Articles By Claude Arpi
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...
Dassault can also sign contracts
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 15 Feb , 2015
A few weeks ago, I mentioned on this website, the long, very long negotiation process between Dassault Aviation and the Government of India to purchase 18 Rafales Multi Role Combat...
Does Obama really want to split China?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 13 Feb , 2015
When it was announced that President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama were both going to attend the US National Prayer Breakfast, an annual ‘religious’ gathering held in Washington, Beijing...
Chinese Wild Claims in Arunachal
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 22 Jan , 2015
The Chinese are not happy at all. Why? Because the Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida dared to speak about what Beijing calls “a Chinese territorial area adjacent to India as Indian...
The Rafale Saga
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 08 Jan , 2015
Very few in India know the meaning of the French word ‘Rafale’, which is now associated with the supply of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) to the Indian Air Force (IAF);...
Dealing with China
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 Dec , 2014
How to deal with China has been a problem for the Indian diplomacy from the day the People’s Liberation Army entered Eastern Tibet in October 1950. South Block (both the Ministry of External...
The CIA and China
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 12 Dec , 2014
The much-awaited report (summary) from Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program is finally in the public domain. Its conclusion are clear, the Intelligence...
President Xi Jinping Comes Calling-On
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol. 29.4 Oct-Dec 2014 | Date: 29 Nov , 2014
At the Indian Council of World Affairs, the Chinese President hoped that China and India would be the ‘express trains’ driving regional development as well as the ‘twin anchors’ of...
Nehru’s Pacifism had nearly cost us Tawang
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 25 Nov , 2014
It is entirely due to Major Bob Khathing’s courage and swift action, backed by the Assam Governor, that Tawang is part of India. Had Jawaharlal Nehru had his way, it would have been Chinese...
China’s New Silk Road must steer clear of terror haven Pakistan
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 18 Nov , 2014
Can China isolate itself from developments happening on the soil of its ‘all weather friend’ Pakistan? Will not the New Silk Road, which will allow free circulation of goods and people, be...
Chinese objection to Indian road projects unacceptable
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: http://claudearpi.blogspot.in/ | Date: 01 Nov , 2014
Some 10 days ago, I wrote a piece “Chinese objection to Indian road projects unacceptable” for NitiCentral (see below). My conclusion was that “There is absolutely nothing wrong in the proposed...