Can there be an end to India-China animosity?

Relations between China and India are on a “positive trend” towards cooperation, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart in New Delhi.

The world’s two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia, and fought a deadly border clash in 2020.

India is also part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China.

Caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war, the countries have moved to mend ties.

During talks on Monday with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, Wang said the two countries should “view each other as partners and opportunities, rather than adversaries or threats”.

He pointed to the resumption of “dialogue at all levels” and “maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas” as evidence that bilateral ties were on a “positive trend of returning to the main path of cooperation”.

Wang is also expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his three-day visit.

According to Indian media, Modi might visit China this month, which would be his first trip since 2018.

Relations have improved since October, when Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time in five years in Russia.

Chinese and Indian officials have said in recent weeks that the two countries were discussing the resumption of border trade, which has been halted since 2020.

Its resumption would be symbolically significant, and follows discussions to resume direct flights and issue tourist visas.

At this juncture it is necessary to examine the factors responsible for the confrontation between China and India.

Point blank it could be said that the omnipresent confrontation is rooted in a mix of historical, geopolitical, economic, and strategic factors.

While both the countries are major Asian powers and share a long border, their relations have been tense for decades. The reasons include:

Border Disputes

The 3,488 kilometers (2,167 miles) boundary between China and India is not formally demarcated. Two main disputed Areas are: 1) Aksai Chin (controlled by China, claimed by India) and 2) Arunachal Pradesh (controlled by India, claimed by China as “South Tibet”). Repeated standoffs (Doklam 2017, Galwan 2020) occur due to patrol overlaps and differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Historical Legacy

The 1962 Sino-Indian War left a deep scar. China defeated India and occupied Aksai Chin. India still feels betrayed, as relations before 1962 were publicly friendly under “Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai” (India-China brotherhood).

Strategic Rivalry in Asia

Both nations see themselves as dominant Asian powers. China views India’s rise and its closeness with the US, Japan, and Australia (Quad alliance) as a counterbalance to Beijing.

Similarly, India sees China’s moves in the Indian Ocean (ports in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Myanmar) as strategic encirclement, often called the “String of Pearls.”

China–Pakistan Nexus

China is Pakistan’s closest ally, providing military, economic, and diplomatic support. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through Gilgit-Baltistan, a territory claimed by India. This deepens India’s suspicion that China aims to strategically contain it.

Tibet and the Dalai Lama

India hosts the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala. China sees this as interference in its internal affairs and a threat to its sovereignty over Tibet.

Economic Competition

India sees Chinese dominance in trade and technology as a threat. After the 2020 border clashes, India banned over 200 Chinese apps and tightened FDI rules from China.

Both China and India compete for influence in South Asia, Africa, and global institutions.

Military Build-up

Both nations are rapidly modernizing and militarizing their borders. China has built extensive infrastructure (roads, rail, and airstrips) along the LAC. India is catching up with new highways, forward bases, and troop deployments.

Nationalism and Domestic Politics

In both countries, leaders use nationalist rhetoric to project strength. In India, strong responses to China are politically popular. In China, the Communist Party portrays territorial claims as non-negotiable to maintain legitimacy.

Geopolitics

China is wary of India’s growing ties with the US (Indo-Pacific strategy, defense pacts). India distrusts China’s closeness with Russia and Pakistan. Both are competing in international organizations (UN, BRICS, SCO, and G20).

Iran-Pakistan set ambitious agri trade target

Iran and Pakistan signed a joint statement pledging to expand cooperation in agriculture, trade, and food security, with a goal to raise bilateral agricultural trade to US$3 billion within two years.

Iran’s Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh said current trade is around US$1.4 billion, noting both countries’ complementary strengths.

Iran will expand exports of dairy, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, while Pakistan will supply rice, corn, and 60% of Iran’s meat imports.

Both sides also agreed to collaborate on climate change research, food security, and establish a joint agricultural committee to meet biannually.

Pakistan’s Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain called the Tehran meeting “fruitful,” stressing that regional trade is cheaper than sourcing from distant markets like Brazil.

Both public and private sectors will participate, with barter and tailored facilities under consideration.

The Iran–Pakistan Business Conference opened in Islamabad on August 03, attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian and hosted by Senator Ishaq Dar.

Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan highlighted the draft Free Trade Agreement, tariff issue resolution, and improved border infrastructure, including activation of the Pishin–Mand market and plans for a new Chadgi–Kouhak crossing.

Iran’s Trade Minister Mohammad Atabak emphasized the need to expand land terminals, rail connectivity, and port cooperation.

Dar underlined close ties under the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and invited Iranian investors to Pakistan, citing reforms and a new investment facilitation council.

Reza Masrour, head of Iran’s Free Trade and Special Economic Zones, proposed joint paddy farming in Pakistan with rice processing in Iran’s Chabahar Free Zone to address water shortages.

He also suggested multi-entry visas, a joint free zone, and linking CPEC to Iran and the North–South Corridor. Pakistan welcomed these ideas.

According to Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, trade reached US$3.129 billion in 2024–25, with Iran exporting US$2.423 billion (mainly petroleum products, milk powder, and dates) and importing US$706 million (primarily rice, oilseeds, and meat). However, trade in early 2025 dipped due to regional instability.

Officials stressed that better logistics, customs cooperation, and transport infrastructure are vital for sustaining growth and realizing the long-delayed promise of free trade.

Iran 72 years after the 1953 coup

Seventy-two years ago on August 19, 1953, the United States and Britain advanced a coup against the first democratically-elected government of Iran, the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and reinstalled the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 

The coup and the subsequent US support for the ruthless military regime under Mohamad Reza Shah, who had escaped the country while the coup was taking place, came with grave implications. The coup played a major role in shaping the Iranian perceptions of the United States, a new imperialist that had entered the course of the competition with the British and Russians to gain control on Iran’s vast resources.

The US intervention in Iran is part of a broader trend in American foreign policy that is aimed at toppling states that refuse to become puppet governments controlled by Washington. According to a dataset published by the Military Intervention Project (MIP), the US has waged nearly 400 military interventions since its founding in 1776.

The coup was primarily motivated by the desire to protect British oil interests in Iran, specifically after Prime Minister Mossadegh had nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. 

The movement to nationalize the oil industry was a reaction by the Iranians to concessions made by both Qajar and Pahlavi Shahs to foreign powers. The movement had originated in the parliament and was led by Mosaddegh when he was a lawmaker.  

After the British and Soviet troops invaded Iran in 1941 and toppled first the Pahlavi king, Reza Shah, they replaced him with his young son Mohammad Reza. In the early years of the second Pahlavi Shah, the anti-colonial oil nationalization movement had become too strong to suppress. The weakness of Mohammad Reza Shah’s regime benefited the movement in the period after World War II. Different political groups emerged and the oil movement gradually got stronger and stronger.

As time passed, the United States joined the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, who were seeking to gain control of the Iranian oil reserves. 

In the meantime, a senior cleric named Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani was leading a powerful popular movement outside the parliament against foreign interference in the country’s affairs, giving a hand to the democratically-elected government of Premier Mossadegh. 

The coup plot lasted for five days from August 15th to 19th. This event involved the CIA and British intelligence (MI6) orchestrating a series of actions, including disinformation and military campaigns, to undermine Mosaddegh's government and install Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the sole ruler. 

In fact, the CIA and British intelligence operations had already been playing out in the previous months to undermine Mosaddegh's popularity and build support for the Shah. This involved propaganda campaigns and organizing protests that eventually led to the army siding with the pro-Shah forces.

The coup plot had been formally approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as the CIA played the leading role in a covert operation, called Operation Ajax, whereby CIA-funded agents were used to foment unrest inside the capital, Tehran.

The CIA released dangerous thugs such as Shaban Jafari and his friends from prisons and unleashed them in groups to walk in the city streets while hanging posters of Mossadegh on their chests. The funded gangs attacked public and private properties on their way while ranting and raving in the name of the Mossadegh supporters. 

In the period of five days, fighting between supporters of Mossadegh and the Shah resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Eventually, the coup, which was cod-named Operation Boot in the United Kingdom, brought back the stumbling Pahlavi dynasty to the top of power and ensured brutal Pahlavi suppression of the Iranian people for the next 26 years. 

