ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the India–China–Pakistan strategic triangle as both a theoretical puzzle and a persistent driver of South Asian insecurity. Triangular logics complicate statecraft by amplifying security dilemmas, shaping deterrence, and fueling arms competitions. Historical episodes illustrate these dynamics: India's outreach to China in the 1950s to offset US–Pakistan alignment, the 1962 Sino-Indian war that drove Pakistan toward Beijing, and the Indo-Soviet partnership during the 1971 war all demonstrate how triangular shifts reverberate across the region. In the post-Cold War era, China's assistance to Pakistan's nuclear and missile programs, India's deepening ties with Washington, and the deadly 2020 Sino-Indian border clashes have renewed the triangle's salience. Yet these arrangements are rarely self-contained; extra-regional interventions repeatedly transform triangles into unstable polygons. The South Asian case thus underscores both the complexity of triangular politics and their implications for global security.
