Sujit Dutta

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PRESENTLY ON LIEN
Joined IDSA
1987
Expertise
China’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy; State and Politics in 20th Century China; Asian Security issues; India-China Relations; International Relations Theory
Education
PhD in International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Current Project
The Rise of China and Its Impact on Asian Security
Background
He was a journalist with the Press Trust of India before joining the IDSA. He has been a member of the India-China Eminent Persons’ Group set up by the two governments in 2001 for high-level track-two dialogue on bilateral problems and diplomatic relations. He has represented the IDSA and the India Committee at the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific’s Working Group on Confidence Building Measures. He is a frequent participant in national and international conferences, including at Wilton Park, UK, and Sandia, USA. He has lectured and participated in seminars in Germany, China, Japan, and the United States. He is also a regular speaker at India’s leading international relations and strategic affairs institutions, including the National Defence College, the College of Warfare, and the College of Naval Warfare. He leads the China and East Asia programme at the IDSA.
Select Publications
India and the World, co-editor (New Delhi, 2005)
“China and Nonproliferation: Pragmatism and Adaptation,” in C Uday Bhaskar and C Raja Mohan, eds., India and the NPT (New Delhi, 2005)
“China’s Emerging Ties with Central Asia,” in Nirmala Joshi, ed., Central Asia: The Great Game Replayed (Delhi, 2003)
“Developing Confidence and Security in South Asia,” in Dipankar Banerjee, ed., South Asia Security: Futures (Colombo, 2002)
“China’s Military Role: Implications for South Asia,” in Jonathan Pollack and Richard H Yang, eds., In China’s Shadow: Regional Perspectives on Chinese Foreign Policy and Military Development (RAND, 1998)

Senior Fellow
Phone:- +91 11 2671 7983

Publication

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China in SAARC? To What Effect?

Over the past few years there has been a move by some of the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to induct China into the regional organisation. China, in turn, has indicated its desire to join. Since other extra-regional states were also keen to be involved, SAARC has opened its doors since 2007 for out-of region states through a new arrangement.

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‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’: A Response to the Debate

The responses to the arguments that I forwarded in my initial essay, ‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’, have introduced interesting dimensions to this debate. While most of the respondents have agreed with my proposition that it is premature to think about China's entry into the South Asian regionalist project and that it would introduce complex challenges that would be difficult to manage, they disagree with some of the reasons that I have cited.

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China’s High Risk India Gamble

Indian decision makers played down the problems in the India-China relationship for the past decade in the expectation that deepening engagement would influence attitudes at the top level in China and thereby enable hardened positions to soften.

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Revisiting China’s Territorial Claims on Arunachal

In recent years, China has again publicly revived its territorial claims over India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. However, by insisting on these claims, China is making a settlement of the territorial issue virtually impossible and seriously misperceiving public opinion trends in India. China has failed to appreciate that if Arunachal is claimed to be the southern part of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), India cannot accept Tibet to be within China.

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India and the Iranian Nuclear Standoff

India’s September 24 vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supporting the resolution moved by Britain, France and Germany (EU-3) on Iran’s nuclear programme has a raised a significant debate within the strategic studies community on the value and wisdom of the policy stance.

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Redefining the ties

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India would be noted for three landmark steps: The establishment of a strategic and cooperative partnership, the agreement on the political parameters and guidelines for settling the territorial/boundary issue, and the decision on a comprehensive economic partnership and regional trading arrangement.

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Trade bloc: Can we trust China?

Globalisation and regionalisation of trade and investment are drawing in all countries and becoming an irresistible trend in Asia. China is at the centre of this new structure. Since 1992 in particular, as investments in labour-intensive manufacturing from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US, Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia have moved in a rising wave though the open Chinese door, steeply raising its trade profile.

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Securing the Sea Frontier: China’s Pursuit of Sovereignty Claims in the South China Sea

China’s maritime territorial claims, and its diplomatic and military measures to attain them, have caused much regional concern in recent years. The expansive maritime sovereignty claims of China in the South China Sea flow from three key goals: the completion of its incomplete nationalist project of territorial consolidation and unifying the state; the desire to control the contested maritime periphery; and the garnering of sea-based resources such as oil and gas that have assumed critical importance for fuelling the economy of a rapidly modernising China.