Critical Assessment of China’s Vulnerabilities in Tibet

The paper looks at the critical vulnerabilities of China in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). Ever since China captured and annexed Tibet in 1950, it has been unable to integrate the Tibetan people with the mainland. There is a ‘trust deficit’, essentially socio-economic factors and religious persecution that continues to fuel dissent between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government. Besides, Tibetans have a proud legacy of taking to arms to fight for their rights, which is presently latent. Militarily, the high altitude and inhospitable terrain render communications vulnerable and impose severe limitations to conduct of operations in TAR. The author looks at these criticalities from an Indian viewpoint and draws some key assessments for China watchers in India with regard to policy on Tibet.

Download Occasional Paper

Order Hard Copy

Please email us at publication [at] idsa.in or call +91-11-2671 7983 (Ext. 7303)