Explaining India - China conflict in 5 minutes

Hello, as you know, not long ago, China and India had a clash that left many soldiers dead at the border area. Then why did that war take place? Why are China and India arguing with each other at the border? Let's clarify all the issues in this video.

If today's borders between countries are very clear, marking accurate to every centimeter, the border in the past was not like that, especially in uninhabited areas.

 

Until technology developed more, new borders began to be drawn in more detail and accuracy, many areas that have not been paid attention by any country for a long time have become disputed areas because everyone claims it as their territory.

 

Let's go back to India in 1914, leaders from Britain, the Republic of China, and Tibet gathered in India's Shimla to negotiate a treaty defining the status of Tibet and settling border issues between China and India that Britain is occupying.

 

During this negotiation, Britain offered to allow Tibet to be autonomous under Chinese control, but China refused and left, remaining the two Tibetans and British still signed the treaty with each other

 

Through the treaty, a border line was drawn, which was named Mcmahon, after the British leader who administered this colony. The 550-mile border line extends through the Himalayas, the official legal border between China and India.

 

The problem is that China has never accepted that. In 1947, India declared its independence from Britain. Two years later, Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong also expelled Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan and founded the People's Republic of China and here, the border issue with India became hot again. Tensions increased throughout the 1950s, with the Chinese asserting that Tibet was never independent and could not sign a treaty creating an international border.

 

So that border is not valid, China must have more land inside India to accept, there have been several attempts to negotiate peace but no success.

 

Inevitably, in 1962 war broke out, the Chinese crossed the McMahon line and captured positions deep in Indian territory, capturing mountain passes and towns. The war lasted a month but left more than 1000 Indians dead and more than 3000 others taken prisoner, the Chinese army also lost about 800 men.

 

In November, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai declared a cease-fire, after which he unofficially redrawn the border crossing the places that the Chinese army had invaded, this is called the line of actual control.

 

In 1967, tensions flared up again along the two passes of Nathu La and Cho La, connecting Sikkim then a kingdom, a protectorate of India and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

 

A brawl broke out when the Indians began to erect barbed wire fences along what they recognized as the border. The brawls quickly escalated when a Chinese army unit started firing at the Indians. In the ensuing conflict, more than 150 Indians and 340 Chinese were killed.

 

Twenty years later, India and China are at odds again. In 1987, the Indian army was conducting a series of training operations to see how quickly they could move troops to the border. The amount of troops and material approaching the Chinese outposts surprised the Chinese commanders, who responded by moving toward what they called the line of actual control. Realizing the possibility of an inadvertent war, both India and China de-escalated and the crisis was averted, war did not break out.

 

However, in June 2017, China started building a road in the Doklam Plateau, an area in the Himalayas, although not controlled by India but its ally Bhutan.

 

This plateau lies on the border of Bhutan and China, but India considers it a buffer zone close to the disputed area with China. So India brought weapons and operated bulldozers to confront the Chinese, destroying the road. A stalemate ensued, with soldiers hurling stones at each other and troops on both sides were wounded. After the scuffle, the Chinese felt that this road could not be built, so they withdrew their troops and life was good.

 

Back in 1987, after a settlement had been made so that war would not break out, both China and India felt anxious about a deadly future. Therefore, they have decided not to arm the military forces on this border, but not having weapons does not mean not fighting.

 

By 2020, the tension is on once again. Instead of shooting each other, this time the soldiers of the two countries used all they could, from branches, iron rods, stones, they fought hand-to-hand on the cliff. Some Indian soldiers fell into the cliff and died, others were beaten to death, the number of casualties on the Indian side recorded at least 20 people, and China did not give figures.

 

And after the clash, the border area was normal but not completely peaceful. Thus, through this video, you have clearly understood the conflict between India and China in the border area, and shared condolences with the soldiers who died, thank you for watching the video, bye bye and see you again.