Their association with the Centre will strengthen ongoing research and academic collaborations on governance in Tibet, the Communist Party of China, and Himalayan societies.

PUBLICATIONS

The past two months saw significant publication output in the form of Occasional Papers and Issue Briefs, contributions to the March special issue of the foreign policy magazine India’s World and commentaries under CHS’ “On China” series with The Tribune.

CHS Director, Jabin T. Jacob served as Guest Editor of a special issue of India’s World (Vol. 2, Issue 3) on India’s China challenge writing the introductory essay framing the key issues at the heart of this challenge. CHS Associate Fellow, Devendra Kumar and Fellow, Anand P. Krishnan also contributed an article each to this special issue analysing the Tibet question in India–China relations and the role of Chinese corporates in India, respectively.

We published two Occasional Papers. Krishnan authored an Occasional Paper analysing India–China economic relations and structural interdependence in the post-2020 period, with a focus on trade imbalances, economic asymmetries, industrial dependence, and the evolving dynamics shaping relations between the two countries.

Alaknanda Mahajan and Manvika Bamba, Doctoral Scholars at the University of Jammu, co-authored an Occasional Paper examining historical ambiguities and sovereignty questions surrounding Minsar, with a focus on its geopolitical significance, Indo-Tibetan historical linkages, and its relevance within the broader context of Himalayan territorial disputes.

Four Issue Briefs were published by the Centre in this period.

Shih-Ting Lin, Mandarin Language Teacher, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, authored an Issue Brief about Chinese citizens in Pakistan with a focus on Pakistan’s security measures to protect them involving not only just physical protection but also digital surveillance.

Tadu Rimi, our former Post-Doctoral Fellow, authored an Issue Brief analysing indigenous responses and resistance to the Siang hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh and the wider social, cultural, and political dimensions surrounding development in the region.

Dmitry Erokhin, a researcher at Austria’s International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, authored an Issue Brief examining climate change and cryosphere risks in the Hindu Kush–Karakoram–Himalaya region. The article covers glacial lake outburst floods, regional cooperation, and the broader implications for environmental and human security across Asia.

Raj Gupta, Doctoral Candidate, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Shruti Jargad, Visiting Fellow, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, co-authored an Issue Brief analysing Chinese narratives and strategic interpretations of the Iran war, with a focus on Party-state messaging, media discourse, and the broader geopolitical implications for China amid intensifying great-power competition.

The Centre’s partnership with the national daily, The Tribune under the “On China” series saw six curated commentaries during this period.

Jabin Jacob authored a Commentary examining the implications of recent US military engagements in Iran for China’s own military ambitions. Following the recent creation of Cenling County in Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin, he also co-authored with Devendra Kumar a Commentary analysing China’s restructuring of  administrative units along the Line of Actual Control with India.

Anand Krishnan authored two Commentaries for The Tribune. The first analysed the strategic implications of a potential UPI–Alipay linkage, while the second examined shifts in CCTV ecosystem in India hitherto dominated by Chinese companies.

Also for The Tribune, Kaveri Gill, Non-Resident Senior Fellow reviewed the book The Robe and the Sword: How Buddhist Extremism is Shaping Modern Asia, examining themes of religion, extremism, and state power in contemporary Asia. In another review for the daily, Kumar reviewed Frank Dikötter’s book Red Dawn Over China.

The Centre also published several Commentaries by external scholars. These include those by Sruthi Kalyani, Policy Fellow, Indian Institute of Science, on China’s adoption of open-source artificial intelligence tools, by Atul Kumar, Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, on lessons for China’s military from the US–Israel–Iran conflict, and by Raj Verma, Visiting Fellow at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, on structural constraints on domestic consumption in China.

In two articles covering the Indian Himalayas from one end to the other, Fida Hussain Tangrhong, former Non-Resident Associate Fellow, CHS, authored a Commentary analysing the vulnerabilities in Ladakh’s tourism economy under current conditions of globalisation while Atom Sunil, Registrar, Khongnangthaba University, Manipur advocated “safe corridors” and managed border mobility in the Eastern Himalayas.

Our Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia co-authored a journal article in Animal History examining indigenous methodologies, bird histories, and multispecies knowledge systems in the Sikkim Himalayas. Bhutia also co-authored an article published in Buddhistdoor examining sustainability, material practices, and environmental ethics surrounding the khatak in Himalayan societies. This article was republished on the CHS website in English and Tibetan.

EVENTS

On 10 April, CHS, in collaboration with the College of Language and Culture Studies, Royal University of Bhutan, co-organised a webinar on transformations in authority and institutional structures in the Himalayan Buddhist world, featuring Mari Miyamoto, Professor of Keio University as the presenter and the Venerable Lopen Lungtaen Gyatso as discussant. Kaveri Gill served as the moderator.

On 16 April, CHS jointly organised a panel discussion with the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, on the global implications of India’s China challenge, drawing on contributions by SNIoE faculty members to the March 2026 edition of India’s World magazine. The discussion featured Jabin T. Jacob, Anand P. Krishnan, and Priyanka Pandit, Assistant Professor, IRGS.

IN THE MEDIA

Jacob T. Jacob authored an article in Deccan Herald analysing China’s strategic opportunities and constraints in the Iran conflict. He co-authored with Devendra Kumar another article in the Hindustan Times analysing PLA purges and leadership consolidation in China. He also co-authored with Hari Yadav, MOFA Taiwan Fellow 2026, a Kannada-language article examining the geopolitical implications of the Iran conflict for China. Another co-authored piece with Anand Krishnan in Malayalam for 24News analysed implications of the US–Israeli attack on Iran for China.

Jacob was interviewed in India Inside Out (later republished in Scroll) on India’s China policy and broader diplomatic challenges. He was also quoted in StratNews Global on developments within China’s foreign policy establishment.

Kumar authored an article in the Deccan Herald examining China’s technological self-reliance strategy amid geopolitical pressures. He also authored a Commentary for the Print analysing India’s calibrated position on Iran within BRICS. Kumar participated in a panel discussion for Taiwan Talks on Nepal’s foreign policy balancing between China and India.

CHS Distinguished Fellow, Claude Arpi published several articles in Firstpost on China’s approach to the Iran conflict, its border aggression , and on the Gorsam Stupa.

He wrote in the Asian Age on contestation over Buddhism, examining China’s growing efforts to shape and control religious narratives in Tibet. He authored a piece in Rediff on Kargil War hero, Colonel Sonam Wangchuk and his legacy. In an interview to Radio Free Asia, Arpi also discussed China’s renaming of locations in Arunachal Pradesh and India’s response.
 

FACULTY UPDATES

Jabin T. Jacob began his tenure as a Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taiwan Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International Politics, National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan.

Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia presented a paper on sacred space relationships between Hawai‘i and the Sikkim Himalayas at the conference Indigenous Imaginaries of the Commons hosted by the University of Hawai‘i.

James Leibold spoke at an event organised by the Council on Foreign Relations in April 2026 on China’s new ethnic unity law and its broader policy implications.

Kaveri Gill delivered talks and participated in academic engagements on marginalised youth at the Salaam Balak Trust, on environmental policy in the Himalayas at the University of Delhi, on Nalanda traditions at the International Buddhist Confederation, and on the Dalai Lama’s leadership, at Panjab University.

Claude Arpi initiated an archival project to catalogue and index over 1,500 archival files collected over three decades from the National Archives of India, the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library, and other repositories, with plans to develop an online accessible research database.

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