The Sino-Indian War between China and India occurred in October–November 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main cause of the war. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. India initiated a defensive Forward Policy from 1960 to hinder Chinese military patrols and logistics, in which it placed outposts along the border, including several north of the McMahon Line, the eastern portion of the Line of Actual Control proclaimed by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1959.
The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, also known as Panchsheel, were mentioned in the preamble of the Sino-Indian Agreement 1954. The principles subsequently adopted in a number of resolutions and statements, including the preamble to the Constitution of China.
The McMahon Line is the boundary between Tibet and British India as agreed in the maps and notes exchanged by the respective plenipotentiaries on 24-25 March 1914 at Delhi, as part of the 1914 Simla Convention. The Republic of China was not a party to the McMahon Line agreement, but the line was part of the overall boundary of Tibet defined in the Simla Convention, initialled by all three parties and quickly repudiated by the government of China. The Indian part of the Line currently serves as the de facto boundary between China and India, although its legal status is disputed by the People's Republic of China. The Burmese part of the Line was renegotiated by the People's Republic of China and Myanmar.
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is a notional demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory in the Sino-Indian border dispute. The term is said to have been used by Zhou Enlai in a 1959 letter to Jawaharlal Nehru. It subsequently referred to the line formed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War and is part of the Sino-Indian border dispute.
China–India relations, also called Sino-Indian relations or Indo–Chinese relations, refers to the bilateral relationship between China and India. China and India had historically peaceful relations for thousands of years of recorded history. But the tone of the relationship has varied in modern time, especially after the rule of Communist Party in China; the two nations have sought economic cooperation with each other, while frequent border disputes and economic nationalism in both countries are a major point of contention. The modern relationship began in 1950 when India was among the first countries to end formal ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) and recognise the People's Republic of China as the legitimate government of Mainland China. China and India are two of the major regional powers in Asia, and are the two most populous countries and among the fastest growing major economies in the world. Growth in diplomatic and economic influence has increased the significance of their bilateral relationship.
The Sino-Indian border dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute over the sovereignty of two relatively large, and several smaller, separated pieces of territory between China and India. The first of the territories, Aksai Chin, is administered by China as part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region and claimed by India as part of the union territory of Ladakh; it is a virtually uninhabited high-altitude wasteland in the larger regions of Kashmir and Tibet and is crossed by the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway. The other disputed territory is south of the McMahon Line, formerly known as the North-East Frontier Agency and now called Arunachal Pradesh. The McMahon Line was part of the 1914 Simla Convention signed between British India and Tibet, without China's agreement. As of 2020, India continues to maintain that the McMahon Line is the legal border in the east. China has never accepted that border, stating that Tibet was never independent when it signed the Simla Convention.
India–Nepal relations are the bilateral relations between India and Nepal. Both countries initiated their relationship with the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship and accompanying secret letters that defined security relations between the two countries, and an agreement governing both bilateral trade and trade transiting Indian territory. The 1950 treaty and letters exchanged between the then Indian government and Rana rulers of Nepal, stated that "neither government shall tolerate any threat to the security of the other by a foreign aggressor" and obligated both sides "to inform each other of any serious friction or misunderstanding with any neighboring state likely to cause any breach in the friendly relations subsisting between the two governments." These accords cemented a "special relationship" between India and Nepal. The treaty also granted Nepalese the same economic and educational opportunities as Indian citizens in India, while accounting for preferential treatment to Indian citizens and businesses compared to other nationalities in Nepal. The Indo-Nepal border is open; Nepalese and Indian nationals may move freely across the border without passports or visas and may live and work in either country. However, Indians are not allowed to own land-properties or work in government institutions in Nepal, while Nepalese nationals in India are allowed to work in some Indian government institutions notably the Indian military. An estimated 32,000 Nepalese citizens are employed as active duty soldiers in the Indian army and further 1 million Nepali-migrant workers are believed to be spread throughout India while Indian embassy in Nepal has reported that 600,000 Indian citizens in Nepal have registered their paperwork with the Indian embassy in Kathmandu as of 2021. The number of Indian immigrants who haven't registered their paperwork with the Indian embassy in Kathmandu isn't known as of 2021, however, Government of Nepal has announced that all people living within the boundaries of Nepal will be counted in the upcoming census of 2021.
