Articles By Claude Arpi
China is a peaceful country, but…
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 14 Aug , 2015
China is a peaceful country: it is at least what Beijing likes to say. In June, Beijing reiterated its ‘peaceful’ doctrine in a White Paper (WP) on ‘China’s military strategy’, which...
China: Opening a New Front in the Pacific
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 07 Aug , 2015
A few years ago, I had interviewed the MP from Ladakh. He had explained to me the various tactics used by the Chinese PLA to intrude into Indian territory in his mountainous region. Sending...
The Panchsheel Agreement
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 05 Aug , 2015
The “Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India” was signed on 29th April 1954 in Beijing by the Indian Ambassador N. Raghavan and Chang Han-fu, the Chinese...
The New Strategic Importance of Tibet?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 29 Jul , 2015
It is very rare for China to mention the ‘strategic importance of Tibet’, but it is what an article posted on the portal China Tibet Online recently did. One of the reasons is the...
The Years of Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 03 Jul , 2015
Zhou’s First Visit to Delhi During the years following the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement, Delhi continued its efforts to champion the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa. The...
Nathu La to Kailash: Trip down the memory lane
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: www.niticentral.com | Date: 30 Jun , 2015
Once upon a time, not far from Nathu-la, the pass situated at 4,310 metres above sea level between Sikkim and Tibet, India had a stunning Trade Agency in Yatung in Tibet. This came back to mind...
Where is the LAC?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 22 Jun , 2015
Once again, the LAC or Line of Actual Control has recently come in the news. The latest mention came from Beijing, where China turned down an Indian proposal to exchange maps of the LAC; a move...
China floats dangerously over troubled waters of South China Sea
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: www.niticentral.com | Date: 09 Jun , 2015
Some watchers have predicted a ‘crack’, others a ‘collapse’, all might be wrong, but the fact remains that the Middle Kingdom has entered troubled waters, not only in the South China...
How the Chinese fooled Nehru in Tibet
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 02 Jun , 2015
While the Indian archives are still jealously kept by the Ministry of External Affairs (and other Indian ministries), the Chinese are slowly (and selectively) declassifying their archives. A...
Ten truths about the 1962 War
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 25 May , 2015
Here are some truths about the 1962 China’s War which are not often mentioned in history books or Reports from the Government. Of course, this list is not exhaustive. 1. The precise location of...
China visit and after – Undoing Nehru’s folly
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: www.niticentral.com | Date: 19 May , 2015
A few months ago, a European diplomat confidentially told me, ‘in fact, the job of Modi is just to undo the knots in which the UPA tied up India in the past’. He was probably thinking of the...
Chasing the Flies and the Tigers
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol. 30.1 Jan-Mar 2015 | Date: 17 May , 2015
There is another ‘Actual Combat’ in the CMC’s dual approach, which has regularly come in the national news during the past year. It is the resolute fight against corruption, at all the...
Xi Jinping’s brotherly love for Pakistan
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: www.niticentral.com | Date: 14 May , 2015
As Prime Minister is preparing to pay his maiden visit to Beijing (as Prime Minister), it necessary to come back on another visit, President Xi Jinping’s trip to Pakistan and the enormity of...
Can Indian Navy deter China’s Two Silk Roads
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: www.niticentral.com | Date: 07 May , 2015
The 10-day Indo-French naval exercise code-named ‘Varuna’ recently held off the Goa coast did not get much coverage in the Indian media. The event was important for several reasons which...
No tunnel under the Everest ...but a road to Xinjiang?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 22 Apr , 2015
When one watches China, it is gratifying to be right once in a while. It does not happen every day. …can a tunnel really be drilled through the Himalayan mountains? Is it technically...
36 Rafales for the Indian Air Force!
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 11 Apr , 2015
The highlight of yesterday’s Hollande-Modi encounter at the Elysee Palace has been the ‘purchase’ of 36 Rafales for the Indian Air Force. I write ‘purchase’ because the deal is not...
Modi’s visit to France and ‘The Make in India’ project
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 09 Apr , 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking on a 9-day tour abroad during which he will visit France, Germany and Canada. His first stop will be in Paris (April 9-12). A few comments on his visit to...
Demchok and the New Silk Road: China's double standard
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 04 Apr , 2015
On May 23, Scoop Newsreported that the Chief Executive Councilor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Rigzin Spalbar wrote to J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed requesting...
Are the Rafales, Mirages?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 26 Mar , 2015
The first dog fight on the French multi-purpose combat aircraft is on in full swing. It is not a battle in the air, but through communiqués, articles by ‘experts’, information and...
Roads to the Border ...and tourism
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 13 Mar , 2015
While we regularly come across articles about the Border Road Organization (under the Ministry of Defence) struggling to build roads in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, China is going faster and...