R.N. Das replies: The East China Sea dispute is a bilateral issue between China and Japan. India is not a party to this dispute. Government’s position is that sovereignty issues must be resolved peacefully by the countries which are parties to the dispute. As regards India’s stand on South China Sea, it may be mentioned that the ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), in collaboration with Vietnamese companies, has been engaged in exploration activity in the South China Sea since 1988. During Prime Minister’s meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Bali in November 2011, China, which is party to the South China Sea dispute, raised its concerns on India’s hydro carbon exploration and exploitation projects in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. Government has clearly conveyed that such activity by Indian companies is purely commercial in nature and that the dispute must be resolved peacefully by the countries concerned. It may also be noted that the OVL has already taken a decision to withdraw from Bloc 128, as it is found that it is not economically and technically viable for oil exploration. Earlier, it had withdrawn from Bloc 127 on similar grounds.

Jagannath P. Panda replies: The current China-India multilateral politics shapes the auxiliary evolution of regional vis-à-vis global political relations, standing as both cause and effect in their relationship course. One variable that shapes the China-India bilateral relationship is “resource politics”, mainly energy- be it gas or oil- or even the economic richness of a region. No matter how resonant economically China or India individually are, the current facets of both regional and global politics suggest that there is always potential for interstate contention for resources. In the case of China and India, the strategic quest for energy security in Asia and beyond has influenced their foreign policy construct and design. Both are trying to explore new modes and mediums for cooperation and competition in the field of energy resource. Therefore, the future of India-China cooperation in the field of energy will largely depend upon their foreign policy contours and related power politics.

The recent MoU between the ONGC and CNPC to jointly explore oil and gas is certainly a welcome step in Sino-Indian Relations. It points towards the cooperative drive between China and India on various micro-economic issues linked to their developmental discourse. In fact, both the ONGC and CNPC have worked closely on previous occasions in Sudan, Syria and Myanmar. In most of these places, the CNPC was the leading partner of the ONGC (Videsh), and the latter seems to have gathered more experience in joint oil explorations after working with a competitive body like the CNPC. However, the ONGC has also lost few competitive bids to the CNPC previously. Besides, the CNPC is a much wealthier and an influential oil exploring company at the global level. It would always like to have its own space and autonomy, even though it has shown interest in conducting joint explorations with non-Chinese companies. Hence, the ONGC must be vigilant about the activities of the CNPC while carrying out any joint exploration projects, since the Chinese government heavily backs the agenda and activities of the CNPC.

Anit Mukherjee replies: Soft power is a desirable trait in international relations but is of limited utility in times of war. And, if the organising principle of international relations is the state of anarchy between nations, then soft power reveals to be not that powerful after all. At the same time, soft power does have a certain diplomatic appeal - it helps to win friends and convince people. Also in the field of public diplomacy, soft power is pretty useful in shaping perceptions. Hence, for instance, India's soft power is the Bollywood film industry which is popular in large parts of Asia and Africa.

The second part of the question is unanswerable. Losing out in what way? China is doing all it can to further its national interests- economic and strategic. India too is doing the same- both in Africa and in its immediate neighborhood. Unless one defines 'losing out' in more precise terms, this question- unfortunately- cannot be answered.