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The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas

The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas

India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance

Phunchok Stobdan
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There is a new ‘great game’ being played in the Buddhist Himalayas between India, China and Tibet, which makes for a crucial third player. Together, they are leveraging their influence with the Buddhist communities to create strategic dominance, with varying degrees of success.
China’s ‘Buddhist diplomacy’ has focused on Nepal and Bhutan, and the Indian Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which have sizeable Buddhist populations and are vulnerable to this influence. The crisis in Doklam brought into focus what will be one of the most difficult issues to unfold in the Himalayas in future: India’s insufficient ability to deal with China only through the prism of military power.
If Xi Jinping, who is known to be working towards a resolution of the Tibet question, succeeds, and the Dalai Lama does indeed return to Tibet, how will it impact Indian interests in the Buddhist Himalayas? If the Tibet issue remains unresolved, how will India and China deal with and leverage the sectarian strife that is likely to intensify in a post-Dalai Lama world?
The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas includes several unknown insights into the India-China, India-Tibet and China-Tibet relationships. It reads like a geopolitical thriller, taking the reader through the intricacies of reincarnation politics, competing spheres of sacred influence, and monastic and sectarian allegiances that will keep the Himalayas on edge for years to come.

Imprint: Vintage Books

Published: Oct/2019

ISBN: 9780670091393

Length : 328 Pages

MRP : ₹599.00

The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas

India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance

Phunchok Stobdan

There is a new ‘great game’ being played in the Buddhist Himalayas between India, China and Tibet, which makes for a crucial third player. Together, they are leveraging their influence with the Buddhist communities to create strategic dominance, with varying degrees of success.
China’s ‘Buddhist diplomacy’ has focused on Nepal and Bhutan, and the Indian Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which have sizeable Buddhist populations and are vulnerable to this influence. The crisis in Doklam brought into focus what will be one of the most difficult issues to unfold in the Himalayas in future: India’s insufficient ability to deal with China only through the prism of military power.
If Xi Jinping, who is known to be working towards a resolution of the Tibet question, succeeds, and the Dalai Lama does indeed return to Tibet, how will it impact Indian interests in the Buddhist Himalayas? If the Tibet issue remains unresolved, how will India and China deal with and leverage the sectarian strife that is likely to intensify in a post-Dalai Lama world?
The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas includes several unknown insights into the India-China, India-Tibet and China-Tibet relationships. It reads like a geopolitical thriller, taking the reader through the intricacies of reincarnation politics, competing spheres of sacred influence, and monastic and sectarian allegiances that will keep the Himalayas on edge for years to come.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback
Ebooks

Phunchok Stobdan

AMBASSADOR PHUNCHOK STOBDAN is a distinguished academician, diplomat and author, and an expert on foreign policy and national security. He is a known authority on Central and Inner Asian affairs. He last served as India's ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. He has previously served in the National Security Council Secretariat and been director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Jammu and Kashmir. He is the founding president of the Ladakh
International Centre, Leh, and has been senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, as well as distinguished fellow at the United Services Institution.

Phunchok Stobdan Answers Our Burning Questions

The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas by Phunchok Stobdan is an attempt to provide several unknown insights into the India-China, India-Tibet and China-Tibet relationships. The book tries to take into consideration the overriding power of the conflicting cultural interests that are linked to the geopolitical interests of both China and India. At the same time, the book […]

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