New Delhi: On ‘Talking Point‘, Claude Arpi, Historian, Author, Tibetologist and Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.
Claude Arpi talks about his recent revisit to Arunachal Pradesh and areas near the LAC on the China-occupied-Tibet border. Comparing it to his last trip in 2022, he describes the differences in infrastructure as “changing things drastically for the civilian population as well as for the army”. One of the standout, strategic infrastructure projects, which StratNews documented in a ground report is the Sela all-weather tunnel, is expected to be opened in October 2023. “China has started understanding that 1962 is over, now it’s a new era and they can’t do much mischief in this area”, Claude says on India’s military preparedness. After revisiting the Chumi Gyatse or Holy Waterfalls, Claude says, “even if they try for 500 metres or one kilometre, they will be repelled”. PLA’s attempts at incursions in Yangtse, were thwarted in 2021 and 2022, The Tibet and China expert points to “political turmoil in China”, with “the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Defence Minister disappearing” and “a danger of (China) becoming more aggressive.”
Watch this interview with the Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence for more on his views on the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) role in deterrence against China, the forgotten hero of the IAF, Squadron Leader Vinod Sehgal and one of the triggers for China’s antagonism against India—the Dalai Lama’s escape and Tibetans in India.
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