A roadside sign outside Srinagar reads, "If India is a bouquet, Kashmir is the rose in it". No longer, all that one now hears in this green valley is - the sound of guns and the cry for battle. A land, which is, shared between India, Pakistan and China, the role that China plays in the Kashmir crisis is time and again minimized, by both - the Indian government and the media.
India and China, the two most populous countries in the world, share 33% of the world's population between them. They also share approximately 4500 kilometers (2812.5 miles) of mountainous border. It's bewildering to know that historically and geographically there has never been a border between China and India. This was until China invaded Tibet. Today China occupies almost 50,000 square kilometers of Indian Territory in Ladhak, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China remains undecided and the Indo-China border problem is concentrated in three major areas- Eastern Sector (the NEFA area), Middle Sector (Himachal to Uttar Pradesh) and Northern Sector (Ladhak).
To a large extent the present Indo-China border problem is directly the result of the foreign policy that India followed in the 1950's. Lacking foresight, Nehru's Foreign Policy, which was based on peaceful co-existence and non-alignment, destroyed the identity of one nation and threatened the stability of the other.
A chronology of events that has shaped the present Indo-China relations is highlighted below:
Indo - Tibetan Relationship:
In 1914, the Simla Agreement governed the Indo-Tibetan relationship. According to this agreement the Outer Tibet (present day Tibet), was entirely autonomous and China would not interfere or occupy it. The disputes between China and Tibet were confined to Inner Tibet (eastern and northern regions).
The McMahon Line represented the actual border between India and Tibet. The decision to draw the border was reached by a Tibetan representative Lonchen Shatra and the British representative Sir Henry McMahon.
On December 30th 1949, the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced India's recognition of the new government in Beijing.
On October 7th 1950, China invaded Tibet on the pretext of 'liberating' it from 'imperialist forces'.
In April 1954, China and India signed the Panchsheel Agreement and jointly issued the five principles of peaceful co-existence.
The Dalai Lama left Tibet for exile in India in 1959.
For more on the Tibetan situation, click the following link: Tragedy of Tibet
Enter the Dragon
In 1959, Jawaharlal Nehru admitted that Chinese had been building roads in the Indian territory
On November 18, 1959, Nehru in his letter, tried to persuade Chou-En-Lai to ease the situation by withdrawing Chinese troops beyond the traditional boundary alignment shown on Indian maps, as an interim measure, while he undertook to withdraw Indian troops to the line, which China claimed as her boundary
In December 16, 1959, Chou-En- Lai wrote a reply to Nehru, in which he bluntly asserted that the area had long been under Chinese jurisdiction and was of great importance to China
Chou-En-Lai's visit to New Delhi and his direct talks with Nehru in April 1960, failed to improve matters.
In 1962, China attacked India and thus began the Indo-China War
China occupied Aksai-Chin (part of the Ladhak region in Kashmir), in the 1962 Indo-China War and overran Arunachal Pradesh.
In 1963, the Indian Territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was ceded illegally to China under the so-called Sino-Pak 'boundary agreement'
Boundary Settlement Negotiations
On 21st June 1980, the Chinese Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping proposed a "package" deal in which he suggested that the boundary issue be resolved on the basis of Chinese recognition of the LAC in the eastern sector in exchange for Indian recognition of the status quo in the western sector.
Between 10-14 of December 1981, Sino-Indian negotiators began first round of border negotiations in Beijing
Between 14- 17 of November 1987, the eighth and last round of the Sino-Indian border negotiations was held in New Delhi.
The Northeastern Problem
India occupied the semi-independent state of Sikkim in 1975 and China severely condemned it.
In December 1986, China protested the establishment of the Arunachal Pradesh from the North East Frontier Agency.
For more information on China's interference in the Northeast, click the following link: The Northeastern Problem
Operation Chequerboard
Between 1986-1987 Chinese and Indian troops faced each other in the Sumdorong Chu Valley in the eastern sector of the Sino-Indian border/LAC. Both sides' mobilized forces and the standoff nearly escalated into an open conflict. The Indian Army conducted large-scale military exercises code-named Operation Chequerboard (October 1986-March 1987)
The Big Visit
In December 1988 the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a historical visit to China. This was the first such visit in 34 years. Gandhi met with China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping during the visit. The two sides agreed to establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) on the boundary question.
In September 1993, the Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao visited China. The two sides signed the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas. It was decided that a Military and Diplomatic Experts Group would be set up within the JWG.
In February 1994, the first meeting of the Military and Diplomatic Experts Group was held in New Delhi to sort out the differences between the two sides on demarcation of the LAC and reduction of troops along the border areas.
In April 1994, the second meeting of the Military and Diplomatic Experts Group was held in Beijing with continued progress made in defining the LAC, force reductions, and other CBMs
In November 1996, Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited India. The two countries signed the Agreement on Confidence-Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas.
The Nuclear Tests and Aftermath
In May 1998, India conducted nuclear tests.
Defense Minister George Fernandes publicly declared that China and NOT Pakistan as 'enemy number1' and the main reason for India's nuclear tests. Bilateral relations deteriorated.
In April 1999, the 11th Sino-Indian JWG meeting was held in Beijing and both sides sought to restore the battered bilateral relationship.
In June 1999, the Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh visited China amidst heightened tension between India and Pakistan in Kashmir. The two sides agreed to hold security dialogues and border talks
Recent Events
Feb 2000, reports that China has constructed a road stretching almost 5 kilometers into Indian territory
December 14, 2001, China expressed shocked at the December 13th attack on the Indian parliament and condemned any form of terrorist activities.
On January13, 2002, the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, began his 6-day visit to India, to build strong business and economic ties with the nation.
For more information on the sources for the above text, click below:
Home 
India occupied the semi-independent state of Sikkim in 1975 and China severely condemned it.
India and China, the two most populous countries in the world, share 33% of the world's population between them. They also share approximately 4500 kilometers (2812.5 miles) of mountainous border. It's bewildering to know that historically and geographically there has never been a border between China and India. This was until China invaded Tibet. Today China occupies almost 50,000 square kilometers of Indian Territory in 
