'The wise men learn lessons in war.' 'The smart men learn lessons from others, it's only the foolish who learn the wrong lesson.'
'Unlike the Chinese army that has been largely a peace time force, the Indian Army is a battle hardened force,' explains Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'There is no Buddha or Gandhi among countries, existing for the service of others; they all exist for the good of themselves.' 'For each country, its own interests should be paramount, and it is futile and churlish to expect China to be an exception to this rule,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and long-time China-watcher.
Thirty years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, coerced collective amnesia envelops the Chinese nation about that horrific event. Claude Arpi glances back at how the student uprising could have changed the Middle Kingdom forever had the Chinese Communist party not traveled on the route of martial law.
'We will not accept these misadventures by the Chinese.'
'And this mirror imaging is the most dangerous thing because it leads to tremendous misunderstandings.'
'They cannot use firearms.' 'They have to be restrained.' 'It is a game of patience and chess board moves.' 'It is not like India and Pakistan where bullets get fired and people get killed.'
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.
'To deal with a bully, you have to deal from a position of strength, not a position of weakness.'
Trump can afford to say that COVID-19 is a 'China virus', but we can't expect Modi to say that aloud while his actions may speak louder, says Rup Narayan Das.
Even as Chinese troops continue squatting on territory that we claim as our own -- this was the lowest allocation for defence in percentage terms since the 1950s, reveals Ajai Shukla.
Was Wang Yi'S visit intended to remind India of 1962, asks Claude Arpi?
Chinese President Xi Jinping has bestowed special honours on a PLA battalion posted in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh for its "outstanding performance in safeguarding borders".
Suddenly the sands are shifting and even friends are acting strange.
It is only the Indian approach of holding on to multiple realities and contradictory ideas simultaneously that is likely to deliver peace and progress. Binary logic is out of sync with reality, notes R Jagannathan.
'Let us not, with all our drive for modernisation of the armed forces, send the forces to battle this time with second rung leadership,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'The Chinese being focussed more seawards is definitely better for India with China being the looming threat along our land borders,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'...they were shocked to learn that just 352 Indian soldiers had made 3 brigadiers, 2 colonels, 170 officers, 290 JCOs and 8,000 troops surrender to the Indian Army.'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday left for a five-day visit to Russia and China.
IS, especially active in northern Sindh and Balochistan, was also behind the abduction and killing of two Chinese nationals last year.
He called for delineation of the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) which China has refused earlier.
The briefing comes ahead of the parliament session beginning Monday.
Samdong Rimpoche's visit to China materialised against the backdrop of strained India-China relations consequent to the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam, says former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'Nanda Devi is not an easy mountain to climb.'
Overall, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has focused on building ground-based air defense networks and network-centric operations rather than trying to match the Indian Air Force (IAF) in terms of straight fighter numbers along the border. All air assets fall under the Western Theater Command of the PLA, the largest geographic region of China's five military theater commands.
China would have become another India "where around 20% of the world's poorest live" if it adopted democracy
Xi, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, called the progress China had made under his watch "truly remarkable
New Delhi's regional partners in restraining a belligerent China -- primarily the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore -- would like the Indian Navy to lock down the Indian Ocean Region, while the other partners can focus on deterring the PLA (navy) in the South China Sea, explains Ajai Shukla.
Former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had sought American assistance and wrote to the then US president John F Kennedy to provide India jet fighters to stem the Chinese tide of aggression during the 1962 Sino-India war, according to a new book.
The United States has made it clear to India that it is "discouraging" it from proceeding with its acquisition of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia but Washington will have to weigh "important geostrategic considerations" while taking a decision on growing calls for a presidential CAATSA waiver to New Delhi, President Joe Biden's nominee for Coordinator for Sanctions Policy has told lawmakers.
There is simmering disquiet in the Communist party and the world is watching as to what can unfold in China in the days to come ahead of next year's party congress, notes Rup Narayan Das.
'Rezang La was a unique battle.' 'It was not a large scale battle like the Battle of Kohima which involved a large number of troops.' 'Here there was just a company that fought it out till the last man.'
'No aeroplane in the world has been designed to switch off its engines above 14,500 feet.' 'Thanks to a lot of practice, we were able to execute a flawless landing at DBO at 0900 hours on 31st May, creating history.'
'Given the way in which the PLA operates today, I don't believe local commanders were necessarily acting without approval of higher levels.' 'They were acting in a way which they believed they were carrying out the intent of the higher levels.'
At the young age of 15, Wang joined the People's Liberation Army as a guard.
'Whether it is the One Belt One Road project or building relationships in the Indian Ocean Region -- supposedly our area of concern -- the Chinese are seriously outpacing us,' points out Vice-Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
The Indian Navy has just one aircraft carrier. The INS Vikramaditya carries just 26 unreliable MiG-29 fighters and 10 helicopters -- an insufficient capability to battle a serious foe.
'It is very much a danger.' 'With Tibet following the India tradition of ahimsa and the global visibility of the Dalai Lama who embodies these values, he should be supported by India as a diplomat.' 'It would be in India's self-interest and instead of being embarrassed about his presence, India should recognise this (role).' 'By appeasing China, India does not get anything in return; they (the Chinese have not stopped) claiming Arunachal, part of Kashmir, etc.'
On December 10, Kissinger began to encourage the Chinese to take action against India: 'If the People's Republic were to consider the situation on the Indian subcontinent a threat to security, and if it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.' On the 50th anniversary of India's greatest military victory, Claude Arpi recalls how the US suggested that China intervene militarily on Pakistan's side.
In a setback for China, an international arbitration court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has filed against it over disputed areas in the South China Sea, a ruling rejected by China as null and void.
