Articles By Claude Arpi
Lessons for China
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 16 Jan , 2020
The just-concluded presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan might remain a turning point in the life of not only the island but the entire region. President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic...
Relocations on India’s Borders
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 11 Jan , 2020
In the recent months, China has started in a massive relocation scheme in Tibet, redrawing the demography of India’s borders. Beijing admits that though the rural poverty rate was more than 97.5...
Xi Jinping's many problems: Hong Kong to Xinjiang
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 03 Dec , 2019
Since his visit to Mamallapuram, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been facing a rough sea at home. The 4th plenary session of the 19th Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee was held in...
How Rafale verdict proved to be a win for India
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 22 Nov , 2019
The second week of November 2019 will be a marquee event in the annals of the Indian judiciary. Several important, long-pending issues were decided by the Supreme Court of India led by CJI Ranjan...
The truth about Ladakh’s Shaksgam: Correcting historical wrongs in J&K
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 16 Nov , 2019
Soon after India reorganized the former state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) into the new Union Territories (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, China went ballistic. Geng Shuang, a spokesman of...
The Archives of Leh
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 11 Nov , 2019
As an aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, the former State of Jammu & Kashmir has been reorganised into the new Union Territories (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir and...
Why India's Northern Borders are Threatened
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 07 Nov , 2019
In the months to come, the 4056-kilometrre long India-China border will be in the news; probably for wrong reasons. Despite last month’s ‘Chennai Connect’ between Prime Minister Modi and...
How Xi Jinping crossed the Nepal hurdle
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 28 Oct , 2019
When Chinese President Xi Jinping boarded his Hongqi limousine in Mamallapuram, he was on his way to the airport and Nepal. Official Chinese media had announced that he would sign an extradition...
Was Modi-Xi Chennai meet a ‘civilisational’ encounter?
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 18 Oct , 2019
Indian commentators have always been fond of the word ‘civilisational’, it was already so during the Nehruvian days, it continues today; it must be something anchored in Indian genes. As I...
China celebrates its Republic day in Minsar, the Indian village in Tibet
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 06 Oct , 2019
China celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in the Indian village/town of Minsar in Western Tibet. An article inChina Tibet Newsmentioned the...
India and France 'Reliable Partners'
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 28 Sep , 2019
Remember the months before the legislative elections, L’Affaire Rafale was everyday in the news, thanks to the then leader of Opposition, who alleged hanky-panky in the intergovernmental deal...
And if India had won 1962 War?
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 19 Sep , 2019
Wing Commander Jag Mohan (‘Jaggi’) Nath of the Indian Air Force (IAF) is the first of the six Indian officers to have twice been decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), India’s second...
Will Xi Dada visit Tibet?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 15 Sep , 2019
But who is X Dada? A few years ago in China, a song went viral on the internet; showing the growing personality cult around President Xi Jinping or ‘Xi Dada’ (Uncle Xi). Xi was painted as a...
China Readies for Next Dalai Lama
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 13 Sep , 2019
The Dalai Lama’s answers about his succession often make the headlines; in some cases, his words were even misinterpreted. But, on August 18, a video addressed to members of the Minnesota...
India and France: Enduring, reliable partners
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 04 Sep , 2019
India undoubtedly needs all its energies, resources and friends to fight on these two separate fronts. L’Affaire Rafale had been in news in the national press for months thanks to the then...
Why China is eying Ladakh
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 26 Aug , 2019
A few years ago, a Ladakhi friend recounted a telling story; one evening he was invited at the Chinese embassy in Delhi. In the course of the party, he enquired with an official that he would like...
Is there a way forward for India-China in Ladakh?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 23 Aug , 2019
On March 23, 1954, after three months of tough negotiations, the Indian and Chinese representatives were still far from an agreement on trade between India and Tibet (a month later, it would...
The Chinese Panchen Lama on the Indian Border
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 19 Aug , 2019
Interesting developments have recently taken place in Western Tibet (Ngari Prefecture). The Chinese Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu is said (by the Chinese media) to have conducted an ‘inspection...
'Article 370 is a very misconceived Article'
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 Aug , 2019
Claude Arpi’s interview with Jagmohan, Former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Minister. It was recorded in 2007. Claude: Sir, there are rumors that India and Pakistan will soon have a...
The Freedom of Ladakh
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 06 Aug , 2019
This comes to my mind the day after Ladakh finally obtained its freedom of from Srinagar yesterday. A momentous day for the Himalayan region, now Union Territory. This memorandum was sent to Nehru...