Stability in a Secondary Strategic Direction: China and the Border Dispute with India After 1962

Abstract

This chapter reviews China’s approach to its disputed border with India after the war between the two countries in 1962. China’s approach has emphasized maintaining stability on its southwestern frontier, defined as preventing the escalation of armed conflict on the border and maintaining a dominant position in the dispute it enjoyed after the war. For China, its dispute with India has always been a strategic secondary direction and not the primary focus of its military strategy. Dominance on the border and deterring Indian challenges form the basis of stability from China’s standpoint.