India and China share the world’s largest disputed border of over 3,488 km with a number of territories counter claimed by each side along the Actual Line of Control. Most important of them are Aksai Chen, Kashmir, south Tibet or Arunachal Paradesh, Sikkim, and Doklam / Donglang. Of this border, around 220 km falls in Sikkim. The present standoff of Sikkim has been erupting a month or so on the tri-junction of Tibet, Sikkim, and Bhutan when India brought troops to prevent China from constructing road in Donglang / Doklam in June. The construction work was halted and troops from both sides took positions. Construction turned into a nuclearized military standoff.
Is China or India belligerent toward the present standoff is a vital question to be asked? The two nations went into war in 1962 and their positions have not be reconciled until yet until a major breakthrough could be made. The 2017 standoff, if develops into a full-scale war, would be entirely different from that of 1962 border clash when both were not nuclearized.
