Prof Kondapalli Discusses 'Three scenarios' how India and China could clash again

While a full-fledged war between the two nuclear and rising powers in Asia is highly unlikely due to the costs of war, yet a scenario of a quick land grab by China to humiliate India again cannot be rule out in future, says Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli.

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Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli's new book, "China's Military and India"

This book is a collection of essays written by academics, analysts and military personnel on analyzing the impact on India of the developments in China, specifically in the military field. As China`s material strength is increasing, its impact on the global and regional environments is clearly visible in the recent period. The near double-digit economic growth rates in China have been channelized into the near double digit growth in the defence allocations in the last two decades. This has resulted in major transformations in China`s strategic orientation, military structure, procurement patterns, personnel quality, logistics and extensive deployments across the country. These developments, specifically in the strategic domain of offensive orientation of the armed forces of China and their preparations, have led to concerns in Asia and beyond. 

Bilateral relations between India and China exhibit tensions in a number of areas including the unresolved territorial dispute, suspicion about each other`s strategic intentions and agenda in the regional and global context and, significantly, in the military postures and preparations across the border as well as in the regional context. This collection attempts to analyse and evaluate the implications of such military modernization efforts of China on India. The contributors to this volume have been engaged in operations/research/policy in the Indian establishment or think-tanks or academia on China`s military developments. By identifying possible areas of impact of China`s military on India, this collection provides a valuable guide to the policy and decision-makers, academics and journalists.

Prof Kondapalli on 'India-China:Protracted talks, Contested Sovereignties'

Dr.Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies in his article, on rediff.com deciphers the complexities of boundary talks, recently held in New Delhi. He asserts Dai's basic mission to Delhi was to discuss a "framework" for the resolution of the boundary dispute between the two countries. While Dai stated that both sides have "scaled much height" in working out such a framework, as he is stepping down this year as the State Councilor and the Special Representative on border talks, he has little to show to his own people on the subject, having engaged with four Indian counterparts since 2003...

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Dr. Acharya analyses the Origins and Implications of the Sino–Indian Agreements of 2003 and 2005

Dr. Alka Acharya, AssociateProfessor in Chinese Studies, in her article in China Report analyses the Origins and Implications of the Sino–Indian Agreements of 2003 and 2005. She argues that the Agreements of  2003 and 2005 were a fundamental departure from the earlier  approaches adopted by the two countries and a conscious attempt at charting a new way out of a tangled historical legacy riddled with contradictions and complexities. It seeks to examine the origins of underlay this vital ‘course correction’ by both sides and its hopefully far-reaching implications.....

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Prof Kondapalli on Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ma Xiaotian Visit to India

Dr. Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies in his write up to rediff.com analyses the significance of Gen Ma's visit to India. He says 'this visit comes in the wake of the postponement of another high level meeting - that of the 15th Special Representative meeting a week ago with China citing the Dalai Lama's  sharing the platform of International Buddhist Convention at New Delhi around the same time of the meeting. Going ahead with such a high level meeting indicated that both sides are intent on "breaking ice".

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Prof. Kondapalli on POLITICAL DEMOCRACY FOR TIBETANS: CHINA’S RISING DILEMMA

Dr. Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies, discusses Political democracy for Tibet in an article for IPCS, New Delhi. He points out that although the Dalai Lama had indicated his decision to devolve the “formal authority to an elected (Tibetan) leader” on several occasions earlier, however his statement on 10 March 2011 caught the Chinese leadership unawares. This statement came 10 days before the Tibetan émigré community went to polls to elect a new Prime Minister and other members to the Tibetan Parliament in-exile. While the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswomen termed the offer as a “trick to deceive the international community”, this move by the Tibetan spiritual leader is likely to impact China in the near- and long-term for a number of reasons....

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Prof. Kondapalli reviews Martin Jacques's "When China Rules The World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World"

Dr. Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies, reviews Martin Jacques, When China Rules The World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World in The Financial Express. He says, the book is tour de force into not just the rise of China, but also on the global trends today, specifically after the US misadventures in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places. Jacques takes us through the rise of the West from the industrialisation revolution of 18th century and modernity to the current rise of China (and India). The broad sweep of his arguments, grounded well on statistics, diplomatic events and political trends, although not new, provides for a few cogent views, namely, China’s inevitable rise is of strategic dimensions and is to “transform the world more fundamentally than any other new global power in the last two centuries.”

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Prof. Kondapalli reviews A. G. Noorani's "India-China Boundary Problem, 1846-1947: History and Diplomacy"

Dr. Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies, reviews A. G. Noorani's "India-China Boundary Problem, 1846-1947: History and Diplomacy" for The Financial Express. He says the book is a timely intervention, given the rise in nationalism and aggressive behaviour of China, the Chinese infrastructure projects in northern areas of Kashmir (in hydro-electric, road, and railway construction activities) and tensions between India and China on Arunachal Pradesh (termed since about 2005 in China as ‘southern Tibet’).

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Prof. Kondapalli on "Bilateral Give And Take" in Sino-India Relations

Dr. Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies at the Centre, on "Bilateral Give And Take" in Sino-India Relations in The Times of India asserts that the joint communique, unlike previous such bilateral announcements, was surprisingly silent on the much-anticipated Chinese reversal of stapled visas to Kashmir residents in India. In fact, there is also no mention either of Tibet or Taiwan as parts of China for the first time. The two sides, however, reiterated that "sensitivity for each other's concerns and aspirations" should be respected. This is an indication that, during hard diplomatic bargaining, South Block had been insisting effectively on the reciprocity principle possibly for the first time.