After the coup succeeded, Shah, who had returned to the country, issued decrees dismissing Mosaddegh and appointing General Fazlollah Zahedi as the prime minister. These decrees, while issued earlier, played a crucial role in legitimizing the coup when they were revealed to the public.  
Mosaddegh was arrested, tried and convicted of treason by the Shah's military court. On 21 December 1953, he was sentenced to three years in jail, then placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Other Mosaddegh supporters were imprisoned, and several received the death penalty.

The young Shah, along with Britain and the US, could not stand the nationalization of the oil industry and the democratically-elected Mosaddegh. For that, they overthrew his government.
In the aftermath of the coup, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi could reassert his autocratic rule and negotiated the 1954 Consortium Agreement with the British, which returned the ownership of Iranian oil to a consortium of Western companies until 1979, the year the Islamic Revolution became victorious. 

It is generally agreed today that the 1953 coup sowed the seeds for the Islamic Revolution of 1979, in which the Shah was overthrown. But even after the 1979 Islamic revolution, which eliminated US presence in Iran entirely, Washington continued its efforts to bring down the revolutionary government in Iran.

They dispatched military troops to Iran in Operation Eagle Claw, supported anti-revolutionary coup plotters and the Saddam Hussein regime, and imposed sanctions on Iran, which continue to this day. 

Courtesy: Tehran Times

 

Israel: Protestors demand end to Gaza war

According to Reuters, thousands of Israelis took part in a nationwide strike on Sunday in support of families of hostages held in Gaza, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas to end the war and release the remaining captives.

Demonstrators waved Israeli flags and carried photos of hostages as whistles, horns, and drums echoed at rallies across the country, while some protesters blocked streets and highways, including the main route between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“Today, everything stops to remember the highest value: the sanctity of life,” Anat Angrest, the mother of hostage Matan Angrest, told reporters at a public square in Tel Aviv.

Among those who met with families of hostages in Tel Aviv was Israeli Hollywood actress Gal Gadot, known for her role as Wonder Woman and starring in the Fast & the Furious franchise.

Ahead of Sunday, some businesses and institutions said they would allow staff to join the nationwide strike, which was called by the hostages' families. While some businesses closed, many also remained open across the country on what is a working day in Israel. Schools are on summer recess and were not affected.

Israeli police said that 38 demonstrators had been detained. Some protesters blocking roads scuffled with police, and were carried away by officers.

Demonstrations across the country were briefly halted when air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere, warning of an incoming missile fired from Yemen. The missile was intercepted without incident.

On Sunday, Netanyahu told the cabinet, "Those who call today for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas' position and delaying the release of our hostages. They are also ensuring that the horrors of October 07 will repeat themselves over and over again."

The prime minister, who leads the country's most right-wing government in history, said his government was determined to implement a decision for the military to seize Gaza City, one of the last major areas of the enclave it does not already control.

Iran: Maritime based economy

Speaking at a specialized meeting on the IMO's carbon emission reduction requirements, Omid Shakeri, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for engineering, research, and technology stressed that maritime-based economy is a national mission.

He announced the new requirements set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce carbon emissions in the shipping sector stating, "The policies for developing a maritime-based economy, which were issued by the Leader in November 2023, have opened new horizons for the oil industry, maritime transportation, and modern technologies."

He noted that these regulations could be both a threat and an opportunity, emphasizing, "If we aim to expand international trade, maritime transportation in compliance with global standards is inevitable. We believe that through timely action and reliance on engineering and research capabilities, we can turn this threat into an opportunity."

Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO), in a report, has underlined the importance of the country’s maritime capacities and the role that the sector can play in developing the country’s economy.

According to the report, maritime sector in Iran has very high capacity in various fields including trade, ports and shipping due to the country’s strategic location, long coastal strip in the north and south and access to open waters, and can bring economic prosperity to the country.

“About a third of the country's borders are water borders, so we cannot ignore port and shipping activities because for a country that has long water borders and access to open waters, the prosperity of shipping and maritime trade is essential. Therefore, the government should pay full attention to the strengths and weaknesses of this sector and make the best use of the current capacities with proper planning,” the report read.

