General Zhao Zongqi is well known in India for having commanded the Chinese troops during the Dokalam episode. Zhao knows every inch and corner of the Indian border, at least the Eastern and Central sectors, including the Naku La area which witnessed fist-fights between Indian and Chinese troops in April/May. Claude Arpi introduces us to the PLA generals masterminding the Chinese aggression in Ladakh.
'Once accession to Pakistan appeared unlikely, the British instituted Operations Gulmarg and Datta Khel respectively to foil possible accession to India.'
The proposed tunnel, which would drop down from the world's highest plateau in multiple sections connected by waterfalls, would provide water in China's largest administrative division, comprising vast swathes of deserts and dry grasslands.
With 100 days until the start of the Winter Olympics, Beijing is promising a "simple and safe" 2022 Games - although preparations are anything but simple as China readies to host thousands of athletes and personnel as it battles COVID-19 flare-ups.
'Magnanimity and appeasement have no place in the world of realpolitik as India has learned the hard way,' notes Vivek Gumaste in the first of a two-part column.
China will develop Tibet's picturesque Nyingchi prefecture, located close to Arunachal Pradesh border, into a major tourist hub with an investment of $63.5 million which included construction of 22 "well-off model villages".
Guo Xinzhen went missing in September 1997, at age two-and-a-half years abducted by human traffickers while he was playing near the family home in Liaocheng.
'Belgian Malinois' dogs have been extensively used by central security forces and police units in anti-Naxal operations and counter-terrorist tasks.
The two sides have already held at least 12 rounds of talks between local commanders and three rounds of talks between major general-rank officials but no positive outcome came out from the discussions, they said.
'How can a State, which claims to be a responsible power, unilaterally grab a "disputed" area to build a road on it?' asks Claude Arpi.
Claude Arpi's fascinating account of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Tawang in March 1959.
'India in 2020 is a lot better prepared than in 1962.' 'It is no longer a pushover; and anything other than a crushing Chinese military victory will be a major loss of face for China,' observes Rajeev Srinivasan in the first of a three part column.
The video was reportedly shot at Fuyang Railway Station while the troops were preparing to head to a military camp in Hebei province, according to Taiwan News.
The 'One-China' policy states that Taiwan and Tibet are part of China's mainland.
Projecting the mining operations as part of China's move to take over Arunachal Pradesh, the report said 'people familiar with the project say the mines are part of an ambitious plan by Beijing to reclaim South Tibet'.
Beijing is clearly rattled by the Dalai Lama's visit. Unlike the 2009 visit, which was a four-day religious tour, the current visit is a high-decibel, 10-day affair, without the fig leaf of a "religious event", reports Ajai Shukla.
China has just turned down India's proposal for an Indian consulate in Lhasa, Tibet. Claude Arpi reveals how India once had a full-fledged consulate general office in Lhasa, which was shut down after the 1962 war.
The elephant in the room will permeate the conversations, predicts Rup Narayan Das.
When China protested strongly over the August decision on J&K -- not once but twice -- we ignored it. And to compound matters, we simply turned our back and walked over to the 'Quad' alliance with the US, upgrading it to ministerial level, and thereafter began following the American footfalls on Taiwan and COVID-19 to taunt and humiliate Beijing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Himalayan people may not represent a large or politically influential section of the population, but India's security depends on them.' 'Let us hope Sikkim remains a beacon of stability,' says Claude Arpi after a recent visit to the picturesque north eastern state.
The sources further suggested that the two choppers remained in the Indian territory for about 10 minutes before heading back.
Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma and the Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday attended the 'Thank You India' event in Dharamshala, organised to mark 60 years of The Dalai Lama's exile.
'All the government needs to do is to identify clear political and strategic objectives and to give the military planners a free hand,' asserts Ajai Shukla.
Chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat on Thursday said the controversy about the Chinese coming into the Indian territory and building a new village is 'not true,' and that the villages were well within the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control.
The situation in the Chinese-controlled Xinjiang region of China and in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region continues to haunt the leadership of the Communist Party of China, which has been observing the 90th anniversary of its formation this month, and the People's Liberation Army, which has been observing the 60th anniversary of its occupation of Tibet, says senior analyst B Raman.
India's ambassador to China is on a rare visit to Tibet to make preparations for the opening of a new route through Sikkim for Indian pilgrims to travel to the holy site of Kailash-Manasarovar which was agreed during last month's visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India.
China has ordered all Buddhist monasteries in Tibet to display China's national flag as part of its efforts to maintain social stability in the restive Himalayan province, which experienced self-immolation protests against the Communist party rule.
"So far Tibet is concerned, our position has all along been that the issue has to be resolved between different sections of the people of Tibet and People's Republic of China through dialogue and not through force," he said during an interaction with journalists at an orientation programme on Parliamentary reporting.
Did Xi deliver a message to Modi at Mamallapuram, which though couched in a velvet glove was time-bound? What was that message? It is clear Indian/Israeli/US spy satellites would not have missed detecting Chinese troop movements towards the Ladakh-Tibet frontier. Then why did some important functionaries in the Government of India choose to only ask the Russians about this in April 2020? Was Russian reassurance of Chinese troop movements being part of a routine exercise the reason that the Leh-based XIV Corps did not mobilise itself for its annual summer exercises near the LAC? A fascinating excerpt from Iqbal Chand Malhotra's new book Red Fear: The China Threat.
According to media reports in Kathmandu, China has allegedly constructed 11 buildings on the Nepalese territory in the Humla district bordering Tibet. The disputed area lies in Lampcha village of Namkha Rural Municipality in Humla district.
The events of the last few years shows that pessimism about where we have arrived and where we are headed is justified, asserts Aakar Patel.
Dai Bingguo, who served as the China's boundary negotiator with India from 2003 to 2013, told Chinese media, "If the Indian side takes care of China's concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India's concerns elsewhere."
This is the first time Pakistan and Kashmir have been brought into the narrative.
'The Chinese have been moving in step by step; inch by inch for the last 40 years.'
China has been keeping tabs on the restive Tibet province through a 'grid' system and some 600 'convenience police posts' armed with high-tech equipment that monitor the daily life of the citizens of Lhasa and other Tibetan towns. Worse, 'volunteer security groups' known as 'Red Armband Patrols' are roaming around in order to get more information and 'classify' each and every citizen, says Claude Arpi
'Our strategy should be to 'hold the line' in the north on the Sino-Indian land frontier, but maintain and, if possible, enlarge India's current edge in the maritime south.'
Maintaining that Tibetans follow the non-violent path for their fight for Tibet, Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday said they are not seeking independence but meaningful "autonomy".
'It is a pattern of behaviour of the Chinese that whenever a Chinese leader visits India or an Indian leader visits China, some incidents take place.' 'When Modi visits China, we should look out for some similar demonstration by the Chinese.'
Eighty-six deaths were reported in mainland China with 3,399 fresh cases from 31 provincial-level regions, the country's National Health Commission said on Saturday.
