends study of non-Kerala origin Indian migrants to the Gulf as well as sociological/anthropological studies documenting the long-term impact of such migration on communities back home.

This essay is based on a chapter titled 'Indian Migrants in the Gulf Countries' that I wrote for a 2013 IDSA publication: 'Developments in the Gulf Region: Prospects and Challenges for India in the Next Two Decades'. It includes an entirely new section on the impact of migration on India as well as updated information and recommendations.

This paper examines China’s engagement
with West Asia in 2013 in the areas of foreign
relations, defence, technology, energy, and trade.
It highlights the important role China played in
the Syrian crisis, the Arab-Israeli Peace Process,
and the Iran nuclear issue in particular. The article
also underscores the importance of energy and
trade in making China’s interaction with West Asia
more dynamic.

The presence of about 6 million Indians in the Gulf is reflective of a mutually beneficial relationship between the Gulf states and India. The Indian migrants are preferred over others owing to their skills and non-involvement in the domestic affairs of the host country, and this particular preference has ensured a steady flow of remittances back home. The Indian migrants’ 40 year sojourn in the Gulf has helped build the foundation of a strong bilateral relationship with most of the countries in the region. In view of recent developments, however, there is a need to examine if migration of Indians to the region will continue at the same level in next two decades. Economic slowdown in some countries of the Gulf, internal demographic compulsions, indigenisation policies and political uncertainties plaguing some of the states could have a negative impact on Indian migrants working in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In this context, this chapter examines the profile of Indian migrants in the region; level of remittances; the immediate impact of renewed indigenisation policies; political uncertainties and possible contingencies in future; bilateral and multilateral initiatives undertaken by the Indian government to aid mutually beneficial migration to the region; and finally, the socio-economic and cultural impact of migration on India and the implications of a large-scale return of migrants from the Gulf. The chapter also identifies some key drivers affecting migration from India to the Gulf region and offers some recommendations.

Despite being faced with myriad and complex challenges to national security, India's defence structures have not kept pace with changing times. The defence reforms that were undertaken periodically were reactive in nature and, in many cases, responses to crises as well as being sporadic, piecemeal and often ad hoc. The most recent review of security challenges undertaken occurred close to two decades ago, in the aftermath of the Kargil conflict of 1999. This was the Kargil Review Committee, and a subsequent Group of Ministers committee was appointed to study its report and suggest urgent measures for implementation of its suggestions, especially focussing on intelligence reforms, internal security, border management, and defence management. While many of the suggestions made by the Group of Ministers committee were accepted and have been implemented, a key reform-the establishment of the Chief of Defence Staff-is yet to see the light of day.

Keeping in mind the necessity as well as the urgency of such reforms, this volume brings together practitioners as well as researchers on defence issues, on the key issue of defence reforms. The aim is not just to interrogate the status of reforms in current times but to also place the issue before a wider, interested readership. The 14 incisive chapters herein cover the broad spectrum of defence reforms and provide perspectives on similar reforms in other militaries, structural reforms, those dealing with budgets and procurement issues, and, finally, education and communication.

The volume would be an indispensable guide to practitioners, scholars and researchers working on the area of defence and military studies, strategic and security studies, India's defence and security policies as well as to the informed reader.

Chapter 5 in Sanjay Singh (ed.), West Asia in Transition: Volume II, New Delhi: Delhi Policy Group and IDSA, 2018.

This chapter examines aspects of Saudi foreign policy, in particular how the Kingdom views and addresses the changes in the region, the challenges it faces, and the strengths and limitations of its approach. It also discusses the Saudi-Iran geopolitical rivalry, and looks at the Saudi involvement in the proxy conflicts in Syria, Bahrain, and Yemen. Another aspect the paper addresses is whether there is an emerging Saudi-Egypt-Turkey-Qatar axis.