Border Disputes: India vs China

By Joshua Tsuchida

Introduction
Do you know where the next war might start? That could be in the snow capped mountains in
the Himalayan Mountain Ranges. Two military superpowers have disagreements, where
tensions are fluctuating, but are usually in the super tense stage. Wars and skirmishes have
been fought here, and a solution to this disagreement still hasn’t been found yet. Who are
those two superpowers? It’s China and India.

Identification of Border Dispute

India has always had border disputes with China regarding the extent of their respective
borders, clashing since the early 1950s all the way until now. During this time, skirmishes
have left people dead and civilians raging on the streets.

But where is this border dispute? India and China share over 2,000 miles of land, which the
two countries have disputed for over 70 years. However, the territorial dispute that we are
going to focus on today is the Line of Actual Control, aka the Sino-Indian border dispute.

Causes of Dispute
The whole dispute over this long border happened when the People's Republic of China
(PRC) occupied Tibet in 1949. This movement was the move that created one of the
lengthiest undemarcated borders in the world. The reason for this was that such close
proximity of the Chinese military to the undemarcated border created significant alarm in
New Delhi, the capital of India. The Indian prime minister at the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, was
urged by the government to enhance their military presence in India’s northeast region in the
case of an invasion by China.

From then on, tensions between China and India over the disputed borders have escalated.
The two countries became snappier at each other, and they both found pleasure in pointing
out that the borders between them are incorrect, and each claimed that their own version of
the borders was more accurate. Naturally, when people drew the maps, they made some
accidental mistakes, since the land was all mountains, and it was hard to pinpoint each point.
Each mistake led to higher tensions, since the country that made the accidental mistake would
be blamed by the other country for doing that intentionally.

Eventually, this erupted into a war over this border in 1962, called the Sino-Indian War,
lasting from Oct 20, 1962 to Nov 21, 1962. In this war, the Chinese troops stormed over two
theaters, completely overrunning the Indians, who were caught off guard. The war ended
when China declared a ceasefire on Nov 20, 1962 and simultaneously announced its

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withdrawal to its claimed "Line of Actual Control". Unfortunately, the war did nothing to
calm the tensions, and ever since then, sporadic gunfire erupts from time to time, and a
couple of people die from time to time, but thankfully, there were no more wars on the same
scale as the Sino-Indian War.

Review of Perspectives on the Dispute

The two superpowers seem to escalate the tensions, while claiming to be committed to
avoiding another war. Both countries continue to construct highways and buildings, in
preparation for the “upcoming war”. But what they don’t seem to realize is that if they claim
to not want a war, then they shouldn’t build anything that might trigger a war.

For example, in 2017, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) extended a road into the Doklam
region by Bhutan. India responded by sending troops into the region to halt the construction,
but mercifully, by August of the same year, both sides had withdrawn their forces.

Another example is in June of 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a skirmish along
the border, because the Chinese weren’t pleased with the Indian road construction project in
the Ladakh region. Due to this, a considerable melee took place in mid-June, resulting in the
death of 20 Indian soldiers and about 30 Chinese soldiers. The fight involved only
hand-to-hand combat and sticks studded with nails, but didn’t include the firing of weapons.

Both sides continue to claim that the other side is assembling troops and military transports
along the border and building defensive positions to fortify their claims to the regions. The
issue is further problematized by the accusations and mocks by government officials and
state-aligned media outlets from both countries. Propaganda is in a big place here, since
occasionally, there will be nationalists in the streets, supporting their own country in war, and
slandering the other. Therefore, this shows that the other side is obliged to send troops and
fight, since it would be a HUGE national embarrassment if one side lets the other side build
construction, and possibly give them an advantage in the face of a war.

We guess that the reason why they continue to build is that they want to have a face in the
international world. Backing down, such as halting constructions, or recalling troops, would
be a national embarrassment. However, they didn’t really want to fight this war, since it
would be a meaningless war, as we explained earlier. So both sides are now in a deadlock,
with no way out, unless some solution is found quickly.

