MANIPAL: Minister of state for external affairs M J Akbar will launch
the China Study Centre under the department of Geopolitics and International Relations in
Manipal Academy of Higher Education on Monday.
He will also deliver a public lecture on ‘India’s Foreign Policy in the 21st Century’ on Tuesday.
Briefing media on the establishment of the China Study Centre, Arvind Kumar, head, department of Geopolitics and International Relations, said, “The launch of the centre is timely and relevant especially in the context of changing dynamics of geopolitics. India requires a number of specialists on China who can understand their psychological intentions, fundamental goals and behavioural patterns. The China Study Centre will strive to build capacity and create a critical mass of good researchers and analysts”.
Giving details of the centre, he said it will focus on creating a repository of knowledge on China from a multifaceted dimension, with a concentration on politics,
economics, commerce, society, culture, science and technology. “The main objective of the centre is to establish a network of young analysts with holistic knowledge on China,” he added.
Arvind said the centre will be developed in two phases. During the first phase, it will make a modest attempt to build a highly efficient research team which can contribute meaningfully through their keen intellect and analysis, and create a database on security and strategic issues for the future.
In the second phase, the centre will link itself with the rest of the strategic community in India and the world. The centre will disseminate its research output to various think tanks, academics and the policy community. It will also work very closely with the academics and think tanks of China. The major focus will be to evolve India’s perspective on China, and how that can help in developing sound strategic planning.
If India has to become a
rising power, it will require to invest in capacity building on strategic issues, who can articulate India’s interest well. In that articulation, China will figure prominently, and will remain central to all the strategic discourses in India, said Arvind.
M J Akbar 
