Sino-India War

Sino-Indian War

Location of the War
China and India share a long border where there is a large number of disputed regions lie along this border. The Aksai Chin and the present Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh were overrun by China in the 1962 conflict.
Most combat took place at high altitudes. The Aksai Chin region was considered to be a strategic location for defense where one country can see the other from the mountainous areas. The high altitude and freezing conditions also causes logistical and welfare difficulties. More casualties have been caused by the harsh conditions than enemy action.

Causes and Events leading to the Sino-Indo War
The Sino-Indian War, also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict, was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. The cause of the war was a dispute over the sovereignty of the widely-separated Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh border regions where China and India claimed belonged to them. Thus, China's construction of this road was one of the triggers of the conflict. Tibet disagreements were also a major reason for the Sino-Indian conflict.

Events leading up to war
Many events triggered the Sino-Indian War in 1962. The three main reasons were mainly the Tibet controversy, the Indian Forward Policy and the failure to compromise.

Tibet controversy
The creation of the Republic of India in 1947, and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in China in 1949 had the Indian government were that of maintaining cordial relations with China. The Indian government wished to revive its ancient friendly ties with China and was amongst the first countries to give it diplomatic recognition after the PRC was declared.
After coming to power, the PRC announced that its army would be occupying Tibet. Thus, India sent a letter of protest to China proposing negotiations on the Tibet issue. The newly formed PRC was also more active in posting troops to the Aksai Chin border than the newly formed Indian republic was. India decided to take moves to ensure a stable Indo-Chinese border.
By 1951, China numerous posts within Indian claimed territory in Aksai Chin. The Indian government which concentrated its military efforts on stopping Ladakh from being taken by Pakistani troops and did not establish itself in Aksai Chin.
In 1956, Nehru expressed concern to Zhou Enlai that Chinese maps showed some Indian territory as Chinese. Zhou responded that there were minor errors in the maps and that they needed to be revised. Thus, the Indian public was outraged when it learned in 1958 that China had built a road between Xinjiang and Tibet through Indian-claimed territory in Aksai Chin.
There was a bloody clash in October 1959 at Kongka Pass in Aksai Chin in which 9 Indian frontier policemen were killed. Recognizing that it was not ready for war, the Indian Army assumed responsibility for the border and pulled back patrols from disputed areas.On 18 October 1959, the Chinese government approved the PLA's plan of a "self-defensive counterattack" against India because of its actions in Tibet.
China's policy on Tibet did much to heighten the conflict and tensions between the two nations.

Negotiations fail
China's 1958 maps showed the large strip of land between Ladakh and Bhutan (the Aksai Chin) as Chinese. In 1960, Zhou Enlai proposed the idea for India to accept conceding Aksai Chin. However, Nehru believed that China did not have a legitimate claim over both of those territories and was not ready to give away any one of them.
Nehru wasn't ready to simply concede the territory and leave negotiations at that. He was open to continued negotiations, but did not accept the idea of Indian troops withdrawing from their claimed regions. He remained firm that there would be no boundary negotiations until Chinese troops withdrew from Aksai Chin. This was unacceptable to the Chinese.

The Forward Policy
In the summer of 1961, China began patrolling along the McMahon Line. They entered parts of Indian administered regions and enraged the Indians. To retaliate, the Indians launched a policy of creating outposts behind the Chinese troops so as to cut off their supplies and force their return to China. This has been referred to as the "Forward Policy".
The initial reaction of the Chinese forces was to withdraw when Indian outposts advanced towards them. However, this appeared to encourage the Indian forces to accelerate their Forward Policy even further. This pattern of encirclement and counter-encirclement resulted in an interlocking, chessboard-like deployment of Chinese and Indian forces where no hostile fire occurred as they were only ordered to shoot in defense.

Effects after the War
India has repaired its relationship with the Chinese to some extent, though not all is forgotten.
After the war, India claimed that China was occupying about 33,000 square kilometres of its territory in the Aksai Chin region of Ladakh. China claimed that India was occupying 90,000 square kilometres; Beijing claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory.
Though the two Asian giants have tried to mend their relations over the decades, several issues remain unresolved: the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in India; China's non-recognition of Sikkim's merger with India; the nuclear tests in 1998 by India; and India's allegation that China is arming Pakistan, including the latter's nuclear programme.