India vs. China: Giants on skinny ice. What’s in actuality in the support of their competitors? | Mapped Out

High up in the Himalayan Mountains this is where two major countries meet China and India between them the longest disputed land Border in the world a border that has even seen violent clashes we'll track their relationship from these Snowy Peaks to the vast Indian Ocean to unravel where these two.

Giants are heading what that means for the region and what this holiday Island and Paradise has to do with it China and India are two powerhouses in Asia one a democracy the other an authoritarian State they have the second and fifth biggest economies in the world both possess nuclear arsenals combined almost 3 billion people live in these.

Two countries that's more than a third of the world's entire population so how these two Nations perceive each other is pretty important lately it's more about rivalry than cooperation I would even say that the Indian and China relationship in the recent years is uh from bad to even warse economic ties remain trade ties.

Remain uh but the Diplomatic ties have cooled down and the military ties security ties have become very tense and very vexed between India and China but that wasn't always the case in the past they actually sought close ties after the communist government took control in China in 1949 and India became independent from British colonial rule.

In 1947 initially the ties were very strong susant Singh is an expert on Indian National Security he's a lecturer at Yale University in the US and a senior fellow at the center for policy research in India both the countries thought that they could work together and would become you know this uh a new AES around which Asia could uh you know.

Could emerge as a as a powerful entity in the Glo in global relations but that didn't happen so what went wrong one answer can be found here high up in the Himalayan Mountains this is a hostile environment a cold desert dominated by Rock and Ice let's go to the galwan valley this is where Indian and Chinese soldiers guard a disputed.

Border in 2020 they Clash right here at a Bend of the icy galwan River Reports say at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers died in hand-to-hand combat many more could have been killed that day had the two sides not agreed.

Years ago on a weapon-free Zone which remains in place around the Border there's never been a real explanation for what happened since then both sides have deployed massive amounts of troops and after more than 20 rounds of talks there's still no real resolution the stalemate continues even 4 years later here's the national.

Spokesperson for India's ruling party at the Munich security conference in Germany in early 2024 despite all the uh mischievous activities at the border or attempts of intrusion on the border India remains strong and India knows how to fully capable uh to deal with the dragon and while China's top Diplomat didn't.

Mention the tensions with India directly he reinforced China's official line on this kind of issue with a vast territory and over a dozen neighboring countries China faces complex disputes left from history on that China has stayed committed to managing differences through consultation and resolving disputes.

Through dialogue the problem the two countries can't agree on where exactly the Border runs there are three main disputed areas the first one is part of Kashmir a region contested by China India and Pakistan this area is called axai chin it's controlled by China but claimed by India then there's the Indian state of arunachal Pradesh which China.

Claims in its entirety calling it South Tibet and in the middle there are other smaller flash points too so mapping this area is difficult and sensitive last year China published a new standard map showing these territories as its own sparking Fury in India and again turning the conflict up a.

Notch the nationalistic emotion is become stronger and stronger and the B government cannot afford to to show weakness uh in terms of Border dispute this is shita Lee head of DW's Chinese service based in Bon Germany he has covered India China relations for many years and he says the Border conflict is at the heart of the.

Rivalry no government will say that okay we let's make a compromise let's give some land to the other side let's make peace it will not happen and more and more less likely I would say so there unable problem and the only thing is both government try to keep the status quo part of the problem can be traced back.

To Colonial times British maps from the 19th and early 20th centuries show different versions of where the Border runs or no clear border at all like this British map from 1947 the year India became independent Tibet plays a role here too back then Tibet was a buffer separating India from China it was de facto.

Independent as shown in many maps from the first half of the 20th century but that changed after China took full control of Tibet in the 1950s in 1959 the Tibetan Uprising started it was quickly crushed by Chinese soldiers and tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India angering.

China shortly after that skirmishes started to erupt between India and China all of that made the prospect of agreeing on a common border more difficult and since then it's never become a reality so what is shown on most Maps today is in many areas just a loose demarcation line called the line of.

Actual control or Lac for short the two sides can't agree on where exactly this boundary runs or how long it is pot spots along the disputed border are guarded by tens of thousands of troops on each side that's why the two countries have been busy building roads Bridges and tunnels along the Lac infrastructure is.

Key to getting soldiers into the mountains quickly one recent example here at the cellar pass India has just inaugurated a major tunnel here this will enable the Indian army to move its troops to the Lac faster no matter the weather on the Chinese side flatter terrain makes building roads easier therefore India is.

Only playing a catch up with China and the Indian infrastructure even today remains much lesser than that of China that's the case on many levels they are not equal in any way China is a much bigger economy much bigger military power much bigger technological power India is heavily import dependent on China there's another reason why India.

