“To get a better perspective on the ongoing instability in Manipur, turn your attention to catastrophic crises in Myanmar”, First Post, July 21, 2023:

“External affairs minister S Jaishankar recently returned from a week-long trip to Indonesia and Thailand. In Jakarta, Jaishankar took part in a clutch of meetings with his East Asian counterparts under ASEAN-India, East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) frameworks.

He also took time out to meet Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi, US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. While these meetings and pull-asides expectedly dominated the headlines, it is the second leg of Jaishankar’s trip that went under-noticed but demands greater attention.

In Bangkok, advancing India’s Neighbourhood First and Act East policies, Jaishankar co-chaired the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) meeting and attended the BIMSTEC foreign ministers’ retreat. Founded in 2000, the MCG framework brings together India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar — a pariah nation in high-level ASEAN summits owing to the junta’s lack of progress on the ‘five-point peace plan’……”

Read the full article at Firstpost.com