China and India maintained peaceful relations for thousands of years, but their relationship has varied since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. The two nations have sought economic cooperation with each other, while frequent border disputes and economic nationalism in both countries are major points of contention.

Cultural and economic relations between China and India date back to ancient times. The Silk Road not only served as a major trade route between India and China, but is also credited for facilitating the spread of Buddhism from India to East Asia. During the 19th century, the British East India Company increasingly exported opium, grown in India, leading to the Opium Wars. During World War II, both British India and the Republic of China (ROC) played a crucial role in halting the progress of Imperial Japan. After India became independent in 1947, it established relations with the ROC. The modern Sino-Indian diplomatic relationship began in 1950, when India was among the first noncommunist countries to end formal relations with the Republic of China and recognise the PRC as the legitimate government of both Mainland China and Taiwan. China and India are two of the major regional powers in Asia, and are the two most populous countries and among the fastest growing major economies in the world.

Growth in diplomatic and economic influence has increased the significance of their bilateral relationship. Between 2008 and 2021, China was India's largest trading partner, and the two countries have extended their strategic and military relations.India-China trade surpasses target , The Hindu, 2 January 2010. India has a large trade deficit that is favoured towards China. The Sino-Indian border dispute, manifested by the Line of Actual Control (LAC), remains a central issue, resulting in the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the clashes in 1967, and the a standoff in 1987. Since the late 1980s, both countries have rebuilt diplomatic and economic ties; a 1996 agreement forbids firearms and explosives near the LAC.

Border deconfliction mechanisms emerged, beginning with the 2003 Special Representatives. Renewed conflicts included standoffs in 2013, and in 2017; major skirmishes in 2020-2021 resulted in dozens of deaths on both sides; military infrastructure near the LAC continues to grow.AK Antony admits China incursion , DNA, 28 September 2011. India's concerns include China's close relations with Pakistan, and with separatist groups in Northeast India. China's concerns include Indian military and economic activities in the disputed South China SeaChina warns India on South China Sea exploration projects , The Hindu, 15 September 2011. and hosting of Tibetan exiles. Today, South Asia is the primary site of great power competition between China and India.

Geopolitical overview

The China–India border straddles the Himalayas, with Nepal and Bhutan acting as buffer states. Parts of the disputed Kashmir region claimed by India (J&K and Ladakh) are claimed and administered by either Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan) or by the PRC (Aksai Chin). The Government of Pakistan, on its maps, shows the Aksai Chin area as mostly within China and labels the boundary "Frontier Undefined", while India holds that Aksai Chin is illegally occupied by the PRC. China and India also dispute most of Arunachal Pradesh.

Not only is China's India policy shaped by greater competition with the United States, but there are also real structural issues in India-China relations that exacerbate discord. These stem largely from China's attempts to keep India at arm's length in the Indo-Pacific region. There are clear differences in the regional order in Asia that the two countries desire—India seeks a multipolar order, of which India is one of the main poles, while China seeks a single pole, of which India is not a pole at all.

As India strengthens its security ties with the United States and takes a leading role in organizing the Global South, tensions with China persist. China's engagement with India's neighbors and growing military cooperation with Pakistan further strain India's geopolitical landscape. In this volatile landscape, Sino-Indian relations seek a delicate balance between pragmatic economic interests and escalating geopolitical tensions.

History

Antiquity

China and India have also had some contact before the transmission of Buddhism. References to a people called the Chinas are found in ancient Indian literature. The Indian epic Mahabharata (c. 5th century BCE) contains references to "China", which may have been referring to the Qin state which later became the Qin dynasty. Chanakya (c. 350–283 BCE), the prime minister of the Maurya Empire, refers to Chinese silk as "cinamsuka" (Chinese silk dress) and "cinapatta" (Chinese silk bundle) in his Arthashastra. Interpretations of the term differ. Still, there is evidence from Roman sources of Chinese goods from a place called This travelling from Central Asia to the port of Barygaza and thence to South India.

Buddhism was transmitted from India to China in the 1st century CE.Indian Embassy, Beijing. India-China Bilateral Relations – Historical Ties. Trade relations via the Silk Road acted as economic contact between the two regions.

Middle Ages

From the 1st century onwards, many Indian scholars and monks traveled to China, such as Batuo (fl. 464–495 CE)—first abbot of the Shaolin Monastery—and Bodhidharma—founder of Chan/Zen Buddhism—while many Chinese scholars and monks also traveled to India, such as Xuanzang (b. 604) and I Ching (635–713), both of whom were students at Nalanda University in Bihar.

Tang and Harsha dynasties

During the 7th century, Tang dynasty China gained control over large portions of the Silk Road and Central Asia. In 649, the Chinese general Wang Xuance, along with thousands of recruited Tibetan and Nepalese troops, briefly invaded North India and won the Battle of Chabuheluo.

