(Newswire.net — August 3, 2017) — China and India, the world’s two fastest growing economies, have been striving for centuries to dominate Asia. While Beijing is building military bases all around the Indian Ocean, New Delhi is practicing defense with its strongest allies, the US and Japan.
New escalation of conflict between the two countries occurred in June after Chinese engineers entered Doklam (Zhoglam in Tibetan, Donglang in Mandarin Chinese), a disputed Tibetan territory at the Bhutan-India border, the CNN reports.
Bhutan protested China’s interference and India sent troops to help Bhutan maintain the security of the country’s state border, according to mutual agreement. China, however, claiming Tibet as its own territory, sent military reinforcement to Doklam.
Now, Indian and Chinese troops have approached each other dangerously close, no more than 400 yds away. Soldiers virtually shout at each other calling the other side to retreat, the Sputnik reports.
India is afraid that China would seize complete control over the narrow territory dubbed the “chicken’s neck” due to its shape with the narrowest part no more than 18 miles wide. This land connects several of India’s states to central India.
Pakistan has also teamed up with China in building a new “Silk Road” that would connect Asia and Europe, however, that route would pass over the Kashmir territory, which India considers its territory.
The “war” between China and India has already started, according to media outlets. The battlefield – the Internet. Online battle has begun after photos emerged in some Pakistani media showing an alleged attack of Chinese troops and the killing of 120 Indian soldiers. This was later proven fake, however, “spirits’ of the past have been woken up.
The last time China and India engaged in direct conflict was in 1962 after the failure of a series of negotiations over the Himalayan border. China attacked several military outposts installed by India, and pushed its troops back. The conflict ended after international pressure, as India revoked its outposts and China pulled troops back from the border. Neither side used air force interventions or heavy artillery.
Both, India and China are nuclear superpowers with hundreds nuclear warheads. Pakistan also boosted its nuclear arsenal and would most certainly be drawn in to potential large scale war between India and China.