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Prof. Kondapalli reviews Frank Dikötter's "Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962"

Prof. Kondapalli reviews Frank Dikötter's "Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962" in Hindustan Times. He points out that this book is a useful correction to our understanding of this period, which was devastated by famine and hunger that devoured an estimated 30-40 million Chinese. With the aid of several archival sources and interviews, Dikötter deconstructs the period and, in the process, throws light on the political aspirations and intrigues, plans and changes on the bucolic people as well as in urban areas of China. At its centre lies the theme of policies that led to the worst famine that China witnessed in the late 1950s.

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Prof. Kondapalli on 'Kashmir imbroglio'- The China Connection

Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli discusses China's Changing Policy on Kashmir at rediff.com. He points out that the so-called neutrality of Beijing on this issue is waning with four new changes in policy of China -- issuing stapled visas to Kashmir residents of India; massive infrastructure projects (estimated at above $20 billion) and invitation to the Hurriyat leaders to visit China and deliberately intervening in the current unrest in the valley. Beijing appears to be reconsidering the strategic value of Kashmir, for it is located strategically between the hinterlands of the Indian sub-continent, Chinese minority lands and Central Asian steppes.....

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Prof. Kondapalli on 'N-plants to Pak'

Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli, in his recent article to rediff, discusses China's move to construct N-Plants in Pakistan. He asserts that China on helping Pakistan, even at the cost of its image as a rising and 'responsible' power, had brought to the fore several issues including China's track record on nuclear proliferation and global and regional responses..............

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Dr. Alka Acharya Reviews Khetsun’s book, "Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule"

Dr Alka Acharya, an Associate Professor at the centre, has nicely reviewed Tubten Khetsun’s book, "Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule" in The Financial Express.......

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Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli reviews K. Natwar Singh's Book, "My China Diary 1956-88"

Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli has reviewed K. Natwar Singh's Book, "My China Diary 1956-88" in Biblio : A Review of Books..

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Dr. Srikanth Kondapalli with Ambassador (Retd) Vinod Khanna on the book release of China and its Neighbours (2010) co-edited by Srikanth Kondapalli and Emi Mifune at the Institute for Chinese Studies on 24 February 2010. China and the Making of Bombay (2010) by Madhavi Thampi and Shalini Saksena, was also released on the same occasion.

Book Release: Srikanth Kondapalli ,Emi Mifune (ed) (2010), “China and its Neighbours”, Pentagon Press:New Delhi

The School of International Studies organized a book release function on February 12, 2010 and a brief discussion about the main themes of the book “China and its Neighbours” edited by Prof Srikanth Kondapalli and Prof Emi Mifune followed. Participating in the function were Minister for Political Affairs, Embassy of Japan at New Delhi, HE Naoki Ito, Prof Takenori Horimoto, Prof Lalima Varma, Prof CSR Murthy, Dr Alka Acharya, Dr Varaprasad Sekhar, Dr Jitedra Uttam, Dr Yeshi Choeden, Dr Vyjayanti Raghavan, Dr TG Suresh, Dr. Manish Dabhade, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Dr Jagannath Panda, Mr S. Rajasimman and research scholars from Centre for East Asian Studies and the School.

In his opening remarks Mr Ito mentioned that this book is a novel effort in bringing together Indian and Japanese scholars in writing about different foreign policy themes of China and its neighbours. The Minister for Political Affairs further congratulated the team for having seen through the project which began with the first draft discussion among the scholars in November, 2008 at India International Center, New Delhi.

Chairing the session was Prof. Y.K.Tyagi, (Dean of School of International Relations) who in his opening remarks congratulated the efforts made by the editors and suggested that students at the Center for East Asian Studies must contribute a critical review of this book to the School’s journal International Studies. He further added that students doing so will be encouraged with remuneration for doing so.

Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli provided an overview of the project details and explained the importance of China and its relation with its neighbours in the context of the China's rise and the multifarious changes that occurred in the neighbourhood. Not only that China had been posting high economic growth figures in the last two decades, but it is also engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship with several neighbours. Stability is one of the foremost concerns for China.

Prof Horimoto in his intervention had mentioned about the Japanese Ministry of Education research grants to look into more closely the South Asian dynamics and its relations with major powers, including China. At the academic level, this is an area worth exploring further. Dr Vyjayanti Raghavan, Associate Professor in Korean language at the School of Languages, JNU, had provided for the main themes in the Korean Peninsula’s interactions with China, viz., diplomatic normalization, enhancing trade and investments, nuclear stability, etc. Dr. Jaganath Panda, Researcher at Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis who has contributed an article on the theme of China and its relations with South Asia mentioned that while it is easy to articulate what South Asia thinks about China and its rise, accounting for what China thinks about South Asia is not easy. S. Rajasimman, Research Scholar at Center for East Asian Studies mentioned that the central theme of his contribution on China-ASEAN relations was that the variable of “non-intervention” is a crucial determinant in the relation between the two.

Rapporteur: S. Rajasimman

Photograph: Rajiv Ranjan

{In picture: Prof. Takenori Horimoto, Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli (editor), Prof Y.K.Tyagi (Dean, SIS) and HE Naoki Ito (Minister for Political Affairs, Embassy of Japan at New Delhi) (Left to Right)}

Prof Srikanth Kondapalli in his essay in The Economic Times" Hot & sour taste of growing relations between India and China"

Last week, the chief of Tibet military command Lieutenant General Shu Yutai visited India. A few days before, China’s vice-chief of general staff, Major General Ge Zhenfeng, came to India. A Chinese National Defence University delegation was also in Delhi recently.......

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