Articles By Claude Arpi
The Tibetan Factor
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 23.2 Apr-Jul 2008 | Date: 29 Sep , 2012
An important factor which has been ignored by most students of history of the 1962 India-China War, is the ‘Tibetan factor’. It greatly hampered the PLA in scoring a more decisive victory...
Can China afford a war?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Courtesy: Uday India | Date: 27 Apr , 2012
James Clapper, the Director of the US National Intelligence recently told a Senate Committee on intelligence that the Indian Army was strengthening itself for a “˜limited conflict with China:...
Why the Henderson-Brooks report has never been released! - II
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol. 27.2 Apr-Jun 2012 | Date: 03 Apr , 2012
The September 08 Incident: The situation was getting hotter by the day. In Beijing, Mao Zedong had begun his comeback to the political stage in Beijing. In the morning of September 08, 1962, the...
Why the Henderson-Brooks report has never been released! - I
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol. 27.2 Apr-Jun 2012 | Date: 02 Apr , 2012
Sir Henry McMahon never envisaged that the hurriedly conducted survey and his drawing of a thick red line on a map could trigger a war. The ‘massive attack’ supposedly planned by India cannot...
Tibet: The International Betrayal
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 11 Feb , 2012
“In former times Tibetans were a war-like nation whose influence spread far and wide. With the advent of Budhisim our military prowess declined…” Dalai Lama 23 October 1950: A Telegram from...
China preaches non-violence ...to others
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 09 Feb , 2012
The Chinese are apparently unhappy with the selection of the multipurpose combat plane Rafalefor the Indian Air Force. It is what appears from an article in the People’s Daily (French...
It is time to wake up to Chinese incursions
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 07 Feb , 2012
Kiren Rijiju, the 36-year-old firebrand Member of Parliament representing Arunachal Pradesh (West), does not share the government’s and Indian Army’s perceptions about Chinese incursions in...
Indo-French Friendship to Partnership-I
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 23.1 Jan-Mar 2008 | Date: 31 Jan , 2012
Historical Background: To grasp the intricacies of Indo-French relations in the field of defence and security, it is necessary to first have a look at some issues which may seem unrelated, but...
Tibet and British India - I
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 11 Nov , 2011
Started in 1600 as a company with shareholders to peacefully and profitably develop trade with the Asian continent, the East India Company was no longer a trading concern by the beginning of the...
China takes over Nepal
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 10 Nov , 2011
What is going on in Nepal? If one goes by the latest news, nothing good for India. Why did Mr. Shyam Saran, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy had to pay a quick visit to the former Himalayan...
New French Base in the Gulf
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 24.2 Apr-Jun 2009 | Date: 29 Aug , 2011
A small revolution is happening in the French defense establishment: Paris will soon open an inter-service base outside France, in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Though it is not...
Tibet and British India - II
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 11 Jun , 2011
The Russian Threat : The element which was to play a major role in Britain’s foreign policy toward Tibet and thereby decide the fate of Tibet as a nation, is what has been called the ‘Russian...
Pakistan's China pavilion after the USA's 'Package of Tangible Inducements'
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 26 May , 2011
Why does Islamabad, Washington’s best ally, so often give sleepless nights to US officials? One can argue that it is a question of reciprocity. The latest one: the Americans made fools of the...
Ten thousand Chinese teachers for India from Taiwan?
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 11 May , 2011
Ten thousand Chinese teachers for India: that’s good news. In the years to come, it will be more and more important to know Chinese, whether the rise of China is peaceful or not. The initiative...
Follow the orders from Beijing
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 14 Apr , 2011
The present regime in Beijing is really allergic to democracy. Though since ancient times democracy has been recognized as the best way to get the ‘masses’ to participate to the governance of a...
Chinese troops sited in Nepal too!
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 11 Apr , 2011
The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Hong Lei denied the presence of the PLA troops in POK. Unfortunately, Chinese soldiers are not only present in POK, but also in large number in Nepal....
Tibet: The Panikkar Factor
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 04 Mar , 2011
One of the most important factors in the relation between Tibet and the Government of India was the appointment of K.M. Panikkar as the Ambassador to ‘two Chinas’. It is unusual that the...
To overlook reality would be stupid
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 02 Mar , 2011
While China is free to believe that it has done nothing to raise hackles around the world, more so in its neighbourhood, that is far from the truth. It makes little sense for Beijing to feign...
Himalayan Rivers: Geopolitics and Strategic Perspectives
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 23.2 Apr-Jul 2008 | Date: 17 Feb , 2011
On October 7, 1950 the PLA’s Second Field Army marched into Eastern Tibet to ‘liberate’ the Roof of the World. Several factors can explain this move. A few days after the beginning of the...
Revolt in the New Dominion
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Vol 24.3 Jul-Sep 2009 | Date: 14 Feb , 2011
It was a few days only after I had written an article on the instability of the situation in China that the news flashed that in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang (The New Dominion in Chinese),...