Among a host of rivalries in the post–World War II era, the Sino-Indian rivalry remains one of the most enduring. As is well known, it resulted in a sharp, short, and brutal war in October 1962 when a battle-hardened People's Liberation Army mostly routed woefully underprepared and hopelessly ill-equipped Indian forces for conflict in high-altitude areas. From India's standpoint it lost thirty-six thousand square kilometers of territory in the war. Over the past several years the People's Republic of China (PRC) has also formally laid claim to another ninety thousand square miles of territory, essentially the present Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Despite multiple rounds of border talks, at various levels, starting in 1981, the territorial dispute is no closer to a resolution. Worse still, notwithstanding the existence of a range of confidence-building measures agreed upon in 1993 and 1996, Chinese and Indian forces clashed in the Galwan Valley in...

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