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TIMELINE: Key dates in India-China border tensions

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/reuters/06/17/army.jpg"/><figcaption>Indian army soldiers rest next to artillery guns at a makeshift transit camp before heading to Ladakh, near Baltal, southeast of Srinagar, June 16, 2020. <em>Reuters/Stringer</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>NEW DELHI - Asian regional superpowers India and China share a long history of mistrust and conflict along their lengthy border, and tensions flared this week in their first deadly clash in more than four decades.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/06/17/20/india-says-20-troops-killed-in-deadliest-clash-with-china-in-decades">India says 20 troops killed in deadliest clash with China in decades</a></li></ul><p>The world&#x27;s two most populous nations and nuclear-armed neighbors have never even agreed on the length of their &quot;Line of Actual Control&quot; frontier, which straddles the strategically important Himalayan region.</p><p>Recent decades have seen numerous skirmishes along the border, including a brief but bloody war in 1962.</p><p>Here are some key dates:</p><div><strong>NEHRU&#x27;S 1959 BEIJING VISIT</strong></div><p>India inherited its border dispute with China from its British colonial rulers, who hosted a 1914 conference with the Tibetan and Chinese governments to set the border.</p><p>Beijing has never recognized the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and currently claims 90,000 square kilometres (34,750 square miles) of territory -- nearly all of what constitutes India&#x27;s Arunachal Pradesh state.</p><p>The border dispute first flared up during a visit by India&#x27;s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Beijing in 1959.</p><p>Nehru questioned the boundaries shown on official Chinese maps, prompting Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to reply that his government did not accept the colonial frontier.</p><div><strong>1962 SINO-INDIAN WAR</strong></div><p>Chinese troops poured over the disputed frontier with India in 1962 during a row over the border&#x27;s demarcation. It sparked a four-week war that left thousands dead on the Indian side before China&#x27;s forces withdrew.</p><p>Beijing retained Aksai Chin, a strategic corridor linking Tibet to western China. India still claims the entire Aksai Chin region as its own, as well as the nearby China-controlled Shaksgam valley in northern Kashmir.</p><div><strong>1967 NATHU LA CONFLICT</strong></div><p>Another flashpoint was Nathu La, India&#x27;s highest mountain pass in northeastern Sikkim state, which is sandwiched between Bhutan, Chinese-ruled Tibet and Nepal.</p><p>During a series of clashes, including the exchange of artillery fire, New Delhi said some 80 Indian soldiers died and counted up to 400 Chinese casualties. </p><div><strong>1975 TULUNG LA AMBUSH</strong></div><p>This skirmish was the last time shots were officially reported to have been fired across the disputed border.</p><p>Four Indian soldiers were ambushed and killed along the dividing line in Arunachal Pradesh.</p><p>New Delhi blamed Beijing for crossing into Indian territory, a claim dismissed by China. </p><div><strong>2017 DOKLAM PLATEAU STANDOFF</strong></div><p>India and China had a months-long high-altitude standoff in Bhutan&#x27;s Doklam region after the Indian army sent troops to stop China constructing a road in the area. </p><p>The Doklam plateau is strategically significant as it gives China access to the so-called &quot;chicken&#x27;s neck&quot; -- a thin strip of land connecting India&#x27;s northeastern states with the rest of the country. </p><p>It is claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India. The issue was resolved after talks.</p><div><strong>2020 LADAKH CONFRONTATION</strong></div><p>India said Tuesday that 20 of its soldiers were killed after a violent clash with Chinese forces a day earlier in the strategically important Galwan Valley on the Himalayan frontier, a dramatic escalation that represents the first combat fatalities between the Asian powers since 1975.</p><p>The clash follows weeks of low-level tensions after several Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in a high-altitude fist fight on the border at Sikkim state in early May.</p><p>Indian officials said that within days, Chinese troops encroached over the demarcation line further west in Ladakh region and India then moved in extra troops to positions opposite.</p><p>Last week both countries said they would peacefully resolve the face-off after a high-level meeting between army commanders.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/06/08/20/india-china-seek-to-peacefully-resolve-border-face-off">India, China seek to &#x27;peacefully resolve&#x27; border face-off</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/05/21/20/india-says-china-hindered-indian-border-patrols-in-latest-flare-up">India says China hindered Indian border patrols in latest flare-up</a></li></ul><p>But on Tuesday India revealed that those efforts had gone badly wrong, with both sides blaming each other.</p><p>Beijing confirmed there had been casualties in Monday&#x27;s clash but gave no further details, including nationalities. </p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Asian regional superpowers India and China share a long history of mistrust and conflict along their lengthy border, and tensions flared this week in their first deadly clash in more than four decades.<br /> </p>

Asian regional superpowers India and China share a long history of mistrust and conflict along their lengthy border, and tensions flared this week in their first deadly clash in more than four decades.