EVENTS

Chinese activities in Tibet - from constructing elaborate settlements to intensifying forward patrolling, building up critical border infrastructure and issuing Chinese names to places within India – are matters of serious concern for India. The PRC’s prioritisation of the construction of the "mega dam" on the Brahmaputra/Yarlung Tsangpo river, together with strengthening the network of highways in border regions with India in its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030)", are further challenges. No less problematic is the Dalai Lama's succession issue, which continues to hang like the Sword of Damocles over China-India relations. Complicating this scenario is the ongoing global turmoil, viz., changing dynamics of US-China great power competition, rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait and talks of a possible US retrenchment to the Western Hemisphere. In this complex backdrop, it is vital to re-assess India’s options vis-à-vis Tibet, bearing in mind that this generates strong emotions and polarised debates within India’s strategic community. One section believes that India needs to use, what has been described as the ‘Tibet card,’ more consistently and creatively to deter Chinese hostility, whereas others believe that India no longer has a Tibet card and its best interest lies in reassuring China on the issue. But can there be a third way to approach the Tibet question? This presentation, based on study of Chinese-language media, academic journals, and related theses and dissertations produced in various Chinese universities, tries to gauge China’s unique vision and mission regarding Tibet, the challenges and limitations it faces in governing the region, and how India figures prominently in almost all of China’s development plans for Tibet – factors that remain carefully concealed by China’s propaganda onslaught. This approach adds nuance to India’s current discourse on Tibet, exploring the opportunities that exist within China’s current calculations in Tibet, whilst reiterating the need to guard against the above-mentioned formidable challenges.

Speaker

Antara Ghosal Singh is a Fellow at the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Her area of research includes China-India relations, China-India-US triangle, China in South Asia, Chinese foreign policy, China’s domestic development among others. She is a graduate from Tsinghua University, School of Public Policy and Management, People’s Republic of China and has been a Chinese Language Fellow at National Central University, Taiwan. Prior to ORF, she has worked at Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), New Delhi, Delhi Policy Group, National Maritime Foundation, Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (MP-IDSA) and has a list of publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and newspapers. Before starting her career in academics, she has worked as a journalist with The Times of India and the Deccan Chronicle Group. She is also an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. She speaks Bengali, Hindi, English, and Mandarin Chinese.

Chair

Tshering Chonzom Bhutia is Associate Professor at the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prior to her current position, Dr Bhutia served as Associate Editor, India Quarterly for a period of about 5 years. Alongside, she was Advisor at Unit for International Cooperation, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). And before that, she spent considerable time as an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS). Her areas of interest include negotiation theory, Sino-Tibetan negotiation, domestic sources of China’s foreign and security policy, and China’s nationality policy, among others. She has written and spoken on these issues at various national and international forums. She has been a recipient of a major ICSSR Project and a China India Scholar-Leaders Initiative (CISLI) Fellowship. She has also been a recipient of other short- term fellowships in China, US and Taiwan.

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