Patterns of Chinese militarized behavior in the Sino-Indian border dispute

On June 15, 2020, a clash on the disputed China-India border resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. The conflict arose after decades of stability in the region, leading to the question: What determines China’s use of force in the China-India border dispute? The answer lies in China’s threat environment. The concurrent presence of external and internal threats to China and its leader increases the likelihood of the use of force by Beijing. I conduct a thorough investigation of China’s security environment leading up to the 1962 Sino-Indian border war and the 1967 border clashes to support my argument. I utilize archival materials from China and the Wilson Center Digital Archives, along with Chinese-language studies and reports, to provide a reliable assessment of China’s security environment. Finally, I validate the findings in subsequent standoffs and confrontations. China and India are the two most populous countries in the world, and conflict between them would have a ripple effect across the global economy. Therefore, policymakers and scholars alike benefit from the enhanced understanding of the border dispute offered by this article.