During the 8th century, the astronomical table of sines by the Indian astronomer and mathematician, Aryabhatta (476–550), were translated into the Chinese astronomical and mathematical book of the Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era (Kaiyuan Zhanjing), compiled in 718 CE during the Tang dynasty.Joseph Needham, Volume 3, p. 109 The Kaiyuan Zhanjing was compiled by Gautama Siddha, an astronomer and astrologer born in Chang'an, and whose family was originally from India. He was also notable for his translation of the Navagraha calendar into Chinese.

Yuan dynasty Tamil Hindu Indian merchants traded in Quanzhou during the Yuan dynasty. Hindu statues were found in Quanzhou dating to this period.

According to Badauni and Ferishta, the Delhi Sultanate under Muhammad bin Tughluq had ambitions to invade China. There existed a direct trade relationship between China and the Delhi Sultanate. Ibn Battuta mentions that the Yuan Emperor had sent an embassy to Muhammad to reconstruct a sacked temple at Sambhal.

Ming dynasty

Between 1405 and 1433, Ming dynasty China sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions led by Admiral Zheng He. Zheng He visited numerous Indian kingdoms and ports, including the Malabar coast, Bengal, and Ceylon, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, and later expeditions ventured down as far as Malindi in what is now Kenya. Throughout his travels, Zheng He liberally dispensed Chinese gifts of silk, porcelain, and other goods. In return, he received rich and unusual presents, including African zebras and giraffes. After the Ming treasure voyages, private Chinese traders continued operating in the eastern Indian Ocean. Chinese junks could frequently be seen in the ports of the Vijayanagara Empire, carrying silks and other products.

Qing dynasty The Bhois of Orissa maintained minor maritime trade links with China. Many of the gosains entering Tibet from China passed through the territory of Birakisore Deva I of Khurda (1736–1793) who styled himself as Gajapati, the ruler of Utkala, when visiting the Jagannath temple at Puri.

The reign of Tipu Sultan in Mysore saw Chinese technology used for sugar production,Kamath (2001), p235-236 and sandalwood was exported to China.Kamath (2001), p236-237 Tipu's and Mysore's tryst with silk began in the early 1780s when he received a silk cloth from an ambassador from the Qing dynasty-ruled China at his court. Tipu was said to be enchanted by the item to such an extent that he resolved to introduce its production in his kingdom. He sent a return journey to China, which returned after twelve years.

After the Qing expansion into the Himalayas, there was increased contact with South Asia, which often manifested in the form of tributary relations. The Qing were obliged to defend their subservient state, Badakhshan, against the Afghans and Marathas, though no major clash with the Marathas ever took place. The Afghans gained the initiative and defeated the Marathas at Panipat in 1761. The battle's outcome was used by the Afghans to intimidate the Qing.

Sino-Sikh War

In the 18th to 19th centuries, the Sikh Empire expanded into neighbouring lands. It annexed Ladakh into the state of Jammu in 1834. In 1841, they had some conflicts with Chinese forces; neither side wished to continue the conflict, as the Sikhs were embroiled in tensions with the British that would lead up to the First Anglo-Sikh War, while the Chinese were in the midst of the First Opium War. The Sikhs claimed victory. The two parties signed a treaty in September 1842, which stipulated no transgressions or interference in the other country's frontiers.The Sino-Indian Border Disputes, by Alfred P. Rubin, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1. (January 1960), pp. 96–125.

British Raj

Indian soldiers, known as "sepoys", who were in British service participated in the First and Second Opium Wars against Qing China. Indian sepoys were also involved in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, in addition to serving as guards in the British colony of Hong Kong and foreign concessions such as the Shanghai International Settlement. The Chinese slur "Yindu A San " (印度阿三 - Indian number three) was used to describe Indian soldiers in British service, with some of the popular sentiment rejecting the possibility for Sino-Indian fraternity.

Republic of China In 1924, on his major tour of several major Chinese cities, giving lectures about using their shared Asian values and traditional spirituality to help together promote world peace, Rabindranath Tagore was invited to Canton by Sun Yat-sen, an invitation which he declined. There was a considerably mixed reception to Tagore from the Chinese students and intellectuals. Hu Shih, the Chinese ambassador to the United States from 1938 to 1942, commented, albeit critically, on India's Buddhism almost completely subsuming Chinese society upon its introduction. ASIA is one. The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilizations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritance of every Asiatic race, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world and distinguishing them from those maritime peoples of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, who love to dwell on the Particular, and to search out the means, not the end, of life.Okakura, Tenshin (1904) Ideal of the East