Palden Sonam holds an MSc in Politics of China from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and an MA in East Asian Studies and BA in Political Science from Kirori Mal College, University Of Delhi. Palden has previously interned with the Tibet Policy Institute, Dharamsala, and Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi and worked at Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), Delhi as a China researcher.
Research focuses on China’s domestic politics and foreign policy. This covers, among others, its policies toward the minority regions, Tibet, Xinjiang (development, modernity, coloniality); Sino-Indian relations.
Once I watched a Chinese movie called The Flowers of War, which depicts the horrors of war atrocities in Nanjing when Imperial Japan occupied the Chinese city in 1937. In one of the most heart-rending scenes from the movie, a Chinese woman with her hands tied was repeatedly raped by Japanese Imperial troops. In the end, a Japanese soldier stabbed her…
The recent political crisis and split in the ruling Communist Party threaten Beijing’s strategy in the Himalayan state Basking in the glory of a massive electoral victory in Nepal, the merger of the two Communist parties (Unified Marxist–Leninist and Maoist Centre) in 2018 appeared then as a triumphant era for the Communist movement in the Himalayan state and also the…
In November last year, a man struck a woman with a steel bar and killed her outside a hospital in China’s Fujian Province. Later, he justified his actions to the police by saying that he attacked her because she was small and alone, and he was venting his anger after a dispute with a colleague. To the casual observer, it…
Trainings and relocations of Tibetan nomads and farmers are aimed more at political stability than poverty alleviation. Recently, Chinese authorities declared a “major victory” in poverty alleviation in Tibet. It is imperative to assess how the anti-poverty campaign has been carried out, in view of the recent reports of Xinjiang-like coercive labor trainings being implemented in the region. As a…
From a realistic perspective, strategic infrastructure as a tool for consolidating supremacy in the disputed territories implies both an offensive posture as well as a defence mechanism. Offensive because in the event of a border war with India, the new railway will fundamentally boost the manoeuvring capability of Chinese troops and weapons to be moved within a short time on…