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about
Vijay Gokhale is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service in January 2020 after a diplomatic career that spanned thirty-nine years. From January 2018 to January 2020, he served as the foreign secretary of India.
Prior to his term as foreign secretary, he had served as India’s high commissioner to Malaysia from January 2010 to October 2013, as ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany from October 2013 to January 2016, and as ambassador of India to the People’s Republic of China from January 2016 to October 2017. He has served as head of the India-Taipei Association, in Taiwan, from July 2003 to January 2007. During his time in the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs, he has also worked in key positions in the East Asia Division, including as the joint secretary (Director General) for East Asia from March 2007 to December 2009.
He has worked extensively on matters relating to the Indo-Pacific region with a special emphasis on Chinese politics and diplomacy. Since his retirement from the Foreign Service, Gokhale has contributed opinion pieces to the New York Times, Foreign Policy, Times of India, the Hindu, the Indian Express, and Handelsblatt. He has written four books on China, namely Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest (2021), The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India (2021), After Tiananmen: The Rise of China (2022), and Crosswinds: Nehru, Zhou and the Anglo-American Competition over China (2024).
He lives in Pune, India and is also a distinguished faculty at the Symbiosis International University in Pune, since January 2021.
He speaks English, Hindi, Marathi, and Mandarin Chinese. He did a master’s degree in History from the University of Delhi in 1980. He studied Mandarin Chinese at the Chinese University of Hongkong in 1983-84.
affiliations
areas of expertise
education
MA, History, University of Delhi; BA, History, University of Delhilanguages
English, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, MarathiAll work from Vijay Gokhale
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In the first episode of a special three-part interview series on 'Understanding China', Vijay Gokhale spoke to Ishan Dhar about the history of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and, the changes in China's military doctrine.
The aim of this paper is to look beyond the India-China dynamic on the Dalai Lama and Tibet, to how the PRC shapes its approach to the reincarnation question based on its broader domestic and foreign policy. This paper identifies the key questions that might assist policy makers in India to generate appropriate policy to handle the same.
In this episode of Interpreting India, host Rudra Chaudhuri engages in an in-depth conversation with Vijay Gokhale and D. B. Venkatesh Varma on India’s evolving diplomatic landscape amid complex global shifts. They discuss recent developments in India-China relations, including limited re-engagement efforts along the border following the BRICS Summit.
- Rudra Chaudhuri,
- Vijay Gokhale,
- D. B. Venkatesh Varma
India-China border pact resumes political dialogue, reducing chances of another mishap. But trust remains in short supply. Rebuilding it will require much work from Beijing.
World's centre of economic & political gravity is shifting but the to-do list for New Delhi to become more consequential is forbidding.
Four years after the Galwan clash, India-China relations remain strained, with unresolved issues along the LAC. Vijay Gokhale emphasizes the need for renewed efforts to rebuild ties, which have faltered since the incident.
Carnegie India is hosting a book talk of Crosswinds: Nehru, Zhou and the Anglo-American Competition over China by Vijay Gokhale, to be followed by a panel discussion on “Geopolitics Today: The State of the World”.
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- Vijay Gokhale,
- Srinath Raghavan,
- T.S. Tirumurti,
- P.S. Raghavan,
- Gaitri Issar Kumar
When the quinquennial electoral cycle concludes by middle of 2024, India will turn its attention to new policy priorities. China, presumably, would be one of these.
This episode dives into the history of India's relationship with China during the first decade of the People's Republic of China's existence (1949-1959). It explores how India navigated the complex geopolitical landscape amidst the "forgotten" competition between the declining British Empire and the emerging superpower, the United States.
Vijay Gokhale speaks with Ananth Krishnan about his book 'Cross Winds: Nehru, Zhou And The Anglo-American Competition Over China' and present-day relations between China and India.