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For full article text, please visit: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/sino-indian-relations-the-geopolitics-of-aksai-chin-4822/ Sino-Indian Relations: The Geopolitics of Aksai Chin By: Sander Ruben Aarten June 9th, 2013 In mid-April, a Chinese army unit of 30-odd troops crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, India, and put up their tents for the night. This event, which is not an isolated incident, caused much consternation in the Indian media and symbolises the mutual suspicion that both countries have towards each other. These sentiments of mistrust are expressed in the fact that both sides have been building up their military presence along the LAC in recent years. Since both India and China are rising powers sharing a 3800 km border, of which large parts remain disputed, there is concern that increased cross-LAC tensions could become a source of potential instability. This article aims to elaborate upon the geostrategic significance of Aksai Chin for China and whether renewed tensions over this disputed land could drag both countries into another war.   Like India’s struggle with Pakistan over Kashmir, the dispute over Aksai Chin is almost as old as India itself. The origins of the dispute date back to the British Raj, which failed to clearly demarcate the border between its colony and China. By and large, today’s border issue revolves around two main boundary designs that have been put forward by the British. One of them, the Johnson-line, places Aksai Chin under Indian control, whereas the other, the MacDonald-line, classifies it as Chinese territory. However, neither of these boundaries has ever been codified in a binding bilateral treaty. And so, the status of the Indo-Chinese border in the western section at the time of Indian independence remained unsolved. With New Delhi using the Johnson-line as its national border, and Beijing adhering to the MacDonald-line, Aksai Chin became a breeding ground for conflict. In the 1950s, after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) annexed Xinjiang and Tibet, Beijing ordered the construction of a road to connect both regions. Because the road, known as Highway 219, runs through Aksai Chin, China started to take effective control of the area. However, it was not until 1957 that the Indians learnt about the road. A proposal by Zhou Enlai to settle the border issue by recognising Indian control over Arunachal Pradesh and Chinese control over Aksai Chin was rejected by Jawaharlal Nehru. India’s move for a forward policy to keep the Chinese forces in check and eventually push them out of Aksai Chin (which the Indians perceive as an integral part of Ladakh) was met with a Chinese military campaign that plunged both countries in a brief but bloody war in 1962, ending in humiliation for India. Since then, the MacDonald-line has been the de facto border in the western sector. Since the border war, Indo-Chinese relations have slowly but surely improved, especially since both countries opened up their economies for foreign trade and investment. Indeed, trade has probably been the main cause for a thaw in bilateral relations. Between FY 1990-91 and 2006-07, trade between the two countries has grown an impressive 522 times. India ranks as the number ten trading partner for China, while China has become the second most important trading partner for India. It thus seems, as the liberal school of international relations theory posits, that increased trade linkages have pacified both sides because it simply makes war too costly of an affair. However, increased activity on the Chinese side of the LAC in recent years has still been met with great suspicion in New Delhi. In 2008, before the Olympics when Beijing expected unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang, Highway 219 was renovated. In addition to that, military observation posts and barracks as well as landing strips have been constructed in Aksai Chin. These facilities enhance China’s quick mobilization capabilities. India, in turn, has decided to deploy a tank formation in Ladakh, is training a 40,000-strong ‘mountain strike corps,’ and is planning to turn the airstrip in Nyoma into a fully-fledged air base. The Indian Ministry of Defence claims that these measures are a necessary response to China’s military build-up and its altered military doctrine. The latter seems to be a reference to China’s growing assertiveness in the South and East China Sea with respect to its territorial claims. Beijing, in response, states that its military growth is commensurate with its “international standing and meets the needs of its security and development interests.” Coincidentally, the PLA published a White Paper at around the same time as when the Chinese army unit trespassed across the LAC into Indian territory. The paper elaborates upon PLA policies and priorities in the foreseeable future, though it does not describe a radically new doctrine; it is essentially a continuation and updated version of existing military strategic thinking. For example, the decade-old focus on ‘national defence’ which includes the principle of ‘active defence’, an option that allows for defensive pre-emptive strikes, are found in the latest White Paper. Similarly, the statement that the PLA is primarily trained to ‘win local wars’ is an idea that was put forth by Deng Xiaoping in 1985. Furthermore, PLA efforts to expand its navy’s blue water capabilities represent a policy that was originally started under Hu Jintao in order to protect Chinese interests overseas. However, the paper does give an interesting insight in the priorities that it establishes. The US’s increased military presence in the Asia-Pacific and the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu (or Senkaku, in Japanese) islets with Japan are given a high priority in its strategic considerations.  For full article text, please visit: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/sino-indian-relations-the-geopolitics-of-aksai-chin-4822/