India - China: the recurrence of a territorial dispute half a century later

The Sino-Indian relationship is a complex system of contacts that are mainly characterized by drastic changes from friendly relations establishment to head-on military clashes. There is a positive trend in bilateral cooperation between India and China; however, the armed border conflict of 1959-1962 stands apart as it has contributed to the development of the Indian Nuclear Program. Apart from the Sino-Indian War, which was remembered by the peoples of two Asian powers and included in university textbooks, there were other border conflicts between them that seemed not to pose a serious threat. In 1967, the constitutional monarchy of Sikkim (that is the most underpopulated and the second smallest state of India today (Goa is the smallest one)) faced the armed conflict between India and China, where about 400 people died. Sikkim being considered as an Indian territory was not de jure a part of the Indian states; it acquired this status only in 1975. In 2017, half a century later, two largest Asian countries found themselves in a situation of serious military confrontation again. The author examines the reasons for the Indian-Chinese border dispute in Sikkim and predicts the development of armed clashes in this region.