The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which prompted immediate censure and sanctions against Russia by Western governments, has been met with a more ambivalent response by China and India. While both governments have issued statements deploring the harm to civilians and loss of life, for different reasons, they have abstained from United Nations’ resolutions condemning Russia and sought ways to avoid having to choose sides with either the US-led coalition or with Russia. To understand the responses to the conflict, please join a panel featuring foreign policy analysts from India and China.

The event is co-sponsored by Global Studies and Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at The New School.

SPEAKERS

Shyam Saran
FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARY OF INDIA
Senior Fellow
CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH

Shyam Saran is a Senior Fellow and Member of the Governing Board at the Centre for Policy Research. He is a former Foreign Secretary of India and has served as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy For Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change. After leaving government service in 2010, he has headed the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a prestigious think tank focusing on economic issues (2011-2017), and was Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board under the National Security Council (2013-15). He is currently a Life Trustee of India International Centre, a Member of the Governing Board of the Institute of Chinese Studies, a Trustee at the World Wildlife Fund (India), and a Member of the Executive Council of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has recently published a book, How India Sees the World.

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LU, Yang
Research Fellow
Institute of the Belt and Road Initiative
TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

Dr. LU, Yang is currently a research fellow at the Institute of the Belt and Road Initiative, Tsinghua University. She got her Bachelor’s in Xiamen University and her master’s and a doctorate in political science at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She was a post-doc at the Department of International Relations, Tsinghua University from 2015 to 2018, was a lecturer at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, awarded the China India Scholar Leaders Fellowship of India China Institute, The New School in New York, Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad, and fellowship of German Academy Exchange Service (DAAD). Her research area is international politics, focusing on India and South Asia, Germany, and Europe. In recent years she has been working on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and related regional cooperation programs. She has published numerous academic articles and opinion pieces, was invited by CGTN, CCTV-13, Phoenix TV commenting news related to South Asia and BRI.

Nimmi Kurian
Professor
CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH

Nimmi Kurian is a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research. Her research focuses in particular on the border regions between South Asia and Southeast Asia, India’s neighborhood policy, federalism and foreign policy, transboundary water politics, and comparative regionalism. Nimmi serves on the External Advisory Board of the India China Institute, The New School, New York, and on the Fellowship Committee of the China Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, Centre for China Studies, Ashoka University. She has held Fellowships from the India China Institute, The New School, New York, and the Charles Wallace India Trust. She holds an MA, MPhil, and Ph.D. in International Relations from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Nimmi has written and published widely on alternative spatial imaginations of South Asia, a theme that is explored in detail in her two books India China Borderlands: Conversations Beyond the Centre (Sage, 2014) and India and China: Rethinking Borders and Security (co-author) (University of Michigan Press, 2016).

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DA, Wei
Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS)
Professor, School of Social Sciences
TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

Dr. Da’s research expertise covers China-US relations and US security & foreign policy. Da Wei has worked in China’s academic and policy community for more than 2 decades. Prior to his current positions, Dr. Da Wei was the assistant president of the University of International Relations (2017-2020), director of the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (2013-2017). He has written hundreds of policy papers for the Chinese government and published dozens of academic papers in journals in China, the US, and other countries.
Da Wei earned his BA and MA from UIR and his Ph.D. from CICIR. He was a visiting senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States from 2006 to 2007, and a visiting senior associate at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University from 2008 to 2009.

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