The 16th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival will be held from 19th-23rd January 2023, at Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur, with ABP Live as a media partner. This year, the Festival will feature a range of discussions on pressing issues, with geopolitics being one of the highlights. There will be discussions about India's relationship with China amid a protracted standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In a session focused on India's relations with China which has seen numerous highs and lows, journalist Manoj Joshi, India’s former foreign secretary and Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale and former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, will be in conversation with journalist and foreign policy expert Suhasini Haidar. The discussion will focus on rising tensions at the unresolved LAC and what it heralds for the region.
The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area. Recently, the two sides clashed along the LAC in the Tawang sector and the face-off led to "minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides". Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC.
At another session, Shyam Saran will be in conversation with the UN Resident Coordinator for India Shombi Sharp, writer Tshering Tashi, Ambassador of the European Union to India and Bhutan Ugo Astuto, former IFS officer and ambassador Lakshmi Puri to discuss the climate crisis. The panellists will be introduced by Sanjoy K Roy.
During the session, the expert panel will examine the way forward post-COP27 and answer questions on accountability across and regardless of borders on topics such as sustainable development, climate progress and climate justice.
At the Festival, Saran will be also seen at a session featuring former IFS officer and ambassador Lakshmi Puri and Shombi Sharp. They will be in conversation with former diplomat and ambassador Navdeep Suri.
In a session called 'Governing the Depth: The Politics of the Ocean', experts will analyse the existing deep-sea governance arrangements and address the logistical challenges in monitoring resource exploitation, and the need to protect one of Earth's last true frontiers.
China and India have for centuries been the two greatest economic powers of the world, and in the 21st century, their joint superpower status is likely to return. While their histories and civilisations have traditionally been closely intertwined, today they are enmeshed by misunderstandings and military tensions.
Three of India's most distinguished observers of China — academic Tansen Sen, former Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and former Chief of Army Staff JJ Singh and Shyam Saran — will take a look at history while discussing the future of the relations between the two countries with historian and Festival Co-Director William Dalrymple.
A session titled 'The Great Game of Tech Morality', featuring academic and writer Toby Walsh and tech entrepreneur and writer Anirudh Suri will talk about his recent book 'The Great Tech Game: Shaping Geopolitics and the Destiny of Nations'. The book explores the era of 'digital colonialism' and technology's role in shaping our values and the trajectory of the modern era. The authors will be in conversation with journalist Praveen Swami. ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey will also be part of this session.
Swami will also be in conversation with journalist and commentator Manoj Joshi, journalist Nishtha Gautam and foreign policy analyst C Raja Mohan for a session on the critical need for a national security strategy for India. They will discuss India's major challenges and concerns in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, the current world economic crisis, and the ways in which these can be addressed.