ABSTRACT
At the heart of relations between China and India for the last four decades lies the boundary dispute that brought forth tension and hostility and ultimately led both countries to war in 1962. The Sino-Indian boundary question has historical roots involving aspects of international law as part of British imperial frontier policy in India in the last century, which is an interesting field of inquiry in itself. However, we will make reference to history and law only if they enlighten our quest to explain why the negotiating process to fix the boundary between the two countries failed, but curiously led to fruitful confidence-building security measures and the near-dissipation of border tension in the last decade. Compared to the previous two cases, then, the territorial dispute between China and India may be regarded neither as a complete failure or a resounding success; it is somewhere in between, which like the other cases, makes it an excellent study of the goals and constraints of China’s policy, strategy, and behavior toward the resolution of territorial disputes.
