The Indian and Chinese border has seen a big increase in armed conflict. The conflict comes from numerous fights between the two countries. These fights have even been deadly and have caused tensions to increase dramatically on both sides.

The conflict started with soldiers arguing about territory lines and which side is actually crossing the borderlines. It started in early June and there are still tensions on both sides. Most of the conflict has centered around the Galwan Valley area and the Himalayan mountains.

The main reason the tensions are so high is that 20 Indian soldiers have been killed by Chinese soldiers. The deaths happened in the Himalayas and the people of India are protesting the killings. A Chinese source stated that Indian soldiers crossed the borderline and were violating the law. No guns were used because both sides have a deal that keeps the border unarmed.

The two countries have always had problems with each other because back in 1962, they had a war against each other over border territory. To this day, both countries have a bad relationship because of their past.

One of my friends, Shubhpreet Singh, was born in India and moved to America at the age of 11. He went to school in India and learned firsthand the terrible relationship between the two countries. When asked about India having problems with China, he said, “The Indian people think China always wants to fight them.” He was taught this when he was a kid because the Indian people still remember the war.

The way Indian civilians and Chinese civilians see this conflict is very different.  Indian civilians see the conflict as the Chinese army bullying them by pushing their border and killing their soldiers. Families who lost their loved ones to the Chinese soldiers were very outraged that this happened and want an answer from the Chinese government. Chinese civilians see the conflict as very one-sided because the government writes the news they read.

Recently, on October 28, 2020, the United States of America joined a pact with India. The U.S. joined this pact because China has been causing problems with other allied countries. For example, Australia has been having problems with China because China planned to arrest two Australian journalists.  These problems exist because the government of China likes to censor foreign news. America also joined the pact to stand up to China and oversee Chinese activity on the India and Chinese border.