Is afraid of Chinese dominance water the rivers originating in the Himalayas Supply fresh water to around 1.3 billion people water scarcity is already a great concern in South Asia and climate change will only make this problem worse China has built several dams in the region transforming the.

Landscape the potential for Hydro power is immense Chinese Engineers have even proposed building the world's largest hydr power plant at this Riverbend plants like these leave many Indians fearing China could end up in control of the flow of its vital Rivers so this is a conflict over land.

Over resources over influence let's move from the mountains to another region where this conflict is palpable the Indian Ocean it's a vast area stretching for more than 10,000 km from the tip of Africa to Australia economically militarily strategically this is one of the most important regions in the world it's a.

Crucial trade route for China the world's number one exporter of goods that's the primary reason Indian Ocean is extremely important to China the second reason Indian Ocean is important to China is because it wants to project power China's interest in the region goes back well over a decade and it has substantially increased its Investments.

There China has stakes in over 20 ports in the Indian Ocean region some of them even have the potential for Naval use let's take the port of Djibouti for example this is what it looked like in May 2015 and after huge Chinese investment here's how it looks today China now has not only a port.

Situated on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world but also a military base here and by the way all that only a couple of miles away from the US base also located in the country now if you take this port and jouti along with other ports that have a strong Chinese presence like these ones in Sri Lanka Myanmar and Pakistan India.

Starts to look surrounded this is part of what some analysts call China's String of Pearls strategy and it has India worried uh let me first say that pearls look benign unless you ask the oysters from an Indian Point of View uh I would say it's very reasonable for us to actually prepare uh for for uh for a.

Far far greater uh Chinese presence than we have seen before that's why in recent years India has started building up its capacities in the Indian Ocean although the country is still far behind other big players India is investing its Naval defense budget is increasing every year India is focusing on some key areas.

The Malika lombok and Sunda Straits in the Indian Ocean these are the bottlenecks connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean Chinese warships like this one have to pass through these Straits to enter the Indian Ocean and India wants to make sure it can at least monitor these passages for example here India has a.

Naval air station at the southern end of the nicobar islands just 450 km from the Malika Strait speaking of islands this is where the Maldives come into play their position in the middle of the Indian Ocean makes these small Islands quite important strategically they're not only a dream.

Destination for wealthy tourists they're also a hub for trade and infrastructure and for security for a long time the leaders of the Maldives were sympathetic towards India but more recently loyalties have shifted in last year's election pro-china candidate Muhammad muuu won after campaigning with with the slogan.

India out this year he's already visited Chinese president Xi Jinping and ordered Indian troops to leave the Maldives there is a narrative that India should be more you know more dominant in the Indian Ocean region more aggressive in the Indian Ocean region I think India is constrained by a lack of resources in.

What it can do within the Indian Ocean region and India is up against China which has the biggest Navy in the world even surpassing the us one of India's strategies forming alliances with powerful Partners India is a member of the so-called quad a Diplomatic Security focused partnership with the US Australia and Japan and.

India's deepening relationship with the US has angered China the last thing Beijing would like to see is Indian become 100% United States Al lying that would be for China of course the worst worst the case because if you look around China there already many United State Alliance around around it like South Korea Japan.

Philippines and now even vietnan also goes a little bit in the in in in the direction so if India goes completely to the to the to the western side will be for China very very bad but India is also careful to maintain links with China despite tensions the two countries are members of the same groups aimed at countering Western dominance the bricks.

And the Shanghai cooperation organization that strategy trying to keep up very different alliances is a tough Balancing Act but for India it's a way of keeping its options open especially with such a dominant neighbor recently China's economy has slowed down while India's is growing it's attracting foreign investment and gaining.

Confidence China being China is a reality but equal reality India is a rising power still India is a long way off catching up with China it's generally accepted in the global business community that the next China is still China back to our hotpots an unresolved border dispute and a battle for.

Influence in the Indian Ocean where is this rivalry heading in the worst case this could escalate could there even be potential for War I don't see this would happen because first of all and those two country are pretty much aware that they both have nuclear weapon they're nuclear power so both had cannot afford to to open a war with uh some.

Consequence you cannot calculate they both know this problem could not be solved and they both need each other in some other area economically politically so the stalemate continues neither side wants to risk a bigger escalation and neither can back down down if they find a way to settle their differences high up in the Himalayas and.

In the Indian Ocean the neighbors could be powerful Partners but for now China and India look set to continue competing for influence and Status two Giants on thin ice

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