China

Strategic projection of democratic credentials appears to be driven by the urge to reassert US hegemonic interests.

This article discusses the patent system in the context of the current pandemic. It suggests that the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement and the TRIPS-compliant Indian Patent Law could be used to either grant compulsory licences or they could go by the provision that allows the government to use the patent. The road block seems to be the technological capabilities than the patent system itself.

A set of draft rules released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, to regulate algorithm-empowered recommendation activities on the internet, are congruent with the demands made by civil societies worldwide and more substantive than the actions proposed or taken by the governments in western liberal democracies.

AUKUS—the new trilateral security arrangement between the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom has increased the chances of a split in the transatlantic alliance by making a clear distinction between the roles of the maritime and continental spheres. The military pact has reduced the military role of Quad in the Indo–Pacific. A ruptured West and a weak Quad are likely to make China and Russia happy.

The article examines policy decisions and practices in public procurement in India during the pandemic, and finds that bureaucracy could not use public procurement strategically and relied upon archaic and centralised management of procurement to (mis)handle the pandemic. The article also offers some lessons from China’s procurement designs and calls for a major reform in this sector in India.