Claude Arpi

India is today at a crossroad. There are clearly two paths: one of cautiousness, one of boldness.

Post-Covid-19, China is facing great internal difficulties, why pick fights with most nations and particularly India?

No Chinese national has ever set a foot in the area till the mid-1950s and it is only due to India’s weakness at that time that Beijing can make this outrageous claim today.

The core issue is that there is no agreed LAC today as both parties have failed to exchange maps; this leaves the space for Beijing to create problems.

In a way, Galwan was the prelude to the 1962 India-China War.

India needs to find an amicable solution with Nepal for the areas where there is no agreement as it could avoid China interfering in bilateral affairs between Delhi and Kathmandu in the future.

From Day One, a PLA unit has been on the central stage of what the Communist Party of China called the 'People's War' against the 'demon' virus.

President Xi Jinping is being questioned within the Party for his handling of the crisis.

China could have downplayed its number of confirmed cases 'by a factor of 15 to 40 times'.

For 70 years, Chinese propaganda has been mastering the Art of Disinformation. Beijing’s rewriting history of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising is a classic example.

Menon was one of the strangest characters to have appeared on the political scene after independence.

India seems to have started moving at a faster pace to bring reforms into the armed forces and prepare for tomorrow's conflicts.

There is no end in sight to the dreaded epidemic which continues to spread.

It is perhaps time for India to wake up and recognise that Tibetan refugees have never created any problems for India over the last 60 years.

Though today it looks as if Xi's 'pockets' have no bottom, the question remains, can it last forever?

Even as China speaks of ‘early harvest’ in border negotiations, existing Confidence Building Measures need to be improved in 2020 for a good crop to both the countries.

The India-China border is 4,056 km and not 3,488 km, as China would like to believe.

Beijing faced a 'tsunami' in favour of the pro-democracy movement and then its atrocities on Uyghur Muslims were exposed to the world.

India is the only country where so many hurdles can be put in defence deals - it took only three months for Egypt to buy 24 Rafales in 2015.

While the world speaks of artificial intelligence and facial recognition, India can't find better ways to monitor unwanted elements on the borders.

Important projects impacting India's security were inked between China and Nepal.

Everything that happened at Mamallapuram remains 'informal', including the decisions taken (if any).

China is clearly getting ready in case of another showdown with India.

One can understand that India will not be a priority for Xi, but, can China afford a clash with India, adding yet another headache for its President?

The Chinese-selected Panchen Lama has been touring villages bordering India.

"With the end of the debate on Tibet in the United Nations, Tibetans lost all hopes of their survival, stare at the sky with the blank eyes and ask: where is God, where is the Buddha?”

Under the prevailing circumstances, it is difficult for India to maintain healthy relations with China. The establishment in Beijing should realise this.

Can our government be bold enough to bring in private players on a big scale to guard the border before the elections?

New Delhi can play the duet but has to be ready for the duel.

The connections run deeper — be it the unruliness of the people of both the countries, or the French minister meeting our Bollywood stars.