After banning TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps, India has taken away more than 100 million users from the platform as part of its retaliatory response to recent tensions with China. India’s government cited national security, privacy, and data concerns among their reasons for getting rid of these apps. This was due to suspicion that these Chinese-based developers are misusing user information in cooperation with the Chinese government. However, this latest conflict between China and India is not a first among the two nations.

A long history of tensions

The India-China dispute has existed since 1914 after British colonialists had a meeting with the Chinese and Tibetan governments to draw borders. However, Beijing has never accepted the boundary decided upon in this conference, called the McMahon Line.It says that Tibet was never its own state and therefore, did not have the authority to make such a deal. After India’s declaration of Independence from Britain, and China’s end of the Communist Revolution, the emerging countries were soon facing rising tensions about the border.

Fast-forward to 1962, when war finally broke out among the two. The Chinese military crossed the McMahon Line capturing mountain passes and territories on the way. When the war ended one month later, India had lost 1,000 soldiers, and 3,000 more had been taken hostage, while China lost less than 800 men. As a result of this war, China redrew the border up to where its troops had claimed, and this border became known as the Line of Actual Control.

Just 5 years later, in 1967, the second all-out war between India and China occurred. Indian troops started putting barbed wire along where they thought the border actually was, which soon escalated as the Chinese troops began firing upon them. However, this time India lost only 150 men while China lost 340. This made it clear that India and China had different opinions on where the Line of Actual Control was located.

In the next 50 years, there would be no large scale conflicts between the two countries, and confrontations were minimal. But, in 2017, Bhutan, an Indian ally, became involved in the India-China conflict. At the Doklam Plateau near the border between Bhutan and China, Chinese troops planned on constructing a road. However, this area is another zone that is close to other disputed territories with China which prompted India to bring weapons and bulldozers to the area with the intent of destroying the road. Some injuries were caused by stone-throwing on both ends, and in August, the conflict ended with China halting its construction.

A couple of months ago, in June, Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed once again, leaving 20 Indian troops dead due to in-person physical fighting among the two groups. This newest conflict  prompted India to ban the 58 Chinese apps and brings  about concerns of  future tensions between the two nations. 

This brings us to the question, will any current and future India-China tensions result in a nuclear war? Most sources agree that the answer is likely not. Regardless of each country’s leader’s nationalist rhetoric, both are committed to their No First Use policy and have nuclear arsenals solely for deterrence purposes. However, there is a greater chance of a conventional war among the two, as conventional weapons are easier to use in the mountainous regions where such disputes take place. Ultimately, the likelihood of any large scale conflict between China and India remains low. India and China’s 50-year of small conflicts suggests that any upsets in this area are likely to settle down relatively quickly.