What ‘emancipation’ is China celebrating today?

April 10, 2021

During the recent US-China Summit, Yang Jiechi, member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and senior-most Chinese diplomat, bluntly told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “The Chinese people are wholly rallying around the Communist Party of China. Our values are the same as the common values of...

The Dragon’s dilemma: Recruiting Tibetans in PLA

March 18, 2021

According to the website China Tibet News, many young Tibetans applied for recruitment in the Chinese Army in the first half of 2021. This was the first post-Covid-19 recruitment exercise for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), after the confrontation with the Indian Army in Ladakh. Normally, recruitment happens twice a...

Communism in China: A hundred years later

March 6, 2021

The year 2021 is supremely important for the Middle Kingdom and its Emperor: Not only will it bring the occasion to unveil the 14th Five-year Plan and China’s 2035 Vision, but, more importantly, Beijing will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. Already, in January, President Xi...

Major Bob Khathing, the Indian hero who secured Tawang

February 20, 2021

Seventy years ago, a momentous event took place in one of India’s remotest corners; Maj Ralengnao (Bob) Khathing took over the administration of Tawang in the Kameng Frontier Division of the North-East Frontier Agency. In 1914, during the Simla Conference, the Tibetan Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary of British...

Time to stop Tibet from being a taboo word

February 4, 2021

In 1998, when George Fernandes, then Defence Minister, affirmed that “China is India’s enemy number one”, he was politely asked by his own government to keep his thoughts to himself; the last thing that the Vajpayee government wanted was to get “bad relations” with the powerful northern neighbour. The policy...

BEWARE, INDIA! CHINA’S MOST STRATEGIC ROAD IS COMING

January 11, 2021

On 27 May 1951, the Ashi Shan (mountain) volcano erupted in the Xinjiang province of China. It began with a loud detonation, followed by the ejection of large blocks of lava, emitting thick black smoke, and lasted for a number of days. The Ashi volcano, the highest volcano in the...

Dragon drags the world down

December 31, 2020

The year has come to an end. For most human beings living on Planet Earth, it was an annus horribilis—by far, the most ‘horrible’ year since the beginning of this century—and this, courtesy China. Of course, Beijing denied that the dreaded coronavirus, which has affected 80 million people and is...

Is China building a new front in the Himalayas?

December 15, 2020

The unthinkable has happened. The Global Times has announced: “China to build historic Yarlung Zangbo (Tsangpo) River hydropower project in Tibet.” The dam or hydropower plant (HPP) around the Great Bend of the river, known as the Siang, which in India is called the Brahmaputra, has been the object of...

Why India needs to rethink its Tibet policy, if there’s one

November 24, 2020

On 20 November, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) proudly announced that its Sikyong (president), Lobsang Sangay, had entered the White House. Dharamsala called it “a historic feat”, the first time that the CTA head was invited into the White House. In November, Sangay had already been invited to the State...

India’s big blunders and China changing the posts

November 11, 2020

One of the greatest tragedies of post-Independence India is having let China occupy the Aksai Chin plateau and with barely any protest. The nation still suffers the consequences of this blunder today in Ladakh. The fact that China occupied this part of north Ladakh and built a road on Indian...