Articles By Claude Arpi

The Middle Kingdom’s Strategic Miscalculation

The Middle Kingdom’s Strategic Miscalculation

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 05 Sep , 2017

Though one can only rejoice about the disengagement in Doklam, one should not forget issues that are extremely disturbing: It is China’s non-respect of agreements and international rules On August...

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China plays the Water Card

China plays the Water Card

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 26 Aug , 2017

The Communist tabloid, The Global Times yesterday published an article about China’s delay in sharing with India the data of some Himalayan rivers, the Sutlej and the Yarlung Tsangpo...

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1890 Treaty: Beijing’s trick of Yesterday and Today

1890 Treaty: Beijing’s trick of Yesterday and Today

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 21 Aug , 2017

Two months into the confrontation with China near the tri-junction in between Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan, the time has come to look at the lessons New Delhi can learn from the stand-off which may...

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The First Chinese Retaliations

The First Chinese Retaliations

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 18 Aug , 2017

It looks like China has started retaliating against India. Apart from the cancellation of the Kailash Yatra, China has taken some new measures to show ‘how upset they are’ with India’s reaction to...

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China’s Internal Fissures

China’s Internal Fissures

By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: China: Threat or Challenge? | Date: 16 Aug , 2017

Despite the fact that China has become a formidable economic and military power, able to compete with the United States, the Middle Kingdom remains very weak, not to say shaky in other...

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Diverting the Indus ... or the Yarlung Tsangpo to Xinjiang

Diverting the Indus ... or the Yarlung Tsangpo to Xinjiang

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 11 Aug , 2017

In January 2015, I wrote about the proposal of diverting the Indus towards Xinjiang. Nobody took it seriously. Now a new proposal has emerged: to divert the Yarlung Tsangpo to Xinjiang. According...

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How can Xi speak of a 'Chinese Dream' and a 'Peaceful Rise' while...

How can Xi speak of a 'Chinese Dream' and a 'Peaceful Rise' while...

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 08 Aug , 2017

“You shall be unswervingly loyal to the absolute leadership that the party has over the army, heed the call of the party, follow the party,” asserted Chairman Xi Jinping, while officiating...

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Chinese propaganda: yesterday ...and today

Chinese propaganda: yesterday ...and today

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 07 Aug , 2017

I have often mentioned on, The Three Warfares, more particularly the Propaganda/Information Warfare. Today China believes that it has mastered the Art and that it has demonstrated it in...

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China Promotes ...The Indian Tribes: A Dangerous Move

China Promotes ...The Indian Tribes: A Dangerous Move

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 05 Aug , 2017

Watching Chairman Xi Jinping officiating during the mega parade at the Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base in Inner Mongolia on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the People’s Liberation...

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Invest in the Aircraft of Tomorrow

Invest in the Aircraft of Tomorrow

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 29 Jul , 2017

On July 13, a day before Bastille Day, during a press conference jointly addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris, the two nations announced their...

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Does India need to be invaded by China to wake up?

Does India need to be invaded by China to wake up?

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 27 Jul , 2017

Very few incidents have triggered so many comments as the confrontation at the trijunction between Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim. On June 16, 2017, Chinese troops entered a stretch of land at the...

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India, China, Tibet and the curious case of the missing Sikkim Papers

India, China, Tibet and the curious case of the missing Sikkim Papers

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 24 Jul , 2017

The present standoff at the trijunction between Sikkim, Tibet and Bhutan, on the southern tip of the Chumbi, is a worrying development. While recently addressing the foreign diplomats in Delhi,...

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Little Bhutan in Tibet

Little Bhutan in Tibet

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 20 Jul , 2017

China quite amazingly is able to deny even the most undeniable facts. Geng Shuang , spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was recently asked by an Indian correspondent, about the details...

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When the Chinese Confuse the Issues

When the Chinese Confuse the Issues

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 15 Jul , 2017

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has purposefully created a lot of confusion about the trijunction between India, Tibet and Bhutan. He quoted time and again the 1890...

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China is on a sticky wicket in Bhutan

China is on a sticky wicket in Bhutan

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 13 Jul , 2017

Has China lost its gamble on a Himalayan ridge in Sikkim? It is too early to say, but some lessons can already be drawn from the scuffle between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army in...

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China Believes The Best Form Of Defence Is Attack

China Believes The Best Form Of Defence Is Attack

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 09 Jul , 2017

After completing my first book on Tibet in the 1990s, I looked for a title which could resume the content of my research.  At the end of the 19th century, Tibet was a mere pawn in the Great Game...

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The Great Game over Sikkim

The Great Game over Sikkim

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 06 Jul , 2017

The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been vociferously trying to convince the Indian correspondents in Beijing about the1890 Convention (known as Convention of March 17,...

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When China refuses to talk about Bhutan and Sikkim boundaries

When China refuses to talk about Bhutan and Sikkim boundaries

By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 04 Jul , 2017

Yesterday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Geng Shuang stated that the border in Sikkim was well demarcated, according to the 1890 Convention between Great Britain and China and Doka...

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A World War over some sheeps and a few Yaks?

A World War over some sheeps and a few Yaks?

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 03 Jul , 2017

As I mentioned in my last post, ‘differences of perceptions’ on the Tibet-Sikkim-Bhutan and the Sikkim-Tibet borders are not new. China used fully these differences during the Indo-Pakistan...

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China tries to alter the status quo in Bhutan

China tries to alter the status quo in Bhutan

By: Claude Arpi | Date: 01 Jul , 2017

China has recently tried to change the status quo in the Doklam area of the Bhutan-Tibet border. On June 29, the Royal Government of Bhutan, which had held 24 rounds of talks with China so far,...

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