US regional strategy questions, donations-theft investigation, massive expansion of chip plants, Pakistan military’s changed political fortunes, China’s new education blueprint, world’s rarest apes’ extinction threat.

Japan’s Sanae Takaichi and India’s Narendra Modi met in New Delhi on Thursday 2 July at a time of concern about China’s economic sanctions against Japan and its increasing regional influence.

The two prime ministers agreed to work together on AI, economic security, clean energy and defence, The Japan Times said. Defence co-operation between the Quad partners would include joint training in the Indian Ocean, naval vessel maintenance, and co-development of military hardware, to be manufactured in India.

Takaichi was on a three-day trip to India, a trip which coincided with debate in Asian media about the significance of the US military’s decision to scrap the phrase “Indo-Pacific” – a debate tinged with consternation.

The Pentagon said last month that the Indo-Pacific Command would revert to its historic name of Pacific Command, or PACOM. “Indo-Pacific” was only adopted by the first Trump administration in 2018. The Pentagon said there would be no change in the command’s mission or area of responsibility.

A Japan Times editorial said, however, the change might have been symbolic but the symbolism was substantive “Names reveal strategic priorities,” the paper said.

The Indo-Pacific strategic framing had first been suggested by the late Shinzo Abe, in 2007, and its adoption by the US suggested a convergence of views, the paper said. But it seemed a reassessment was now underway.

A commentary in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post said the change raised questions about Washington’s continuing commitment to India. It quoted American political scientist Christopher Clary as saying the decision was senseless. “It is reasonable for sceptics to wonder whether the goal is to appease China,” Clary said.

The decision to adopt “Indo-Pacific” reflected a strategic vision that placed India at the centre of Washington’s approach to Asia, said an analysis in the Asia Times news site. The article, by geopolitical analyst Saima Afzal, asked if Washington had started to reassess assumptions that shaped the strategy.

“[P]olicymakers under Trump increasingly seek partners capable of reducing America’s strategic burdens,” she wrote. “As strategic competition with China intensifies, the US has strong incentives to avoid becoming repeatedly drawn into regional crises that divert attention from its broader priorities.”

Indian foreign policy expert C Raja Mohan said Takaichi’s visit to India this week highlighted an important fact: Indo-Pacific as a geopolitical construct would live on. Writing in The Indian Express, Mohan, a contributing editor, said the logic of the Indo-Pacific would continue to drive regional actors like India and Japan. Modi’s imminent trip to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand would reinforce the proposition.

“As China expands simultaneously into the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, and as Japan emerges as an increasingly capable strategic actor, the integration of the two oceans will only deepen,” he said. “The Indo-Pacific ultimately rests not on American terminology but on Asian geography and Asian power politics.”

Police find lapses in temple’s money-counting routines

A scandal centred on the apparent theft of donations has engulfed a sacred symbol of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party – a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram, built on the site of a 16th century mosque after long political, legal and community battles.

In 1992, a mob tore the mosque down, sparking religious riots that killed almost 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. In 2019, India’s Supreme Court allowed the building of the Ram Mandir, a vast temple.

Modi presided over the........

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