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

Draft of a chapter to appear in Kanti Bajpai, Selina Ho, and Manjari Chatterjee Miller, eds., Routledge Handbook of China–India Relations (New York: Routledge, 2020)

MIT Political Science Department Research Paper No. 2020-5

19 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2020 Last revised: 12 Sep 2020

See all articles by M. Taylor Fravel

M. Taylor Fravel

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Political Science

Date Written: January 15, 2020

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.

Keywords: China, India, border dispute, bilateral relations, strategy

Suggested Citation

Fravel, M. Taylor, Stability in a Secondary Strategic Direction: China and the Border Dispute with India After 1962 (January 15, 2020). Draft of a chapter to appear in Kanti Bajpai, Selina Ho, and Manjari Chatterjee Miller, eds., Routledge Handbook of China–India Relations (New York: Routledge, 2020), MIT Political Science Department Research Paper No. 2020-5, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3546583 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3546583

M. Taylor Fravel (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Political Science ( email )

77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States

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