Increasing the share of the maritime sector in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) under the framework of the newly proposed maritime-oriented policy should be one of the most important concerns of the government, which can be achieved with proper planning, the PMO said.

The share of the sea in the gross domestic product in advanced coastal countries such as the European Union is 50 percent, but the figure is not significant in Iran despite having more than 5,800 kilometers of coastal strip, and this is despite the fact that there are huge capacities for the transit of goods from Central Asian countries.

 

PSX benchmark index up 0.76%WoW

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained volatile during the week, opened on positive note driven by strong corporate results and optimism over the upcoming industrial policy, with the government reportedly planning to phase out the super tax over five years. Positive sentiment was further supported by Moody’s upgrading Pakistan’s rating by one notch to Caa1 from Caa2. However, delays in circular debt payments weighed on the E&P and OMC sectors. Overall, the benchmark index gained 1,109 points or 0.76%WoW to close at 146,492 points on Friday, August15, 2025.

Meanwhile, market participation declined 7.2%WoW to 606 million shares from 653 million shares a week ago.

Pakistan officials are in discussions with US over the finer details of a trade deal, along with another visit of Field Martial yielding positive outcome, with US designating BLA as a terrorist organization, a long-standing request by Pakistan.

Passenger car and LCV sales rose 28%YoY, supported by the low base of same period last year amid last year’s plant shutdowns.

Other major news flow during the week included: 1) 3rd IMF tranche of US$1 billion anticipated, 2) Saudi crown prince invites Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to investment conference, 3) GoP presses China on Gwadar plan, 4) Debt re-profiling with Chinese IPPs, and 5) OGRA drafts new petroleum rules to resolve supply disputes.

Leasing companies, Textile spinning, and Auto parts were amongst the top performing sectors, while Woollen, Jute, and OMC were among the laggards.

Major selling was recorded by Banks and other organizations with a net sell of US$14 million. Mutual funds absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of US$15.3 million.

Top performing scrips of the week were: AIRLINK, THALL, YOUW, FABL, and FHAM, while the laggards included: UNITY, GADT, PSX, BNWM, and PPL.

According to AKD Securities, PSX is expected to remain positive in the coming weeks, with further developments over circular debt expected to drive the market along with upcoming corporate results remaining in the limelight.

The benchmark index is anticipated to remain on upward trajectory, with a target of 165,215 points by end December 2025, primarily driven by strong earnings in Fertilizers, sustained ROEs in Banks, and improving cash flows of E&Ps and OMCs, benefiting from falling interest rates and economic stability.

The top picks of the brokerage house include: OGDC, PPL, PSO, FFC, ENGROH, MCB, FCCL, KOHC, INDU, and SYS.

Zhenhua Oil doubles crude offtake from UAE

According to Reuters, Zhenhua Oil of China, is set to double its oil offtake from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co to 200,000 barrels per day after taking on a new role leading development of one of the exporter's top oilfields.

In January, the smallest of China's state oil companies replaced French major TotalEnergies, following a bidding process to become asset leader for Bu Hasa, the largest onshore oilfield in the United Arab Emirates.

With that new role, in which Zhenhua is responsible for setting Bu Hasa's development plan and meeting production and cost targets, it also agreed a new annual deal to receive an additional 5 million tons, or 100,000 bpd, from ADNOC, the sources said.

The offtake deal, finalized around April, and Zhenhua's role in Bu Hasa have not been previously reported. It adds to Zhenhua's existing 100,000 bpd offtake agreement as an equity holder in ADNOC Onshore.

The total quantum of crude Zhenhua is contracted to receive from ADNOC will be ramped up to 200,000 bpd by around year-end.

In April, ADNOC set up an office in Beijing to expand investment opportunities with Chinese partners.

Established in 2003 under state defense conglomerate Norinco, Zhenhua specializes in oil and gas production outside China and has oil assets in Iraq, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

In 2018, Zhenhua won a 4% stake in ADNOC's giant onshore concessions, securing a position alongside heavyweights including BP, TotalEnergies and CNPC.

With the increased offtake, Zhenhua is set to become a more active trader of Abu Dhabi's main Murban grade. The company, which runs trading desks in Beijing and Singapore, will place its first crude trader in Abu Dhabi this month, the sources added.