Regular readers of this site will probably recognize this Brahma Chellaney guy as one of the columnists focusing almost exclusively on China and the main theme of his articles has always been the same. Namely China is bad like in this article or China is bad and menacing peaceful innocent India like in other articles. So why is this silly Indian dude so obsessed with China? May be India is a neighbor of China and as China rises it makes India uneasy? This is actually partially right but the reason is much deeper than that. But before I dwell into the reason let me first address some of the usual nonsenses trotted out by the author.



"For example, China still gets a free pass on human-rights abuses, from holding up to a million Muslims from Xinjiang province in internment camps ...."



This human-right abuses nonsense is getting old but especially rich coming from an Indian. I can safely say that ordinarily Chinese citizens with some knowledge of India like the Caste system and other barbaric practices look at India with contempt precisely because of India gross human right abuses. And I am not even getting into the subject of Kashmir where almost seven thousands Kashmiris disappeared without a trace in the last few decades only to show up in mass graves. And million Muslims from Xinjiang province in internment camps ...? This has been debunked by honest journalists who actually look into the matter:



https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/24/xinjiang-the-new-great-game/



Here is another one:



"And, despite his assertions that the Obama administration's response to China’s activities in the South China Sea was “impotent,” Trump has done little to counter Chinese expansionism."



There is no Chinese expansionism in the South China Seas, only Chinese assertiveness. And there is nothing wrong for a nation to be assertive in defending its national sovereignty. No responsible government will not be assertive if its national sovereignty is trounced upon. Here is an article on the South China Seas disputes by someone who is actually knowledgeable about the subject:



https://chasfreeman.net/diplomacy-on-the-rocks-china-and-other-claimants-in-the-south-china-sea/



Ok, let me cut to the chase and discuss the reason of this weird Indian obsession of China. The answer is Tibet. Tibet? Isn't that Tibet was annexed by China and there are all this human rights and religious oppression of the Tibetans? Well if you are gullible and drink the agenda driven corporate media Kool aid then this is what you would believe. Tibet was annexed by a foreign country alright, not by China but by India. At least part of it. Here is what happen. Once upon a time there was a thug show up uninvited in South Asia and squatted there for over two hundred years. During those two hundred years the thug focus on one thing that it did best. And that is land grab. After two hundred years of land grab a country began to take shape which sets the foundation of modern day India. By the beginning of the last century the land grab activities began to intrude into the Southwestern part of China and set in motion the so called Younghusband expedition into Tibet. Tibet became the next land grab Britian wants to seize from China (many treaty ports on China east coast were already ceded to various Western countries including Britain and Hong Kong was a already British crown colony for over a century) and it uses all kinds of methods to weaken China's hold to Tibet with some success. China at that time was beaten, bullied and carved up the Western powers and by the middle of the last century China's hold to Tibet was tenous at best. Then after World War II Britain was exhausted and decided to leave South Asia and bequeath the new country it tried so hard to build up over the last two centuries to its former subjects. The rulers of the new country immediately style India as the new imperial power in the block and continue the land grab of the Raj without missing a beat.



http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2582.html



And so in 1951, four years after the British has already left India invaded South Tibet. South Tibet includes historic Tawang, birthplace of the Sixth Dalai Lama and home to the four hundred years old Tibetan monastery the Golden Namgey Lhatse.



http://kanglaonline.com/2011/06/khathing-the-taking-of-tawang/



Tawang and South Tibet is indisputably part of China as shown by this National Geographic map published in 1912:



https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:x633f939c



One needs to know that despite the British left South Asia in 1947 vanishing any territorial ambitions Britain once has in Tibet, it doesn't mean Britain has no interest in Tibet. Britain still has interest in Tibet because by keeping Tibet in the boil Britain can use it as a leverage in case China wants to take back Hong Kong:



