#csa Roundtable discussion: China's Belligerence towards Taiwan: Risk of Wider Conflict -11-Dec-2022

Distinguished Panelists
Commodore R. Seshadri Vasan
Dr. Swasti Rao
Francois Gautier
Roundtable Chair
Dr. A. Adityanjee, President
Council for Strategic Affairs

About the Distinguished Panelists
Commodore R. Seshadri Vasan (Retd.)
A naval officer with combined distinguished experience of 34 years from Navy and the Coast Guard which includes, staff, command and instructional appointments.To name a few, the appointments include Regional Commander of the Coast Guard Region East, Chief Staff Officer Operations of the Southern Naval Command, Commanding Officer of two naval airstations, a naval air squadron, war ships etc.,
More than nine years of think tank experience.Working in the field of Strategy and Security, International relations with a view to contribute to the understanding of these issues as well as to provide policy alternatives to stake holders of any description.
Specialties: Maritime and Naval Aviation back ground , conferences, seminars, conducting workshops in areas indicated,writing for print media. etc.
Dr. Swasti Rao
Dr. Swasti Rao is Associate Fellow at the Europe and Eurasia Center, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
She has a Masters in Politics (spl’n. IR) and an M.Phil in East Asian Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has completed her PhD in Advanced International Politics from Tsukuba University, Japan. She is a recipient of Japanese Education Ministry Fellowship (MEXT) in 2011 and also a recipient of the ‘Okita Memorial Scholarship’ in 2010 from ICCR.
She holds an adjunct position at the Tokai University, Japan in the capacity of a foreign collaborator for the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) funded research project on “Civil Society and Urban Governance in Asia, 2020-2025”
Her current research project at IDSA is on Conflicts in Europe amidst shifting Global Power Structures: Geometries of Deterrence and Europe's Indo Pacific outreach as strategies for Threat Balancing. Her other work and research interests explore dimensions of the securitization debate in Europe , Migrant Crisis, Europe's Outreach to Indo -Pacific, Defence Cooperation between India and Major European Players, Multilateral Cooperation for Space Situational awareness and Maritime Domain Awareness. She also explores Europe- Japan relations and its global implications. She has published with Routledge on intelligence sharing in the Indo Pacific and her forthcoming work with them is on Climate Change and Space Debris issues with special focus on emerging space race.
Before joining MP-IDSA she was Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategic and Security Studies, AMU where she taught courses on European Security, Rise of China and implications for World Order, Research Methodology and UN Peacekeeping.
She has been a Principal Investigator in Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) funded project,”A Comparative and Empirical Study of the Structural Changes in Politics” from 2011-2014.

Dr. Rao has published extensively, delivered talks and lectures at various international universities like Australian National University, Canberra; Gakushuin University and Tokai University, Japan; Giresun University, Turkey; National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico; Thammasat University, Thailand and writes regular Op-ed columns for leading dailies.
She has been involved in syllabus writing for Political Science, CBCS, IGNOU for the year 2020 and has been associated with the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), for collating International Relations Resources and Research Methodology Resources for teachers in Higher Education in 2020 funded by the National Resource Centre for Education, NEUPA
Francois Gautier
François Gautier (francoisgautier.com) was the political correspondent in South Asia during ten years for « Le Figaro », France’s largest daily. He is now the editor in chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l’Inde, published by Les Editions de l’Harmattan (Harmattan.fr). François has written several books on India: Un autre Regard sur l’Inde” (Editions du Tricorne), “A Western journalist on India” (Har-Anand 2001), “ “Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Guru of Joy” (Hay House, 2003; 11 reprints, 100.000 copies sold). « Quand l’Inde s’éveille » (Editions du Rocher, Paris 2013), « Apprendre à Souffler (Hachette Marabout, 2016), Les Mots du dernier Dalai Lama (Flammarion, 2018), Une Encyclopédie de l’Ayurvéda, (Flammarion, 2020), « An entirely New History of India (Garuda Books, 2021).
Further Information and Contact
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Strategic Affairs Roundtable is a presentation of
Council for Strategic Affairs
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