China and India never had a contagious border as most of the time Tibet was a buffer state. The British farsighted as ever got their vision of Central Asia to prevail at the Simla conference in 1913, which was attended by representatives of China and Tibet. Thus China was kept away from the Indian border as Tibet was recognized as an independent state. However there is no denying the fact that Tibet for long was coveted as a part of China and the Chinese at various periods in History did have suzerainity over Tibet.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in his monumental work " Discovery of India " has opined that that two great powers can never live in peace when they exist adjacent to each other. He has also written that a strong China has always been an expansionist China. Nehru's fears about China were proved true as the Chinese occupied Tibet and incorporated it as a part of China. This made China border abut India. . The Chinese communist party wore the cloak of nationalism and claimed all areas which at one time were part of Tibet and had been ceded to the British. The Chinese pointing to the ills of imperialism claimed the entire Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh as part of China. Nehru had made a correct assessment of China, but he failed to practice what he had written and in the bargain surrendered the leadership of Asia to China.
Much water has flown down the Ganga since 1947. India China had a border war in 1962 and an artillery duel in 1967. There was another faceoff in 1987 and till date the Chinese routinely infiltrate into Indian held area. They bolster their aggressive approach as they have built up a formidable military -industrial base. Come to think that in 1947, China was way behind India. India was relatively more advanced with a steel plant and textlie, auto and aircraft manufacturing facilities. Chinathe did not have even a bicycle factory. Things changed as China moved aead technologically while India lagged. Chinese spacemen went into orbit and they produced the latest fighter planes. In contrast India.s progress is slow and tardy.
China by being the bigger power and member of the Security Council as wellas development of nuclear weapons acheved great power status. In contrast the Indian leadership hd no global ambition and was content to be subservient to China. I remember reading that Morarji Desai who became prime minister wa a man who lived in a utopian world. He expressly forbade the development of nuclear weapons and any further nuclear research. By this act Morarji Desai did great disservice to the Indan people as he condemned them to a second rate status bar China for all time to come.
China would like to be the sole power arbitrar in Asia. It also has global ambitions. As such China is intent on throttling India. It supports the Maoist insurgency in Central India as well givesa haven to militants in the North East. It does not recognize Kashmir as an integral part of India and also thousands of square mils of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and Larson. China has befriended Pakistan and makes it a point to back Pakistan as a counterpoise to India.
The Indian reaction is to say the least lukewarm. China has also vetoed Indian membership of the NSG. There 20 points other than these by whichChina needles India. The fault lies with the Indian leadership which never had strategic vision. With the advent of Modi there is a change as India is tying up with the USA to collar China. The Chinese do not like this and are looking for way to prick the Indian bubble. What better than this to start a short war to humiliate India and show the world that China is the dominant power in Asia. China holds the aces with 30 divisons in Tibet. India will be hard put to counter that. This clash has to come, whether India wants it or not. In the chinese perception, india has the potential to be the other sword in Asia, but there can be only one scabbard and that is the problem