ABSTRACT
It has long been clear to Indian strategists that their nation and China will one day come into open confrontation; the only question is when. Economic growth has permitted both states to upgrade and modernize their conventional and nuclear forces. At some point in the early twenty-first century, the two powers will be locked in a fierce rivalry for mastery of South Asia and its important resources. China, the Indians believe, will not sit back and allow an ever-strengthening India to assert its domination of the region without a struggle.
