India has tackled geopolitical challenges with steely resolve, focusing on expanding strategic power

In a year marked by geopolitical tensions and turbulence, India and China ended more than four-and-a-half years of border standoff and announced measures to reduce mistrust, even as New Delhi faced new challenges after the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, fled the country. in the face of a mass movement against her rule.

The year 2024 has seen India shift gears in expanding its strategic power in the neighborhood and beyond with steely resolve as it navigates its two most important crises – the Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

At the end of the year, New Delhi was preparing its approach to dealing with the second term of US President-elect Donald Trump, amid fears that his policy approach to trade and tariffs could have profound implications for international trade.

While India-US relations have generally continued to flourish, particularly in the areas of defence, critical technologies and clean energy, ties have come under some strain over the so-called “own murder” case.

Last year, Washington pressured India to take action against Indians allegedly involved in a foiled plot to assassinate pro-Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.

Last November, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the plot.

Relations between India and Canada plunged sharply in the second half of the year after Ottawa linked several Indian diplomats, including High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India strongly denied the allegations and recalled Verma even as the Canadian government said the Indian diplomats had been expelled. India expelled Acting Canadian High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler and five other diplomats following Canada’s allegations.

However, the end of the military confrontation between India and China along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh was the high point in the field of foreign policy.

A brutal clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers, took relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors to their lowest point in six decades.

Following an agreement on 21 October, the two sides completed the disengagement of troops at the two remaining flashpoints, Demchok and Depsang.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia on October 23 and agreed to revive various bilateral dialogue mechanisms, signaling an intention to normalize relations.

In the nearly 50-minute meeting, Modi emphasized the importance of properly managing differences and disputes and not allowing them to disturb peace and tranquility in the border areas.

Almost four weeks later, the Special Representatives on the border issue — India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks in Beijing.

It was the first dialogue among the Special Representatives in nearly five years.

During the talks, Doval and Wang focused on the “positive” direction for cross-border cooperation, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, river data sharing and border trade.

There were signs of a positive approach in India-Pakistan relations as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar traveled to Islamabad in October to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

It was the first such visit from India to Pakistan in almost a decade which came amid frosty ties between the two neighbours.

Jaishankar’s exchange of pleas and brief interaction with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar sparked hopes of better ties between the two neighbours.

However, India’s relations with Bangladesh have also come under severe strain after ousted Prime Minister Hasina fled the country in the face of massive anti-government protests that ended her nearly 16-year rule.

Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5.

Relations declined dramatically after the caretaker government led by Muhammad Yunus failed to contain attacks on minorities, particularly Hindus, in that country.

This month, the Yunus government sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi seeking Hasina’s extradition, a move that could further strain relations.

The year also saw India forced to focus more on the neighborhood, with pro-China leaders leading the governments of the Maldives and Nepal.

Following the insistence of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, India withdrew all its military personnel from the Maldives, a key island nation for New Delhi in the Indian Ocean.

In June, top leaders from India’s neighborhood and the Indian Ocean region, including Muizzu, Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe graced PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay and Seychelles Vice President Ahmed Afif also attended the glittering ceremony.

In his first trip abroad after becoming prime minister for a third consecutive term, Modi traveled to Moscow in July.

In his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Modi told him that a solution to the conflict in Ukraine is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts fail amid bombs and bullets.

Modi’s visit to Russia has sparked some criticism in the West as the trip comes amid global outrage over a Russian missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kiev.

In his televised opening remarks at summit talks with Putin in the Kremlin, Modi said the killing of innocent children was heartbreaking and very painful.

In August, Modi traveled to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and conveyed to President Volodymyr Zelensky that both Ukraine and Russia should stand together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play a ” active role’ to restore peace in Russia. region.

The Prime Minister said that India has been on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict and would even like to personally contribute to the peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Modi’s nearly nine-hour visit to Ukraine was the first by an Indian prime minister since independence in 1991.

In February, Qatar released eight former members of the Indian Navy, and seven of them returned home.

It was seen as a major diplomatic victory for India, which came nearly three-and-a-half months after a Qatari court handed down their death sentence.

In the general realm of foreign policy, Indo-Pacific concerns and the way forward have found greater prominence in New Delhi’s diplomatic engagements.

India has also focused on improving regional connectivity with its neighboring countries as well as several Central Asian nations.