The bilateral relation between Nepal and China has been friendly and is defined by the Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed on April 28, 1960 by the two countries. Though initially unenthusiastic, Nepal has been of late making efforts to increase trade and connectivity with China. Relations between Nepal and China got a boost when both countries solved all border disputes along the China–Nepal border by signing the Sino-Nepal boundary agreement on March 21, 1960 making Nepal the first neighboring country of China to agree to and ratify a border treaty with China. The government of both Nepal and China ratified the border agreement treaty on October 5, 1961. From 1975 onward, Nepal has maintained a policy of balancing the competing influence of China and Nepal's southern neighbor India, the only two neighbors of the Himalayan country after the accession of the Kingdom of Sikkim into India in 1975. In recent years, China has been making an effort to gain entry into SAARC, and, Nepal has continuously backed and supported the proposal to include China as a member in the regional grouping. Since 1975, Sino-Nepalese relations have been close and grown significantly, though India remains the largest source of total Foreign direct investment (FDI), and the third largest source of remittance to Nepal after Qatar and UAE. Based on the amount of remittance to Nepal sent by Nepalese migrants working in India, the government of Nepal estimate that there are around 1 million Nepalese migrant workers in India as of 2021, while the number of Nepalis in China is minuscule as of 2017.
The Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative is a subregional architecture of countries in Eastern South Asia, a subregion of South Asia. It meets through official representation of member states to formulate, implement and review quadrilateral agreements across areas such as water resources management, connectivity of power, transport, and infrastructure.
Border Personnel Meeting points are locations along the disputed Sino-Indian territories on Line of Actual Control (LAC) where the armies of both countries hold ceremonial and practical meetings to resolve border issues and improve relations. While border meetings have been held since the 1990s, the first formal Border Personnel Meeting point was established in 2013. There are five meeting points: two in the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh or India's Western (Northern) sector corresponding to China's Southern Xinjiang Military District of the Western Theater Command, one in Sikkim, and two in Arunachal Pradesh in India's Central and Eastern sectors corresponding to China's Tibet Military District.
The History of Indian foreign policy refers to the foreign relations of modern India post-independence, that is the Dominion of India (from 1947 to 1950) and the Republic of India (from 1950 onwards).
The Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship was an official settlement between the governments of Nepal and China signed on 28 April 1960, which ratified an earlier agreement on the borders separating the neighboring nations from each other. Gerry Van Tronder has argued that this document fitted into an attempt to maintain the image that Beijing was a "powerful but essentially benevolent leader in Asia", following the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. Contemporary Nepali, Chinese and Indian commentators have stressed the importance of the treaty in determining Nepal's relationship with China in the past and present.
In early May 2020, troops of the People's Liberation Army and Indian Army engaged in melee at locations along the notional Line of Actual Control (LAC), the disputed boundary between China and India. It escalated on 15/16 June 2020 resulting in deaths on both sides. Indian sources reported the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and casualties of at least 45 Chinese soldiers. China reported 4 deaths. On 7 September, for the first time in 45 years, shots were fired along the LAC, with both sides blaming each other for the firing. Indian media also reported that Indian troops fired warning shots at the PLA on 30 August.
Differing perceptions or areas of differing perceptions was a theory to explain why border conflicts have arisen between China and India, since the Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement, 1993 has been signed. It maintains that the two sides have different perception of where the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the territories of the two countries lies. Further, the Chinese have their own understanding of where the Indians perceive their LAC to be, and vice versa. For many decades India and China carried forward the differing perceptions theory.
The Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement is an agreement signed by China and India in September 1993, agreeing to maintain the status quo on their mutual border pending an eventual boundary settlement. The Agreement on Military Confidence Building Measures, 1996, pursuant to the 1993 agreement, incrementally details the military confidence building measures to be implemented that would ensure no-war. The Protocol for the Implementation of Military Confidence Building Measures, 2005 further discussed modalities to implement the confidence building measures.
The Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question is an agreement between the India and China signed on 11 April 2005. The agreement is a direct outcome of the Special Representative (SR) mechanism that had been set up through a 2003 agreement.
The Special Representative mechanism on the India-China boundary question (SR/SRM) was constituted in 2003 to "explore from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship the framework of a boundary settlement". Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in the capacity of Minister of External Affairs of India, had first suggested the SR mechanism during his visit to China in 1979. During another visit to China by Vajpayee, this time in the capacity of Prime Minister, in June 2003, the mechanism was mentioned in an agreement between the two countries. The latest mention of the SR mechanism was in a Joint Press Statement between India and China on 10 September 2020.
The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was set up through an India-China agreement in January 2012 for improved institutionalized information exchange on border related issues. The mechanism was first suggested by Wen Jiabao in 2010. It was finalised at the 15th round of special representative talks in January 2012.
Report of the Officials of the Governments of India and the People's Republic of China on the Boundary Question refers to a report with two versions, one Indian and one Chinese, that record the proceedings of a series of meetings between Indian and Chinese officials in 1960. They were first published by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in 1960–1961.
The Agreement between India and China on Border Defence Cooperation (BDCA) covers border stability and security, information asymmetry, smuggling, socio-economic reconstruction, environment and disease transmission along the line of actual control. It is an incremental addition to the previous border agreements related to the Sino-Indian border dispute.
