After the bloody clash in June 2020 between Indian and Chinese troops — who fought hand-to-hand, according to reports — some experts have suggested a solution: de-escalation. Both sides could agree to limit patrolling in disputed areas of the 2,200-mile border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), or even set up no-patrol zones. In addition, both countries should implement an accord at the highest military and political levels asking soldiers on both sides to withdraw during face-offs. The two countries also should ban the use of weapons that don’t qualify as firearms, such as nail-studded clubs and tasers.
But India suspects that a brawl in the Galwan Valley in May 2019 was only the start of a long campaign by Beijing to grab territory on its southwest border and gain access to the booming Pakistan-China Economic Corridor project. Indian officials say that in contested mountain regions like the one in the Galwan River valley, where troops inserted themselves in support of their own territorial claims, China is trying to establish an enduring presence that would threaten India’s national security.
But history suggests that China understands only the message backed by strength. That’s why Mao engineered the fierce conflict with the Soviet Union along their common border in Siberia in early March 1969, and that’s why China has not invaded Taiwan despite its tainted reputation within the world communist movement. The timely death of Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh in September 1969 gave China and the Soviets an opportunity to ease tensions — but not to resolve them.
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