Articles By Claude Arpi
The Importance of Yatung and Chumbi Valley
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 16 Jun , 2019
Yatung (called Yadong by the Chinese) has been in the news recently. One of the reasons might be the annual opening of the Nathu-la pass for trade between India and China (Yatung is also one of...
When China takes Tibet for a ride!
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 11 Jun , 2019
Zhu Weiqun is a well-known hawk, at least as far as Tibet and ‘religion’ are concerned. A few years ago, he retired as Executive Deputy Director of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of...
Tibet Infrastructure: New Panacea for the Middle Kingdom?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol. 34.1 Jan-Mar 2019 | Date: 29 May , 2019
By 2021, there will be eight airports in the TAR plus three close to the Indian border in Xinjiang, i.e. Kashgar, Hotan and Yarkand. The news agency added, “At present, the preparatory work for...
1963: Indian PoWs in Beijing
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 29 May , 2019
I recently came across an interesting book,My Peking Memoirs of the Chinese Invasion of India by Dr Purnendu Kumar Banerjee, the Indian Chargé d’Affaires in Beijing during the Sino-Indian...
China-Nepal love affair
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 23 May , 2019
The deepening of ties between Kathmandu and Beijing is a serious setback for New Delhi. China scored one more goal but it’s difficult to say how far this story will continue. In politics, there...
A Truce that was not to be
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 20 May , 2019
One of the strangest characters who appeared on the political scene after India’s Independence was VK Krishna Menon. PK Banerjee, the Indian chargé d’affaire in Beijing in 1962, who often...
China hopes that Gyaltsen Norbu will take a firm political stand
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 07 May , 2019
On May 5, China’s top political advisor Wang Yang met with the Chinese-selected 11th Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu in Beijing. According to Xinhua, the Panchen Lama presented Wang a white khata...
Mao Bluffed India in 1962
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 25 Apr , 2019
In the evening of November 19, 1962, Jawaharlal Nehru sent, in panic, a letter to Kennedy. Early in the day, he had already written to the US President asking for help: “The situation that has...
The Hidden Kingdom of Pemako ...hidden no more
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 21 Apr , 2019
Recently, several ‘official’ Chinese websites published a photo-feature on Metok county, North of Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. While Delhi still lives with its century-old...
The Word's Double Standards
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 16 Apr , 2019
The tragedy which took place in Paris two days ago, when Notre Dame de Paris, the emblematic Cathedral in the heart of the French Capital, was engulfed in a fire, has created a lot of emotions all...
Sixty Years Ago: The Dalai Lama crosses over to India
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 22 Mar , 2019
At a time when China says that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is not his ‘personal decision’, but that he should follow the ‘Communist Party’s instructions’, it is important to...
Know Your History
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 16 Mar , 2019
With the country approaching the General Elections, one rarely comes across good news. However, the “transformative” reforms, soon to be undertaken by the Ministry of Defence, are an...
A Popular Revolt Suppressed in Blood
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 11 Mar , 2019
The origin of the Tibetan luni-solar calendar, composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon, is not clear. However, many scholars attribute the 60-year cycle...
A Highly Strategic Corridor
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 01 Mar , 2019
A couple of weeks ago, The Washington Postpublished an article titled: “In Central Asia’s forbidding highlands, a quiet newcomer: Chinese troops”; it reported : “Two miles above sea level...
Xi gets PLA war-ready, India must wake up
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 27 Feb , 2019
In May 2015, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced a strategic plan for China, known as ‘Made in China 2025’; the Middle Kingdom wants to move away from being the World’s factory and shift to...
Map of Aggression
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 21 Feb , 2019
Hua Chunying, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has a poor knowledge of history and even geography. Once again, she claimed recently that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of...
'Article 370 is a very misconceived Article'
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 18 Feb , 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...
Silk Roads without people
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 13 Feb , 2019
China is very fond of Silk Roads. In 2013, a year after Xi Jinping was anointed Emperor of the Middle Kingdom, he initiated a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since then, the Chinese diplomacy has...
China is forced to court India
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 02 Feb , 2019
Will Chinese President Xi Jinping visit India in February or March? it is not certain, though The Nikkei Asian Review reported that Xi hoped to come to India before the general elections in May....
New dangers along the border for India
By: Claude Arpi | Date: 28 Jan , 2019
Some good news for India has been pouring in from the Himalayan front since the beginning of the year; and bad news too. The landing of an Antonov-32 AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air...