Vijay Gokhale’s Book Released At Symbiosis School Of International Studies

Pune, 2nd November 2022: On Tuesday, 2nd November, Symbiosis School of International Studies organized a Book Release “AFTER TIANANMEN – The Rise of China” – Authored by Vijay Gokhale. Dr S.B. Mujumdar, Founder and President of Symbiosis, and Chancellor of Symbiosis International (Deemed University), was the Chief Guest for the function. After the book release, there was a discussion on the book which was moderated by AMD (Retd.) Talmiz Ahmad, Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman and SIU Chair Professor for International Studies.

In the last 40 years, China has grown in all aspects. They have grown with a lot of hard work and dedication at all levels. India’s focus has always remained on the western world, but interpreting China from the Western Perspective will not help us in any way, said Vijay Gokhale, Former Foreign Secretary, Government of India, and Distinguished Professor at Symbiosis International University (SIU).

Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro-Chancellor of Symbiosis International University, Dr Rajani Gupte, Vice Chancellor of Symbiosis International University, and Prof. Shivali Lawale, Director at Symbiosis School of International Studies were the other dignitaries present for the function.

Speaking at the occasion, Vijay Gokhale said, “There are two visions – one is a western vision, which is mainly based on the values, human rights, protection, and others, and on the other is China Vision, which is purely based on the “Common Prosperity”. We as a country should have our vision to look at the things around us rather than following or adopting any of these visions.”

Talking about democracy vs dictatorship, Gokhale said, “We have a democracy in our country, and hence the pace at which we are developing will continue for a long time. But in China, they have a dictatorship where the current situation may change drastically at any point in time. If India wants to transform its three Trillion Economy into 15 Trillion, we need to look at the outside world. Good knowledge of International Relations will help India grow beyond.”