http://orientalreview.org/2013/08/12/arms-and-the-elephant-i/



In 1987 in an attempt to fool the worlds of its illegal land grab India renamed South Tibet to the so called Arunachal Pradesh and made it a state. The government of mainland China and Taiwan both protest India such act. One needs to know that the Nationalist government of Taiwan was the government of China before it retreated to Taiwan when it was defeated in the civil war in 1949. Before that the Nationalist government has been sending diplomatic protests after diplomatic protests to the British Raj of its intrusion into Tibet which was duly ignored by the British. After the British left South Asia the intrusion by India continues and the Nationalist government in turn became sending diplomatic protests after diplomatic protests to New Delhi, which were again duly ignored. When India renamed South Tibet and made it a state the Nationalist government of Taiwan put out a statement vehemently denouncing India's action:



https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-40862957



Here is an excerpt (translated from Chinese):



In regards to the issue of the Indian government illegal occupation of our country's territory and establishes the so called 'Arunachal Pradesh' the foreign ministry of the Republic of China put out this announcement in midnight as follows:



India illegal occupation of our country's territory, the government of the Republic of China has repeatedly stated that it will not recognize. Recently the congress of India unilaterally pass the establishment of the 'Arunachal Pradesh' on the south of the so called McMahon Line. India government also made it into a state, the government of the Republic of China once again solemnly proclaim: the government of India intend to legitimize its illegal occupation of the territory of China, the government of the Republic of China regards this as illegal, void and absolutely not recognized.



In other words both the Communist party in mainland (People's Republic of China) or the Nationalist party in Taiwan (Republic of China) do not recognize India's so called Arunachal Pradesh.



At the end of 2008, a little over a decade after Britain hand Hong Kong back to China, Britain finally has no stake in Tibet and can afford to be honest for once. The British government put out a statement recognizing China's sovereignty of Tibet (before it was suzerainty, not sovereignty) and in one fell swoop trashes whatever rationale India has on its claim on South Tibet (Arunachal Pradesh). The statement was supported by both the conservative and labor parties and is almost apologetic in tone.



In 2009, sensing Britain has pull a rug underneath India in regards to its illegal occupation of South Tibet the Indian government cooked up a scheme to ascertain India's claim on South Tibet in a back door manner. It applied for an infrastructure loan to the ADB (Asia Development Bank) on behalf of South Tibet. The idea was that if the loan was granted by the ADB, a United Nation agency, it can be construed that the United Nation recognizes India's sovereignty on South Tibet. The development however was the opposite of what India intend. The ADB reject India's application because China protest and India was unable to produce any evidence that it has ownership of the territory. In other words on the record India's occupation of South Tibet is not recognized by the United Nation.



Today Indian likes to muddle the issue and put China in the defense by claiming all this human rights violation in Tibet. The corporate media of course is also complicit in this nonsense but there are always some academics with integrities report the situation like it is. Here is one:



http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2013/10/bia_20131016.mp3



The same cannot be said of India occupied South Tibet (Arunachal Pradesh). Today South Tibet is restless and the people there are seething with anger and India knows it. This is the reason India imposes the notorious AFSPA (Armed Force Special Power Act) on South Tibet. AFSPA gives the state the power to detain or kill anyone with impunity. It is a law meant to intimidate the locals and suppresses dissents. It is imposed on area India deemed 'disturbed', such as South Tibet and Kashmir. South Tibet is pretty much in a permanent lock down and foreigners are not allowed to visit there unless they get permits and permits are rarely granted. Tibetans in South Tibet are voiceless because their plight does not fit the narratives of Tibet pushed by the corporate media. It is time to shine a light on South Tibet and make India accountable on the real oppression of the Tibetans in South Tibet. At the very least readers of this article should petition their government to put pressure on India to lift the draconian AFSPA on South Tibet and Kashmir and the rest of the northeast. This will be a first step to address the issue of South Tibet.



So the situation facing India today is India has stole a piece of China's property when China was beaten up, bullied and carved up by Western powers and now China has not only recovered but is getting stronger by the day and India is left holding this stolen property red-handed wondering when will China take it back. No wonder India is nervous and this is the real reason behind this kind of boilerplate article put out by Brahma Chellaney.