The Chinese Regime Always Picks a Fight With India Whenever It Encounters Challenges

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers guard a highway leading towards Leh, bordering China, in Gagangir, India, on June 17, 2020. Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

After 58 years of peace along the border, military standoffs between China and India broke out in May. If we look back at history, it is not a surprise that the neighboring countries are in conflict. That is, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would start a fight with its neighbors whenever the regime’s foreign relations are tense and its domestic economic and social policies are failing. In the past, the regime has picked on India under Mao Zedong’s leadership. Mao’s strategy of “the more mistakes, the more calm you should appear. Shift the battlefront to find a way out,” has been applied again today. However, the CCP is likely to achieve nothing, just like what happened during the Sino-Indian War of 1962.

Rising in Power, Two Dilemmas

The recent border clashes, which led to casualties on both sides, appears to be a natural continuation of the long-standing border dispute between the two countries. However, the border between China and India has been undecided for almost a hundred years. In such a long period of time, the two sides have had two conflicts, one in 1962 and one now. Peace has been maintained for nearly 60 years. Why is the conflict inevitable now? Perhaps the answer is that it was just a matter of time. Let us examine the true historical context of the conflict.