China vs. India
1962 - ongoing by 2011
Core issue: Chinese occupation of Aksai Chin and NEFA,
and general territorial disputes over border demarcation between both countries
Type of conflict ending: Conflict ongoing by 2011
The conflict between India and China was a territorial dispute about the Aksai Chin region and North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA). Further, the territorial conflict is closely related to the power struggle over regional hegemony in South Asia between the two rising nations. China had concerns of encirclement and losing control of its border regions to states friendly with the United States and the Soviet Union. India claimed that the Aksai Chin region and North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) were under Indian sovereignty according to the McMahon Line, while China asserted that it had long-standing historical rights. Eventually, China expanded its border and began to occupy both regions in 1962. Attempts to resolve the conflict through peaceful negotiations were rejected by India, as they claimed China violated Indian sovereignty. The offer suggested by Zhou Enlai, then-premier of the People's Republic of China, would have ceded NEFA to India in return for Aksai Chin, however it was not politically feasible for India to accept these conditions.
The conflict commenced with a Chinese offensive attack on October 20, 1962. Not long after on November 22, China declared a unilateral ceasefire and attempted to use its new advantageous position in negotiations. However, fighting resumed as a diplomatic solution was not reached. The conflict took place in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, meaning that neither the USSR nor the US became involved. One year after the war, China signed a border agreement with Pakistan, thereby acknowledging Pakistani rights to Jammu and Kashmir. China also ordered the construction of the Karakoram Highway from China to Islamabad. The Chinese-Pakistani alliance led to further deterioration in the relationship between India and China. In 1967, the conflict escalated, but this time in the Chumbi Valley; although it did not intensified into a war, tensions were high. The third military confrontation happened twenty years later in 1987, this time in the region of Arunachal Pradesh. Although it is referred to as a skirmish and no casualties were reported by either side, the confrontation illustrated the continued inability to resolve the core issue over accepted border demarcations.
There were many attempts to resolve the issue diplomatically. In 1976, India initiated a rapprochement policy and sought to restore diplomatic relations with China. Visits by Foreign Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were the first official meetings of that kind to Beijing concerning their joint border. Official talks started in 1981, and in 1988, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Beijing and assured China of India's willingness to resolve the border disputes. In 1991, Chinese prime minister Li Peng signed an agreement in New Delhi establishing consulates in Mumbai and Shanghai. During the 1990s, both countries eased tensions but the successful Indian nuclear test in 1998 was perceived skeptically by China. In 1993, both sides signed the Sino-Indian Bilateral Peace and Tranquility Accords, which proposed the demilitarization of the border region.
A new boost towards peace was brought by visits of the then former Inidan prime minister Vajpayee to China in 2003, which was followed in 2005 by a new agreement called the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question. Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, there have been several official talks about possible solutions for the disputed areas, but none has been successful and both sides maintain their military posture along the border area. As of 2011, the conflict between China and India remains frozen.
Sources
Guha, K.D., 2012. "Sino-Indian Relations: History, Problems and Prospects", Harvard International Review, 34 (2), 26.
Indurthy, R., 2016. "India and China: Conflict, competition, cooperation, and prospects for peace", International Journal on World Peace, 33 (1), 43.
Malone, D.M. and R. Mukherjee, 2010. "India and China: Conflict and cooperation", Survival, 52 (1), 137-158.
Mansingh, S., 1994. "India-China relations in the post-Cold War era", Asian Survey, 34 (3), 285-300.
Siddiqi, F.H., 2012. "India-China Relations in the 21 st Century: Impact on Regional and Global Politics", Pakistan Horizon, 65 (2), 59-72.
Vertzberger, Y., 1982. "India's Border Conflict with China: A Perceptual Analysis", Journal of Contemporary History, 17 (4), 607-631.