Roots of the Sino-Indian Conflicts

Asian giants India and China, world’s two most populous countries, share a long border of 3488 kilometers and a long history of border disputes. Sino‐Indian relations remain strained by their territorial disputes throughout the last decades. The countries continuously vie for dominance along their bordering landmass - resulting in occasional armed clashes, and also across the vast swaths of the Indian Ocean and towards the Pacific.

The dynamism of Sino-Indian relations is an important determinant of the connectivity, geopolitics and geo-economics of the Asia Pacific Region and a driver of politics and economy of Asia vis-à-vis, the Indo-Pacific Region. The two Asian giants continue to collaborate with each other in multiple sectors but at the same time they are unable to resolve their border disputes.

The Sino-Indian border is usually trifurcated intro three segments – the Western Sector (covering proximate areas of the Ladakh Region of Jammu and Kashmir with Tibet, and also the segment which technically is now Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, with Sinkiang); the Middle sector (proximate areas of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh with Tibet) and the Eastern sector (the proximate areas of Arunachal Pradesh with Tibet).Unfortunately the countries have experienced multiple face-offs with each other almost all along the borderline in varied magnitudes. 

Sino‐Indian relations have been marred by their territorial disputes in the past decades. The major conflicts involving the military forces of the two countries as of now remain confined within and along their border areas and continued from 1962 and continued till 2021.Their present relations seem to be at their lowest point in decades. However, with two-way trade between the longstanding economic and strategic rivals stood at $77.7 billion in 2020 and China being India’s largest trade partner - the two nuclear neighbours appear to continue demonstrating strong political will, wisdom and resolve not to allow the disputes to affect their bilateral ties and escalate beyond control. This paper initially analyses the root of the conflict. It then portrays a summary of the clashes took place so far, followed by the causes of Skirmishes and the prevalent situation. It then finally brings in an assessment of the whole situation.

Historically, India and China have both claimed territory along the Himalayas and share one of the world’s longest unmarked borders, stretching out for almost 3500 km of land. The main areas of contention include the border next to the region of Ladakh in Kashmir, and the one above the province of Arunachal Pradesh in North-Eastern India. The dispute dates back to the Simla Convention of 1914, when British representatives in India and Tibet agreed on an Eastern border between the two regions known as the McMahon Line. India accepted the demarcation, but the invasion and annexation of Tibet by China in 1951 meant that Beijing never officially agreed to it, and has sought to revise it ever since. In 1962, the Chinese PLA (People’s Liberation Army) crossed the line in the East and started advancing westwards, triggering a month-long war with India. Following India’s defeat, China was able to grab some 43000 km2 in the provinces of Ladakh and Aksai Chin - an area equal to the size of Switzerland and both the countries reached a temporary truce along an unofficial Western boundary known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Ironically, dispute continued even today, as, India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese considers it to be only around 2,000 km.