The world and the two respective nuclear superpowers won’t be able to afford a war. This
dispute is increasingly important, since both countries are superpowers with modern
militaries and nuclear weapons. Furthermore, the two countries account for about 35 percent
of the global population alone, and 21 percent of the global GDP.

Also, fighting in the Himalayan Mountain Ranges is arduous and the terrain wouldn’t be fit
for mounted vehicles, resulting in most attacks being incursions by infantry or helicopter

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squadron units, without ample enough reinforcements from tanks and other over-land
transports to the site of the battle. The cold weather and rough terrain would also severely
deteriorate morale throughout both armies. Additionally, both sides are pretty much neck to
neck over technological advancements, which means that technology won’t bring much of an
advantage in the case of a war. And both sides most likely won’t receive any military support
from their allies, since no country would want to send its troops to fight in such a dismal
territory. Therefore, the war, if it does break out, would just be between India and China. This
would, therefore, be another dreadful attrition warfare that the world doesn’t need.

Disregarding the war, although the overall outcome of this border dispute is uncertain, it will
most likely continue for some time, until somehow both sides come to an agreement. *More
on this at the end of the video. Be sure to stay on, and continue listening!*

However, one good consequence of this border dispute is that they seem to use this territorial
disagreement and convert this into a sense of nationalism and restore faith in their own
federal government. This is especially needed after the COVID-19 pandemic completely
wrecked both sides’ economy and faith in their respective countries. But it really isn’t worth
sacrificing lives in order to achieve this. Therefore, this dispute has to cease as soon as
possible.

Attempts to Resolve the Dispute (if applicable)

There was a series of negotiations between Zhou (Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai) [left of
picture] and Nehru (then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru) [right of picture] that continued
for five days and ended in complete failure. Nehru apparently rejected the Chinese premier’s
package deal that offered Beijing’s acceptance of the Indian position in the eastern sector in
return for India’s acceptance of the Chinese position in the western sector.

The Chinese delegation returned to Beijing with the belief that the Indians were not interested
in negotiating. Tensions have only increased over the next couple years, with the Indian army
pushing northward using the controversial Forward Policy, and PLA units responding
tit-for-tat, resulting in small skirmishes that periodically appear.

Therefore, it is clear that although India and China have their disagreements regarding the
border, they don’t seem to want to take any action to resolve it, just happy to leave the
situation as it is.

Our Opinion on Possible Solutions

There isn’t really any need for worry over this border dispute. Both sides most likely
wouldn’t dare to go to war, due to international pressure. The rest of the world would frown
on both India and China if they go to war, since if this escalated to a full-scale war, all the
countries in the world would feel its consequence, and no one wants that.

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However, NewsAsia has given this particular border dispute some thought and has come up
with some solutions.
➢ Call on the United Nations (UN) for assistance
○ Since India and China have a long-standing agreement on not bringing
firearms anywhere near the Line of Actual Control, patrols could only fight
with rocks, bamboo sticks studded with nails, and hand-to-hand combat.
However, even though this is significantly better than having firearms, people
are still dying and that's tragic. Therefore, perhaps both countries can call on
the United Nations (UN) for help.
■ Some of the UN’s purpose that could be applicable in this situation
includes to:
● Monitor a disputed border
● Monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas
● Provide security across a conflict zone
■ The UN Peacekeeping, a branch of the UN, might also be useful in this
situation. Their specialties include actions such as to:
● Prevent conflicts
● Reduce violence
● Strengthens security
● Empower national authorities to peacefully resolve their issues
and disagreements with other countries
We believe that the UN and its branches could be called on to help de-escalating the
circumstances in the Line of Actual Control
➢ Urge both countries to stop building infrastructure
○ Building infrastructure along the borders is one of the main causes for conflict,
as proved earlier in the video
■ If both countries agree to cease construction that could be used in the
face of a war, then there wouldn’t be a need for building. Then, one of
the major causes of conflict could be avoided.

As usual, thank you so much for viewing this video about the Border Dispute between India
and China!